Sir Chris Hoy Edinburgh Half Marathon 5/04/09
First up, Emily's report...
When the alarm went off on Sunday the first thing I heard was the wind outside, which instantly brought back memories of last year's blustery half. However, by the time we were all assembled at the start-line (somewhat 20 mins late) I soon realised the wind wasn’t half as bad as it had been last year.As soon as the gun went off I found myself having to duck and weave my way through the best part of my first mile. Thankfully most of which was downhill. As I approached the first mile marker I noted 7.30 so I hadn’t lost too much time manoeuvring my way through the throng. I soon got into my stride as I made my way towards Portobello where I was greeted with many cries of “come on Porty” most of which were from complete strangers. Having never run in a club vest before I can thoroughly recommend it, the encouragement I received throughout the rest of the route was amazing.
I reached the half way point (7 miles) in a time of 51.10 so I knew I was on course for a PB. Could I keep this up or had I gone off too early? Then I remembered Bert's comment last week “just remember to run your own race”. With this mantra in mind I pushed on and before I knew it, I was on my way back home. It was now that the wind came to the fore as I fought through, eager not to lose any of the lead I had made thus far. Typically there was no one to draft behind (but then again there never is) however I heard the noise from the finish line fast approaching which spurred me on.
As I neared the home straight I was cheered on this time with “dig in wee Porty” so I did and crossed the finish line in a PB time of 1.35.19. Beating last year's time by well over 6 mins.
Congratulations to all fellow Porties who ran the race.
Report Emily Ramsay
Next up Ben...
I turned up on Sunday morning for the Edinburgh Half Marathon expecting little as I had been under the weather all week in the build up. Race day was actually the best I'd felt for a week so I thought you never know. My previous PB was 1:33:50 and often I go faster than that when training so should not be that difficult a challenge. Arrived at Meadowbank to discover that Alan Aitch had got married the day before and I (along with 3000 others) was in fact spending his honeymoon with him - who says romance is dead?
Race conditions were ideal and about halfway round a PB was touch and go. Hit the 13 mile marker and had bags of time left to get a PB or so I thought as I took my foot of the gas (my week of ill health was catching up on me) until the clock was in sight and I realised I might have cocked up. Sprinted for the line and on stopping my watch thought I'd missed a PB by two seconds. Went to a neighbour's birthday party on Sunday afternoon / night and drowned my sorrows only to find out on Monday that I had actually beaten my PB by 2 seconds. Celebration felt a little flat with my sore head.
Was great to see so many others properly smash their PBs and a good confidence booster to know that on a better day I've got lots of room for improvement. Another lesson learned today - a bit like playing to the final whistle - keep running until the finish (DOH!)
Report Ben Carter
Alan on his honeymoon
Aileen's rant / report (her words not mine)...
Ok, you pay a King’s ransom to enter, the organisers can’t get around to actually sending you your chip and bib number through the post, just a card so you can go and collect them (here’s an idea, instead of the card, why not just SEND THE CHIP AND BIB NUMBER!); the start is 20 minutes late and resembles cats being herded in its organisational skills; no goodie bag just loose goodies (I use the term loosely); and to top it all, no chip time recorded!
This is not exactly critical for me in terms of Championship points (ha, ha), as I don’t think I could argue that it took me 10 minutes to get across the start after the gun, and that’s what I’d need with Shelagh in my age group, but it makes a difference to me. Unfortunately, I can’t rant about the baggage collection as I didn’t use it after last year’s fiasco.
Apart from all that (and yes, I do realise I’m starting to sound like Peter Buchanan) I enjoyed the race, sunny, only 3 windy miles instead of 13 like last year, plenty of PRC support and a pb of 1:43:32, whatever the official timer says!
Report Aileen Ross (starting to sound like who?)
George (above) may not be familiar to everyone at club as his other commitments keep him busy on a Wednesday evening. However he did email to say....
It was great to see you and all the other Porty faces on Sunday again - just reminds me of what I miss on Wednesdays in terms of good quality training and, of course, 'the chat'. Please pass on my best wishes to all at the Club and, family / football commitments allowing, I hope to get along sometime soon. (George recently refereed his first Premier League match and reffed a match on the day before the Half.)
Peter's report...
Last of the big spendersI got out my SirChrisHoy bed about 6.30 and had my SirChrisHoy breakfast early so that it would be settled by kick off. We gathered our SirChrisHoy bags and went to Meadowbank where there were quite a lot of folk jammed through the SirChrisHoy doors. We dropped our kit off with the SirChrisHoy baggage people (not to be confused with the nonSirChrisHoy antiques fair,) and warmed up round the SirChrisHoy track.
I ran quite a long way with 205. He dropped me before Prestonpans, running 1.18During the week leading up to the SirChrisHoy (okay I'll stop that now) Half I had been getting increasingly anxious; trying out shoes and watching the forecast making sure everything was in order. Trying to work out why I was nervous when I expect to race about 40 races this year and rarely feel under such pressure beforehand, I realised I had a mission: to try and go sub 1.20 and that it would almost certainly be desperate for a lot of the race. Most of the races I do: hill and trail races, are like a trip to the cinema – this would be more like a trip to the dentist. Last time I ran a pb at a Half was 2005 when I ran Haddington in 1.20.54 then a couple of weeks later failed to go under 1.20 at Glasgow Half. Should have been straightforward but it turned into one of the hottest days of the year and I nearly died running 1.20.54 again. Report here.
