Ultrasound-off

Yesterday I had my third ultrasound. I have yet to be pregnant.

The first was to nail down what turned out to be a prostate infection. The second was to figure out if the unwelcome lump in my pair of coconuts* was something nasty (it was not).

This time, after a sort-of-diagnosis of possible kidney stone or stones during an Emergency room visit (see the previous entry for the epic tale), I called to arrange the third ultrasound to see if there really might be a kidney stone down there.

My doctor will have the results by the middle of next week. It kind of bugs me that the person doing the ultrasound can see everything plain as day in real-time but can’t say a word while the procedure is being done.

For this one I was given one simple instruction: drink three cups of water an hour before and then don’t pee until after the ultrasound.

I figure this is some kind of test, because while three cups may not sound like a lot, drinking three cups of water in a row is a lot. I felt very bloated. I drank them at work, as I was heading straight to the hospital from there. I made it as far as downtown before I had to pee. This was about twenty minutes. I had a 30+ minute SkyTrain trip ahead of me. By the time I got off at Sapperton station my entire world had been reduced to a mad dash to the nearest toilet.

I went home. I peed. I broke the one ultrasound rule. However, I was running early and still have 45 minutes to go, so I downed another two cups, thinking that would more than compensate, while hoping that I wouldn’t experience the same fierce desire to urinate, having just done so.

On the latter I was wrong.

I needed to pee during the ultrasound, but it wasn’t too bad. The ultrasound was about the same as the others. Well, not quite the same as the second one, as the magic wand was not rubbed all over my testicles in a decidedly non-erotic manner. This time I just had to yank my shirt up a little while the technician pressed (rather firmly at times) the wand into my lower back and adjacent areas. She was very thorough. She mad me take deep breaths and hold them a lot, so it began to take on an almost Zen-like quality. Plus the jelly was nice and warm, unlike the nightmarishly cold stuff of the first ultrasound. What I’m saying is that as hospital experiences go, it was not that bad.

When she completed the ultrasound she said she needed to confirm with the radiologist that the shots were good and this would take a few minutes. By this time I had to pee again very badly. They were a very long few minutes. Fortunately the shots were deemed okay, and the nearest washroom was right outside the ultrasound room. I made liberal use of it.

Ironically, the horrible soreness that caused me to go to the Emergency room has largely disappeared, because my body has decided to be weird and bothersome. But the ultrasound doesn’t lie**, so I should have the results soon.

* clever euphemism
** assuming the foreign object wasn’t some sort of clever alien shapeshifter, of course

That 5+ hour trip to the Emergency room last night

Last night around 6:30 I went to the Emergency room at Royal Columbian. I left shortly before midnight. This might sound like the beginning of a horror story, but it’s actually rather mundane.

I have a cold right now. It started with a tickle in my throat Monday afternoon and evolved into full sore throat/stuffed and/or runny sinuses and coughing since then.

The cold is not why I went to the Emergency room, it was jut an added bonus.

Yesterday morning I awoke to a soreness in my mid-back that felt like I’d been kicked by a horse. Not an accidental kick, either, one where the horse was feeling aggrieved and seeking revenge. I took some Tylenol (and DayQuill for the cold), but by late afternoon it was persisting. I should go to the clinic, I thought. But I delayed, had supper and finally decided I couldn’t ignore it, and by then all of the walk-in clinics were closed, so I had to go to Emergency.

It’s convenient. That’s where the happy part of this ends.

Upon seeing that the check-in area was full, I knew I was not exactly going to be in and out.

Just over half an hour after checking in, I was called to the second station, where I answered a few questions and had my temperature and blood pressure taken. I was not told the results, so I figured they were normal or normal-ish. I sat back down.

The two people I remember most clearly were a man likely in his 50s (not me) with a scruffy beard and one of those always-shouting kind of voices, so whenever he said anything, everyone within a hundred meters could hear. This is how I found out he had some kind of steel in his eye and he wanted to get it out. He chatted with several other people and would sometimes wander off for awhile, then come back and chat some more, his jokes and commentary ringing out like machine gun fire.

He seemed defeated, though, by the barfing girl. An older couple brought in a young girl, perhaps three years old. Cute kid. I looked over and whatever she had eaten earlier began burbling out of her mouth. Then it sluiced out. Then I stopped looking over that way. They got a cute little blue barf pouch for her, but I think it was probably too late. They left for awhile, presumably to clean her up. I didn’t find out why she was throwing up because they spoke in normal tones. The girl herself seemed very chill about the whole thing. I’ve never seen anyone so casually vomit.

