Month 4 - He's a Jolly Good Fellow

Oprah Winfrey once said 'running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it'

Similarly Michelle McManus also once said 'the oven, refrigerator and microwave are the greatest metaphors for life, because you get out of it what you put into it, an obese head, no neck and a waddle for a walk'

Ah the month of May, the man of May (James), the Isle of May...we May move on, the time was nigh, the time for deliberating and constipation was over, it was time for the most anticipated event of the year, the annual attack of the senses, a journey of emotions, a musical masterpiece, an apocalypse of entertainment, one word, one trophy, one chance...EUROVISION!

Lest we digress, one month, four races, two legs, ten toes...lets do it.

Race one, a trip North to the AngusHam and a sun-soaked run in the blisteringly beautiful yet frightfully hilly Monikie countryside...having unwittingly chosen to leave all previous form at Dundee bus station it was a bedraggled and twice baked figure of a man that trudged over the finish line in a new Personal Worst time of 1hr52.32, the sympathy pour homme was not forthcoming so it was back to Edinburgh and the awaiting wrath of the North Berwick 20 miler.


AngusHam - Oink

A sparse throng of runners assembled for the sun drenched stroll along the coast to North Berwick, the lucky number for the day was 20, 20 miles in 20 degrees of hot orange melty stuff.  My brisk and pacey start to the race was interupted by a return of the troubles from the previous week, unlike Northern Ireland a peace deal was reached within 3 miles and that Good Friday feeling returned to guide me to the finish in an unspectacular 3hr01.03.

Next up was the Monklands half, but my chance to banish the demons went firmly down the train...a Scotrail train to be precise, thanks to their kind generosity they had chosen to engineer beyond their call of duty and cancel all morning services without so much as a whisper or announcement...choo-choo-choo-rific it was not.

Edinburgh marathon arrived, a fitting swansong to a bruising month, the weather was selected, windy sunshine with spurty showers, breakfast was quoffed, liquids downed and relieved, nerves jangled in the wind, and then we were off.  The colourfully clad running conga danced it's way along the coastal road, snaking past the mental ruins left during the battle to North Berwick two weeks previous before a fleeting foray around the Gosford House grounds and a gusty sprint to the finish in Musselburgh...3hr45.25, spectacular it wasn't but almost spectatorless it was, had the much hyped armageddon arrived, replacing the bustling grandstand carnival atmosphere of the previous year? we may never know, RIP GSi Events.



Edinburgh 5km



Edinburgh Marathon


A fond farewell to the month - total distance covered 137km in 716mins over 10 runs.

Injury update - knee (right one) not right.

Stay tuned for Month 5, pleeeeeeeeeease donate here - www.justgiving.com/russell-beswick