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Dolly buff!

Well done , that was very excitement 😁 you are hilar , well you know the rest 😉

Great video Nicola. That looks a lovely parkrun! Those pesky raccoons! 😂

Avondale Park is actually owned by the Irish Forestry Board, Coillte. I’m from about 45 minutes from there, actually staying nearby in a couple of weeks and plan to do this parkrun all being well, this is the first video I found so thanks

Welcome to Wicklow

great video today i did Chadderton hall park run in 24 mins 38 came 5th out of 66 and was 1st in my age group tommorrow Lindley 10k and i will run it in my parkrun T-shirt

Really helpful video, thanks Nicola x

Wow that goody bag was awesome! I love the towel especially! Thank you for always being so honest and open about how you’re feeling. Ben would be so proud of both you and Poppy and I feel sure he is watching down on you both. You’re doing amazing 💛💛

What a pity that they got it so wrong at the end! I really felt for you knowing that you were finishing and your stuff was going to be wet. That sucked. I felt for all those who didn’t get medals at the end too. No excuse to run out when they know how many people signed up. It’s a shame as it looked like a wonderful course but with all those issues I don’t feel I would want to run it! I hope your feet recovered quickly! 💛

So sorry to hear of your loss Nicola 😢

Hi Nicola, we met at Boston parkrun. Well done on the marathon in those conditions. I ran the Boston UK marathon in April. We had torrential rain from start to finish and 37mph winds. Like you, the bags at the end were laid on the floor in the car park in puddles of water. When collecting my bag I was advised to just go and find it, not really safe and secure really. There was a real lack of care for the finishers with many going to hospital with hypothermia, again they had apparently run out of silver blankets early on. I do think that a lot of events these days are risking the health of runners after the events. Hopefully your next one will be a better experience.

Do you know what the last pacer time is please? Debating leeds next year but am a slower runner so a bit worried

Oh to be one hour away from the seaside - I remember it well. Aww poor Poppy must have been mortified - I remember a situation like that at Linford and it shook us all up so a little one must really feel it :-( Oh the size of that lemon top ice-cream yummy!! Thanks for sharing.

Shame about the bag, fwiw I use a 20 litre dry-bag as my drop bag, or if I need a bigger one I have everything in dry-bags inside the drop bag.

I've been steadily losing faith in these mass participation running events for a while now. Poor value for money and often safety is compromised. I had a bad experience at Runfest Richmond Marathon last year during a heatwave (they should have cancelled) where extra measures weren't provided properly and the course wasn't easily accessible by emergency services. I'm much more diligent when I enter races now, favouring lapped courses for longer distance events and making sure I take my own hydration and food.

Thanks for this Nicola! I'm doing the 100 in a couple of weeks and I'm now sure I need multiple pairs of socks and wet wipes in my drop bag, would you recommend trail shoes or road shoes? A lot of the course seemed pretty "runnable". Great to see so much of the course.

Looks like a lovely run. But, such a shame about the end organisation that changes it from being a fun challenging run battling against the elements, to a let down leaving you cold and disappointed. It's not like it was just a sudden freak downpour at the end, it had been raining all day. Edinburgh should be used to rain and have contingency plans! By the way, the men wee at the side to free up the toilets for the ladies. We don't only do it because we are lazy, impatient and can't be bothered to queue.😃🚽🚻

Hi Nicola. Thanks for this video and congratulations. I am considering this race this year, hence how I found your video which is great. I just wondered if you would recommend it and if you had any tips on kit… shoes, gators etc. I am most concerned about the sand !! I was tempted to do the 100 but think I’ll save that distance until later in the year! Thanks in advance x

Great video Nicola. That was terrible after you finished leaving the bags in the floor is unforgettable. As for pacers if run through can manage pacers surely a bigger event can manage it to? £68 isn’t cheap so I would have expected more so I understand your disappointment.