Another half hour passed–it was now about 7:41 p.m.–when a nurse came along and took me aside to get a blood sample. This was new, but since I’m fine with blood being taken if I don’t fast for 16 hours first, no big deal. She did a remarkably good job of getting the needle in. Today you can barely see the mark. I was sent back to the check-in area with a taped-down piece of gauze on my right arm.About 40 minutes later I am finally moved to triage, which is as full as check-in. I find a seat near the end and fiddle around on the phone, watching the battery slowly diminish. Most of the people here have no immediately identifiable cause for being here, which is a relief. The girl sitting to my right asks if it’s cold or if she’s dying. That’s not exactly what she said, but she spoke very softly. I told her it sure wasn’t warm, which was true. She talked a bit about why she was there. Something about her eye. I nodded and smiled, hopefully in the right places.

At 9:34 p.m.–almost an hour later– I am finally taken to an exam room, where I am told to take off my shirt and put on a gown. This is later revealed to serve no purpose. The nurse asks some questions, takes my temperature and blood pressure again, but this time she notes that my blood pressure is a little high. I have mystery pain in my back, am suffering from a bad cold and have already been here for three hours, so yes, my blood pressure is a little high. She shrugs it off and leaves.

Nearly an hour later, the doctor arrives and after a few questions, gives me a bottle to pee in. As it turns out, I really had to go, so this is convenient.

I have to wait for someone who seems to take a very long time in the one available washroom. I don’t want to know why he is taking so long. I go in, provide a generous sample, put it on a napkin on the sample table, then return to triage. It is now 10:46 p.m.

About 45 minutes later the doctor comes by to tell me the blood test looks fine, and there is no sign of infection in the urine. All good! But there is a tiny bit of blood in the urine (the amount is too small to be visible). He says this could be due to being older (he is a young doctor and at least he says “older” and not “old”) or a sign of a kidney stone. I am told to wait (ho ho) for someone to give me a form for an ultrasound, after which I will consult with my doctor over the results.

I get the form and leave. It is 11:37 p.m. I get home a few minutes before midnight and eat a Clif Bar because I’m hungry and in a bad mood.

Today I schedule an ultrasound for 3:15 p.m. tomorrow. I am told to drink three cups of water an hour before and to not pee them out until after the ultrasound. The test is conveniently at Royal Columbian. Less conveniently I will be at work, so I will have to leave early.

What’s funny in retrospect is how I didn’t flip out or go squirrelly with how long it took. I think I just knew going in and accepted it. Also, there was only one crying baby, briefly, in the background.

But the next time I feel compelled to get a health issue checked out ASAP, I am not waiting until the walk-in clinics have closed. That, or I’m taking a laptop next time and writing half a novel while I wait.

A list of failure, a list of hope

Here’s a list of things I have tried and failed to do (or didn’t do enough) that I’m thinking of trying again:

  • Typing. I mean, I can type, I just don’t touch-type, and while I’m reasonably fast for someone who uses three fingers instead of ten, I know I could be a lot faster. However, past attempts have not gone well. Still, enough time has passed that I think I’m ready to give this another shot. I may not choose Mavis as my guide this time, though. Sorry, Mavis!
  • Swimming. I live on the coast. Knowing how to swim is a good thing. As with typing, previous attempts did not end with great success. I can at least go into this knowing that I have a fear of water to overcome. Or maybe more precisely, a fear of drowning, which technically requires water (yes, I could also drown in a giant vat of chicken broth, but I’m more likely to go swimming in water than chicken broth).
  • Programming. Just kidding. This is one area where I’ve made peace with my mind just not being suited for this kind of task. I’m okay with that. I like to think I’ve helped someone else gain employment as a programmer through my diligent avoidance of programming.
  • Drawing. I am not bad at drawing, though I’m not good, either. I’d like to dabble in this more as a kind of therapy or meditation. I find doodling soothing and relaxing.
  • Stretching. I just need to do this. I used to stretch before runs, then got paranoid that I’d injure myself. Then I injured myself anyway, probably because I wasn’t stretching. So I plan to start stretching. Then I can say I have a stretch goal. Thank you, I am here all night.

Things we’ll all laugh about in the future: A list

Things we’ll look back on and have a good chuckle about:

  • Facebook
  • Democracy
  • Stable climate
  • Florida
  • Internet-connected anything
  • Fossil fuels

Well, that was kind of depressing. But let me try to expand a bit on each.

