Run 546
Average pace: 5:20/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:02 am
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 26:57
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 10-12ºC
Humidity: 77%
Wind: light
BPM: 160
Weight: 157.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4247 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
I felt un-good in the early morning so I took the day off work. By mid-morning I felt well enough to venture outside and then risked a run, because while my stomach was upset, my legs seemed fine.
Because I wouldn’t normally be running at this time my usual prep routine was a bit off. As in, I was over one km into my walk to the lake when I realized I’d left my AirPods at home. I briefly toyed with running sans music, decided no, I didn’t want to listen to my own breathing for upwards of half an hour, and went back, thus adding about 2.5 km to my walk.
I opted to wear the old-fashioned EarPods instead of the shiny new AirPods. I hate to admit it, but having the inline controls on the wire is very handy when running.
With milder temperatures and sunny skies, there were more people than I was expecting out on the trail, including two massive walking groups, one of which was not going to accidentally startle any bears as you could hear them gabbing from 20 km away. Very excited about nature, I guess.
I was surprised to find parts of the Avalon and South Shore trails partly-collapsed along the northern edge. Apparently the base layer in some sections was insufficiently made, and recent rain has started sloughing swaths of gravel off to the side. I’m curious to see how quickly repairs are made.
Speaking of repairs, the corner near the sports field that had water lapping over half of it in Saturday was being worked on by an earth mover. Once done it should be shored up enough to prevent further flooding. Ironically, to get around the machinery and piles of loose gravel I had to duck onto the field, which is still a water-clogged soup.
Now if they can just fix that one other stretch that floods, it will be possible to do a dry run (so to speak) even under the wettest conditions. A boy can dream.
As for the run itself, I opted to do a 5K and walk out, rather than risk 0ver-extending myself so soon(ish) after the 10K and I was faster at 5:20/km, though that’s still a fair bit off my best 5K pace. It’s funny how slacking off just for a week or two basically kills your fitness level. The run went fine, though, with no problems encountered. It felt colder despite actually being warmer, primary due to a) wearing a t-shirt (one of my old silky-style shirts I stopped wearing a few years back–they’re still in good condition and feel sexy) and b) it being drier gave the air more bite. It was fine, though. Other people are practically jogging in parkas.
I am undecided on what to do for Thursday. The sun will be setting at 6 p.m. on the dot, meaning even if I head out as soon as I can after getting home, the sun will still set about ten minutes into the run. It should be clear, though, and last light is just after 6:30 so I should be able to complete the run before it gets dark for real and the vampires come out. But this is probably the last chance to do a post-work run until late January (assuming we’re not up to our armpits in snow like we were this past January).
