2020 half marathons: July to December
My last 6 half marathons of 2020 featured 2 virtual races and some pretty muddy trails.
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| Oh, the places I ran. |
Missed the first half of my 2020 runs?
My January to June post covers my first 6 half marathons and why I embarked on this challenge in 2020.
July: Newhaven
I wanted to run as far north as I could possibly go before I'd be swimming. So I chose to run to Newhaven Harbour.
The route was a similar experience to my February half marathon to Musselburgh and Portobello. The first 8 miles toward the water were pretty much all downhill. I made excellent time.
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| Reaching Newhaven Harbour. |
Then the last 5 miles were largely uphill. Climbing up Easter Road wiped out all my energy. It's not a particularly steep road, but it is almost a full mile of a gradual incline.
When I got to the big hill at the Pleasance, I had to stop and walk some of it. My body literally could not run up it by that point.
Same thing happened at another big hill a mile from the end. This was my first half marathon where I stopped for a bit due to tiredness.
I should have learned the lesson from my February half: it's much easier to run gradual inclines and declines throughout a run, rather than starting downhill and saving all the big hills for the end.
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| That's the expression of someone who knows she's about to run uphill. |
August: Edinburgh Virtual Half Marathon
I ran my Edinburgh virtual half through the city center to Meadowbank and Holyrood Park.
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| My only race medal for the second half of 2020. |
September: Virtual Great North Run
I had the most dramatic run of my life when a dead phone battery forced me to make a pit stop home mid-race.
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| The floral backpack was an important part of the race story. |
October: trail
While a year ago I thought trails weren't for me, one of the unexpected benefits of 2020 has been discovering a love for trail running.
I didn't realize there were quite a few trails near me, and they were like the 2020 version of going on holiday. Trail running gave me a sense of adventure in a year where I couldn't go far or do much.
So I made my October half cover all the trail routes I was running over the summer.
This included along some farmlands that have a spectacular view of the Pentlands from one end and Berwick Law from the other.
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| Pentlands in the distance. |
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| If you zoom in, you can just make out Berwick Law in the distance. |
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| View of Edinburgh from Braid Hills. |
This was also the half I was probably least nervous for. The best thing about trails is I don't care about my time while running them because I know I will be slower. It's very freeing.
You also can't care about time when your main worry is trying not to slip in mud.
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| Lauren, lover of Braid Hills. |
November: Water of Leith and Union Canal
I mirrored my November route on part of a cycle route I did a month before with #DashingDuncan, who I did my May half in tandem with. (Oh yeah, I own a bike now. Thanks, pandemic!)
The route took me first to the Water of Leith, starting at the Colinton Tunnel which is filled with some eye-catching artwork.
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| Bagpiper painting in Colinton Tunnel. |
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| Thistles...I didn't intentionally only take photos of the most Scottish paintings. |
I then had a few miles right along the Water of Leith.
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| Yeah, nice bridge but look at that mud. |
Clearly when cycling this route in October, I didn't realize just how muddy this route was. My white sneakers became less white.
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| This wasn't even at the muddiest bit. |
Where the Water of Leith meets the Union Canal, I made the switch over to the canal.
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| Less mud, but narrower paths along the canal. |
I'm not a big fan of running on the canal. Too many people in too narrow a space.
Still, I always appreciate being near water.
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| Exiting the canal. |
December: Dalkeith Country Park
My final half marathon took me out of Edinburgh, over to Dalkeith Country Park, and back.
I had looked at the park's trails online and saw there was a paved 6km route. My plan was to run this to avoid muddy trails. However, I completely failed at finding this route.
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| One of the first things you see when you enter the park. |
I first started following what I thought was this paved trail, but was clearly not based on the fact that cars were riding along it.
However, that did not stop silly me from running along most of this road before deciding to turn around. When I got back to the entrance of the park, I still failed to find the intended route.
So I just started running along any trail I could find that did not look overly muddy. This brought me some serene riverside views.
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| Unexpected riverside trail views. |
'Proper' trails meant, though, slower trail running. Plus, some initial big hills already got me off to a slow start.
This meant that whereas my December 2019 10k ended up being a PB, my December 2020 half marathon ended up being my slowest half marathon by far.
I'm most proud of myself, though, for running all of the mile-long uphill climb I had to do right toward the very end of the run.
When I saw the elevation chart for the route I mapped out, I thought for sure I would have to stop and walk it. But no. I defeated the hills.
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| Halfway through the run before I got lost. |
Reflecting on my 2020 half marathons
12 half marathons later, my overarching thought is this: I don't like half marathons.
I like running because I enjoy it. It makes me happy and takes my mind off things.
A half marathon doesn't have that same sense of enjoyment because 13.1 miles feels like work.
The work is less about the time is takes to run a half marathon, and more about all the mental prep work involved.
There's a lot of worry around undertaking such a distance. I worry about whether I:
- have eaten enough the day before
- have eaten the 'right' foods that won't upset my stomach mid-run
- have enough fuel and hydration while on my run
- might feel unwell or break some body part 10k in and wonder how I'll get myself home
It makes running less fun when you're thinking about all these things.
I can roll out of bed and run 10k. I can't do that with a half. I mean, I theoretically could, but it would be an awful experience.
I do wonder how I would have felt about half marathons if there wasn't a pandemic this year. Would I have enjoyed the distance more if I got to travel to run races? If I got to run much flatter routes than I did in hilly Edinburgh?
I guess I'll find out next year when 2 of the half marathons I was signed up to this year are meant to take place in 2021. We'll see if they happen.
That all being said, I'm grateful my year of half marathon running was during a year of a travel restrictions and having to stay put.
As someone who doesn't drive (and didn't have a bike for the first half of 2020), having a reason to run far made my world feel a little bigger.
Next year
2019 was the year of monthly 10k races. 2020 was the year of monthly half marathons.
I can assure you that 2021 will NOT be the year of monthly marathons. No, thank you.
I'm doing things a bit different next year, but I am very much setting myself a monthly goal. Stay tuned for details in January.
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