Had a blast, at Blast!
My first time running with Blast Running, and it was brilliant.
Continuing with the trend of my lack of appreciation of how big Scotland is when looking for "local" events, the journey to the start actually turned out to be a 3.5 hour drive from home. But luckily, the event had an unusual start time, at 3pm, so that left plenty of time to get there on Saturday morning without a super early start.
I wasn't sure what to do nutrition wise with a 3pm start. Events usually start in the morning, so having some breakfast 2 or 3 hours before starting is usually my go to plan. I settled on a warm cheese scone and an Americano at Killiecrankie on the drive there at about 11.30, which seemed as good a plan as any to try.
Killiecrankie is notable, as during the Jacobite Rebellion in 1689, the Jacobites took the government forces by suprise and won, at the Battle of Killiecrankie. And in other historical facts, just before this, in 1680, the last wolf in Britain was killed here.
Back on the road, and got to Edinburgh. The event was along Silverknowles Prom which is on the Firth of Forth a couple of miles north of Edinburgh city centre. I had no idea what it would be like, and it was a beautiful spot!
Registered, and met Craig and had time for a good catch up at the Boardwalk Beach Club (an Edinburgh version of Sydney Opera house, with a Christmas tree in the loo) before the run.
There was a 3pm start for the 6 hour event and for marathoners wanting to start earlier. There were maybe around 100 people starting then, and it already had a great buzz about it. At 5pm there was a bigger start, with the rest of the marathoners, half marathoners, and 7km runners joining in, and it suddenly turned into a pretty big event!
6 x 7km laps made for a marathon. The course was great, if a trifle windy going in the easterly direction, which became a bit wearing after a while.
It was really to catch up with Craig after far too long, and along the way we caught up on months of news, travel tips and marathon ideas, explored all the things a 2p can fix (and could it fix a hangover?), and I picked up some charm tips, whilst Craig practiced each lap to become (even more) charming. It was really good fun, the miles seemed to pass by quickly, and we even managed a negative split (not usually one of my strong points) and came in at 3.56, so that was nice.
It was really well organsied, there were marshals all along the course who were really fun and funny, and at the end we got a glass medal, a can of beer, haggis crisps and some juice, which was all very wholesomely Scottish. I would recommend Blast Running, and hope to be back!
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