When nature calls before a run at the lake, I use the port-o-potty located at the corner of the Avalon parking lot (pictured above in all its glory). It’s just off the trail and near to where I start, regardless of whether I’m running clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Today was such a day, so I popped in and well.
Have you ever wondered how they clean port-o-potties? Neither have I. But if you figured they just house the thing down, you’d be right. Apparently I was the first one to use the port-o-potty this morning post-hosing. It was already warm–22C–and as you can see from the photo the potty is sitting in the sun. Plus it’s humid again, around 69% at the start of my run.
What this meant was that when I opened the door to the port-o-potty it was like stepping into a greenhouse set to emulate the very end of our future climate meltdown. The entire interior was dripping with water and the humidity felt like it was sitting right around 2000%. No one had even broken the wrappers on the toilet paper yet!
I got out of there quickly, afraid I might pass out otherwise.
Oh yeah, and then I did a run!
I went counterclockwise today and originally thought I had miscalculated because the Cottonwood Trail was mostly in direct sun, but the Avalon Trail at the opposite end was much the same, so no matter which way I was going, it was going to be with lots of sun. I was smart and wore sunblock, though!
As this is the first run of the week, I focused more on keeping a steady pace and hitting a specific heart rate range. I surprised myself by still being faster than expected and knew that if I did a burst in the last km I could break the six-minute mark, but it was very humid, I was out in the open sun at that point, and my energy was being steadily drained, so I only put on a bit of a boost and finished with a pace of 6:01/km.
Other than just feeling drained by the humidity, there were no other issues on the run, a pleasant and welcome surprise. I passed a few other joggers, plus a bronzed Adonis sans shirt who also chose to run. I’m not jealous at all of his perfect abs. Who wants to be perfect, anyway?
Stats:
Run 690 Average pace: 6:01/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 10:28 p.m. Distance: 5:02 km Time: 30:17 Weather: Sunny Temp: 22ºC Humidity: 60% Wind: light BPM: 154 Weight: 165.9 Total distance to date: 5053 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (168 km)
