Scurry to the Sea is a 12 miles-ish race from the Pentlands to Musselborough. I think of it as a downhill race as most of it is downhill but, as this elevation shows, there’s an awful lot of climbing in the first two miles.

This is the third time I’ve entered Scurry to the Sea so for more details you can read 2024 and 2025. It was only on re-reading my 2025 report that I realised I made the same mistake this year as last year: I entered both Run The Blades and Scurry to the Sea despite them just being a week apart. My legs were heavy last year and, while I felt it again this year in the fast few miles, by mile four I felt okay and continued to feel okay until the finish. Maybe that was because we found a shortcut?

I’m not sure what we did, but we finished the race about a half a mile shorter than in 2024 and 2025. Given we were following the runners in front, I can only assume one of the leaders had worked out a new shorter route to run between start and finish while still passing all the checkpoints. If so, my legs thank you!