Edinburgh marathoners past and present

Hello, another old face popping in.Hope you are all well.

Not much running for me has happened since the Stockholm Jubilee marathon. I have been struck down with some form of viral infection so not had any energy for the past wee while. Blood tests have come back clear and i'm feeling a bit better now so for the rest of the year i'm going to concentrate on just getting out running and getting the fitness back. So yesterday i missed out on the Glasgow half and i will be withdrawing from the Loch Ness marathon later this month. It's just come around too soon.I am already planning for next year though.

I did manage to take part in the Great Scottish Run toddler dash, my daughters first race! It was great fun and really well organised.

Can the Olympic Stadium in Munich is incredible, i was there in '99 for the football, in the old days when Rangers played in Europe. It's stunning and got a great history, i may put Munich in my marathon plans for next year!

Hi all,

Thought I'd stick my head in and see who was about.  Getting back into a wee bit of running since some other bits of my life not going so well at present, started training again late June.  Managed 120 miles in July and 140 in August and have 2 PBs so far a 5k 19:38 at Strathclyde Parkrun 10 days ago and 1:30:50 for the Glasgow half yesterday (Splits 7.28,6.53,6.40,6.31,6.58,7.04,6.47,7.09,6.59,7.09,6.43,6.28,6.48,1.07)  My aim was to run at 6:50 for as long as I could and try to get inside 90 min, but I was boxed in the held up in the first mile and never managed to really get the time back.  I slowed a bit in the middle but still managed the last 3 miles on or better than target pace. Feel good today and think I should have tried harder now!  Not bad getting PBs and beating times set 3 years ago with so little training over such a short period though.  Loch Ness here I come.........

seems we wearn't all so luck yesterday http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-19465413

Oh there have been people here.  Never seem to get notifications these days of there being posts on the forum.  Nice of you all to pop in.  Well done on your runs last week DCB and Greg (especially DCB that was pretty swift for an old bloke!!!!!!).  TrimmDich the big question is..........did she beat you???

TrimmDich I have real sympathy for the nick you are in.  Unfortunately you got stuck in the same situation I got caught in Boston where you weren't in any fit shape to run but there was no way you couldn't after looking forward to it so long.  I remember when I said I was doing Stalk Home in 2010 you said you were saving yourself for this one off race and just by its unique nature you couldn't defer the place to 2112 when it will next come around.  If it happened every year you would defer or in the case of Boston for me if I hadn't struggled to qualify so many times before and every time since that race I wouldn't have felt bad about not being there.  In think both our experiences were painful and not what we really hoped for in these races but we made it to the end and really bloody earned our medals.  If it comes as any comfort for you even if you were in good shape going into it that race was still an absolute baw breaker.  I met a bloke from scotland before the start who was really looking forward to the race which I thought was a bit delusional as I was dreading it only to meet him again at the airport and find out he thought it was feckin horrid.  I think that was probably the hardest marathon course I have ever run.  I really feckin hate "h" words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't remember that game in 1999.  I do remember Rangers losing to them in the late 80s and Klaus Augentauler smashing a wonder goal in from about 40 yards out that beat Chris Woods all ends up. I burst a football in my neighbours rose bush trying to hit a shot like Klaus' in the street.  Klaus was one of a very bizarre set of childhood heros along with Lothar Matthaus (the only normal one), Preben Elkjaer, Pierre Litbarski, Dragan Stoickovic and Vasseli Rats.  I don't know anybody that even remembers most of them never mind tried to be him in the street.  I was a football nerd even at the age of 12 lol

Is there a river anywhere near Ayr???  I thought when I went there as a kid it was on the coast and am pretty sure it was in the same place the last time I went there to watch the footie.  Has somebody moved in???

Good to see someone else's legs aren't working properly.  I can't remember the last time I got up in the morning an and didn't have stiff and sore legs.  marathon training sucks at times. 

My legs still hurt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a dilemma.  Its 3 weeks until marathon time.  Do I need a long run or a race more this weekend.  I've not had a race for ages and if it was a half I would definately run it but the race is only a 10k and not sure it is long enough if I'm working tomorrow and monday to fit in something longer.  Please help make my mind up for me.

How frustrating was my run tonight. Too manky to run outside I headed to the gym.  I thought I'd run a nice 6 miler only for my dreadmill to cut out all on its own after a completely unspecified time.  It might have been a mile I think a wee bit more.  After much fannying about with the emergency stop magnetic cord type thing which swapped I got going again only for Mrs M at another unspecified time to trip over the cable and unplug me which brought me to another unscheduled shuddering stop.  As I was convinced I must have gone at least a mile but possibly not as far as 2 (although in hindsight I think I was on for 2) I thought it was a braw idea to blast a 5 miler instead of a 6 miler.  Its fair to say I had gone a lot further in my 1st 2 unmeasures stints as my legs were like jelly by the finish.  I think there was a bit of saboutage going on to make sure I don't slack off prior to Munich.

Good news for anybody running Inverness on Sunday the wind is going to turn before sunday.  I wouldn't have fancied doing 26.2 miles into the wind yesterday or today.  Dodged a bullet there folks.

