Today’s run was on the warmest day of the year yet, with temperatures around 20ºC in the shade and probably a few degrees warmer in the sun. There was little in the way of breeze, which was nice after the last gust-o-rama.
After hurting my left shin a few times I had theorized that I was perhaps making injury more likely to happen by always running on the same path and in the same direction, which would lead me to favoring the same side (and leg) over time. Today I began the nutty process of testing this theory by running clockwise around the path at China Creek park and it felt genuinely weird for the first few laps. Oddly, despite the beautiful conditions, I did not encounter any other joggers, though there were numerous people out tanning, throwing Frisbees, kicking soccer balls and otherwise exercising or hanging out.
Speaking of encounters, I came across that weird bubble phenomenon where people outdoors think of themselves as being the only person out there and thus pay absolutely no attention to anything around them. In this case it was a little girl who was part of a larger class out exercising. She walked onto the trail directly in my path. I had enough time to put a hand on her shoulder and stop the inevitable collision.
The run itself went perhaps marginally better than I had hoped. I figured the combination of it feeling warmer than usual and running in the opposite direction would lead to a slower run but I maintained a 5:37/km pace. Stamina was an issue early on but fine for the latter part. The lead legs kicked in midway through, though. I tried pushing a bit in the last km or so but my legs were less than willing to agree with my brain’s clever plan to improve my overall time. At least I’m not getting slower.
Except for my starting km. I’m not sure why my time is so slow there, unless it’s a subconscious effort to not burn out early or something.
The fear of burning came at the end of the run when I looked at my arms and they were red. I thought I had managed the neat trick of burning them on one of the few sunny days we’ve actually had this spring, but they were simply flushed and have resumed their normal pale appearance.
Chart (purple indicates the run was done clockwise)
| km | May 20 | May 18 | Jan 25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:15 | 5:13 | 5:04 |
| 2 km | 5:24 | 5:23 | 5:20 |
| 3 km | 5:31 | 5:30 | 5:31 |
| 4 km | 5:35 | 5:35 | 5:36 |
| 5 km | 5:37 | 5:37 | 5:37 |
