Half Marathon a Month Challenge #36 - Edinburgh '5 Pubs' Half Marathon - December 2016

Edinburgh '5 Pubs' Half Marathon - 18th December 2016

A tradition started in December 2014 (month #12) and continued again for month #24 in 2015, our annual December Half Marathon in 2016 was another opportunity to combine a 21.1km run with the partaking of refreshments en route.

The first two years we did this we 'only' stopped at 4 different pubs, but as we had a good few beers at the excellent Staggs Bar after the Scottish Half Marathon in September we decided to extend the number of pub visits to 5 this year, and go back to Staggs.

In the previous 2 years we had started the run in Frederick Street because that's where we kept our bags while we were running. This option wasn't available this year so we dumped the bags at Waverley left luggage and started from the back of the station on Calton Road. This was already about 1.3 km into our previous route, so we just had to continue it from there and make sure we added on the missing distance.

And of course adding the missing distance wasn't really a problem because we were now heading to Staggs Bar first, and this was a little bit further into Musselburgh than our normal first stop at the Ship Inn.

On the rare occasions where Chris and I run together my main challenge is trying to keep pace with him without burning out, and his biggest challenge is running slowly enough to accommodate me without him feeling that he's just going for a stroll. Also, this year I wasn't in a great place fitness wise, so I did get quite uncomfortable at times. (I vowed that this would not happen during run #48 in 2017. We shall see!) 

With Chris dragging me along on an invisible rope, we followed our usual strategy and ran the first half of the Half without stopping, and scheduled our arrival at the first pub's opening time. 

So, here we were back at Staggs 3 months after the Scottish, however it was absolutely dead, with no-one else there except us, the staff, and a bloke sitting at the end of the bar. Quite a contrast from September.

A pint was quickly supped and then it was straight to the second pub, The Ship Inn, which is actually not too far from Staggs, so it was therefore two pints of 'electrolytes' in quick succession.

The next leg of run used to be the shortest between pubs, but it no longer was for the new route. Saying that, it's always a nice phase going from Musselburgh back into Portobello, but this time stopping at the Portobello Bar on the High Street. As usual the place was full of of guys who looked as if they had either escaped or been chucked out of their homes on a Sunday lunchtime. And for some reason there is always a Serie A game on the telly, and it was the same this time.

After the Caledonian 80% had been dispatched we then commenced what (at least for me) is the most difficult part of the run, the 4 kilometres between Portobello and Leith.
After about 25 minutes of run / walk, and generally slowing Chris down, we arrived at The  King's Wark. Traditionally I have switched from beer to cider at this point, just to get some additional glucose in the bloodstream before the final leg. So I kept with tradition. 

As with 2015, our route allowed us to finish almost exactly at the Harbour Inn, where we could relax and celebrate another 12 consecutive months of half marathons.

Result:
Elapsed Time: 03:15:23
Running Time: 02:12:11
Pints: 5

Roll on January 2017 and a wee trip to Preston....