The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

Wow! I did it! I actually ran a marathon. The amazing thing is... well, I don't know, everything! The whole thing has been quite an experience, right from way back in November when I first started training. 6 months of commitment and effort to culminate in one day up in my home city with my family watching from the sidelines to cheer me along. Anyway, here it, comes... the Edinburgh Marathon according to Claire!

I had all my stuff laid out the night before, I didn't fancy a mad panic in the morning. Also, because we were staying up with Mum and Dad, I needed everything ready for coming back afterwards as school and work on Monday wouldn't wait, regardless of who ran what. I was surprised that I slept pretty well the night before the race, I didn't really expect to, especially as I hadn't been sleeping too well all week in the run up to it - maybe I finally realised there was nothing else I could do about it all. So I was awoken by my alarm clock, yes really, and then embarked on my chosen nutrition routine. This is something that always causes me a problem when I'm racing. I'm not great at eating until I've been up for quite a while anyway and nerves always make me a feel a bit sick. Which tends to mean, and did this time, that I'm forcing myself to eat when I really don't want to. Mind you, not much choice when you're faced with 26.2 miles. I ate 2 cereal bars and a banana, waited a bit and then had a ham roll and some orange juice. With that little ordeal over with, Dad drove me into the city centre. Then the nerves really kicked in - in fact, so much so that it makes me feel nervy all over again just thinking about it now! It's a long time since I've felt quite so nervous before a race. But then, I'd never attempted a marathon before.

Dad dropped me off a little way away, in one of the suggested areas and I joined the throng heading in the direction of the start and eating my final cereal bar for that extra bit of energy. It certainly wasn't going to be hard to find it, just follow the crowds. I also joined the crowd in McDonalds, not for food or drink but for the use of their toilets - they didn't appear to mind and plenty of people were buying. Then I continued on my way to the start. When I got there I joined yet another loo queue, just as well as it turned out, it took over half an hour to get to the front of it and by then I needed to go again - nerves! With that out of the way I wandered off to find my starting pen, feeling very glad of the plastic poncho thingy Mum had given me as it was a little chilly, very misty and slightly drizzly. It kept me a little warmer at least. I was in the purple start zone at the back and couldn't even see where the start line was! I stood in the crowd, chatting to a few people about what was to come and whether they'd done such a race before, drinking my sport drink and wishing it was just time to begin. Finally, with a minute or two to go, I completed my drink, took off the poncho, found somewhere sensible to leave them and faced forward with anticipation. As tends to happen when you start near the back of a race, there was a countdown to the start... then nothing happened!

It took nearly 15 minutes of walking very slowly for my group to reach the start line - the joys of chip racing becoming all too apparent! Literally as the starting gun went, the sun came out, and that was the weather set for the rest of the day! What was it I said a few weeks ago about all that cold weather training and the possibility of a hot race? Well, it was a hot race - about 25 degrees in the end! Anyway, the race had begun. I was wearing a pace band for achieving a time of 5 hours, which really I wanted to be just under, but I had no idea of whether that would be at all realistic. But I was wearing it nonetheless to at least give myself a chance to keep track of it. I was also determined not to go out too fast, I didn't want to hare off and then be left to regret it later on. I had my race strategy and I was determined to stick to it.

Having said that, I looked at may pace band at the first mile marker and concluded that there were limits to how slowly you should start, and that taking over 12 minutes to complete a mile wasn't likely to get me to the finish in the sort of time I was hoping for. So, I picked up the pace a bit. Also in the first mile, I passed the first lot of en route toilets and seriously considered going, I'd decided I needed a wee just as the race began - typical! However, I took one look at the size of the queue and decided that my race time couldn't bear me standing there for that length of time. So I just got on with it, a conversation that was had internally at every set of toilets along the way until I finally realised that I just didn't need to go any more anyway - all that hot weather must have dried me out! In the first mile I also took my first walk break, I was absolutely determined to stick to the strategy that I had practised in training. Jeff Galloway doesn't have a good reputation for nothing, so I had every intention of sticking to his advice. So, I was running for 9 minutes and then walking for 1 while taking a bite of cereal bar (jelly beans later on in the day) and a few mouthfuls of water, before setting off refreshed for the next 9 minute stint. On the subject of water and nutrition, thankfully there was plenty all along the course this year - very welcome in that heat and important after the race organisers ran into such problems last year with stolen water. I was wearing my camelbak, but that wasn't anywhere near enough for running that distance in that heat. I didn't take any water from the first water station, but I did at every one after that, drinking most of the 250ml and then pouring the remainder over my head - yes, it really was that hot! At a couple of the much later water stations, well over 20 miles, I also took a bottle of Lucozade Sport as I was starting to get hungry and had no intention of hitting the wall, so I drank the full bottle each time to force some more energy into me and hopefully get me to the end reasonably okay. That appeared to work pretty well.

