Participate, Enjoy, Suceed.

I travelled up to Edinburgh for my second ever 5k run. The run was the Great Winter Run organised by the same company who organise the Great North Run.

This run was definitely more professionally organised. The pre-run pack included a timing chip for my shoes, my race number with my name on it and loads of information about Edinburgh and the run itself.

I stayed up in Edinburgh on the Friday night and can't fault Premier Inn once again. The staff at Haymarket Premier Inn were really great, warm and friendly.

On the Saturday morning we headed over to Holyrood Park. The park was buzzing with people watching young Scots children running cross-country and they were very impressive.

At 10.50am we lined up and were led in a group warm up. I couldn't see what was going on at the front so at first I tried to copy everyone. In the end I just concentrated on stretching as best I could and getting myself warned up.

There were a lot more people at this event than the last one and we were separated into 4 different starting groups depending on our predicted finish time. I was in the last group to start, Green.

When the run got going it was hard to find my own place to run. For the first half mile people were bunched up before the steep climb began. The uphill section must have continued for about a mile and a half. I found it hard to regulate my breathing, and I was pleased to get to the flatter section. Some people had stopped running and were walking so I passed a lot of people on the uphill section.

After the 2km sign, which also had music blasting, I ditched my gloves as they were annoying the heck out of me. The views were completely stunning, but I didn't have much time to admire them.

My first mile had been slower than I had wanted, due to the vast uphill section, but once the ground was flatter I managed to pick up my pace. I just kept my own run going, occasionally focussing on someone in front as a target to catch up with then once I'd passed them I focused on a new person.

My last mile was the quickest I've ever done at 10.38. It was all downhill and I had to hold myself back, from running even faster. At the mile point I had known I wasn't going to beat my Personal Best from Glasgow, which was 36.37 mins.

As I saw the finish line I heard shouting over my music in my headphones. It was my mam and my two oldest daughters cheering me over the line. After handing over my timing chip, picking up water, a foil blanket and my goody bag I met my family at the well sign posted meet up point.

The organisation of this run was fantastic. There were plenty of marshalls who clapped the runners on around the course. The goody bag included a weighty medal, a training shirt, a bottle of powerade (yuck), an Eat-natural bar, several travel cans of deodorant, some biscuits, some energy sweets, some tissues and body lotion.

By the time I got home to Newcastle I was able to check my official time on the Great Run website and was pleased with the finish time of 38.49, which considering the slow uphill start was better than I thought.

I've been drinking Cherry Active drink after training and did immediately after the run yesterday and can honestly say that my legs felt great today. I've had no aches or stiffness at all.

My next run is in March in Leeds and is a 10k. So now I'm increasing my training run distances. I'm looking forward even more to the Great North Run in September after experiencing Great Run's organisation.