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I ran the Scottish Half Marathon in Edinburgh on the 23rd May, in aid of Butterwick House Children's Hospice.  My operation last November (to have a tumour removed from my leg) kept me on the couch and off running for several months, so this was partly to prove to myself that I'm on the road back to fitness.

My nephew Matthew will never be able to do anything like this.  He was born with no myelin sheath to his nerves - effectively the same as having Multiple Sclerosis.  He is totally dependent on his family for everything - feeding, moving, changing.  His optic nerve has atrophied so he is effectively blind, so his main input is his hearing (he loved the Scottish music at his sister's birthday ceilidh), and he has minimal control over his body.

Looking after Matthew is a full-time job for my sister Jennifer, and restricts what the family can do.  The whole family love hill-walking, for example, but Matthew's wheelchair makes this impossible.  Butterwick House Children's Hospice provides them with respite care for Matthew, allowing some precious time off, and giving them the opportunity to go walking in the nearby Yorkshire Dales, have fun by the riverside, or even just do some shopping without having to negotiate the aisles with a wheelchair.  It makes a huge difference to the family.

So How did it go?  With only 2 months training, I wasn’t expecting a great time.  I’d put in 2 hours 30 as my “expected time”, and the training was suggesting maybe 2 hours 15 was a reasonable target (after just finishing at all, of course), which is approximately an average of 10-minute miles.

The start was at 8, so up at 6 and out at quarter to 7.  Got to the bus stop – first bus in 20 minutes!  There aren’t many early buses on a Sunday morning…  Getting a bit worried whether I’d make it in time, but it was fine.  Got off at North Bridge shortly before half seven and joined the throng heading down to London Road (via a toilet in a pub that was just opening; the cleaner seemed most surprised at the long queue heading past him).  Came out again…and it was raining!  I’d come out without a coat because it was such a beautiful morning and it had been so hot the day before.  Had to shelter in the Playhouse entry to send a text to Caroline asking for my coat, then just accepted I’d get wet and walked the rest of the way.  Dropped off my kit bag in the baggage truck, and the rain stopped.

Went to find my bit of the pen – our place is allotted based on our bib number. At 2hrs30 I was right in the farthest back pen with the really slow runners.  The race started at eight exactly, and we were allowed to walk slowly forwards (there was a rope across holding us back). Eventually the two women holding the rope picked up the pace a bit, then a bit more, and finally they got fed up running, pulled the rope away and let us go.  I crossed the start line about 6 minutes in!  Good thing we all have individual personal timing chips.

 The first mile was slow and felt it – 11 minutes – but after that I picked up the pace a bit to something I felt was moving but not pushing too hard.  After that I found the mile markers difficult to spot, but I knew where a few of them were from the training for the marathon last year. So I managed to get a check at 3 miles, 5 miles and 10km, and I was slightly surprised to find I was keeping a steady 9 minutes per mile. Passed the family in Portobello (6 miles) – twice as Caroline didn’t see me until too late so I had to double back so she could get a photo.  7 miles was the point the Great North Run started hurting, but this time I’d really found my stride by that point, and even managed to pick up speed slightly. No more rain, but it was overcast.

The 8-mile point I knew – it’s where the first relay runners change over so there was a big inflatable arch – and I was still on 9 minute miles.  I started doing sums in my head, and realised 2 hours was just about achievable, so kept pushing on.  Passed the side of the Musselburgh race course, the finish point, and heard some of the early runners being cheered to the finish – I still had over 4 miles to go out to Prestonpans and back!  After that it was just keeping going.  Starting to hurt a bit, but nothing compared to the marathon last year.  Turned around in Prestonpans – a 2 hours finish on the cards – so tried to push a bit more, but it was definitely starting to hurt more and I didn’t have another gear.  I settled for not slowing down… Another quick shower of rain – quite welcome – and now we could see the race course ahead.  It’s going to be close – I stumbled a bit faster.  Off the road and onto the matting on the final section.  Had the family made it or were they still parking?  Couldn’t see them (you can see me looking in the 4 and 5 photos), but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.  Finish line finally approaching – it feels a very long final straight – and it’s all over. Pick up my bottle of water, lucozade, banana, medal and finisher’s pack, get a final photo, and round the back to try to find my baggage and the meeting point.  As I passed the side of the race course they were having the winner’s ceremony for the women – 1hrs16 for the winner!  My final time was 2:00:50, BTW.  So I didn’t quite manage to get under 2 hours, but was still far faster than I had been expecting.

Much easier than the marathon last year, but it still hurt - stairs were a particular problem for the rest of the day.  Please make my effort worth it for Matthew and other families like his.  Butterwick is totally reliant on donations to keep running.  Anything you can give will help them provide these vital services to Matthew's family and other similar families in the North-East of England.  I'm ran 13 miles for them - please make it worth the pain.

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Thanks in advance - from myself and from Matthew and the other families in the area,

Ian Brockbank