Say hello to arnica cream and it will help your skin recover from including blisters

Thank-you for sharing what a wonderful soul you have .😊

That looked terrible at the end. We understand something similar happened on a smaller scale at Boston. Risking runners' safety and wellbeing. I actually collapsed at the end of the Halstead Marathon in 27 degree heat. But the superb and slick organisation of that club organsied marathon meant i was swiftly and expertly dealt with. You have to wonder when organisers put profit above safety. How much would a foil blanket in your goody bag cost? 50p? But multiply that by 35000 runners...

Excellent job with running the marathon itself - sorry to hear that you had an uncomfortable time at the end. I was at the same event and finished just as it was starting to rain again; I missed both the shortage problems and my bag getting wet, but I did find the finish area wasn't clearly laid out and I was stumbling around trying to find where I needed to go. I still found the whole marathon a positive experience as a whole so I think I would do it again, though only after trying out some other ones (it was only my second marathon overall).

Hi Nicola, first of all, many congrats on completing the marathon, all done with a massive smile on your face, you handled the elements and conditions very well, for what it's worth, I ran the half that same morning as you and it was bucketing down for the whole time we were out there, then we get to the end and our bags are laid out in a field, soaking wet, so basically trudged the 2 miles back to my car and then proceeded to put on damp clothes, not happy at all, I've been running the EMF for 10 years now, I decided at the end of race that it would be the last time, the event organisers don't care about the runners health and well being, in my opinion, they have 'lost' their core values, and yeh, no pacers, go figure, anyways, you have a new subscriber to your channel. Good luck on your next adventure and stay safe :)

Thanks for such a great video Nicola. I ran Edinburgh this year too and I TOTALLY agree with all your thoughts. I would add that my friend and I felt that there should have been a lot more toilets around the start area (I wish we had found that indoor place that you were in!). We queued for about 25minutes and were still nowhere near the front of the queue so ended up running off to pee in a park with all the guys so that we didn't miss our start! I must have finished around the same time as you, and have never been so wet in my life...couldn't find my husband for AGES and ended up standing in that field for over half an hour, freezing cold with no foil blanket...I actually felt quite scared. Thanks again for making this video and happy running!

That's very poor indeed, leaving your bags on a soaking wet field, terrible, well done though n your run Nicola after everything you've done - Leeds marathon, Snowdon and that 10k!

Leaving your bags on wet ground, whilst it pouring rain is unforgivable! Also, running out of medals is so bad! This is a marathon I’ve not done yet, and things like this don’t make me want to do it anytime soon. Good video Nicola!😊

Even if the organisation was perfect, I would find it hellish to be in the crowd of people for such a long time. Each to their own I guess. Well at least there were some positives for you, Nicola, like the things to look at and the support from the spectators. Weldone, even though you might have not liked it too much, you made an interesting video to watch out of it. Also, I love it how you are not phased by just talking into the camera with people around you. I still can't do it, I feel very self conscious. And there's so much you can say into the camera too!

Volvox, this isn't the same company who organise the Great Scottish ,South or The Great Manchester run, if that company organised the Edinburgh Marathon festival hopefully it would be better than what happened when Nicola ran it.

Love how u ran the whole thing while still recording without running out of breath and still smiling .

£68 for the marathon. Finish bags on the floor No online tracking facility Same finishing medal and t-shirt each year. They ran out of medals and this is not the first year this has happened. Not good enough

An unkind finish, as you said, there is a vulnerability when one has given all, these events are not cheap to enter and sadly it seems that some (thankfully not the majority) are organised on a profit making / shaving costs at the cost of health and safety and it would seem not organised by runners... I think this is why trail is so awesome.. The community feel transcends and informs the whole experience... Fair play to you for finding the positives but that finish was dodgy as! Ps.. I never run anywhere longer than 10k without a foil blanket tucked away somewhere.. Its my just in case item (along with my mint cake 😅) x

This helps me to remember why I am primarily a trail runner x

I feel your pain. Was nearly hypothermic after the D33 years ago. Putting the bags out like that in the rain was a horrendous error.

