Amy's Edinburgh Marathon Report - 27 May

A little belated but here's Amy Alcorn's report on her great performance at the Edinburgh Marathon at the end of May in some testing wet and windy conditions, where she had a fab run and recorded a time of 3h 26m 43s to meet her goal of sub 3h30:

Amy at the 2018 edition but such a great pic it needed to used again!

After being somewhat fleeced on the marathon bus from Straiton, on arriving in Edinburgh some 1.5 hours before the start, we went for a coffee in a dodgy wee cafe as my running partner (Piers) had heard coffee before a marathon was a good idea, and we were not taking the 'dont try anything new before a race' very seriously! Anyhow, it was all good and we burnt some pre race nerves drinking coffee and chatting to the local policemen and other marathon goers...

Anyhow, 10am was looming and it was seriously soggy and miserable, we crammed into our pen and got ready for the inevitable surge forward and walk to the start. As we all beeped our Garmins on the rain stopped and we were off down the bridges towards the mound, I was desperately trying to keep myself slow and steady, which meant checking my watch every 5 seconds, but was worth it to stop myself getting carried away as I did last year. As I reached the portrait gallery, my running partner over took and ran into the crowds, which was the last I saw of him all race...

I was loving the run at this point, and kept my pace steady and felt brilliant throughout Portobello and through to Musselburgh, at mile 9 ish I reached for the dates and vowed to eat 1 every 2 miles, which I did and it worked perfectly for me. Everything was smooth and enjoyable until leaving the estate on the switch back around 20ish miles when the wind hit me like a tornado, it actually felt like I was going backwards. I tried to tuck in behind anyone, but I was by this point overtaking everyone I saw so that didn't really work, but feeling of overtaking was awesome, and the sun was also coming out which was gorgeous. By the time I got to Musselburgh again I was feeling invincible, and happened to pass an ex-boyfriend who I'd not seen for 9 years who hi fived me with a big smile making me up my game and get my pace back on a wee bit.

By mile 25 I was elated and jubilant, grinning like a nutter, knowing it was all nearly over any that I would finish this race under my target time and not in any pain, I sprint finished and high fived every person I could on the way to the finish line. What a brilliant race, I was greeted by my running partner who had smashed his PB and beaten me (only his 2nd time in our history of racing together!) and I had not a single blister!

Loved it, way more than last year, and have been looking at more marathons ever since, I think London's calling...