After completing the 15 mile ‘Run Balmoral’ last year my cousin Eve (who lives in Scotland and regularly ‘encourages’ me into running random races up there declared that I should enter a Marathon so we wait eagerly for London ballot places to be announced before we entered Edinburgh!

13 months later I arrive in Edinburgh and within minutes of chatting to a taxi driver who tells me that it’s going to be a boiling hot 26 degrees on the Sunday and to make sure I drink enough and wear sun screen, I’m not good running in heat so the nerves kick in. We spend Friday night pretending there was no approaching marathon in the Ivy Brasserie for dinner and continue to carb up and drink as much water as possible on Saturday whilst we browsed the shops (it would have been rude not to!) and wondered down to the 5k and 10k start and mini expo (this consists of charity and sponsors stands/ pop up shops).

On Sunday morning we get ready, make sure we’re covered in sun cream despite the weather appearing grey and cool, then calm our nerves by walking the short distance from our rented flat to the start area. There are thousands of people queuing for the toilets and the bag drops are articulated lorries as the start and finish are at different points. We say our good lucks and head off to our respective starting pens (tip for future runners head to the purple pen and find the toilets there to avoid queues).

The race starts! It takes around 15 minutes to cross the starting line (I’m in the last pen) and from there I manage to remember everything I’ve been told and stick to a steady comfortable target pace, winding through the scenic areas of Edinburgh and down to Princes Street before continuing down to the coast with crowds cheering us on at every turn and some local residents have the chariots of fire theme blasting from their house. The temperature hasn’t increased at this point. We move onwards towards the path along the coast where we encountered the 20mph freezing cold head winds, grey skies and the waves crashing beside us and I chuckle to myself about slathering on the sun cream earlier! The wind was making this hard work up to the 16 mile point and the negative thoughts and weather related grumpiness set in.

I was looking forward to the 20 mph tail wind after the turnaround loop on the course at around 18 miles, alas this was not to be! So on I plodded round the Gosford Estate loop and back on to the main course and struggled on to Cockenzie (where I’m sure the entirely terrible but hilarious Salvation Army 2 man band are playing ‘Sweet Caroline’ out of time and off tune!)

Mile 21, the sun comes out finally and it’s blazing hot with no breeze, I silently congratulate myself for the sun cream, a positive moment in what had turned into a hard slog of run/ walking through the last couple of miles while getting frustrated with myself for it. I continue plodding to Preston Pans where there is a Samba band and dancers, the crowds in this area have dispersed and someone mentions there’s ‘only a park run to go’ in the spaced out groups of runners.

Finally, I see the barriers that indicate I’m near the finish, I fight the emotions and I pick myself up and make sure I push with whatever I’ve got left and at least make sure I ‘enjoy’ the last 385 yards and keep going until I’ve crossed the line, the crowds are great and I spot my parents and cousin right near the finishing arch and keep pushing on. I definitely swear as I cross the last timing matt and tell myself I never ‘have’ to do this again because the bucket list item is now ticked and I’ve got the t-shirt, medal and calorie deficit to prove it!

Overall I think Edinburgh is great marathon to try, it’s a smaller scale than London (around 36,000 participants) some great scenery with plenty of local support including a number of bands and a great goody box at the end.