Run 454: Ludicrously hot

Run 454
Average pace: 5:23/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 27:12
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 33ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 157
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 3630 km
Devices/apps: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

Let me illustrate the temperature for tonight’s run with an actual illustration (technically a screenshot from my Apple Watch of the Weather Underground app):

IMG_0847

In the evening I usually head out at 6 p.m. Tonight I headed out about 45 minutes later, hoping it might cool a bit. 33ºC is not exactly cool.

I dutifully headed off on my 5K run, choosing to use the built-in fitness app instead of the Nike Run Club app because it was too hot to fiddle with anything I couldn’t use Siri with. Siri is nice when you’re lazy and she’s feeling cooperative.

I was grateful for most of the run being in the shade. I still sweated copiously.

Though my pace was much slower than Tuesday, it was still a respectable 5:23/km and in an unusual twist, my pace actually picked up in the latter half (the temperature dipped slightly, which may have helped a little).

Considering the heat, I’m fairly pleased with how the run went, especially given how strongly tempted I was to loaf at home instead. Sunday is promising to be much cooler and I ain’t complaining.

I have a good butt

Today I learned what the acronym FIT means.

My doctor referred to a recent test I took as “poop on a stick” and that is literally what it is–you apply a small bit of your poop to a stick, seal it in a container and the medical lab people examine it for nefarious and unwanted things. My doctor advised me when I got the results to not be alarmed if they were positive, as the test apparently generates a lot of false positives.

Today I got a letter from the medical lab regarding my Fecal Imunochemical Test and I quote:

The result of your recent Fecal Imunochemical Test (FIT) was normal.
NEXT STEPS: No further action is required at this time.

I am pleased that my butt is normal.

That is all.

Run 453: The return of the narrated run

Run 453
Average pace: 5:13/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 5:08 km
Time: 26:30
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 25ºC
Wind: moderate
BPM: 158.3
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 3625 km
Devices/apps: Nike Run Club app, Apple Watch and iPhone 6

The Nike+ running app got a major overhaul yesterday, emerging with a new look and name, the Nike Run Club. Unsurprisingly, the social network aspects of it have been ramped up. More importantly, though, the app finally supports the heart rate monitor of the Apple Watch, as it now access all of the Apple Health info if you let it. And so for the first time since I got the watch, I used the Nike app (let’s call it NRC because it’s shorter and looks so totally cool). Setting my preferences and starting the run was simple and sure enough, there was my BPM in the stats at the end. I will dig more into the app later but I did manage to end the run without knowing how by guessing it would use the same method as Apple’s Fitness app, which proved correct.

It was nice to hear that confident voice telling me how many km I’d completed. My only mistake was starting an open run instead of setting it to a fixed distance, so I didn’t get a notification halfway or a countdown at the end. I’ll figure that out for next time.

Oh, and I can actually see a map of my route again. Yay. Apple is apparently adding maps to their Fitness app in iOS 10 but I believe it will still lack voice notifications. The weak taps the watch uses to signal milestones (kmstones?) is something I almost never notice.

Curiously, while the watch and phone apps both show the BPM, the NRC website doesn’t. Not sure why it doesn’t transfer over but it’s not a big deal, as the notes feature lets you add it in.

And the actual run itself went quite well. It was warm but not uncomfortable, with the start of the cooling of the evening. There was one brief stretch where the sun was directly aiming into my eyes but most of the run was in shade. I started out fast–almost too fast–and forced myself to slow down (my second km was, in fact, significantly slower than the others). Overall, though, I felt fine pushing a little more than usual given the 5K length and managed a spiffy pace of 5:13/km, a veritable lightning bolt after Friday morning’s sweat-soaked slog.

The predicted high on Thursday, my next run day, is 31ºc, which could mean a swift return to sweat-soaked slog. But we shall see.

For tonight, I am pleased.

And so endeth Vacation 2016 (and mostly good riddance)

This vacation has been weird. Because my partner just started working a new job last month, we were unable to plan any kind of trip/camping together so I was largely left to devise my own set of fun vacation-type activities.

I failed.

Not only did I not plan any fun vacation-type activities, I did the opposite–I planned things like annual checkups, getting my ID renewed, and giving samples of urine and blood for science.

The first day I went for a run it rained. The last day I ran it was 30ºC at 9:30 in the morning. But at least I completed all nine runs, as I’d set out to do. Last year I ended run #1 with horrible pain in my right leg and didn’t run again until the new year. So there is that.

