Ran my first full 5K since January 25th and oddly enough my pace was exactly the same as that day – 5:37/km.
The weather was actually spring-like with the temperature around 17ºC. It was a bit breezy, however, with The Weather Network reporting winds up to 20 km/h. I most noticed this when running the northern part of the trail and the wind was blowing against me. It’s mostly a psychological thing, though at the end of the run the wind was strong enough to blow the water coming out of the fountain back onto my hand. It also leaves your mouth parched like nobody’s business. The sun, though pleasant, was not hot enough to be uncomfortable. It was nice ducking into the shade of the trees lining the trail, too. And speaking of the trail, the few dry days have managed to make it much easier to run on, although it’s still bumpy in spots.
This was also the first official day of the year for Extremely Pale Shirtless Guy Tanning at China Creek.
For the run itself, I felt slow. My opening km was 5:13 vs. the 5:04 in January but the pace in the second half settled down instead of continuing to fall off a cliff. Despite the slowness I didn’t encounter any problems.
Handy comparison chart:
| km | May 18 | Jan 25 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:13 | 5:04 |
| 2 km | 5:23 | 5:20 |
| 3 km | 5:30 | 5:31 |
| 4 km | 5:35 | 5:36 |
| 5 km | 5:37 | 5:37 |