Facebook. From a simple way to see what’s happening with your friends and family, no matter where they are, to a complicit force in the spread of conspiracy theories, hate speech and the undermining of democratic governments, Facebook is easily the #1 tech-based scourge. I do not believe its absence would make the world worse in any way, and would really like to see a competitor try to recapture what it originally was. But it may be too big to stop now.

Democracy. The last few years have demonstrated how fragile democracy is. It’s also shown how bonkers the U.S. system of government is. It is something of a miracle that it has stood for so long (that whole civil war notwithstanding). I don’t know what the next few years will bring, but if someone got kidnapped by Bigfoot and was never seen again, like some American president, for example, the world would be better off.

Stable climate. Here’s the thing: the climate on Earth is always changing. Just look up “snowball Earth” to see. But while the climate is changing now and for the worse (as far as human habitation goes), our blundering, polluting ways are making the changes happen faster and with more severe consequences. Short of aliens with superior technology stepping in and saying, “Okay, you dumb Earthlings, you’ve screwed up enough” I don’t think we’re going to see much improvement here.

Florida. Related to the above. It’s not a question of if Florida will be submerged under the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, but when. I wonder if there’s a plan to relocate Walt Disney World?

Internet-connected anything. It’s all a bit silly now, but I have to admit, I still enjoy barking at Google Maps on my phone to “take me home” and getting real-time directions, or using Siri to start a run, add items to a list, or even just record a random thought or idea. Maybe we won’t laugh about this in the future.

Fossil fuels. Unless we learn how to make new dinosaurs and accelerate the millions of years it takes to turn them into oil, fossil fuels are as doomed as Florida. We’ll laugh because of how crude (not an oil joke. Really.) fossil fuels will seem as we jet around in fusion-powered flying cars. Assuming we haven’t nuked the world, of course.

I have a very large microphone, would you like to see it?

I decided to give voice dictation/speech recognition a serious try for my writing, to see if it actually works as well as its advocates suggest.

I didn’t want to use my gaming headset because I didn’t really want to wear a headset at all, if possible, so I looked into desktop mics.

I picked up a Blue Yeti USB microphone during Amazon’s Prime sale, both due to its sale price and its generally stellar reputation. I can use it for dictation, podcasts (if I had anything to talk about) and karaoke (if I want to annoy others and embarrass myself, or perhaps become the next Justin Bieber, except older, with better legs and fewer run-ins with the law).

This thing is gigantic. And it’s heavy enough to use as a weapon. A lethal weapon. But set up is dead (ho ho) simple and initial testing confirms it’s working just dandy. If I get some quality alone time this weekend (voice dictation is not something you want to do with others around, because it’s likely to bug them and make you look a little weird, to boot) I intend to give this thing a shot, probably starting off with Google Docs, as it has integrated speech. If I am convinced of its worth, I may move onto getting some flavor of Dragon Naturally Speaking (and how naturally does a dragon speak, anyway?)

From there I would also consider an app for the phone to record when I am out and aboot, or even get a digital voice recorder, which could later be played back into the appropriate software in order to transcribe my recordings.

It’s kind of exciting because it’s an approach I’ve never done before, but it could always be one of those crazy things that just doesn’t work for me, like touch typing, swimming or programming. I’ll find out soon.

July 2018 weight loss report: Up 0.6 pounds

In what basically comes down to a rounding error, I was up 0.6 pounds for the month, missing actual weight loss due to probably nothing more than a single trip to the loo. Still, up is bad and I feel bad.

It was also a weird month, with two weeks of vacation/travel and irregular eating habits, including the consumption of more fudge than I’ve had since, well, ever. Mmm, fudge. Fortunately the fudge is in Barkerville, which is not exactly an easy day trip.

I remain donut-free, though I indulged in a few cookies.

More positively, my body fat is still modestly down for the year and I’m making a bold prediction: I will finally dip under 160 pounds again before the end of August, provided I do not have any donuts.

July 1: 162.2 pounds
July 31: 162.8 pounds (up 0.6 pounds for the month)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 162.8 pounds (up 0.5 pounds)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
July 31: 17.9% (29.2 pounds of fat (down 0.8 pounds)

Mini-golfing maxi-years later: The Revenge

I thought it had been three years since I last went mini-golfing, but a quick check reveals it was in May 2012, over six years ago. Egad. I was so much younger back then. Six years, at least.

Back then Jeff and I played to a near-tie, with him edging me with a score of 61 to my 62. It was all in fun, of course, so the score doesn’t really matter.

Still, I yearned for revenge. Or to at least get a few more holes at par, managing a mere 4 of 18 last time.

