3 miles slow, 7 miles hard

Went out with Natasha after breakfast to jog down to St Vincent Street and then the footbridge over the Expressway to watch the Great Scottish Run.

In the afternoon I had limited time available for a run so went out for a 7-mile route I haven't run in a while, up Maryhill Road, through the Science Park, down to Anniesland Cross and back home via Great Western Road. The plan was to set out fast and see how long I could sustain it. I reached Queen Margaret Drive in exactly 6 minutes, then the gates of the Science Park inside 18 minutes for the first time, the bridge over the Kelvin in 19:02 and the top gate on the other side of the Science Park in 22:12. This was about a minute ahead of my previous PB pace for the route. I slowed down a bit in the second half of the run but by the time I got stuck at the traffic lights at the Botanic Gardens, sub-45 minutes was certain and I was aiming for sub-44, although I couldn't remember exactly what my previous best time was. I got held up again for a few seconds crossing Maryhill Road, but without really pushing in the last stretch, I arrived back home in 43:41, which turned out to be a course record by 14 seconds. Average pace was 6:14 per mile.