Great Scottish Run
Or, the Glasgow Half Marathon. I was intending to record my targets for this race before I had actually ran it but I didn't get a chance.
Anyway, I managed 1 hour 44 minutes and 30 seconds which I'm pretty pleased with. I would have been happy getting under 1:50 and ecstatic getting under 1:40, so I've met my target. A 1:44 is indicative of a sub 3:40 marathon (supposedly) which is probably a wee bit too much for me at this point.
I was stuck in the third wave of runners which meant that I had to get past most of the wave in front before I could relax into my pace. That meant a lot of dodging and weaving and speeding up and slowing down for the first couple of miles.
I went out too hard for the first mile or two and that rocketed my HR above 170 (a lot higher than it would usually be). Strangely, I managed to keep my pace around the 8 minute/mile mark for the entire distance without really lowering my HR to manageable levels. Normally, I would have been out of breath at that level of exertion but I didn't really have any problems. I even managed a finishing sprint. My HR at the finish was 190!
So, it's looking pretty good. 4 weeks to go. I've now got a running partner for the marathon - my mate Iain is joining me. He seems to be a bit faster than me but hopefully he'll toe me along, rather than be dragged back by me.
Update: I placed 1664th out of 7568, not that placings matter if you're out of the top echelon. Full results here.