Munich is still looking a bit warm.  I'm told Deutschland cools down pretty quickly in October.  I hope I'm not being told porky pies.  If it is hot it could be slightly interesting as part of the course goes through a nudist colony in the Englisher garten.  I can't say I've ever ran through a nudist colony before.  Should be an experience.

Wow. haven't been on here for ages. Great to see it is still up and running. Hi DCB.The last time we bumped into each other was Berlin 3 years ago !!

Thanks Caniggia. Yep, flying out tomorrow morning. Have had a stange taper. Hit all my targets in my long runs, the last 4-5 weeks has seen little running, however a month ago I had a good Tauton 10k, and last week had a 9.5 mile off road race, the other longest run I have had is about 10 miles off road as well, so sporadic !!, still the 10k was fast as usual and a great tune up race. I don't think you lose too much in a couple off weeks anyway. Also succumbed to a stinking snotty head and sore throat a week ago !! rather then than now !!!!

Hope all goes well tomorrow for you Mr Kiwi.  On the upside you have hopefully got your unluckyness out of your system in the run up to the race and can go out and kill it.  I did it the other way round  i trained brill then made an arse of the race!!!!!!

Munich was great.  Not the best marathon race I have ever ran it spent a bit too much time running round the English garden and not a lot of time in the centre of town although the finish in the Olympic stadium was fantastic (even if they had dug up the running track and tarmaced it).  Very flat, very fast and not a lot of people to get in your way compared to races like Berlin and Rotterdam which are certainly flat but not very fast due to the crowds unless you are Kenyan and have 26 miles of clear tarmac in front of you.

Munich is a fab city.  (If you love Berlin you would love Munich Mr Kiwi).  I was there for 7 days and have barely scratched the surface of the things there were to see and do there.  Apart from the marathon I went to the Olympic stadium, Allianz arena, Nuremburg, Dachau, BMW world, had a hitler walking tour, a good wander to see lots of things most of which I never had time to go into and went to the most rediculously extravagent science and technology museum I have ever been to in my life.  The only disappointment was the famous beer halls but that was maybe just the perils of going on my own for my hols and would probably be great too if there was a group of you there.  All in all its been a pretty good week (at least there was plenty to take my mind off the race!!!!).  Shame I have to go back to work on Monday,

The least said about Dundee last night the better.

Hi Caniggia. Ran 2.48. Quite pleased. However very slow start. Unfortunately even though I started in the yellow zone just behind the elites, there was a hell of a lot of congestion and bottle necks. Especially going out of the stadium where we actually stopped. There were people who put down times that were far faster than they could run !!! And there were some plodders who were very slow who should have been much further back !!. So it scuppered things really. Don't get me wrong, anyone has the right to enter, but play by the rules. This just buggers things up for the more serious runners. They did this just to get into the good starting zone. The other thing was the conditions. There was a strong cross and head wind after the half way mark, so taking all this into consideration, no chance of a sub 2.40, but still more than happy to do under 2.50.

I am sure I would like Munich,as I love Berlin. I am still looking at the Konig Ludwig Romantic castles marathon in bavaria one day. You fly to Munich, then a 2 hour train journey to Fussen, so tempting. Aparently even though it is in the Bavarian Alps it is supposed to be quite flat. It looks a fabulous race !!. What was your Munich time ??

Hi Kiwi,

Well done thats another fab run.  I don't know why but Holland seems a bit of a shambles at the start compared to germany.  I found the same when I ran rotterdam and even if it hadn't been 37C and I died in the sun it would have been stuffed right from the off as I set off with a 9 and 8 1/2 minute mile I would have been stuffed right from the off.

I did have a look at the day trip to King Ludwig's castle it looks like some place.  I will take your word for it being flat though something tells me the words alps and flat don't really fit comfortably together.  From the pictures I have seen of that castle I cant honestly say I ever thought gee thats a flat part of the world lol.  If you do go I strongly recommend a few days in Munich after the race there was just soooooo much to see and do there.  Bit like Berlin there is just a silly amount to see and do there and I barely scratched the surface of the things I would have liked to have seen never mind having to go to things you weren't really wanting to see like I have had to do in places like Amsterdam and Dublin just to fill the last day or so of your holiday.

I ran 3:25 which I was a bit disappointed with to be honest.  Trained great and saved my worst run in months for the big day.  May have been a bit under raced there hasn't been many up here yesterday and got a bit spooked by the big day even after running as many marathons I have.  All the eggs were in the one basket and I think I bottled it a bit.  Felt really sick which I put down to nerves on race morning, nearly spewed on the starting line, did chunder at mile 11 and 15ish and had a really rough time from miles 11-17 which was a lot sooner than I wanted it to get that hard.  I'm saying it was nerves but while I was away mum was really unwell and nearly ended up in hospital with a compylobacter gut infection which in hindsight I may have had a bit of too as it was a bit unusual for me to feel sickly nervous.  I think in balance its more likely it was a complete bottle though.

Only 2 and a bitty months till the Goofy Challenge.  Onwards and upwards......

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Tokyo has just been added to the list of marathon majors.  After London next year the only major I still had to do was Chicago.  Adding a 6th major is just not fair.