Edinburgh half marathon - EMF....hoots mon! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Madge50]

Hi all,

Well, ‘tis done! What a fabulous weekend, in a great city....we arrived Friday, planning for parkrun on the Saturday......#flatmadge 1, worked, had a lovely run round Figgate Park, - the home of Portobello parkrun, loads of parkrun ‘tourists’ , lovely flat course , 3 laps around a lovely park, very similar to our home parkrun, with resident swans too....luckily the family of swans with their cygnets decided to get back to the lake and not stay on the path just before the start.....took it steady - as was the plan....

Then off for some sightseeing around the city, took advantage of a tour bus to save the legs a bit.....weather began to deteriorate a bit, cooler, raining.....getting a bit windy, got back to the hotel to receive an email from the organisers warning of ‘adverse weather conditions’ 😱🌧🌬☔️.......#flatmadge2 needed a re think......🤔......luckily we’d taken a small selection of other gear.......funny when you go away and you take more running gear than anything else.....😂

Settled on capris, long sleeve undershirt with t-shirt over the top, and cap to keep rain off specs.....then, Sunday....very early......up and into town for the 8am start......bit rainy...but not cold....into pens, then soon we were off. This run has a reputation for being fast, downhill and then very flat.......well, yes there are down hills near the start, some quite steep....you go past some great landmarks with terrific views, greyfriars bobby, and the ‘gothic rocket’ to name just a couple.......there were some congested points where you had to walk.....then it was out to the coast running along the seafront - always a lovely thing I think, I always enjoy running next to the sea.

At 9 miles you start to run alongside others on their way back, this part seemed very long.....it goes out to just over 11miles, so you’ve got nearly 2 miles, waiting for the turn to appear......which is a bit tough - I also thought it .......would be easy to cut across (not that anyone would, I’m sure...) , no barriers, however there were timing mats at the turn, so they would know if you hadn’t done the distance.......🏃‍♀️😉🤪.....I’m sure that was even tougher for the marathoners - who started at 10am and followed the same course - they had this from 9 miles out to 17 miles before their turn to come back to the finish......😱

Really enjoyed it, organisation was brilliant, every member of the event team we spoke to were lovely and helpful. Support on the route was fabulous - personally I found it rather quiet on some of the middle parts .....often just the sound of footfall, but they allow earphones etc., I did use my aftershokz....that may have also been because of the weather, although it wasn’t cold, there were a couple of downpours, and a bit of gusty wind.....in your face too just as you came into the finish .........so I was glad of my kit choice in the end. Someone was talking about the song ‘500 miles’ (the proclaimers) going around in their head as we came up to the finish, at that point ‘hoots mon’ came through my aftershokz......did make me smile and gave me a little push to the end...🏃‍♀️🎶🎶😄

I was secretly hoping to get a PB, but with a sore niggly Achilles, I decided to just take it steady, I was back in 2:34, not quite a PB, but was a comfortable steady pace and the Achilles settled- even improved! OH got 2:06

Overall a great weekend, and would recommend the EMF, events all weekend, so lots to choose from, legs a bit sore, but improving - more soreness in my thigh muscles than anything else, probably due to those steep downhills! .......nice swag and medal with a detachable key ring......it was easy to spot runners around the town, back at the hotel and at the airport.......doing the stiff leg robot walk......with knowing looks at eachother......😂

Happy days, well done one and all, whatever your event or run at the weekend....woohoo, we did it! 😎🏅

Mx

[Sandraj39 Half Marathon]

Wow! What a busy weekend Madge - and big congratulations to you and your OH for your fabulous runs! 👏😀👍It sounds like a fantastic Half and I am sure the cooler weather up there in Scotland was actually quite welcomed by many runners! Rest up now and hopefully your achilles is alright now? Brilliant!😀🏅

[Madge50 Marathon in reply to Sandraj39]

Thanks Sandra, it was great, and we would highly recommend it. Yes, the Achilles is actually much improved???!!🤷‍♀️ after stomping out all those road miles?....mind you I was beginning to think the off road trails I was doing were irritating it more.....