Of course, run #6 was highlighted by the infamous tree root incident, in which I snagged my left foot and went down hard on the gravel (the bruise on my hip is still spectacular-looking nine days later). I walked the Conifer and Spruce Loop trails again today to survey just how potentially hazardous they are if I decide to start running on them again (runs 7-9 were done sans optional side trails). What I discovered was one super large tree root that spans the entire width of the trail and is in a clear area. The only way to trip on this root would be to approach it with your eyes closed and maybe with your shoes tied together, too. The only other tree root was…the one I tripped on. If I run counter-clockwise it’s on the other side and out of the way. This means that the Conifer and Spruce Loop trails are actually a lot safer than the Cottonwood trail, a 2+ km stretch that is unavoidable and rife–rife, I say,–with all kinds of roots and wooden planks sticking out of the earth from when the area was a logging operation.

What else happened on this curiously unfun vacation?

On my run route I saw a python and a bobcat/lynx. A man approached me at the end of a run to say he’d just seen a bear up ahead, the way I was heading (I did not see the bear). If this was Australia I’d probably have been bitten by several poisonous things by now.

I lost my wallet. Granted, it was recovered about 15 minutes after I realized it was gone, but now I’m paranoid it’s going to again leap from my pocket as if it were both sentient and capricious.

Today–the last day of vacation–I witnessed a car accident. It was only a fender bender, fortunately. From my perspective it looked like a silver car was heading east down Government Street in Burnaby and a black car was turning left onto the street from the nearby Costco parking lot, filled with 10 gallon jars of mayonnaise. The black car went wide into the lane occupied by the silver car and physics asserted itself, with much scraping following and at least one piece of something or other popping off (a side mirror, I think). I walked down the block, crossed over to the other side and made my way to the cars, now pulled over with hazard lights blinking.

The man in the black car asked for my name and number. I provided them. The driver of the other car, an irascible older man, approached and asked what I saw. I told him. He responded, crankily, “So you’re saying I’m at fault?” I told him, no, I wasn’t saying who was at fault, I was only reporting what I saw, which was the black car hitting the silver car. He grumbled and went to confer with his wife. The driver of the silver car told me he tried to get out of the way. I shrugged. I couldn’t tell. I went home. I haven’t heard from anyone. I hope I don’t.

What else happened?

On the plus side, I did not get sick. This kind of amazes me, as it was a natural given the way things went. I could still wake up with a head cold tomorrow.

My weight remained pretty much the same, despite numerous runs and long walks and reduced snacking.

I have had difficulty sleeping at times. My mind whirs like that top in Inception. I have often gotten up and gone for a walk because of this restlessness, this weird inability to sit still and just relax (note: I do not get up and go for walks after going to bed, I just flop around like a fish but smell much better).

I’ve cooked and cleaned a lot. More than I normally would. I broke the Swiffer mop and had to buy a replacement.

I saw the new Star Trek movie. It was better than the previews made it look, but it was still just good, not great.

I intended to start reading a book or two. I did not. I bought several, though, and I’ll try starting again tonight. So much free time to read and all I managed was a few magazines and some websites.

I tried to write. I am not too far off one-post-per-day on the blog, though a large part of that is due to those nine runs. I have not written any fiction. Writer’s block? It feels more like paralysis right now. I sit at the keyboard and my mind freezes. I know all the tricks, I know I should free write or try a prompt. Instead I push away from the desk and pace about or go for another walk.

I am an expert at walking.

I don’t really want to go to work tomorrow. I feel like I still haven’t unwound yet. I need a holiday from my vacation. At least the Labor Day weekend is only a few weeks away.

The last seven paragraphs have started with “I.” I am talking about myself a lot.

I am sorry (ho ho).

Anyway, that’s about it. Next vacation I’m going to actually plan things out. I may go away somewhere. Somewhere nice, without bobcats or tree roots or car accidents. I’d like that.

Run 452: Slower, safer and Africa hot

Run 452
Average pace: 6:01/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) – no side trails taken
Distance: 10:03 km
Time: 60:34
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 30ºC
Wind: light
BPM: 158
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3620 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

I slept in a wee bit this morning–only by about 15 minutes–but it immediately put the kibosh on my plan to run earlier than normal to beat the heat. It wouldn’t have mattered, anyway. The day started hot and has only gotten a little bit hotter still since then.

