Half Marathon a Month Challenge #33 - Scottish Half Marathon - September 2016

Scottish Half Marathon - 18th September 2016

This was the third year the Scottish Half Marathon had been held, and this would be both Chris and I's second go at it. I ran the the inaugural event back in 2014, and for nearly a year it was my Personal Best time for a half marathon. In fact, that year the course was notoriously 292.8 metres longer than it should have been, so although I subsequently improved my PB in May 2015 by 12 seconds, this 2014 event was undoubtedly the best I have ever run in a half marathon, and I would probably have finished over a minute and half quicker if the course was the correct length.

Chris missed the 2014 event, but ran it in around 1hr 53mins in 2015, and it remains his half marathon PB to this day.

So, as you have probably inferred from the references to PBs above, this is a very slick course to run on, with the start point higher above sea level than the end point. It is also a very picturesque course in parts, with a very long stretch along the Firth of Forth, and a great finishing location at Musselburgh Racecourse. 

East Lothian is not a straightforward place to get to from Glasgow on a Sunday morning, so it was a very early start for me. I took the bus from Glasgow city centre to Edinburgh's equivalent and met Chris at Waverley station. He had his own travel issues from Falkirk with trains being cancelled. Fortunately his son, Jamie, was able to give him a lift to Edinburgh. This wasn't the first time that Jamie had ferried us to running events at an unreasonable hour on a Sunday. Above and beyond the call of duty. 

At Waverley we boarded a train packed full of runners and got off at Prestonpans station , which was about 20 minutes walk from the start. I noticed when we arrived at the start venue that the setup, in terms of where the runners were 'penned', was different from 2014. However, Chris said it was the same as the previous year. It was actually much better, with more space for everyone to move around in. 

As we lined up in our designated starting zone I noticed two runners standing next to us who were dressed as the sisters from Frozen. They will feature again in this post. 

It was a lovely day and we got off to a great start. I waved bye bye to Chris who sprinted on ahead, as is traditional, and I soon passed Elsa and Anna as we all made our way from Prestonpans down to the Firth of Forth. On reaching the coast (or is it riverbank?) I remembered that there was an out and back section. So it gave me a chance to look out for two folk who I knew would already be in front of me. 

First was a guy called Lee who I'd been following on Twitter for years. He had tweeted a photo of his race number and I saw he was starting in the Yellow wave, which was for runners who's estimated time was quicker than us folk in the Green wave. (The really fast runners went out first in the Red wave). Anyway, Lee had actually asked me via a twitter direct message what my nutrition plans would be on the morning of the race. Turned out it was much the same as he'd planned already, but I was flattered to be consulted. Even more so when I spotted him during the run already ensconced among the Red wave and buzzing along. I later saw that he finished in a time of 1hr 42mins, which is pretty damn good.

Next up was Christopher, whom I spotted when I was about 9km in. As usual in these circumstances I noted the spot where our paths crossed and then timed how long it took me to loop back to that location. It was approx 6 minutes (or a kilometre) so, given our relative pace, I anticipated finishing just over 10 minutes behind him. Turned out to be 13 minutes. 

And that was because at about 13km into the race I started feeling it a bit and slowed down my pace considerably. In fact I'd being gradually slowing down anyway over the previous 4km, and this was emphasised by none other than the Frozen sisters jogging past me at that point. By this time one of them was playing the movie soundtrack from the phone attached to her arm. 

The good thing about this was that it gave me an objective for the remainder of the race. To get past, and remain in front of, Elsa and Anna! With a renewed sense of purpose I caught up with them around the 15km mark, and I made sure that I kept a reasonable distance ahead of them for the remaining 6km. In fact at the end I noticed that they were only about 5 places behind me but, hey, mission accomplished.

A nice feature of this course is that its finishing line is the same as that for the horses at Musselburgh Racecourse, and that you run final kilometre in parallel with the last 5 furlongs.

Of course this also means that each furlong marker towards the finish was a 200m countdown. It was a great feeling reeling them in. 

At the end I picked up my finishers shirt and hooked up with Chris. Another benefit of the finish being at Musselburgh Racecourse was the fully functioning bar, allowing us to quickly replenish electrolytes.

After a few refrescos there we headed into Musselburgh itself to look for another establishment to have a couple of beers. It was then that Chris suggested the excellent Staggs Bar, which as you can see from the photo below, has had its excellence officially recognised. What a great pub. 

It was just left for us to pop quickly into the Ship Inn, a place which is normally our first stop during our traditional Christmas Half Marathon 'pub run'. Won't be long now until we're back at the Ship!

Results:
Chris:   02:05:33
Frank:  02:18:12