There's a few of us from Portobello Running Club who'll be running the Berlin marathon this year - so Jenni decided to make an event of our final long training run. We arranged to meet at Portobello Running Club for 9am on Sunday morning and run 20 miles to North Berwick. Once we arrived there we'd do our best to make ourselves vaguely fresh and respectable in the public toilets in town before going for lunch at Buttercup Cafe on the High Street.
We were inordinately lucky with the weather; one of the many days of summer that we'd missed earlier this year was graciously dispensed to us in our time of need. Better late than never, I say. The first few miles were a bit quicker than I'd have liked (I had my cautious head on, having not run this far in a long time. I've run 16-17 miles 2 or 3 times this year, and haven't run as far as 20 miles since Edinburgh marathon in May 2010. Most of my fellow runners have managed many more than this!) I felt pretty good though, it was nice to be running in company (including one unexpected, bare-chested, bare-footed extra who joined us for several miles. Not sure if it was early or late for him. Fairly confident he was not what one would describe as normal though. More explanation - and another perspective on our long run - in
Mary's excellent blog here)
A couple of our number stopped at Musselburgh quay toilets for a pit stop, and Peter and I were anxious not to leave any of the ladies with the young chap who seemed to be a few sandwiches short of the full picnic, so we waited back and let the larger group press on ahead. Then Mary, Caroline and I ran most of the next section along to Port Seton together, still at a reasonable pace. Peter and Richard managed to shake the hanger-on by following the bumpier back road.
We were brilliantly supported on our run, by Jenni's mum - who had filled her car boot with still water and sweets! - and also by Ricky and Willie from the club who'd decided to cycle to North Berwick and back, joining us for lunch mid-way. Can't thank them all enough for the encouragement and help along the way, absolutely brilliant.
The next section was slower, but some of the nicest running. After the pavement ran out we went off road and followed the trail past Longniddry Bents and through the trees as we got nearer to Aberlady. I've been keen to explore this section of the route after seeing photos of it in Mary's blog one time, and it was great to add this variety to the route and learn about another beautiful bit of trail to run on near Edinburgh.
We rejoined the road route again at Aberlady, knowing that the toughest part of the run was still to come. I was still feeling OK, but given my legs had been tired from Wednesday night training when I started running at 9am, I knew I was going to find it increasingly difficult as time wore on! About 7.5 miles still to go to North Berwick once we got out of Aberlady, and this included the toughest bits, the climb up into Gullane and some fairly dull stretches of undulating road around Dirleton.
Nothing for it but to just plod along the road for the last section. Managed OK up the hill to Gullane, but a wee stumble as I went back on to the pavement after the hill was a message that I was definitely tiring now. At this stage I was running with Mary and I told her she should carry on at her own pace as I wanted to stop to take some gel and wasn't confident I'd be able to keep running all the way to North Berwick. I didn't really mind if I ended up run-walking the last few miles, it was all about time on my feet for me, and just getting the distance done, but I didn't want to hold anyone else up. In the event, I managed to run it all, but can't say it was my quickest few miles ever! When I got to the turning for Dirleton I waited for Caroline to make sure she knew the right way to go. She was flagging a bit and given I've done this run a few times before over the years, it seemed appropriate to offer some encouragement - it would help to take my mind off my own worries..! First sight of North Berwick Law at this point too, which is always welcome.
Ricky and Willie were waiting for us in Dirleton for one last lot of extra water (it was really pretty hot at this stage) and some much appreciated moral support.
There really is nothing you can do on the final road stretch between Dirleton and North Berwick except keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's long, straight road and there ain't much going on except tree roots to avoid tripping over at regular points along the pavement. But we did it, kept the pace going and before we knew it, we were going through North Berwick and onto the green where the other runners who'd already finished were waiting with a smile and a cheer. Peter popped up a few minutes later having done the longer route along the front between Aberlady and North Berwick (on top of an extra 3 miles before we even started) looking remarkably fresh.
Lunch in the Buttercup Cafe was perfect, a great way to round off one of the most sociable and enjoyable long training runs I've ever done.
I'm happy to say that except for a bit of muscle soreness and some stiff knees and hips (which I think is fair enough after running 20.45 miles!), everything fells pretty tip-top today.
It would maybe have been nice to stay in North Berwick for the afternoon - the beach was looking lovely - but we had a prior engagement at the Porty Village Show to help Ian with the races there. So drove straight back and enjoyed letting the rest of the family take their turn at running instead! I'll take a couple of days off now, then just try to keep things ticking over for the next few weeks. Roll on Berlin!
