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

After some very nervous waiting, my Vitruvian experience began in earnest on Friday afternoon. We took the kids to Daniel's Dad's as we knew they'd be bored stupid waiting around for long enough for me to complete a race of this magnitude - they get bored during a sprint! Anyway, with them successfully delivered we set off for Rutland Water, I wanted to get myself registered and my bike racked on the Friday night so I'd have less to worry about on the Saturday morning.

I headed off to Trentham with great enthusiasm. I have done this race quite a few times before and have always enjoyed it. Also, it's a good excuse for a pleasant family weekend away. We book early and get ourselves into the Premier Inn on the site, therefore allowing another fall out of the room and wander to the start. A nice unstressful way to begin a race day, no worrying about getting there - good plan. Because we were there for the weekend it also meant I was able to go and register on the Saturday afternoon, taking even more pressure off the Sunday morning.

Cycling Out

Nearly finished

Waiting for the start

It was with more than a little trepidation that I approached this race. So much so that I was surprised at myself. I mean, okay, so it was a race that I hadn't done before, and okay, it has been a while since I completed an Olympic distance course, but even so. In the preceding week I'd been looking forward to it, having heard good things about it from others braving the waters at Pugneys early on weekend mornings. But all of a sudden on the Saturday night I was not a happy bunny.

Well, it was with quite some enthusiasm that I lined up at the start of this race on a windy and wet February morning. I know I've been training pretty well and I was hoping for a far better experience than my last running of this race. I've done it twice before, but not at all in the last few years. The first time I did I found it okay, hard and hilly but manageable. The second time it all went very wrong.

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!

It was nice to be back for my 6th running of this race. I missed it last year and was very sorry to have broken my run of completing this event. I got myself into Leeds bright and early this morning, something that turned out to be just as well. It was quite a bit busier around the race area than it has been in the past. This appeared to be due to there being road closures in the area for roadworks as well as for the race itself.

This was another new race for me, but one that I was expecting to enjoy as it is run by a group whose races I have enjoyed in the past. This race is another one organised by Freebird Events. I went just hoping to enjoy the race, clearly after what I was saying about last weekend, I hadn't done enough training (seems like the story of my life at the moment), so I just wanted to get out there and enjoy racing.

I ran this race once before, but in very different circumstances. The last time I tackled it was in 2004, it was my very first half marathon and I'd taken the training very seriously indeed. I've never been that well prepared for any subsequent half and have nearly always ended making excuses to explain my slowness! I'm afraid their will be similar comments being made here. I was doing really well with the initial training for this race, so much so that I was up to 13 miles about a month and a half a go and thought I was on course for a good race.

I was really looking forward to taking part in this race. My training had been going pretty well, I'd been doing quite a lot of running with a view to the Half Marathon in a few weeks time and I actually felt relatively well prepared. Mind you, I was still feeling nervous, especially as it's a race that I hadn't done before. My day prior to the race probably wasn't ideal pre-race stuff, I was out all day long shopping with my Mum and my sister - but hey! It was fun.

In the Pool

Cycling

In Transition

This is a race that I really like to fit into my calendar. It's nice and handy, there's a good atmosphere and it's one that I can do with April. We didn't manage to fit it in last year because it clashed with one of the Swim Run races, so it was good to see it on a free weekend this time.