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What a trip! I can’t believe how fortunate I am to have had such an incredible experience. I learned so much and met so many wonderful people.

BUPA Great Edinburgh International XCountry

I left Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Edinburgh in the late afternoon on Thursday. I was picked up and brought to the hotel where I was greeted by the organizers for the race who gave me the schedule etc and made sure I got settled in. I waited for the other Canadian Derek,  who was coming from Toronto to arrive before heading out for an easy 30′ run. We found a large park just 5 minutes from the hotel. All our meals were covered by the BUPA organization. We had breakfast and dinner buffets and lunch in the lounge all of which were in the hotel so it was really convenient. 

[My room]

I slept pretty well that night and could have slept until noon but figured I had better adjust to the time change (8 hours) as soon as possible. Derek and I ran an easy 30′ in the park again the next morning with some strides then spent the day relaxing. My roommate arrived and I found her sound asleep when I got back from my run so I took a very quick shower and stayed out of the room so she could get some sleep. We finally met each other in the late afternoon. Her name was Simret and she was from Eritrea, a country in Northeast Africa. Her English was good enough to explain that she was sick with the flu…explanations were not needed as she was coughing a lot and looked pretty ill . She explained she had to finish the race in order to get paid. Yikes.

That evening, there was a dinner for all the athletes in the hotel restaurant.  Andy Caine, the race organizer, briefed us quickly on the schedule for race day and then played the dvd from last year’s race while we had dinner. Jon called me after dinner and his calm voice reminding me not to expect too much from myself in this first race with jet-leg made me feel relaxed. I guess he figured I would be feeling a bit out of sorts and worried I would come in dead last! haha! The thought did cross my mind…a few times, especially after watching the video of last year’s race.

My poor roomie coughed all night so I spent the night tossing and turning and woke up feeling pretty fried. I have had restless pre-race nights before and have run well so I wasn’t too worried.

Saturday, Jan 10th:

We were bused to the course (Simret was sitting next to me, throwing up into a bag but was determined to race). It was an insanely windy day and pretty cold. We were not allowed to warm up on the course so I didn’t see much of it beforehand. It was a great course mostly run on grass. We had one short loop of about a km followed by two, 2k loops which had a significant hill. I have to admit I was a bit chicken at the start of the race and started conservatively which is not the best plan for cross races. So, I lost contact with the lead group right  off the top and had to work hard to play catch-up. I was just feeling blah on the start line so I was afraid to start too quickly. I definitely did a lot of passing though and managed to move up 4 positions in the last km, so I obviously had too much at the end.  I am glad I didn’t wear my Garmin for the race. I think I would have been appalled at my pace in the first couple of kms. I finished in 28th place. It was all a bit surreal!

I took some photos of the men’s race (which was incredibly exciting to watch) along with some shots of the course (click on image to enlarge):

After my warm-down, a hot lunch was served in the elite tent.

[The winner, the amazing 19 year old, Linet Masai]

[Mar, Vivian Cheruiyot and Simret]

Dinner for all the international athletes was served back at the hotel. A game of cards broke out and we had a lot of laughs. Jon called just as we were getting set up to see how the race went and how I was getting along. I think he could tell I was having a good time! 

Derek and I stayed on in Edinburgh for a few days before heading to Seville. We found a gorgeous set of trails just 10 minutes from the hotel. I did an easy 45′ run on Sunday with Derek. I went back to the trails on my own on Monday while Derek did a wo. The weather finally cleared up and I ran 60′ in the sunshine discovering a beautiful country road and more trails that ran alongside a river. We then headed into town and did some sight-seeing and even caught a tour of Mary King’s Close.

What a beautiful city!

Next…Seville!