Edinburgh to North Berwick Road Race

I thought this would be a great training run for the Edinburgh Marathon as many people had mentioned. I’d just done the London Marathon six days earlier though, so I was making sure to run it as a training run and not to twang any muscles trying for a time and missing out on Edinburgh. 

I got the 15 bus across from Tesco (doesn’t go through the town centre any more) which was great as it took me right next to the registration point just off Kings Road. I had a bit of a wait before heading off to the start but the next bus would have been too much of a rush. Michael, Sarah and then Dave soon turned up and we had a good chat as we got our bib numbers on etc.

It was seriously freezing as we waited at the start line at Portobello promenade in just a Harriers vest and shorts. I soon warmed up as we headed off though. Everybody raced off really fast and I had to stop myself from running too quickly. I ran along with Michael for a few miles as he was also treating it as a training run, which was good for a chat as we headed along the very familiar Edinburgh Marathon route for the first stretch of the course.

It was a very scenic route along the coast with very friendly encouraging marshals cheering us on. North Berwick Law was getting closer and closer and it was great to run all the way there as Jan’s dad stays in North Berwick and it’s a frequent trip for us by car. At mile 16 or 17 there was a heavy cold shower which made me pick up the pace a bit just to keep warm. The last two miles had a strong cold wind blowing towards us as we headed close to North Berwick and my hands were freezing, but we were finally at the finish line. The bag drop off bus was at the Sports Centre, quite a way up through the town which was a bit tricky to find but eventually got there and warmed up with a coffee. My hands were so cold they didn’t work for a full hour after the race as I had the worst raynauds I’d had so far!

We all had a good chat about the race at the end and unfortunately Rachel had hurt her knee quite badly, so I hope the physio can sort that out quickly. Jan had been visiting her mum in East Linton that day so came along to give me a lift home with the kids.

It’s a race I’ve thought of doing for a while so great to do when trained up for marathon distances. I’ve just got one more long run before Edinburgh, so looking forward to the taper.