Big Run

I did a big race on Saturday, the Edinburgh to North Berwick road race. I did it last year but I had been training hard, so on the long road to recovery, with just 2 long runs in 6 weeks I was hardly going to break any records. Besides, the course was 2 miles shorter and only 20 miles for reasons unknown. So no pressure to get a PB and just out to enjoy it. I immediately set off too fast. I was hitting 6.50 minute miles for the first 10 which was quicker than the 7.30's I had planned. I got punished for this as I faced the long climb from Aberlady through to Direlton. As with last year I got arse cramp! A genuine pain in the arse that just niggled away at me like a dog with a bone. One of our club runners pulled alongside me on his bike to egg us on, and this was followed by more support from Dr Neil (he's called Neil and he's a doctor) prescribing us jelly babies in Dirleton. The drinks stations were supposed to hand back to your own drink, labelled with your number to speed up distribution. Nobody bothered doing that so all the bottles were in a big pile, costing vital seconds trying to find it. On the 13th mile station it wasn't even there, so I was a bit annoyed with them. With 1 mile to go I was really trying to avoid cramp and injury so I was ready to wind down, when Emma's cousin Rhona appeared. Rhona is a good runner and I have to work hard to beat her. Now was the worst time ever to be tested on that, so we ran in fast, picking off a couple of runners as we battled it out. In the end I found a bit of reserve and clocked a 2.24:42, with Rhona getting 2.24.49. Too close for comfort but a good result for me given the lack of training. The worse injury I picked up was sun burn. I have now got a lovely pair of red shoulders, and the tan lines of a vest.
This is a good marathon training run. I am not doing the marathon although regret not booking a place as i think I probably could do it based on that result. I have however booked in for the Loch Ness marathon in October.