First Marathon šš»
I recently ran my first marathon through the Pentlands in Edinburgh, and this was massive for me in every sense of the word. Even though Iād still consider myself relatively new to the running scene, it wasnāt as challenging as I thought it would be. Donāt get me wrong; a trail marathon with over 1000 metres elevation gain is exactly as painful as it sounds, but I had been training well, slowly ramping up my weekly distances, staying on top of my nutrition and giving myself the time to recover properly.
On the morning of the race, I arrived at Staughton Park for an 8 am start. There were a few hundred people there, with participants either taking on a hike or a run, with options for a 25 km or the full marathon. Even though Scotland has a reputation for having all four seasons on a given day, the conditions were so perfect that the Met Office were so shocked that they had to issue a public apology for getting the forecast wrong (for legal reasons, this is a joke).
I met a fair few nice folks along the way and was pleasantly surprised at how good-natured people can be, even when youāre both climbing a hill so steep that your quads feel more uncomfortable than being on the Central line in the zenith of British summer. To be honest, the downhills also had their bumps in the roadāliterally, I almost twisted my ankle about 10 times on the rocky surfacesā because of the terrain but also because my legs couldnāt keep up with my acceleration (cheers, Isaac Newton). 26.2 miles of undulating trail paths later, I finished my first marathon with a time of 5:35:10.
All in all, I think I prepared and managed everything pretty well for this. If I were to do this again, I wouldnāt ā kidding, but Iād probably consider taking some hiking poles to make the climbs a bit easier. Alternatively, Iāll rock up with the biggest quads that even Usain Bolt would be asking for my leg day training plan.
Now to continue training for the Sheffield 10k, and the Glasgow half-marathon (spaced 7 days apart) in just a few weeks. Smart, I knowā¦
