Edinburgh Marathon 2014
25 May 2014
I registered for Edinburgh Marathon while I was sulking for not getting into the London Marathon through international ballot yet again. The race was promoted as the UK's flattest and fastest, since I have never been to Scotland, I took it as a travel opportunity while hoping for a PB race.
Edinburgh is a beautiful city, probably one of the prettiest I have been so far. I really enjoyed the sightseeing, museums, culture, history and the hospitality of its citizen. So one of the objectives checked. Now for the main objective. I woke to a heavy torrential rain. I was already drenched and cold by the time I lined up in the assigned corral. It was windy too.
The race started from London road in the centre of Edinburgh and heading down towards the forth. It was all downhill until we reach the coastal road along Forth of Firth. The course then turned undulating the whole way. I got carried away running downhill this early in the race and ran faster than my target pace. At that point running at 180 bpm heart rate felt easy. Then I started day dreaming. I thought, wow this is it, today is my day and I am going to finish this race in 3:18. I ran in zone 4 all the way to the half while the HR alert kept on beeping. The hell with the beeps, I was feeling good. I was a fool. That was the biggest mistake I made, ignoring the high heart rate alert from my watch.
I started to feel tired right after halfway. This was not a good indication. My pace gradually dropped from 4:40s to 5:30s when I got to KM 31. Then the disaster struck. Not only I was tired, but my left knees was killing me. It was my Runners Knee/ ITB problem again. It was so painful, even running the beautiful course along the coast and the woods in Scotland were not enough to provide some relief. I was literally running with one leg. The course was undulating the whole way and it was more painful to run down then up the incline. I thought I have sorted this problem. I have not had this problem since Munich last October. Then I realised my second biggest mistake. My shoe! I thought, since I have been doing a lot of core strength training and perfected my running form, I can run in minimalist racing flats like the pros, BUT it was a big mistake. I ran in Asics Gel Excel 33 in Dubai and felt light and great. So I thought I'd step up by wearing an even lighter shoe, the Saucony Kinvara 4. I had no problem running in them during trainings. I did all of my long runs in them. I think the different was the slippery road and the undulation course. After 30K, I felt the Saucony provides no cushioning at all. The feeling was like the two bones on my knee joint hitting each other at every step. My race was over. I ran walked the remaining of the race in pain and feeling angry to myself.
Like my previous 'failed' races, I took it as yet another learning experience and let it go.
Edinburgh Marathon Pros and Cons:
Pros:
1. Just right size
2. Beautiful course along the coast of Forth of Firth
3. Nice crowd support especially around Musselburgh
4. Great support from volunteers
Cons:
1. Uneventful Race pack collection
2. No expo only a small tent from a local running shop
3. Insufficient porta porties at the start
4. Long walk to the shuttle buses after from Finish line marathon village
5. Results unpublished to public (later rectified by the organiser)
Race Statistics
Full Time: 03:56:32
10k split: 00:47:46
Half marathon: 01:43:13
30k split: 02:32:49
Overall finish position: 2993 of 8620
Category: Male 35-39
Category finish position: 477 of 967
I registered for Edinburgh Marathon while I was sulking for not getting into the London Marathon through international ballot yet again. The race was promoted as the UK's flattest and fastest, since I have never been to Scotland, I took it as a travel opportunity while hoping for a PB race.
Edinburgh is a beautiful city, probably one of the prettiest I have been so far. I really enjoyed the sightseeing, museums, culture, history and the hospitality of its citizen. So one of the objectives checked. Now for the main objective. I woke to a heavy torrential rain. I was already drenched and cold by the time I lined up in the assigned corral. It was windy too.
 |
| Gear check |
 |
| Nice running tracks around Hollyrood Parks and Arthur's Seat |
I started to feel tired right after halfway. This was not a good indication. My pace gradually dropped from 4:40s to 5:30s when I got to KM 31. Then the disaster struck. Not only I was tired, but my left knees was killing me. It was my Runners Knee/ ITB problem again. It was so painful, even running the beautiful course along the coast and the woods in Scotland were not enough to provide some relief. I was literally running with one leg. The course was undulating the whole way and it was more painful to run down then up the incline. I thought I have sorted this problem. I have not had this problem since Munich last October. Then I realised my second biggest mistake. My shoe! I thought, since I have been doing a lot of core strength training and perfected my running form, I can run in minimalist racing flats like the pros, BUT it was a big mistake. I ran in Asics Gel Excel 33 in Dubai and felt light and great. So I thought I'd step up by wearing an even lighter shoe, the Saucony Kinvara 4. I had no problem running in them during trainings. I did all of my long runs in them. I think the different was the slippery road and the undulation course. After 30K, I felt the Saucony provides no cushioning at all. The feeling was like the two bones on my knee joint hitting each other at every step. My race was over. I ran walked the remaining of the race in pain and feeling angry to myself.
 |
| Edinburgh Marathon, a test of perseverance |
 |
| Thank You Edinburgh for the lessons learnt |
Like my previous 'failed' races, I took it as yet another learning experience and let it go.
Edinburgh Marathon Pros and Cons:
Pros:
1. Just right size
2. Beautiful course along the coast of Forth of Firth
3. Nice crowd support especially around Musselburgh
4. Great support from volunteers
Cons:
1. Uneventful Race pack collection
2. No expo only a small tent from a local running shop
3. Insufficient porta porties at the start
4. Long walk to the shuttle buses after from Finish line marathon village
5. Results unpublished to public (later rectified by the organiser)
Race Statistics
Full Time: 03:56:32
10k split: 00:47:46
Half marathon: 01:43:13
30k split: 02:32:49
Overall finish position: 2993 of 8620
Category: Male 35-39
Category finish position: 477 of 967
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