Right from the outset of the race I was focussed on keeping at it but also on enjoying the experience. I wanted to make sure that I took account of what was going on around me and really made the most of the experience. After all, I may never run another marathon, and what's the point of going out there for 5 hours to be miserable? So, I made sure I looked around me, paid attention to where I was and to what was happening, trying to really be in the moment rather than miles away in my head somewhere, so, no ipod this time, just soaking up the atmosphere and truly being where I was. So it was that I noticed places I'd run in Edinburgh in previous races and places where Mum ran the two times she took part in the marathon relay. I took an interest in the look and feel of the city. And then we were heading out to the coast, along the front at Portobello, reminding me of taking the kids there to the beach not so long ago. What a fantastic day to be by the sea! The sky was blue, the sea was blue and calm, a much appreciated slight breeze was wafting in from the water, helping us all along the front. It was lovely. It was a bit odd running into Musselburgh and knowing how long it would be before I was back there for the finish, but by that point I was about 10 minutes ahead of 5 hour time and hoping that I could simply manage to keep it that way. I was feeling pretty good and again hoped that that was how things would remain. The hardest part of the race for me was at the furthest point out, at Gosford House. We had gone a bit further inland and were sheltered from that welcome breeze. The sun was fully overhead and very hot, there was no shade in most of that area. That part I found simply too hot, but the countryside and the house were worth seeing. And of course, once we came out of the grounds, we were officially on our way back to Musselburgh and really, truly heading for the finish.

Once I finally started needing the Lucozade, I also began to take longer walk breaks, partly to ensure I could drink the juice and partly because I was beginning to get pretty tired. However, I was still keeping an eye on the pace band and I had no intention of letting things slip beyond my goal time, I'd been ahead of myself for the majority of the race, I had no intention of loosing out at that late stage. So, I kept an eye on the time at each mile marker, and walked a bit and ran a bit and kept myself going. Naturally I made sure that I ran the last bit, there was no way I was going to walk over that finish line. My family were watching in the grandstand at the race course as I ran over the line to record a time of 4:57:35! I was, and still am, absolutely ecstatic about that. I did a marathon! I enjoyed doing it! And I finished it within the time scale that I set myself, on a hot day too! Woohoo! I almost felt like crying, the culmination of all that effort and training and it had all paid off and come together on the day. I received my medal and kept moving through the finishers area as requested - good solid medal that felt like you'd done something worthwhile to earn it!

I ended up doing pretty much what you are supposed to do to aid your recovery, not by design though, it's just the way it worked out. We had to walk quite a way from the finish to the area where you could meet up with your supporters, so keeping my legs moving after the finish wasn't optional. The organisation of the meeting point worked pretty well and I was glad to see Mum, Dad and the kids waiting for me and to receive hugs that about knocked me over from April and Ryan. It's wonderful to know they are proud of me. Then it was off for a shower, and the water was SO cold. Again, not my choice to do something that's supposed to be good for my worn out legs, but there wasn't a lot of choice, it was a cold shower or no shower. So, I washed the sweat and sun cream off and no doubt did my muscles some good while I was at it. I did actually feel better for it once I'd had my shower, but it was a bit of a shocker putting myself under that chilly flow. We made a brief stop at the Breast Cancer Care tent for some refreshments before continuing my recovery period by walking back to the car. Musselburgh had been extremely busy when Mum and Dad arrived with the kids and they were parked some considerable distance away, so walking back there was the only option available. So, as you can see, pretty text book recovery phase, but I can't take any credit for that, it's just the way it turned out.

So, there you have it. The record of a fabulous day. I am so glad I did it and so happy that the training wasa worth it in allowing me to enjoy my day and achieve my goals.