Run 517
Average pace: 5:55/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW), including Piper Mill trail and Spruce Loop
Start: 1:19 pm
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 59:28
Weather: Smoke haze, sun
Temp: 25ºC
Humidity: 53%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 158.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 4013 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
The good news is the work to replace the foot bridge on the Cottonwood trail took less time than the signs indicated (as I suspected it would–they weren’t exactly replacing the Golden Gate here), so while I had planned on the possibility of running to Still Creek then turning and running back to complete 10K, I was able to keep going and behold the splendor of the new foot bridge, which looks remarkably like the old one.
Meanwhile, the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, unless my eyes are deceiving me, appears to be sagging very slightly in the middle. I’m wondering if the footings are starting to sink. I blame climate change.
Speaking of climate change, the worst part of the run was the weather. 25ºC is not hot, it’s just warm but not uncomfortably so. However, we are still in the middle of what would be a heat wave that has ironically seen lower-than-expected temperatures because the smoke haze from forest fires is so thick now that the sun can barely get through it. It’s also very humid and the fine particulate matter is not fine at all, it’s becoming noticeable enough that my eyes felt very slightly irritated by the end of the run.
Here’s the thing, though. I started out slow–5:44 for the first km (and that is very slow) and didn’t improve. By the last few km I was plodding along at a pace of over 6:00/km. This is not fun.
I saw very few people out on what would have otherwise been a spectacular Saturday afternoon. I didn’t see anyone else running because everyone else was smarter than me.
But I got through it. In a way the re-opening of the Cottonwood trail ruined my plan. As the run wore on I thought about getting to what would have been the barricade at Still Creek, turning around and completing 6K (which would not have meant much more running at that point) and then walking the rest of the way. When I saw the way was clear to complete a full loop I kept going because I figured I was already past the halfway-point, anyway.
The 10-day forecast doesn’t show any break in the sunny weather so the smoke haze is going to persist until a) the high pressure ridge finally breaks or b) all the forest fires magically go out.
I did make things worse by not going out in the morning when it would have at least been cooler. I’ll try to do that on Monday when I switch to my vacation running schedule of M-W-F.
In the end this was one of those “glad it’s over” runs. Here’s to eventual smoke haze-free jogging!