Recently I've been in that form again. After a certain age, and after a couple of years without getting near to a pb, you wonder is that it? Is it all downhill from here, my best times behind me? For whatever reason, mostly training, I was in a position to aim at sub 1.20 and felt with luck I could maybe do it. I put my £28 stake up against it and crossed my fingers for the weather. The week leading into the half and I pretty much threw in the towel as gale force winds strafed the coast. However on the way to Meadowbank it was bright if a little cold and gusty. I much prefer to run in sunshine. The day was strange though – you could get sunburnt and frostbitten during the same race. I wore gloves.
Due I think to baggage handling and queueing we were 20mins late starting. We then followed a bagpipe band playing what sounded more like a lament or funeral dirge out round to the front of Meadowbank. I noticed Bert and Paul and Scott Balfour ahead of me near the start line. Then before anybody was expecting it, the air horn went off and we jumped into action. I pushed my stopwatch just before going over the start mat and headed up the road in search of sub1.20.
The course while not scenic was at least downhill, then flat. The wind behind us made the first 10 miles really quick and the support along the route from non-running Porties was really uplifting. I put in a fast couple of miles to start with (11.30ish at 2 miles) and was surprised to find myself just outside the top ten. It seemed that a few of the regular faces were missing: perhaps folk just don't think £28 is a good price. What is a £3 handling charge? I'm thinking of adopting this policy, so when somebody says there's that fiver I owe you I'll say make it £8 there's a £3 handling charge. Otherwise known as daylight robbery.
And if you're going to charge a substantial amount there is an expectation of a substantial service. The start, the baggage, the chip time fiasco; it was all a bit second rate. I am planning on boycotting all similar overpriced urban Halfs and Marathons in the future.
So there I was legging it along the oh-so-familiar prom thinking all I've got to do is keep turning out 6 minute miles and its in the bag. It didn't even feel windy. Maybe I can do this. From mile 6 I began to feel bad patches. From mile 7 the good patches between the bad patches began to recede until the point where it was just wall to wall unpleasantness. I stopped responding to the many encouraging remarks along the route and put the head down. I was still going at a good rate but no longer enjoying the battle. We passed the racecourse at Musselburgh and I wondered how it would be when we next appeared there at the finish.
Off to Prestonpans. The whole road was closed to traffic which meant we didn't have to run on that raddled pavement. I had worked out I needed to do the first 10 in under 60 minutes to accommodate the headwind we would hit in the last 3. We began to see the lead runners, first 3 with big gaps between. Then sharp right up the hill (almost past Bert's house) and left back down to the main road. I looked at my watch and saw 59 and a half. It might be on. Then we hit the road and the force of the headwind immediately changed my mind. I run poorly into the wind at the best of times. I forged on as best I could although a number of folk went past. A few had gone past on the way out but now the flood gates opened and maybe 6 or more romped past. A very diminutive girl (Collette Fagan?) was first and I wasn't even able to gain any wind cover from her. We exchanged a few gasped words. There was also a tall bloke I hid behind until I caught my breath then tried to run ahead of for a while, that he might shelter behind me. I think he eventually pulled away. It was all a bit of a nightmare. Then after about 2 miles of struggle the road turned slightly and the wind dropped a bit. What a relief. However there was still 1.1miles of running before the end. I enjoyed giving the thumbs up to the following Porties and seeing who was in what order, but towards the end I was too done in to acknowledge anyone and just settled into a plod home. It always feels long running up beside the racecourse and I didn't even see Willie taking photos just before the line. I only saw the clock at the last moment reading1.19.57 so galloped across the line putting my watch off at 1.19.59. I was very happy to be finished and hoped the chip time would confirm my sub1.20.
With the sun shining and able to swap damp vest for the race t-shirt it didn't seem too bad to have to hang around taking photos and chatting. (Not so for Richard who had a flight to catch and couldn't hang around for the baggage to arrive.) Lots of folk had done pbs despite the wind (it was a fast course) and so there was a general positive feeling going around even though the baggage took 25 minutes to appear.
The results appeared quickly on the www but many people including myself were given the same time for their gun time as their chip time. The whole reason we use chips is to discourage slower runners looking to start up the front and not stand in line. If they were not going to publish chip times it defeats the purpose of wearing them. And paying for them. However a few days later the chip times miraculously made it onto the website (after a lot of complaints) and my 1.20.03 chip time came down to 1.19.59. Is that important? Well yes and no, but not as important as doing a pb for the first time in 4 years. Proving my best times aren't all behind me. Or maybe they are now?
1st Lady Toni McIntosh ran 1.17Many thanks to all the stars on the sidelines cheering us on especially along the prom, too many to mention, your calls of encouragement kept me going. I had hoped to shout to Gillian congratulations (on getting married to Alan) but when I eventually saw her at the race course I could hardly remember my name. Congratulations to them.
Report Peter Buchanan
Photos; Heather Anderson, Willie Jarvie, Peter Buchanan, Mr. Ross - husband of Aileen
Results Since Aileen's report the missing chip times have been sorted. Wonder why they didn't have them in the first place?
Mary's Blog
Lucy's Blog
Sir Chris receives a silver thing (and he didn't even cycle the course.)
On the way home (we walked to Portobello) we met a proper cyclist.
Check out the dapper kit.
