A while ago, John's first wife Sue and daughter Louise decided to enter the Edinburgh Half Marathon together. In no time at all John made a swift decision to join them and, with my new lightweight chair on order, assured that the course was 'fast and flat' and not wishing to be left out, I entered too.
Too late we realised we'd double booked ourselves with our dear friends Mike and Debbie's Wedding in Manchester. By luck the wedding was on Saturday and the run on Sunday. Nothing that organised travel and accommodation arrangements couldn't cope with.
Too late I looked carefully at the course profile. The race starts at the University of Edinburgh, climbing towards the Castle around the Mound, a steep descent turning towards Princes Street followed by an even steeper freefall down the Royal Mile. Edinburgh city centre is more a series of steep climbs and kamikaze downs laced with cobbles than safely fast and flat! If I could make it down to Leith, a level-ish push around to Musselborough should be possible.
Too late I discovered that my grippy Gekko push rims and gloves turn to frictionless slippy smooth surfaces in the pouring rain. I'd never, not once, thought to practice in wet conditions.
Sunday morning came as wet as forecast. It's been a long time since I last huddled under a bin bag listening to race announcements. Slow start somewhere near the back, gradually overtaken by slower and slower runners. Then came my first downhill wasted opportunity whereby I crashed around the Mound, taking out a cone or two as I went. Another wheelchair passed me, using a traverse ski across the slope method (he probably did the equivalent of an extra mile!) rather than my attempt to head straight down the fall. By now terrified, crashed into the pavement down the Royal Mile a few times before being rescued by a kind volunteer from the sweep vehicle. Together we safely made it down to Holyrood Park where I recovered somewhat and pushed as best I could with next to no grip to the 2 mile mark. Caught up with John patiently waiting and we made the sensible decision to retire gracefully. By the time I got home (Holyrood Aparthotel) recorded 3.5 miles in total plus about 0.5 miles to get to the start.
Meanwhile Sue and Louise had previously decided not to run, Sue changing to Saturday's 10k and Louise opting out completely.
Next year, we decided, will be different. The Beveridge family Edinburgh 5k. Or maybe we'll save our money and do a parkrun together instead.
