First 5km

[Novice1955]

Well I did it. Ran a 5km race yesterday at the Edinburgh Marathon Weekend. 39 mins 7 secs. The course had one long incline which most people had to walk/jog. If I run another will pick a flat course. That's me on the right. 63 years and 2 hip replacements.

[Stephen_UK Graduate]

Congratulations! Great picture, too.

[CrazyDogLady19 Graduate]

Amazing, congratulations!!! Great pic, great time. Well donexx

[5dogs Graduate]

Wow, well done! Nice pic.

[ArthurJG Graduate]

Well done. I was there too

[Novice1955 in reply to ArthurJG]

The long incline at the start nearly killed me! How did you do?

[ArthurJG Graduate in reply to Novice1955]

34:15. Was chuffed when I was told I was 704 out of 1500 because I very rarely make the top half in a 5k 🤗 Yes the uphill was hard, not only because it was long but because it was crowded so maintaining a steady pace (even though a very slow one) was hard. I managed to get up without walking though - I was pleased with that as it had been a focus if my training: I’m still not great on hills but I followed the intermediate training programme on the EMF website (meant for people who had already done a few 5ks) and it definitely helped.

I also did a couple of hilly parkruns instead of my usual flat one at Montrose. Camperdown has a similar climb to the EMF route and I had to walk some of that only last week but I now see that was at the end of the hardest training week. The gentler final week before EMF made the difference. Who knew tapering could help for a 5k?

I really got a lot out of the event because I learned so much from following the training programme. But well done to you for tackling such a hard one for your first 5k! Wasn’t it an amazing feeling of release to turn the corner just after 3k and see it was downhill all the way home?!

I’m really tempted to enter again to apply the lessons I’ve learned this time and see what measurable progress I can make from doing that.

[Bentley3]

Congratulations,what an achievement!You must feel super proud of yourself.Your an inspiration!

[CharlieChurch]

Fantastic!

[Bettyb719 Graduate]

Very well done! I was there too - about 8 minutes behind you! I had walked the course a few weeks ago, when I was not long out of hospital after a severe chest infection, so I decided in advance to walk the hill! Ran all of the rest though (slowly) and was dead chuffed to finish. Great feeling, but I think I’ll look for a flatter course next time too!

[Novice1955 in reply to Bettyb719]

Yes the hill was very daunting. We walked and jogged it. Like you next time a flat course. Enjoy your