Run 343
Average pace: 5:20/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops
Distance: 10.03 km
Weather: Cloudy, very humid
Temp: 18-21ºC
Wind: nil
Calories burned: 771
Total distance to date: 2877
The threat of rain loomed over today’s run but as I headed out the sky brightened and the sun even made a brief appearance midway through the run. That was probably the highlight.
I noticed immediately upon stepping outside at 8 a.m. that it was a tad muggy. It turned out the humidity was over 80%. Today was a textbook example of the olde expression “it’s the heat, not the humidity” as the temperature for the run was a perfectly reasonable 18-21ºC.
For the first km it was fine and without the sky dumping great amounts of water on me, my pace was actually two seconds faster–5:04 vs 5:06/km. My fate was written in the next split, though, when my pace drooped an impressive 5%, to 5:17/km, five seconds slower than the previous run’s split. This doomed me to an overall slower average pace of 5:20/km, a disappointing way to end the week but considering I was jogging through liquid air, perhaps not too bad.
I had an amazing four separate encounters with one of those two-seater vehicles the park workers tool around the trails in. I passed it near the start of the run as the woman was placing back a pole she had removed to give the vehicle access to the Avalon Trail. Shortly after doing this she caught up to me, I moved aside and let her pass.
A km or two later and she came rolling up behind me again, having ventured off to the Freeway Trail before looping back to the trail I was on. I again let her pass as running ahead of her would have required bionic legs or something. Weirdly the third time she managed to be ahead of me but the fourth time I again managed to come out ahead of her and this time was headed toward the second boardwalk. I assumed she would not try to bring the vehicle on it, as it’s not really designed for vehicles. It still felt like a low-rent version of Duel.
Other than the stupid amount if humidity, the only other things of note on the run were:
- my left foot was feeling a bit sore beforehand but still held up. I could feel it but I don’t think it slowed me down.
- my right ankle mysteriously twinged with pain two separate times, each time lasting perhaps 30 seconds or so. I was fine before and after and there is no pain at all now in the ankle. It reminded me of the equally mysterious knee pain I felt for one run in the summer of 2012. It’s like the body randomly picks some part to briefly remind you that you’re getting older and are fallible or something. Stupid body.
Having seen my times go the wrong way this week, I am hoping next week is a) drier and b) drier.