And so we set off yesterday, back to Eaglequest Coquitlam. The stream was curiously a little healthier now, and there was even a small working fountain. I say this was curious because we are in the middle of a heatwave when I wouldn’t have been surprised to see everything dry as the hardpan in Death Valley. It was about 33ºC, so we were grateful for the shade trees. Fortunately, mini-golf is not exactly a high-impact workout, so the sweating mainly came from it just being really, really hot.

And good news! I managed to score par on 6 of 18 holes, proving dumb luck can count for something. Two of these were actual holes-in-one. Sure, it’s just mini-golf and I wasn’t going to win millions of dollars and then get caught in some kind of sensational scandal after, but it was still neat to watch those two balls plunk down into the cup after just one swing. Unlike Hole 14, where it took 7 swings (Jeff waited until Hole 16 for his 7-shot).

In the end I did get my revenge, with a score of 56 to Jeff’s 61. Yes, after six years away, Jeff returned to the course and got the exact same score. It’s a little weird. I improved, though I have no rational explanation for this.

But it was fun. We shot video, though Jeff is apparently a videophobe, so I only shot him playing through part of one hole. He captured my entire stellar 7-shot performance on Hole 14, though. I may post the video at some point. For now you may observe me missing on my fourth shot.

Missed by *that* much.

And the official™ scorecard:

Run 588: The fastest run ever! (since April 14th)

Run 588
Average pace: 5:59/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:29 am
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 30:07
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24-28ºC
Humidity: 49%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 162
Weight: 162.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 4520 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

Do you know what happened on April 14, 2018? Well, you can assume a few things, like the sun rose, there was no nuclear war and so on, but in general you probably don’t remember a lot of specific details of that day.

That day was the last time I jogged at Burnaby Lake and had an average pace below 6:00/km–until today.

My pace today was…5:59/km. Yes, I beat the six minute mark by precisely one second, which could be a rounding error. But I’m taking it.

For this run I decided to start at the official 0K marker, run CCW over the dam and skip the side trails. I would be running only on the main, official Burnaby Lake Loop, to see how accurate the GPS on the phone really is. As it turns out, it was off even by the 1K mark. By the time I hit the 5K marker I was showing a distance of 4.82 km. Not catastrophically off, but not exactly super-precise, either. I had to run well past the marker to hit 5K, but at least I did so before hitting the next corner and getting back out into the cruel and unforgiving sun.

I also skipped the sun block and amazingly didn’t get burned. Because that already happened weeks ago, mainly.

I felt fine for most of the run, despite the heat, though it was easily the sweatiest run to date in terms of flicking it away from the sides of my eyes. I also did a lot of running after finishing the official 5K on the way out and maintained a good pace for those stretches, too.

The trail was a bit congested in weird ways, with long stretches featuring few, if any people, then I’d suddenly find myself approaching a couple from behind while another person walked toward them, and a runner or two behind that walker, all converging for the same spot at the same time. Thanks to dexterity, timing and luck, collisions were avoided.

The only real downside came after, with the knees feeling the most sore they’ve been in weeks, but I’ve been subjecting them the past week to daily 5K walks, a post-work run and today’s run, so this is not unexpected. It’s not horrible, just a nuisance. For now, at least.

Overall, it was a relief to finally break the 6:00/km mark again and the increased activity is definitely leading to improved stamina, as I’m no longer thinking, “Why won’t this run end?” on the 5Ks now. I’m not sure when I’ll try a 10K, but possibly sometime in August.

Run 587: It only feels like 29ºC

Run 587
Average pace: 5:55/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 6:34 pm
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 30:50
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 31ºC
Humidity: 38%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 162
Weight: 163.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 4515 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

For the first time in a long time I actually ran after dinner. Yay!

In the middle of an Africa hot heatwave. Maybe not the best timing, but…

It went possibly better than expected. I sweated a lot but it was just humid enough to keep the dreaded dry mouth™ under control. I experienced a few moments of pushing too hard (for the weather) after the 4K mark, but it subsided quickly, and the knees were actually not feeling too bad at all.

Most of the river trail after 6 p.m. is under the shade of the tree canopy, which made a huge difference, too.

I also managed to stay under the six minute mark at 5:55/km, which pleases me greatly, the way catnip pleases a cat. Well, maybe not that much. Still, it was nice.

No real issues to report, except it was muggy and hot, starting at 31ºC and dropping a negligible one degree. Weather Underground said it “feels like 29ºC”, which is also negligible. 😛

BPM was actually down slightly–could it be more regular runs are actually starting to get me back into shape a little? Possibly.