What an honesty review. I was thinking of doing this Marathon, now I won't. These events cost so much, and they can't get the basics right. Run of out metals, can't keep drop off bags dry, and foil blankets should be at the end of every Marathon.

A friend of mine did the half and was treated badly on account of not being fast enough to get a medal etc, she was within cut off but not enough medals ordered, she had overcome so much and it was such a huge deal to do it.. Disgusting organising x

That's a first. Of all your videos of Marathon distance plus, I don't think I've ever seen you eat just one paultry butty, it's usually a running buffet, literally 😏 You're quite right to highlight the end of run chaos re the baggage, not acceptable really. And the less said about your feet the better 😳...hope they recovered quickly. I'd rather see bleeding nipples 😌 Again, thanks for the videos and keep smiling ☺️

There was a torrential downpour at the end of the Great North Run last year, rivers down the road, the works. Then the Metro closed due to flooding, there was a mile long queue for the ferry and bus' got stuck in the traffic. Only a half but everyone was cold and wet. I firmly believe that the foil blankets saved lives that day.

Watching this in the hotel ready for tomorrow’s Leeds 10k. Third Leeds 10k for me - love it. I’ve just watched you pace the Leeds marathon - tempted to enter for next year. Love your channel.

well done on finishing i was shocked by where the runners bags had been left it was disgusting when you wanted dry and warm clothes

The bags at the end is unacceptable, that was a disgrace.

Two fantastic videos from you Nicola (watched the Whitekirk one too) congratulations especially on completing the marathon in such bad weather, sorry about your wet clothes and especially your feet, it remindd me of photos of mens feet fighting in the trenches during World War one, disgracefull that the runners baggage was left outside soaked in the rain. The longest run I have ran is a half marathon but most of my runs are 5K and 10Ks as well as parkruns., I hope your feet recovered quickly

‘Marathon runners are quite vulnerable at the finish.’ I totally agree. I ran London this year after being out for a few weeks with injury in the buildup. So not as fit as I’d have liked. Took it ‘easy’ but felt very faint at the end. But my experience after the finish line was outstanding - amazing organisation, paramedic checking I was ok, bag pick up brilliant, signage first class. There really is no excuse for getting these things wrong. Well done on the run. Your fingers at the end looked like my mum’s 😂. She suffers with Reynards too. She once asked a doctor what she could do. ‘Move to a hot country.’ 😂

Oh dear, not good! I've been running for a very very long time, but a while ago I chose not to pay to enter many events or races as it wasn't worth the price! Hopefully one day you might make it to Australia, and maybe do the Gold Coast Marathon.

I should I also add I did 2018 Boston marathon , I still have nightmares about the rain and headwinds . It’s great to be retired from marathons 😂

Had a similar experience at Manchester a few years ago , luckily it was when was fairly quick so I missed the worse . Some had to wait hours. It’s the last thing you need after running that distance!

what poor organisation - so sorry you & the other runners had to endure this!

That at the end with the bags was terrible. I also ran the marathon really enjoyed it apart from the end part. But I was lucky that I missed the monsoon. Crazy weather. Well done for getting the finish.

Well that was the real 'Scottish weather' Nicola, the rain looked horrendous. Really bad form with the bag drop (literally) and it's not on to not look after people properly - everyone else seems to manage it. Hope your feet have recovered

I think I got a chill just from watching your race experience, Nicola. I heard it wasn't a pleasant experience for runners. Sometimes race organizers miss the finer details in race logistics and bad weather always compounds those mistakes. It looked like a very narrow starting area, spectators creeping in at the last half mile and people crossing the street midrace are just accidents waiting to happen. In 2011, I ran the Las Vegas Marathon and situation was like that at the finish -- bad weather, a shortage of medals and poor post race signage. I barely got out of the finish area before it got out of control. I guess the paramedics and such were very busy that night. I usually shy away from mega races as a result. Loved the scenery and it looked like a fun race though and they had plenty of spectators. It was interesting to see the different levels of apparel on the race as well -- some people in tank tops and some decked out. Great video as usual!