Average pace: 5:05/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Piper Mill Trail, Conifer and Spruce Loops
Distance: 5.03 km
Weather: Cloudy, light showers
Temp: 15ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 364
Total distance to date: 2454 km
And 20 days later…
Having my next run delayed by a) a throat infection b( overtime at work and c) gorging myself at a birthday dinner, it was finally 20 days later that I took my first tentative steps back running. In that time we saw the end of summer (yesterday), which was a sunny and pleasantly warm day and the first day of fall (today) which was noticeably cooler and monsoon-like. The Rains have returned to the Lower Mainland.
As often on rainy days I held off, hoping to catch a break in the weather. By mind-afternoon such a break arrived and I headed out, opting to wear my newly water-proofed jacket, not because it was cold (15ºC is still pretty mild) but to ward off any incoming precipitation.
For the first 4 km it looked like it was actually clearing up and the jacket made me feel a bit warm, though not uncomfortably so. The last km it did start to shower but only lightly so the jacket was a bit of a wash, so to speak.
The biggest change I noticed today, apart from the changed weather (it was 26ºC and sunny on September 2, my last run day) were the leaves, Mainly they were everywhere, along with lots of branches freshly blown down by today’s storm.
Fortunately none of this proved to be a negative on the run. I did decide when I got to the lake to only do 5K to avoid pushing myself too hard and I switched back to my Nikes over the minimalist MT110s. I got off to a surprisingly strong start and held up fairly well, coming in with a 5:05/km pace that I deem perfectly acceptable. Bollocks was a non-issue, though the left foot was just starting to complain as I walked back to the Sperling/Burnaby Lake SkyTrain station.
Overall it was an encouraging return. Yay, I sez.
