So today was the day…the day my ski’s and I had a date with the Bupa Great Edinburgh Run. I think the event organisers must of heard I was carrying my trusty planks round with me and decided the route needed to be changed…to incorporate more hills….just to make it that wee bit more of a challenge.
I woke up this morning to a cool but super sunny Autumn day. Perfect running conditions with, thankfully, zero wind. I hate to think how tricky the run would of been on a windy day with my ski’s acting as sails. I can only imagine the carnage that would of ensued. Edinburgh on a sunny day is nothing short of magnificient. Am I biased…? Of course..but I think it is one of the most amazing cities in the world to live in. It’s just a shame Mr. Sun doesn’t poke his head out from behind the clouds very often…but when he does…WOW! There is no place I would rather be..except skiing obviously 🙂
The crowds had come out in force today which was great..but almost caused me to miss the start because of the traffic. At the start I got a few surprised looks and some typical light hearted banter “we expecting snow?” The most random question I was asked..”are those like roller blade type things?”..I thought the guy was joking..but no..he was deadly serious..
The first km or so was uphill without any pretence of flat…a good way to warm up I guess. The course was littered with hills. I was thankfull of the great support from my fellow runners and loved the shouts of “go ski dude” from the crowd. The 7km sign came with a long downhill section which was most welcome until you realised that when you reached teh bottom of the Royal MIle the course swung left and took you on pretty much a 2km climb. I did a little bit of swearing at that point. There were a few walkers by this stage but there was no way I was going to join them..must keep chugging up the hill. Thankfully the last km was mostly downhill or flat so I belted along and finished in 54:32 1898th out of 4712 runners. I was pretty pleased with it considering i had my two buddies on my back.
It was back in July that I decided to raise some money for Disability Snowsport UK by running the Edinburgh 10k. To try and entice a few more people to part with some of their hard earned cash I thought it would be a good idea to take my ski’s along with me. It seems to have done the trick – so far (if you include matched giving from work) I have raised £1,098.75. A pretty tidy some of money which I am sure will be very much appreciated and put to good use by DSUK. I will leave my just giving page up in case any other kind charitable souls are able to donate.
I will tidy this entry up tomorrow..and post a few more pictures..I feel the waves of sleep rushing over me..
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