Edinburgh Marathon

Hi Gary, I would get a taxi to the start area as you are only a couple of miles outside then get a taxi back from the finish to your hotel...see the problem is after the marathon you will not want to walk to a local train station (about 1 mile to Wallyford) then from the train station to your hotel (about 3/4mile)...think that is your best bet plus getting a taxi will prob work out cheaper than parking your car in Edinburgh

nice 15 miler done on Friday, thought if i keep up a 15 miler every other weekend I wont have lost my marathon fitness from the Liverpool marathon last month and will be able to do more 20 plus milers this time.

Hi

This will be my first marathon. I've done 10k's and half marathons in the past but my last race was the Edinburgh half in 2008. Was interested to read the posts on accomodation. I live on the west coast and have previously travelled through the morning of the race. The last time the parking at Musselburgh race course was fine. Not sure if it will be the same for the the marathon. Would be interest in your advice.

Hi Gary,

If you are going to be doing 12 milers every other week before you start your plan you could either just drop back your mileage and start from the beginning of your training plan or start the plan at week 3 or 4 (where ever the 12 miler starts), it wont harm you to drop back down though, the rest may well be beneficial by the time you start your training plan!

Hey Gary and Grey, this year they had buses (for a small fee!!)  that can get you back to Edinburgh, The bus stop is a LONG way from the finish but I'd say the walk does you good!! and you see the other runners coming in! but word to the wise, if you do decide to take the bus back make sure you take water with you on the walk!

Was thinking about getting dropped off near the and picked up again at the finish. Not sure if this will be possible with road closures etc

Hey everyone.

I'm planning on signing up to the Edinburgh Marathon, which would be my first marathon. Came across this (Runners World) forum as I was searching online to see if it would be possible to train for a marathon in six months. Seems to be a few people who have started from scratch and managed to complete a marathon within 22 weeks training which is encouraging.

I only started running in September, following a five stone weight loss after joining a gym at the start of May this year. The gym started to become monotonous (I went 4-5 times a week for four months solid) and so I decided to try running and have kinda caught the bug. I recently ran the Mo Running Glasgow 5k in just over 28 minutes and immediately wanted to sign up to something that I could focus my attention on for next year.

Most logical step would be to do a 10k, then half marathon but upon reading about the Edinburgh marathon, it seems to make sense (in a non-sensical way!) that this is what I should be striving towards.

I've had a plan made online from Asics which starts on 10th December and sets a goal of 4h 44 mins based on my current level of running.

What's the opinion on here? Should I put off the idea of a marathon for a while or go for it? My wife and best mate think it's a crazy idea and I should go for the half marathon.

my advice for what its worth is....

A marathon has to be respected! It is after all a very long way, the training can be at times very hard, when you look at a training plan on paper it just looks like numbers, when your pounding the pavements for 15, 18, 20 mile runs it feels really quite different! If you did work towards some shorter races, you would discover for yourself how well you cope with races and how to pace yourself, and maybe better prepared for when you do do a marathon,  rather than jumping in with both feet and not get the finish what you want!

What ever you decide just stay safe, the last thing you want to do is over do it and end up with an injury!!

Hey tigger,

Thanks for the feedback. I get your point about jumping in with two feet and not getting the finish I want. To be honest, I want to do the marathon solely for the achievement of having completed one, my time won't mean too much to me. After years of sitting on my arse watching TV, I've proven to myself this year that if I work hard and dedicate myself to something, I can actually achieve something worthwhile. When I joined the gym earlier this year, I did at first doubt if I would give it the commitment required to lose a substantial amount of weight and get myself fit. Despite finding it tough going, I knew the reward was high and I managed to stay motivated enough to keep with my programme.

I do have an enormous amount of respect for the marathon and for marathon runners. Six months ago I would have never even dreamed about considering a marathon - it was something that only a select few ever did. I'm aware it'll be a long and arduous training programme and that I'll want to chcuk it all in a few times along the way. Strangely though, I'm still attracted to the idea!

I think as you have already made your mind up Grae!!

I was just thinking that whilst reading my post back.

In fact, that's settled it. What do I have to lose? £50 entry fee?

My training plan begins in a couple of weeks and I'm already doing a few runs per week at the moment (about 10-12k per week). I can sign up for a couple of 10k races along the way for race day experience. The worst case scenario is that I drop out of training and lose the money, but even that scenario involves me having at least completed part of my training which will do me good anyway.

Edit: Signed up and paid for.  Now all I need to do is run it.

Are you currently a member of a running club?

Green and white tigger wrote (see)

Are you currently a member of a running club?

 

No, I need to be fairly flexible about when I run. I work full time, I'm doing a full time university course and have a young family so I have to fit my runs in between commitments associated with those. My plan allows for running three times a week which I will defintely find the time for, just not necessarily at a pre-arranged time.

I would recommend it, even if you can not do a regular time you may find others doing Edinburgh or in fact training for a marathon.  And you never know you may be able to get the odd week, It is very different running with a club you get pushed without realising! not to mention races, its makes a difference when you have the clubs support! I thought it was quite scary before I joined and that they would all be elite runners, but the truth is we all have one big thing in common we run, good or bad run, competitive or not makes no odds!