One last thing

{IMPORTANT UPDATE: When this post was first published, for a couple of hours it may have looked like I had used - oh God I can barely say it - Comic Sans in part of it. I would like to apologise for this horrendous misunderstanding and reassure you that I would NEVER DO THAT. I have standards, you know.}

Edinburgh looking all glamorous.
Image: Tim Caynes

There was one other little snippet from the race on Sunday that I thought you might appreciate. Unfortunately, I was busy falling into a wine-and-pizza coma when I wrote that last post and completely neglected to mention it.

The Edinburgh Marathon relay, or Hairy Haggis relay as it is officially known*, is split into four legs. The race starts in the centre of Edinburgh high above Holyrood Palace and sweeps down to the coast, through the coastal towns of Prestonpans (site of a famous Scottish battle) and Cockenzie (site of the aforementioned ugly power station) and out into the East Lothian countryside, before turning back and finishing alongside the turf of Musselburgh racecourse. Calling it the Edinburgh Marathon is actually a bit of a stretch, since you're only in Edinburgh for about 3 miles, but that's beside the point.
Instead of just being numbered from one to four, each relay leg has been given a suitably descriptive name to add that little je ne sais quoi. These are the legs my team mates ran:

The Royal Leg

Visions of grand palaces and craggy castles, historic monuments and stately townhouses. Edinburgh at its majestic best.

The Gosford Leg

A vast country mansion, revelling in its surroundings of manicured lawns and unnaturally-shaped hedges, oozing elegance and money and delicious scandal.

The Glory Leg

A runner approaches the finish, chest forward, arms raised, face to the sky. The cheers swell, the clouds break and the sun shines down upon the track as the runner crosses the line, exhausted but triumphant, basking in the glory of her momentous achievement.

All very evocative names, no? And what leg, you might wonder, was I lucky enough to run? The Ocean Leg? The Sunshine Leg? The Victory Leg?

Er, no.

I ran the Cock and Pan Leg.
(That's genuinely what it was called.)

Thanks, Edinburgh Marathon. Thanks a lot.

Cockenzie Power Station. Isn't she charming?
Image: Gavin Proc

*When I first got my race number I couldn't understand why there were dancing potatoes with legs across the top, until someone pointed out that they were actually running haggises [haggii?]. Of course they were. Because potatoes with legs would just be silly.