There are a few things that aren't so great about being freelance: no one offers to make you a coffee at work; there's no one to pull a cracker with at your office Christmas party; and you might have to camp out on people's doorsteps to remind them to PAY you.
However, sometimes it is brilliant. Sometimes you can decide 'it's a lovely day, let's go to check out the Edinburgh Marathon route'. And if you are really lucky then one of your racemates is also freelance and you can go together.
So it was that Paula and I were able to skive off work yesterday and head over to Musselburgh to check out where the Edinburgh Marathon will be held in less than six weeks time (eek). And it's quite a good job that we did because it turns out that our parts of the race are quite far away from Edinburgh itself.
Whilst
Lilith will be starting in the City Centre for the Royal Leg, heading down the Royal Mile and out to the coast along Portobello Promenade - by the time she hands over to Paula the race will be in Musselburgh proper. Armed with
this map from the Edinburgh Marathon Website we thought we'd have a trial 'run' and see what we'd let ourselves in for.
The first thing to say is that this is a gorgeous part of the country to be running in. As we parked up I was thrilled to see that the traditional communal drying lines are still in use here (whereas in parts of Glasgow using these is now not allowed):
The second marvellous news is that once Lilith's initial downhill stretch is over the rest of the course is remarkably flat. The website had told us that the course was flat but you know, different runners have different ideas of what constitutes a 'hill'. Even by our shabby standards it's fair to say, this is a very flat course!
So flat in fact, I kept taking pictures of it, just to prove how flat it is. It's flat:
There's also lots of lovely public art to view along the way. From sculpture:
To painted murals celebrating the area's industrial history as a fishing port, coal mining area and producer of cooking salt:
That's alongside the beautiful landscape that surrounds the John Muir Way* which was looking particularly spectacular in the surprise April sunshine:
And if all that isn't enough to tempt you to come along and support us on the
big day well, there's a pub called The Goth.
FUNDRAISING NEWS!
It's been an exciting week on the fundraising front too as we have smashed through our initial target. With just under six weeks to go we'd love to see that total reach the £1k mark because MS Society Scotland could do some fantastic work with a cool grand so if you haven't already donated please do so and please share this blog far and wide!
Don't forget that those who donate can be entered into our prize draw - read all about that here There are fabulous new prizes being added all the time so it's worth keep checking back for the latest news.
*'Who is John Muir and why does he have a 'way' named after him?' we kept wondering as we wandered about the area enjoying ourselves. Well, it turns out he was a Scottish-American naturalist, ecological thinker, political activist and religious prophet. Blimey. Did he ever go for a pint in The Goth though?
Wikipedia unfortunately does not tell us this but he sounds like an interesting chap and he certainly has a lovely way.
