Well that was a nice wee endurance builder! lol. I’d planned on running 8-9 miles today, and as part of my (damn) ‘One new route a week‘ challenge, this was to by my new route of the week.

I left work just after 5 and headed over to Paisley Road West and Bellahouston. Nice bright pink under top, blue top, purple Nike shorts. Luckily my knee was fine in the cold. I didn’t feel great in the first 2-4 miles, I felt a touch of a stitch at one point, and my lower legs were feeling a little tight, but I managed to get settled into the run after about 6 miles.

I kept running along Paisley Road West until I turned left up a street towards Ross Hall Hospital. I followed the road around (I’ve done this part of the route with Paul once, so I thought I’d be fine for directions)… I turned left again, then somehow ended up back on the road Ross Hall is on…. oops. Damn ‘One new route a week’ idea…. 😛

I decided I’d go through Ross Hall Park to get to Corkerhill Road (I definitely knew that route) but it meant my 8-9 mile run would be slightly longer, maybe 10, 11 or 12… I wasn’t sure. I felt ok though so I knew I’d be fine.

After an hour or so it was dark, and my horrible tummy cramps had been threatening from about half an hour in. I was tempted to stop at Bellahouston on the way back (10.5 miles in) to go to the toilet, but figured if I could hold on that long, I could hold on til I got back to work to pick up my stuff. It’s really odd and I don’t know why I get it when I do runs in the evening – and it’s very annoying!

I don’t particularly want it to be something I have to put up with, but I think it’s going to be. 😦  Anyway, I managed to keep up a nice steady pace which was good.

At the end, it was nice to run towards my work and see it all lit up and know it was going to be the end of my run. 😀 (Didn’t get a photo as it was too dark!)  11.8 miles in I got to my work and did ran a little loop around to the front of the building to round it up to 12 miles.

12 miles: serves me right for lying in on Monday and Tuesday morning and avoiding my 8 mile run!!! 😀

Home to dinner of 3 poached eggs on toast with a mars bar milkshake to recover. 🙂

Run: 12 miles, 1:38:50, Pace: 8:14, Calories: 896
Ave HR: 150 (75%), Max HR: 161 (85%), Garmin Training Effect: 3.5