I should confess that for the last few years I have said I will never run Edinburgh Marathon.  This view primarily come from the fact I have volunteered with EMF previously and see how shambolic the orgnaisation is behind the scenes.  However I was given an opportunity for a late  transfer place and I jumped at it to give Edinburgh a Chance.

They amended the route slightly, the organisers moved the start line from Holyrood Park to the main City Centre around the University - big positivity for me, it includes more of the city landmarks rather than heading straight out to Musselburgh.

Edinburgh is an out and back course i.e you pass 9miles at end of finish funnel in Musselburgh, head out to Gosforth House and return to finish the 26.2mi in Musselburgh.  Luckily this weekend there was limited headwind however in previous years it has been strong and caused issues along Longniddry Bents.

The medal was great as well as the box the t-shirt come in.  Big criticism of this race (and any run by GSI) is the fact the t-shirt is generic for anyone running 5k, 10k, HM, Mara - running a Marathon is a big deal, I believe the tshirt should be marked as such with the distance you choose to run.

Having run London 5 weeks previously, it was interesting to compare the two biggest UK Marathons.  Edinburgh lacks water stations, it has 5 on course but could have done with a few extra and provide water at the startline.  The finish area was quite crowded and they were trying to encourage runners to leave shortly after they finished - I quite like sitting down and soaking up the atmosphere post race.

Running EMF has definitely changed my mind about the event, I will possibly be back but will be a few years.  I would reccomend Edinburgh if you are looking for a May marathon.