Twas the night before…

It is 8:30 pm, I’m at home with my feet up and a nervous, butterfly feeling in my tummy: In just under 12 hours I will be standing in my starting wave waiting to cross the line for the EMF Edinburgh Half Marathon. My kit is laid out, Garmin fully charged, my breakfast things, snack and water bottle are on the kitchen bench. I’ve written a list of things I need to remember to take. I’ve made my throw away arm warmers out of a pair of men’s socks from Tesco (genius idea from Beth at Shut up + Run)

There is still that gnawing feeling of having forgotten something.

I’ve not felt great this past week and have had a few restless nights and a few niggles from my ankle (which I’m trying to ignore). I’ve taken things easy, even skipping parkrun this morning in favour of a sleep in. I’m putting it down to nervousness about tomorrow, particularly about the logistics of getting myself to the start line. The race starts at 8:00 am in Edinburgh which is 50+ miles from Glasgow (the marathon starts at the far more reasonable hour of 10:00 am). I have pre-paid tickets for the Park and Ride shuttle service which is due to leave my chosen Park and Ride at 6:30 am. I’m aiming to leave home at 5:10 am. Eeek!!  

This is my goal race for the first half of 2014 and I have to admit that I’m nervous about putting my race goals down in black and white, what if I don’t achieve them? How will I feel coming back to write my race report with none of my goals met? However as I write that I’m reminding myself that this running caper is supposed to be fun, and I should not be so hard on myself. Also there is lots to be positive about: my training has gone really well, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been before and 4 weeks ago I ran 10 miles on a hilly course averaging 10 minutes/mile.  So here goes:

• Happy: Sub 2:18
• Happier: Sub 2:15
• Happiest: Sub 2:12

I think they’re achievable goals, bring on 8:00 am!

Decisions at last for Spring Races

While many of you have already chalked up multiple races, I’ve been umming and ahhing about what races to enter over the next few months in the lead up to the Loch Ness Marathon (27 weeks and 6 days away). My plan had been to run the Edinburgh Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon at the end of June, with another Half Marathon at some point during May. I settled on my decisions the week before last only to see a tweet from the Scottish Running Guide (@scotrunguide) announcing that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half had been cancelled, apparently due to “lack of local support”. Back to the drawing board.

I’ve been exercising my credit card this weekend and this is what I’ve come up with:

29/03/14 – Nigel Barge 10k – North Glasgow (local club race that has been going for 70 years!)

27/04/14 – Great Edinburgh Run 10 mile

11/05/14 – Bupa Great Women’s 10k, Glasgow (this was my first 10k in 2011 & I ran it again in 2012)

25/05/14 – EMF Half Marathon, Edinburgh (8am start before the main event, the Edinburgh Marathon)

20/06/14 – Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k, Pollok Park Glasgow (Club race. I ran this in 2013, it was good fun with a  free BBQ after)

It is possibly a slight error to run the Women’s 10k a fortnight before the Half Marathon, presumably I should be doing a long run that day. However I’ve already done two 10 mile runs this month, so I think I will have plenty of time to get my distance runs in (but really I have no idea what I’m doing so I’ll cross my fingers too 🙂 ).

I also bought myself a little present today, my new trail shoes are demanding an outing: