Long runs are hotting up

Last night we did a 12-mile training runaround the south side of Glasgow in the pleasant evening sunshine. Not too long back, 12 miles would have seemed a huge distance; don't you train for months to complete a half marathon which is just 1.1 miles further? Now running at a decent pace - just under 8-minute miles - it was hard work after a full day in the office, but so, so so much more fun!

It's amazing how quickly you get out into greenery in this city. There can't be too many large cities where it's so easy to be out in the open within half an hour of running. Tomorrow we're heading down to Lochwinnoch on an 18-mile route. That will be the longest I have ever run so I'm expecting a tough morning. But with the sun still shining I'm looking forward to it nevertheless.

There are only about six weeks until race day now and this is the period where our really long runs start. Over the next three or four weeks we'll get up to about 22 miles with some big runs in the week as well. Then we taper for the last two or three and save some energy for the marathon.

Tom Scott 10 miler

This weekend was meant to be more gentle after building up our long-run mileage to 16 the previous weekend, but it didn't quite go to plan. We had the Tom Scott 10 mile race yesterday so decided to go to the mountains on Saturday. Seven-and-a-half hours of walking later, our legs had done a fair bit of work! But we still (reluctantly) got out of bed and went down to Strathclyde Park for the run. Meg finished slightly ahead of me and we both finished faster than we had intended to - we need to work on this pacing thing before May 27!

Last weekend we had been to the Isle of Bute, running south from the ferry terminal at Rothesay for about 8 miles then heading back to the town on the 'West Island Way' off-road path. The views were stunning and the weather absolutely perfect for running.

So now it's a night off the running club after the weekend's excursions then back into the training tomorrow. This coming weekend is an 18 miler and then 20 the following week.