If I stick to the schedule I should run again on Thursday, with the weather about the same. If my results hold up to tonight’s, that’ll be good enough for me.

Run 586: Technically faster than Run 585

Run 586
Average pace: 6:03/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:19 am
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 30:25
Weather: Sunny with high cloud
Temp: 20-25ºC
Humidity: 53%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 164
Weight: 162.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4510 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

Rather than exactly duplicating the last run, I decided to actually start on the other side of the dam, at the official 0K marker. I then took the three side trails (Spruce and Conifer Loops, Piper Mill Trail) as usual. This should have resulted in me hitting 5K before the actual 5K marker. Instead I hit 5K pretty much right at the 5K marker, so another 300 m or so seems to have gone missing again. This was backed up again by the fact that even though I immediately switched the activity to an Outdoor Walk, I was passing each km marker by a good 300+ m before dinging the next km on the app.

My theory is I have no theory. It’s just weird. I’m going to try the next lake run with just the watch, to see if it’s GPS produces different results. If they’re the same, then I’m just going to assume the earth’s rotation has changed or some kind of witchcraft is at play. If they’re different, then obviously I’ll have to spend $1300 and get a new phone this fall.

The run itself was technically faster. The pace was the same at 6:03/km, but today the overall time was a whopping seven seconds swifter. The splits were very consistent, all clustered between 6:00-6:06/km. I felt mostly fine, though I felt I was flagging a little around the 3K mark. One annoyance dogged me for about the first three km–the underside of my right foot was strangely sore, in a kind of “funny bone” way. It wasn’t painful and in fact it almost made me want to giggle in the same way hitting your elbow does. I think it may have slowed me up a little. I’m not sure what I did to my foot last night. Just another part of this weird run.

Even the trains were weird. I started on the Spruce Loop and there was a train trundling off to the right, as happens semi-regularly. I ran almost a full km before the train finally moved on–and it wasn’t exactly tootling along like it was being driven by a nice old grandma. What I’m saying is it was a mega-long train. Later, I became strangely entranced by a train while running the Cottonwood Trail. The trains do not normally entrance me, I’m not sure why this one did. As it happens, I looked down just in time to avoid stepping on a snake that was being unusually tardy in slithering off the path. It was also a drab brown instead of that splendorous black and gold, so it was obviously going camo. I think stepping on a snake is considered bad luck. Especially for the snake.

Finally, as I moved onto the trail adjacent to the sports fields and the final stretch, the geese were again lounging about in their new favorite spot, directly on the trail. As I approached the two geese actually in my way I clapped my hands, the universal gesture for “I have the right of way, you stupid geese” and they very casually waddled just enough to let me by. They were acting so chill, so cool, I had to check to see if they were wearing Ray Bans. Still, it beats them attacking me with their beaks.

The resurfaced South Shore Trail is pretty much done now and is all run-ready. The signs say they are also working on the Pavilion Trail, which is quite gnarly, so I’m curious to see how that goes.

Here’s a before/after shot of the same section before and after it was rolled/compressed.

I was farther back in the first shot, the pile of gravel was not twice as massive before they rolled it.

For someone in an ORV the resurfaced trail is now 200% less fun.

I actually had a good amount of stamina after the run, so I fell into a pattern where I would start running when I hit the next km )on the watch) and run until I felt like stopping, though sometimes I challenged myself with specific mini-goals (“Run to the end of the next boardwalk” or “Run until the bear stops chasing you”, things like that). My fastest walking pace was 6:36/km, which is actually not far off from my worst run pace, so I did quite a bit of running.

I’m not feeling any particular ill effects now and I’m going to start stretching to see how that affects the knees.

In theory my next run will be on Tuesday but it looks to be hot and I’ll be back at work, so no guarantees. I’ll definitely run in my mind, though. Yes.

 

Run 585: Reptiles, roadwork and strange results

Run 585
Average pace: 6:03/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:47 pm
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 30:32
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 19-23ºC
Humidity: 69%
Wind: light
BPM: 163
Weight: 161.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 4505 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

Today I ran the same route as my previous run, with a few differences:

  • I ran in the early afternoon instead of early morning
  • it was more humid
  • it was cloudy
  • it was 19-23ºC instead of 24-28ºC

That last one is the big one.

