Edinburgh Marathon Festival

razorblunt

Hi All,

Has anyone registered for any of the races in this event?
I'm doing the Half on the Sunday. First (and more than likely last!) Half Marathon, has anyone run this course before?

Coming up from a few 5k runs to this with a training plan from a boards regular, so we all know where to point the finger if anything goes wrong :pac::D

hillsiderunner

Razorblunt, I'm not registered for any EMF stuff, but I live in Edinburgh.

The bad thing about the EMF half is that like the full-marathon the route's a little bit boring; it doesn't really go into Edinburgh city. Instead it starts near Holyrood Park and then heads out along the coast towards East Lothian. It's pretty flat. There will be supporters but not huge numbers.

The good - it's flat, and maybe even slightly downhill. That will help you especially for a first half. And you head off at 8am which is also a good thing, because EMF weekend can be hot. With the early start and the shorter distance you're in a much much better situation than the full marathoners who start out later and spend more time en-route. Even if it's a heatwave (ha ha ha, I know, what are the chances:rolleyes:) it wouldn't be too bad from 8-10:30.

PS For anyone doing the 10k the day before, that's a very different story, stays near town, and has plenty of hills....

hillsiderunner

Good luck with it btw . It's a good course profile for the first try at the half.

razorblunt

Cheers, yeah I'm familiar with the route in the sense that I know where it goes alright so I knew it wasn't technically a "true" Edinburgh course. I'll do the 10k next year I reckon.
I ran the Great Edinburgh Run a few weeks back and that was brilliant, through Princes Street Gardens, across the Royal Mile, loved it.

Most of my training is in and around Inverleith Park so I'm hoping the gradual inclines will stand me in good stead.

hillsiderunner

razorblunt wrote: »

Cheers, yeah I'm familiar with the route in the sense that I know where it goes alright so I knew it wasn't technically a "true" Edinburgh course. I'll do the 10k next year I reckon.
I ran the Great Edinburgh Run a few weeks back and that was brilliant, through Princes Street Gardens, across the Royal Mile, loved it.

Most of my training is in and around Inverleith Park so I'm hoping the gradual inclines will stand me in good stead.

Ah, I didn't reaiise you are based here. Good luck, you'll be fine, and if you have raced a 10mile already that's not far off the half experience.

How did you get on earlier Razorblunt?

I'm just on the bus back into the city after making the trip out to support those running the full marathon.

I was registered but had to pull out due to injury, hence I'm in edinburgh. I'm quite glad I didn't get to do it. There seemed to be very long stretches without any support at all. We strolled back and forth for a couple of miles, at around 25.5 miles a saw a guy in a Dublin marathon top and I cheered "cmon dublin" he looked up and didn't smile, he just said "where is it?" And looked like he was struggling to cope with not being able to see the finish. The miles didn't seem to be marked clearly with so many runners asking us how far was left. We soon realised the reason people were struggling was because at mile 25 they had bands and flags and banners, and runners thought they were home, and then when that died off they still had a mile to do. It was horrible.

There are definitely some things that could be improved. I'll drop them an email tomorrow.

Hope you had a good day out RB

razorblunt

Had a bit of a nightmare, it was my first HM and all my training had gone well. Picked up some calf and hamstring tightness in my right leg between miles 7 and 9, then completely cramped my left foot coming off a pavement after stretching the right let. Last 2.5 miles were torture. Basically hobbled around. Finished up in 2:13:39, I was on for my A goal of 2:05, would have been there or thereabouts. Having to walk/run from 10.5 onwards put paid to the B goal of 2'10. Summoned the will power to sprint finish from about 12.5 to finish as stong as I could.
Was disgusted last night but signed up for next year this morning!!

Massive respect to the folk doing the full, we were ok on the Half, some sparse moments but locals were out wavig and clapping and passing cars were beeping. The Half follows a road for about 1.5 miles before turning around a cone and coming home. That was the longest road of my life, I thought the turn would never come. I believe it's the same road the Full went out and came back. They had 9 miles into the headwind.

I believe they may have had the distances incorrect too, my Strava had my at the full distance 1 min and 39 seconds early. Might not seem alot but with cramp it was ages. Alot of folk were out by a distance.

Credit to you for supporting it, some lady in the crowd got me back running with her words of encouragement just when I needed it to finish strong.
I've recommended they use pacers too, so many folk running individually would benefit from running in a group (me included).

libelula

razorblunt wrote: »

I believe they may have had the distances incorrect too, my Strava had my at the full distance 1 min and 39 seconds early. Might not seem alot but with cramp it was ages. Alot of folk were out by a distance.
).

A lot of races get accused of this, but tbh it's extremely unlikely. What happens a lot is that with runners weaving in and out, running to the side to get water/stretch, crossing to other side of the road, you end up running a bit more than the race distance. I'm open to correction, but I think the difference can be up to 1%, which in a half marathon, adds up to quite a bit.

razorblunt

libelula wrote: »

A lot of races get accused of this, but tbh it's extremely unlikely. What happens a lot is that with runners weaving in and out, running to the side to get water/stretch, crossing to other side of the road, you end up running a bit more than the race distance. I'm open to correction, but I think the difference can be up to 1%, which in a half marathon, adds up to quite a bit.

I'd imagine you're right and had the race gone to plan I probably wouldn't even had mentioned it.
Looking back on it, I did take two corners poorly and quite wide. My watch was .2 over. It was a common complaint after it though and apparently likewise last year.

I've gotten over my dissapointment anyway and signed up for the Glasgow Half in October, I'll be back for that "A" time.

libelula

That's the spirit- get back up on that horse and nail Glasgow