Mx

[jacky-f Half Marathon]

Well done Madge. I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to my home town. I did the EMF half last year for the first time and enjoyed it so much I had to do it again this year. I agree with your point about miles 9 to 11 - the longest 2 miles I've ever run, you just keep thinking the turn must be coming up soon.

I joined the robot walk club too - my thighs are still aching! Have to avoid coming down stairs for a while.

[Madge50 Marathon in reply to jacky-f]

Oh jacky, well done you too! Edinburgh is now one of my favourite places, we’ve been before and only saw a tiny bit of the city, (we’ve wanted to go back for a while.....- then we saw the EMF......good excuse....!..) although we managed to do more this time, we’ve still only scratched the surface, I’m sure we could have spent a whole day just exploring the nooks and crannies of the royal mile....let alone anything else.....

Yes from that mile 9......saw the DJ etc., slight kink in the road, and thought......oh there’s the turn.....no......then the water station......there’s the turn......no......just a sea of people in front....but, once you turned.....people were calling out ‘the finish is at the end of the trees’ and it was!

A great event.

Mx

[jacky-f Half Marathon in reply to Madge50]

Don't want to put temptation in your way but there is also the Scottish Half on 22nd September that starts in East Lothian and finishes at Musselburgh racecourse. I've entered it for the first time this year, looking forward to it already.

[Oldfloss Administrator]

Fabulous report...fabulous run! Sounds to have been really enjoyable.

So many iconic landmarks too!

Really great time as well...brilliant!

[Madge50 Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

Thanks Floss, it really was a good event, with such a great backdrop, there was a point where you were coming down one of the slopes and you could see this sea of people running down with one of the big craggy hills of the Edinburgh skyline in front (we’d call it a mountain....but I doubt the Scots do....😂)

Mx

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Awesome work!!!!

Great report too, I'd love to run this half it sounds perfect! Just a bit far away... 😊

[Madge50 Marathon in reply to roseabi]

Thanks abi, really recommend it, it was quite a mission, and not cheap....(overall, that is), but going for the long weekend worked for us as we’d wanted to see Edinburgh again...... plus, there’s stuff we didn’t know, like, transport options once there, which are much better value for money........once you know about them......and are more familiar with the area/surroundings.

Quite a few people we know have family/friends up that way, so have cheaper options for accommodation, we haven’t got anyone north of Derbyshire.......😂

To get real value for money you could do the ‘hairy’ (aka hairy haggis) that’s, the 5k and 10k on Saturday, then the HM followed by the full marathon on Sunday.........😳🤪.......some (crazies) actually do.....😱😂

Mx

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Madge50]

Awesome - I'm possibly crazy enough for that! 🤪

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Madge50]

Crikey! There was me thinking you were bonkers for doing parkrun the day before the half!

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Love the report - your enjoyment really shined through. Glad it wasn't as atrocious weather as it might have been and huge kudos for back to back parkrun and HM 🥇🥇

[Madge50 Marathon in reply to linda9389]

Thanks Linda.....actually.....🤔..chatting with OH this morning out on a recovery walk/yomp/mini jogette (very), we’d previously done parkrun (me as tailwalker) before a 10k on the Sunday....so we’ve just realised we’ve almost done a half hairy......😂💪🏃‍♀️......blimey, no wonder my legs ache!

Mx

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Madge50]

No wonder indeed! Do be careful who you brag about that do - it does need a bit of explanation for the uninitiated 😂

[skysue16 Half Marathon]

Fantastic achievement, congratulations . I always think it is hard when you have to turn around and follow same route back. The Edinburgh Kilomathon (13kilometres) was good because it was an A to B route along cycleways/footpaths. Right at the end though we had to run past the finish and do a turn around which was a bit of a effort!

[Madge50 Marathon in reply to skysue16]

Thanks sue, I saw adverts for that event......🤔.....not sure I would have liked to actually have the finish in view and go past it, you knew it was there, but at least you couldn’t see the finish line....😳

Mx

[Katnap Marathon]

Thanks Madge! Its tempting to enter this HM as it seems to be a quick course!

[Madge50 Marathon in reply to Katnap]

Thanks katnap, highly recommended, it’s a great event, with a great atmosphere, the downhills certainly give you a bit of oomph, my splits for the first 5k were certainly quicker than usual.....without even trying! 😂

Mx