I actually felt kind of energetic and in fact my first km was under the six minute mark. The rest were not, alas, but I still came in at 6:03/km, a nine-second improvement over the last run and a move (ho ho) in the right direction. My knees are a bit sore after but I really don’t feel they made a difference in the run itself. My right calf is also a bit sore, but not from the last run. I think I pulled it while sleeping, perhaps while dreaming of some future dystopia I may yet live to see.

Overall, then, I was pleased by the improvement (BPM also down to 163), but was left a bit disappointed that I didn’t break the 6:00/km mark..and a bit puzzled, too.

Normally when I run counter-clockwise at the lake I run the three optional loops. Because I start a bit past the official 0K marker, the additional loops help pad the difference, so I usually end a 5K run near the actual 5K marker. But today that didn’t happen. In fact, I finished well past the marker, as illustrated below.

Google Maps put this at about 365 m, which is, well, quite a bit past 5 km. I’m not sure if the tracking just went bonkers for a bit or what, but I remember looking at the watch as I neared the 5K marker and when it reported 4.67 km I was displeased. I was displeased for another 365 m. 😛

But overall I’m happy with the run, regardless of how the technology recorded my efforts. I felt zippy enough to do a lot of running on the way back, at one point bringing my walking pace below 8:00/km.

This was the first run of the season where the FIRE DANGER signs were out, ironically on a day that started cloudy and cooler than the past week. The sun came out shortly after the run and it warmed up, but I was fine with the clouds. That and the increased humidity kept my mouth from drying out. Also being a weekday there were few others on the trail. They were doing active work on the Southshore Trail, piling on more gravel. Running clockwise would have put me on this, which would be less than ideal for running. Once they roll this stuff down so it’s nice and compacted it will be a thing of tree root-free beauty.

On the reptile watch another sneaky snake slithered silently into the brush as I approached. It was a black and gold garter snake. I’m thinking there’s one giant black and gold garter snake family here. I also noticed, for the first time, a turtle sunning itself on a log in one of the ponds adjacent to the lake. He looked very content.

I am tentatively planning another run on Friday and the weather looks to be similar, so it shall prove interesting to see how it compares to the last two.

Run 584: 22 days off and I can still run, hooray

Run 584
Average pace: 6:12/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:21 am
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 31:18
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24-28ºC
Humidity: 50%
Wind: light
BPM: 167
Weight: 162.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 4500 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8

I hit a new milestone today, or, I suppose, a kilometerstone, passing 4,500 km officially run. It’s actually more than that, but I wasn’t really tracking much (or at all) in the early days. 4,500 km is enough to pretty much go from the west coast of Canada to the east coast, depending on where exactly you start and stop. It did take me nine years to reach this, so jogging may not be the most practical way (for me) to cross the country.

My last run was 22 days ago, on June 22, and with the return of warm, sunny weather, my goal today was to simply finish and not feel horrible after. Mission accomplished!

While the pace of 6:12/km is certainly not blazingly fast, it *is* ten seconds better than my previous run at the lake, which is kind of impressive given that happened 27 days ago. I actually did not feel bad and managed to pick up the pace in the last km, too. I did feel the knees, but they were no better or worse than the last half dozen runs or so. I was surprised my stamina held up as the temperature climbed from 24ºC to 28ºC during the run. Equally surprising was the minimal sweating, perhaps due to the humidity hovering around 50%, coupled with a light and refreshing breeze. For an Africa hot run, it was pretty tolerable.

Also, a few new things on the trail since my last run. The UH OH BEARS sign is out again for the season, and the stretch of trail from the western boardwalk to the area resurfaced last year has also been resurfaced, with one small section still waiting its top coat of compressed gravel/dirt. This was a pleasant surprise, though it did mean the one unique corner on a hill was smoothed out. It was also fun to cut in short when going counter-clockwise, but now it’s just a regular corner.

The Cottonwood Trail remains as rooty as ever, but they are running out of sections to resurface, so it may get done in the next year or so, if they stick to the same rough schedule.

Overall, this was a pleasant return and went much better than it might have, given the conditions and the time between runs. Now to build on this without my knees collapsing.

The best part actually came after I finished the run. There was a woman jogging ahead of me, but her pace was what one might describe as languid, so languid that I actually caught up and passed her–while walking. That’s definitely a first. Shortly after passing her I turned a corner and saw the poopmonsters were again cluttering up the trail at the north end of the sports fields. I eased up to let the “jogger” go first and draw their fire. It turned out that not much of anything happened. You can see one goose in particular still flapping its wings in umbrage in this shot as she passes by, but the rest just went about with their usual goose-standing, goose-grooming and, of course, goose-stepping: