Edinburgh half marathon 2013

Well.....we did it! My sister Margaret and I ran the Edinburgh half marathon last Sunday in 1 hour and 48 minutes. I'm thrilled with our time but more importantly, the way we ran the race.

It started at 8am so I got up at twenty past 5 to make sure I had plenty of time to eat, hydrate and digest. Freddie, who's getting a new tooth (it'll be his 7th), joined me at 540. Luckily I had just finished my oatmeal topped with blueberries and a giant mug of tea, so I got him up and we spent a little while together before William got up and joined us. There's definitely something about safety-pinning your number on the morning of a run. I started to get a little nervous but the nerves quickly turned to excitement when Margaret and our friend Sam (running his first half!) came to get me.

We left the house at 730 and jogged/walked the short distance to the start line. It was a beautiful sunny morning so we didn't even need a long-sleeve to keep us warm. We got to the start line in less than 10 minutes. Another big bonus to living so close- we did out last pee at home and didn't have to wait in the endless port-a-potty line. Sidebar- what do they call them here? William had never heard of honey buckets, as I referred to them, but I don't think they use port-a-potty either. Hmmmm. Enlighten me if you know.

Margaret and I each wrote down 5 topics to discuss during the run since we had decided to forgo our ipods. I was a little uneasy about this since I'd never done a race without my pod but I've always heard you run better without it (maybe because your focus is more on your running form than the Bon jovi song blasting in your eardrums). We analyzed the latest episode of Mad Men, talked about my skipping school career in high school and whether or not Madge should cut her hair short, amongst other things.

Our strategy worked well- we kept up a pace of about 8 minute miles for the majority of the race and kept chatting the whole way. At mile 10 we snacked on my tic tac container filled with honey (way better than any of those sick energy gels) and dumped water on our heads at every water stop (the reason I look bald in all the pics taken afterwards. Regretted it instantly when I saw those!). The sun was blazing for two thirds of the race at least and that was honestly the toughest part. It was a relief when it hid behind the clouds for the last couple miles (the only time I will EVER say that).

I have to admit I got a little emotional crossing the finish line. Even though I've run a few half marathons, 10k's and even a full marathon, this one somehow meant more. I guess it stems from being 50lbs (at least!) more than my usual weight and barely able to walk because of a giant baby inside me just a year before. Yikes! It was SO great to see our male cheerleading squad of William, Freddie and Andy (Madge's other half) at the finish line, too. Actual supporters! Thanks for coming guys!

Half marathon training- update!

Well, the half marathon is almost here! The Edinburgh Marathon Festival begins tomorrow and the half marathon is on Sunday. As is always the case with these things, I could have trained more, but I am happy overall with the training that I did.

Freddie and I have more or less kept up our once-a-week run together, I have done another short run during the week by myself and then my sister and training partner (other than Freddie) Margaret and I have done a long run on the weekends. We did just over 12 miles the Saturday before last so I think we're as ready as we'll ever be.

We've decided to be professional about the race and are not going to be bringing our ipods. Just like the elite runners, we'll be focusing on our form and breathing rather than distracting ourselves with T-swift's latest tune. We've also agreed to make note (on our hands) of five interesting stories to tell each other along the way. These can be about friends, coworkers, family, neighbors, friends of friends, TV etc. Anything interesting to get us talking and keep us running!

Freddie and William will have to leave the house at almost the same time as I will on Sunday to ensure they get to the finish line on time. We live right on part of the race route so the road closures will make their journey almost as painful as mine. :) Thinking of them at the finish line will definitely help me through the race though. It's been quite a year with Freddie and I'm excited to be able to say I lost 50+ lbs and ran 13.1 miles one year after having a baby. :) (WOW- that's a lot of poundage.)

Photo of the week- toes in the sand

Ok, I still can't keep it to one photo but here are my favorite two photos from the past week. These were actually from this morning when Freddie and I went to the playground at the Meadows. We had a fabulous time going down the slide, throwing woodchips and playing in the sand. The sand was definitely Freddie's favorite arena. Only problem was- he kept trying to steal the sand toys other kids brought.

To solve that problem, I just bought him a few from Amazon. I went for the ones on the right- classic sand toys and a steal of a deal for only £5. Another cool thing I noticed this morning was Freddie isn't as into eating the sand and woodchips as he once was. Progress! He's growing up so fast. :)