Run 392
Average pace: 5:24/km
Location: Brunette River trail and Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 7.10 km
Time: 37:50
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 26ºC
Wind: moderate
Calories burned: 518
Weight: 158 pounds
Total distance to date: 3193
Device used: iPhone 6
My goal with tonight’s run was to improve on the horrible 5:37/km pace of my previous 7K two days ago. Barring getting hit by a blimp, I was cautiously optimistic that I would achieve this modest goal.
And I did. Woo!
Although it was 26ºC when I headed out the sun was low enough that it didn’t feel that warm, save for the Cottonwood trail being a tad on the muggy side. The only complication on the run was my right leg feeling a bit gimpy because I apparently twisted it like a pretzel while sleeping the night before. Even so the mild stiffness in the hip and elsewhere had no real impact.
I could sense I was doing better by the time I hit the 2 km mark and remarkably went on to pick up the pace for the final three km and breaking the 5:00/km mark on the first km. I pushed a little but not excessively and ended with a pace of 5:24/km, only three seconds off my best 7K pace this year.
And I lied about the only complication. There was one more–with about 2 km to go and feeling pretty good, I swallowed a bug. It wasn’t watermelon-sized like the last one I swallowed, but it made its presence known shortly after lodging in my throat. I hacked and wheezed and tried to swallow, all while determined to not slow down. The positive flow of the run would not be thrown off by a mere bug, and after a few seconds I was back to focusing on the trail and not squirming things inside me.
Oh, and there was a cyclist on the trail, riding at a stupidly fast speed. Note to cyclists on trail: I hate all of you. Go away.
Oh, Part 2: I’ve mentioned before that the only time I have ever seen people smoking on the trail is after the FIRE DANGER – No Smoking signs go up. Sure enough, some guy was merrily puffing away. Maybe he wasn’t going to start an uncontrollable forest fire with his careless carcinogens, but that stuff stinks, and the stink carries for an impressively long distance along the trail. I expect to see a group of smoking cyclists soon.