DROP RUN

By Michael Bissett

On Saturday Tom Farrell and I took part in the Drop Run Edinburgh.  As a race this is very different.

Here are the basic rules:

• You are not allowed to use any GPS whatsoever in this race.  No mobile phones, no Garmins.

• Mobiles and Garmins are put in a sealed envelope and travel with you.  (You start your Garmin before leaving to get your distance).

• You run either 10miles or 15miles – you decide when entering. 

• You are given a tracker to ensure that you do not go completely off track!

One more important rule

• You are put on a bus blindfolded and driven to the start point which is 15 miles, in our case, as the crow flies from the finish point.

This is not going to be a race report as all competitors literally scattered when let off the bus and made their own way back to the start.  Instead, this is the story of the journey Tom and I took to get back to Edinburgh.

Once we had picked up our numbers, tracker and sealed our phones and Garmin into envelopes we were taken to the bus and blindfolds were on.  We tried to work out where the bus was going and we correctly as it turns out guess that we had gone west wards towards Balerno.  The 10 milers were let off the bus and we carried on to the 15 mile drop off point.  As soon as we got off the bus everyone scattered in different directions.  Our first job was to find out where on earth we had been dumped.

It turns out we were in West Calder.  We were directed to the main road by a kind passer by and the return run had started.  At this point there were a few others also going along the road as us.  To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be running along roads, I was looking for the trails and adventure – that was to come…..

We used bus stops to have a look at bus routes and maps which helped us get a better understanding of where we were and soon we were on the outskirts of Livingston.  We headed into a wooded area, we met another Dropster there who told us he could see Arthur’s Seat.  We decided not to follow him!

We travelled on through this wood and came across a housing estate and another couple of Dropsters.  After a quick chat with a passerby helped get further towards the centre of Livingston.  The passerby even ran with us for a bit.  The plan at this point was to try and get to St John’s hospital and over by Howden to get as close to Armadale as possible.  

We reached a sliding doors moment at one of the many roundabouts in Livingston.  Do we head towards the hospital 15 minutes away or the town centre which was about 3.  We took the later and found ourselves at the shopping outlets and close to the start of Livingston parkrun!  We headed towards the parkrun start which sits by the River Almond and ran down by the river, along the Shale trail.   This is where the terrain really started to change.

We still had one of the Dropsters we had been running with in Livingston with us and together we headed along the side of the river.  We passed East Calder and stayed on the trails.  There were useful signposts on the way but it was a bit worrying that not matter how far we ran it said that it was 17 miles to Edinburgh.

We passed by a visitors centre with a map and we realised that we were heading towards the Union Canal and we wanted to get onto that as soon as possible via the viaduct.  We climbed what we thought was the viaduct only to find out it was the wrong one but the views were great!

As it turns out it was handy that we were on the bridge as we got to cross the river and be on the side we needed to be.  The trails also got a bit narrower and there were quite a few styles to climb over.  By this point we had also picked up another runner who had taken a completely different route and he ran with us for a while.  It was nice moment as we took it in turns to be at the front, holding the gates open for each other and generally being nice.  At that moment, it was about sharing the experience with these kind strangers.

Running by the river with our two temporary teammates.  After a while we came across the viaduct we were looking for and we were on the canal.  A quick journey under the viaduct and we were on course again.

Ready to make the next stage of the journey.  At this point we had spotted the Bings in West Lothian and knew we were on the right track.  We parted with our temporary teammates.  Our red friend fell behind while our green friend went on ahead.  We came up with the plan of coming off the canal at Sighthill and running along Gorgie and through Haymarket.  Getting back into Edinburgh was a moment to reflect on what we had achieved but we still had a bit to go to reach the finishing point at Up and Running at the West End.  Running past bus stops helped us to get an idea of the time – our watches were sealed away remember.  At that point the X28 bus from Livingston passed us – we had ran the journey it was taking!  We passed the puregym where Tom works, through Gorgie and onto Haymarket.  With a final sprint in Town, we made it back to Up and Running – Rang the finishers bell and we had completed the drop. 

Finishing was mixture of tiredness and exhilaration.  I have been reflecting a lot of the achievement of that day, and we did well.  I have a terrible sense of direction and Tom is from the West Midlands we should have had no chance!  In the end we finished up unofficially at the second team back.  Our green friend continued along the canal to the end and finished 10 minutes after us and our red friend came in a little after him.  Well done to them too.

Reflecting on the day I think we made the most of it.  We had an adventure running on routes we hadn’t before.  We got a little lost at times but were able to find the right track.  Our 15-mile drop turned more into a 19-mile drop!  Looking at the others on the tracker some people stayed on roads the entire time, others were going around a little in circles.  I love that that was their experience, we started at the same place and finished in the same place, but we all had our own journey to get there.  I am sure they had as much fun as we did.

Running without a watch and mobile was liberating.  It brought back to joy of running for running’s sake which is why we all started running in the first place.  At no time were we thinking about pace, what other people were doing – it was the challenge of getting back to the start which was the common goal that we all shared.

I would like to thank the organisers for coming up with the idea – bringing it up to Edinburgh.  To Sue Walker from Carnegie Harriers.  I read about her doing the Drop last year and knew I had to do it – you were right Sue – a fantastic day out.  To our temporary team mates – Red man and Green man – a pleasure running with you for a brief time.  Special thanks to my teammate Tom for keeping me going throughout the race and for the encouragement at the end when I was a bit more tired and sore than I was admitting to.

Would I do it again – absolutely.  The beauty of this run is that it is never the same twice and all of the runners whether they ran 10miles or 15miles ran their own journey and built their own memories.  You can’t say better than that.