Edinburgh Marathon

Malcolm, Sue and I did the Edinburgh Marathon yesterday, and it was certainly a memorable race for me at least. On paper the course looks great, overall downhill and great sea views – 18 miles out from Edinburgh and 8 mile back to finish at Musselburgh racecourse. What the paper doesnt take into account is the wind. Sadly the wind was in the wrong direction and the 18 miles out were into the face of a very strong headwind with very little shelter since the course went right along the coast.
I managed a very fast (way too fast considering the wind) start taking advatage of the downhill section from Edinburgh and went through 10K in 38 mins. By now I was starting to feel the wind badly and should have slowed significantly to conserve energy, but I foolishly still tried to keep roughly to a PB pace of around 6:25. I kept this up to about 17 miles and went through the halfway point at 1:23, as planned. By 17 miles though, I was suffering and there was a long stretch up a slope on a shingle path which sapped whatever energy I had remaining. I was holding out for the 18 mile point when the wind would be behind me, but by then it was too late. I saw Sue at around 18 miles – she looked good (well a lot better than I did) and must have been close to a 3 hour marathon pace at that point. By 21 miles I was a human zombie and for the first time ever I had to walk. I really can't remember much about the last 5 miles, except that I did a walk/run mix of running for 1/2 mile and walking for 30sec. By the time I crossed the line I was almost in a coma and collapsed straight away. I then spent the next hour with the Red Cross recovering. I have to say that the Red Cross were fantastic, now I have needed their services I can really appreciate the effort and professionalism they contribute to these events.
I met up with Malcolm afterwards and he suffered too, especially after 19 miles. I never got to see Sue at the finish so I don't know how she did.
At the risk of being told off by Tony for shocking running form, here is a picture of me crossing the line with legs and arms all over the place! http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisnaeme/2521482995/in/photostream/

Unofficial Results
31   Malcolm Fowler  2:46:19
73   Andrew Penney  2:53:18
264 Sue Hool            3:08:01

6610 finished