Woke up at around 6, had a shower (shower was dodgy and needed to pull the pull cord fuse switch above the toilet as dial on shower wouldn't work). Then after a little while in the toilet (no toilet paper - had to use communal toilet in hallway) went to the breakfast area - there was some cereal but no milk, bread or juice. It was now approaching 7am so I found the hotel kitchen in search of some food (light didn't work so had to take bedside lamp from room and plug it in in the kitchen to see what I was doing). So I helped myself to some toast and was soon joined by a few other guys who were also doing the marathon who also helped themselves to some food. We then went to the breakfast area to eat and shortly later the breakfast lady came in and wasn't best pleased that we'd raided the kitchen (despite being told breakfast would be at 7 (it was now around 7.30)). Anyway we finished our toast, packed our stuff, sorted out marathon kit and checked out. Dad had a little try on my bike as he would have to ride it around 10 miles from the start area of the marathon to the finish area. We stopped at the Sainsbury's local I'd seen the previous evening and stocked up on food and water for the day. Time was now getting on so it was a brisk walk to the marathon baggage trucks to give them my bag (made it with about 5 minutes to spare) then headed up to the start area and stopped for a pre race sun creaming, half a banana and half a mars bar before a quick photo and jogging over to my start zone (faster runners go at the front and slower ones at the back - I think I was roughly in the middle) just in time for the start of the race. Immediately after starting I knew this would be tough as my legs were stiff from the cycling so stuck to a comfortable pace just hoping to complete the course. After about 3 or 4 miles the route led to the seafront which was very nice running and I was in good spirits. However after 8 miles or so I was starting to struggle a bit and needed some jelly babies. Thankfully I was able to grab some pretty quickly and this gave me a much needed boost. Somewhere between 10 and 12 miles were the first casualties of the day lying at the side if the road being treated by the Red Cross paramedics. Along the next 6 - 8 miles there were a good few more casualties who had obviously been badly effected by the intense heat (it must have been at least 30 degrees and the course was mostly under the direct glare of the sun) and lack of water/jelly baby tables along this section of the course. This made me run cautiously and take on water and jelly babies whenever possible. Around mile 15 some charity people were handing out some little rice crispy cakes - I gobbled down 2 and these helped massively. After mile 18 it was psychologically easier as I new I had completed over 2/3rds of the course and still felt ok although was now running with minimal leg lift/knee bend. The next big milestone was mile 20 (I know from previous marathon experience that after 20 miles is always a struggle). However I still felt strong and my pace started to quicken and found myself overtaking a lot of people. These last few miles had a lot of water stations - the marathon organisers should have spaced them out better and had them at least every other mile rather than about 2 in 6 miles and then every mile for the last 5 miles or so. Anyway I took on a last few mouthfuls of water with maybe 3 miles to go along with a few more jelly babies and upped my pace right to the end even somehow managing a sprint finish. It was a mixed feeling of relief and jubilation as i crossed the finish line - glad that it was all finally over and happy with what I'd managed to achieve over the past 8 days. After a slow walk through the finish area collecting my medal, t-shirt and goody bag I had a stretch and headed towards the baggage trucks. I got my bag back in no time and fished out my phone to call my dad (the phone was on it's last bar of battery and had been so for the past few days (I took the wrong phone charger with me so couldn't charge the phone all week)) so it was a relief that the phone still had enough juice to call my dad and ask him to come over and meet me. He found me easily and I flopped on the grass and gobbled down a few donuts and shortbread biscuits to get my sugar levels back up and then (with dad's help) got up and walked over to the marquees in search of a desperately needed massage. The Guide Dogs marquee were giving massages so went there and had a ribena and bag of crisps whilst waiting. Then came the massage. Painful but needed - the masseuse could tell that my muscles were shot. So I got a gentle massage on the front and back of the legs before heading off to find the shuttle bus to take me back to the station for my 5.30 train back to London. There wasn't a huge amount of time (it must have been around 3.30 by now) so I walked as fast as I could towards signs for the shuttle bus. This walk was seriously long (probably about a mile uphill with the sun pounding down the heat. So after this long old walk there was a massive queue for the bus. It was around 4.15 by now and I was getting worried about not making it back to the station in time. Eventually I boarded the bus at around 4.35 and was told the bus should take 35 - 40 minutes so should be ok. The bus got back to the town centre at around 5.10 and I still had a little walk to the station. So I gingerly stepped off the bus and walked as fast as I could to the station. Got to the station at maybe 5.18, had to go down about 3 or 4 escalators (couldn't walk down them like I normally do so had to stand still and wait for them to reach the bottom). Then reached the train times on the monitors with less than 10 minutes to spare - 2 trains were going to London at very similar times. I went with the 5.30 train as stated on my ticket so hobbled down the stairs to the platform. Now about 6 minutes to go. Walked quickly down the platform and to my great relief saw my dad at the far end of the train. we got on and the next challenge was finding a seat. thankfully although the train was packed we managed to get some seats and slumped down and got the food out. I polished off a few more donuts a shortbread, a sandwich and a mars bar straight away and finally the stress and rushing around was over. After a few hours I was very drowsy when we reached York Station. A few people boarded and we were sitting in the seats they'd reserved. I could have cried. So we threw all the food etc. into the bag and gathered all our stuff and squeezed along the carriage to find another seat. There didn't seem to be any seats and I'd had enough and was gonna just sit on the floor by the luggage - at least here nobody could tell me to move and I had loads of space to stretch my legs/lie down if desired. My dad did however manage to find a couple of seats a bit further along so i begrudgingly went with him and sat down. Then realised that these seats would also have to be vacated at the next station. I was not happy. Thankfully we were able to just move across to the seats next to us on the other side of the train at the next station and remained there until London. We finally got off the train at London Kings Cross Station just after 10pm and I took a few photos of dad on the bike before me getting the tube/bus back as was unable to cycle and dad rode the bike back. I got home I think about 11.15. My dad had already made it back but had suffered a fall on the way back - some drunk girl had stepped out in front of him as he was approaching West Norwood and he ended up going over the handlebars. Thankfully he was ok (just a grazed elbow and understandably a bit shaken up) and the bike was ok too. I jumped straight in the shower and threw a Goodfellas pizza in the oven. After the bath and pizza I watched an episode of Casualty (sad I know) before eating a few more snacks and going to bed.
Reviews
Edinburgh Marathon 5/10 - atmosphere pretty good, a nice course along the seafront but failed majorly in supplying enough water/jelly babies for the runners resulting in many casualties. Also the shuttle bus was too far away.
Lessons Learned
Make sure you book specific seats when ordering your train ticket to ensure you get a seat.
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