Last Sunday I ran my second half-marathon ever in Glasgow, and my first-ever under 2 hours with a final time of 1h 48min 20s. I was so pumped that I immediately signed up for the Edinburgh Marathon next May. I wanted to take some notes about thoughts I had during and after the race. Some of these thoughts will seem obvious and it will become obvious that I was widely under-prepared, but my hope is that by writing them down now it will give me motivation for my full Marathon preparation.

Set a running pace before starting the race

I spent the first few kilometers making mental calculations about the pace I needed to hit in order to finish the race in under 2 hours. Mental math while running with a crowd of 10,000 was not ideal, and it prevented me from enjoying the atmosphere at the start of the race. Instead I kept re-counting to make sure I didn’t make a mistake in my km-to-mile conversion.

Invest in a running watch

I am a strong advocate of running with minimal equipment. In fact, I believe that what makes running such a great sport is that it can be practiced anywhere by any able person, you only need your legs and the ground (even though shoes are a nice bonus). But as I’m aiming for longer races and more ambitious times, I’m realising that knowing my pace while practicing and racing is becoming pretty important. I then have 2 solutions:

• Train on fixed length courses, like a stadium or a treadmill
• Use a GPS to know my live distance and pace The first option sounds very boring to me, especially since I train in Edinburgh, where there are so many beautiful running trails in and around the city. For the second option, I can use my phone but it is cumbersome and knowing my low DEX, if I have to frequently check my phone with my sweaty hands while running, I will drop it on day 1. The remaining option is to invest in a smart watch. I might also try to re-purpose the old open source smartwatch (a Bangle.js 1) I bought a few years ago; I tried to program it as a running watch when I first got it but it wasn’t great. Maybe in the last few years the ecosystem has developed a nice running app, and hopefully I will be more persistent in making it work.

Use orthotic soles

I ran the previous race without soles, and having them made a world of difference. No knee-pain, no shin pain, an absolute must. They are supposed to be specially made for running but I noticed that the front was quite squished after the race, so it is worth checking their state throughout the marathon preparation.

Don’t overdo the preparation

I’m currently checking marathon preparation plans, and almost all include running 5-6 days a week. Last time I did that when I was running track in highschool, I ended up not being able to run for 3 months because of shin splint. Take the preparation like the race: pace yourself, don’t go to fast in the beginning.

OK is good enough

As I’m looking at the preparation plans, I’m 100% sure that I will not follow it to the letter. It’s ok, in my past experience it’s better to rest or do a 30-minute easy run when I’m not feeling like it.

Start buying energy gel

They look like cat treat tubes and feel like eating Soylent, but they’re much better than solid food. I tried to eat an energy bar and it almost gave me stitches. Another option would be to look into preparing home-made energy gels.

That’s it for now, I might add more items as I get more running thoughts. I will also write a separate note on setting up the Bangle.js for running if I get around to do it. In the meantime, now that I can walk normally again I will resume training and go enjoy the fall colours on the Roseburn path while it still exists.