When I headed off counter-clockwise at the lake the temperature was 30ºC and stayed there (I’ve made it red above to indicate that yes, it was pretty warm). The first km, through a relatively breezy section of trail, was actually fairly zippy, but after that my pace dropped off steeply. It was really quite warm. The lack of any appreciable breeze did not help, either. At times the air felt thick and hot and then a mysteriously cool breeze would blast in from somewhere off the trail, only to vanish a moment later.

Weather is weird.

Despite having a “people working” sign up today, I saw no sign of the re-surfacing crew on the Southshore trail. It looks pretty much done to me.

Around the halfway mark I entertained the idea of ending the run early, but pressed on. By the 7 km mark–my slowest by a fair bit–I was giving this much more serious thought but I kept on and once I reached the 8K mark my pace actually improved and I managed to pant my way to a full 10K. My pace was terrible, of course. I think I’ve broken 6:00/km once before. Regardless, 6:01/km is definitely one of my slowest runs ever. To be fair, I haven’t run often when it’s this hot, either. Nor would I want to ever again. It was yucky.

Compounding things, I wore my replacement pair of Hokas, which ironically have an even worse case of color bleeding than my original pair. I wore them because a shoelace snapped on the originals. My left foot, perhaps not used to this crazy, color-staining new shoe, was a bit sore for stretches of the run and that may have ticked my pace down even more. Other than the foot and oppressive heat, I didn’t experience any other issues. My BPM was similar to Wednesday because while I had to work harder with the heat, I was slow enough that it kind of balanced out.

I did get through without seeing any pythons, bobcats or giraffes, so there’s that.

I return to my usual run schedule next week and haven’t decided whether to start Sunday and miss my usual two-day break or wait till Tuesday and get a three day rest bonus. If it’s still 30ºC on Sunday that may make the decision a little easier.

The cat in the lake

Today I decided to go for a nice walk around Burnaby Lake because it was really hot and I’m kind of dumb. But it did allow me to see that the resurfacing of the Southshore trail is pretty much complete, so my nemesis the excavator will probably not be there to try to run me down tomorrow.

Probably.

In the meantime, as I walked and sweated on my clockwise jaunt, I crossed the 4 km mark, ventured over the rowing pavilion parking lot and entered a stretch of the trail that is characterized by tall grass on the lake-side, giving the area a kind of everglade feel to it. At least it’s what I think an everglade would feel like. I confess I haven’t been to one, not even a fake one like they probably have at Disney World.

I noticed a not-quite-small brown dog sort of shimmying into the tall grass, perhaps to get out of the sun. It was an odd kind of move and looking at the trail up ahead I could not see any kind of owner for said dog. Also odd.

But it was not a dog. It was this:

Big kitty at lake
I think this is a lynx, a bobcat or more likely a lynx/bobcat hybrid. A boblynx.

I apologize for the less-than-stellar quality of the shot. The cat was in the shade and I was reluctant to call it out into the sun, since it was a wild animal and could have ripped my throat open if so inclined.

My first thought was a lynx. I later looked at lynx photos and it appears to have characteristics of both a lynx and a bobcat and hybrids are possible, so I think this was the possibly rare boblynx.

It seemed a bit skittish and unsure and wasn’t acting at all aggressive. I remained calm, trying to remember what I’d seen on one of those TV shows, Survive or DIE! or something like that. They were talking about what to do when you encounter a mountain lion but maybe the advice would translate on a scaled-down wild cat. As I recalled, you are supposed to make noise, stand your ground and if American, shoot it repeatedly with the assault rifle you’re probably carrying. Also something about throwing rocks to prove you’re the alpha. I didn’t have any rocks and throwing them at a non-aggressive animal literally less than two meters away from me did not seem like a good idea.

I clapped my hands and told it to shoo, to scoot. It stood there and seemed embarrassed for me. I don’t blame it, really. I then took a few pictures while it just hung around, undecided on what to do.

At this point I had three choices:

  1. Turn around and head back
  2. Proceed forward, giving the cat as wide a berth as possible
  3. Stand there until one of us got bored and left

Option #1 seemed unwise. Turning your back on a wild animal is never a good idea. Turning your back on a domestic animal is never a good idea. I don’t trust bobcats or cows.

Option #3 seemed problematic as I have a high threshold for boredom and it’s possible the cat had no concept of boredom and would wait until it got hungry instead, at which point I would be the most convenient food source.

I opted for #2 and as soon as I took one step forward, the cat majestically leaped into the grass and disappeared. I mean, that sucker cleared about a meter from a standing position. It was scary and impressive.

I continued my walk, keeping an eye behind me until I was safely out of the immediate area.

I expect to see a giraffe the next time I’m at the lake.

Run 451: Slower, safer and warmer

Run 451
Average pace: 5:54/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) – no side trails taken
Distance: 10:07 km
Time: 59:34
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 25ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 157
Stride: n/a
Weight: 157.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3610 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

It was a bit warmer today and I started out a little slower, then stayed a little slower for the entire run, with the splits otherwise following the usual pattern: faster first half, slower back half and a bit of a boost in the last km. I ran clockwise, again skipped the optional trails and found my pace a fair bit slower than last week. I’m not sure if it’s the changed route, the consistently warmer weather or general caution of going splat again but since I felt pretty good for most of the run, I’m not exactly disappointed with the pace. Well, maybe a little. Taking almost an hour to run 10K is not exactly where I expected to be with a bunch of them under my belt (and let me tell you, they barely fit in there).

There were multiple groups of walkers again, especially at the end where they seemed to be clumping up. At this point I’ve resigned myself to them–the weather is gorgeous, it’s summer, people are going to be out. I just wish they weren’t so damned oblivious. Several times today I even called out, “On your left” as I approached from behind, which elicited exactly zero reaction most of the time. It’s weird and annoying.

No real issues with the run, otherwise, just slower. I felt decent through long stretches, so perhaps the combination of the warm weather and fear of tree roots may be see how a more jogging-like pace could be nice, almost relaxing. Other than the Cottonwood trail, there really aren’t many places left on the loop around the lake with prominent roots or other obstacles in the path.

The trail resurfacing continues and it probably won’t be much longer before they’ve finished the entire Southshore trail. The excavator was idling at the side as I passed by, though I swear the driver keyed the ignition when he saw me.

Overall, an unspectacular effort but I’m good with that. Friday is expected to be hotter so I’m not expecting my pace to improve. It may even get slower if it is truly Africa hot (it looks to be 26-27ºC during my usual run time, which shouldn’t result in a pace much different than today.

I call it Un-Vacation

How is my vacation progressing? Let me provide an update!

At 8:30 this morning I went to a nearby medical lab (one of the perks of living near a hospital, these things are more omnipresent than Starbucks) and submitted myself to the tests my doctor wanted. This involved collecting urine, blood and poop (ew). The urine was the ol’ “pee in a jar” routine, though it was actually a small bottle. I’m still surprised at how easy it is to pee on demand, as if our ancient ancestors needed the ability for survival and we still carry the trait today.

The blood was a bit of a concern. The last time I had blood taken a few years ago I fasted a lot longer than necessary. They recommend 8-10 hours and I fasted something like 16-18 because I went later in the morning. The net result was partway through the blood collection I went very pale and felt like my blood was being literally drained away–which it was, but it felt more like all my blood was being drained away, not just a sample of it. The person taking the sample asked if I wanted to lie down. I did, but not there, as it seemed too much like admitting defeat to a simple medical procedure to lie down right there in the lab. Plus my place is only two blocks away, I could crawl back if I had to. I felt weird and gross for a few hours after. Tip: don’t fast for hours more than you need to before giving blood.

This time I had fasted appropriately and the whole thing finished quickly and without incident.

The poop needs to be applied to a small stick. They give you paper to poop on and a sheet of instructions on how to poop (I’m not sure if you can also poop on the instructions, but it wouldn’t surprise me). Pooping on demand is harder than peeing. I felt weirdly self-conscious even though I was alone (you poop at home, not at the lab). When I was done, I put the stick in the provided container and the Biohazard-labeled baggie. Could my poop kill someone? Maybe, I’m no expert. As instructed, the sample is in the fridge until I take it to the lab tomorrow. I’m pretty sure this is the only time I will have my poop in the fridge.

After donating nearly every form of liquid and solid my body can produce to science, I thought, “What else would be fun to do on vacation?” and it came to me: sweeping and mopping. Yay! Here’s a typical vacation list as proof:

Things to Do on Vacation
Swim
Surf
Relax in the sun or shade
Sip lemonade
Play games
Sweep
Mop

See?

I swept the kitchen and then got out the Swiffer WetJet®™ to mop. After a few majestic strokes, the floor was looking cleaner, but I heard a distressing crack from the handle of the Swiffer. Just as I was finishing the top of the handle broke off. This made the last bit of mopping–or swiffing, if you prefer–rather tricky. I was bummed, partly because I’d have to spend money on a replacement, but mostly because it meant I’d have to go out and actually get the replacement.

In checking the price online for said replacement, I noticed in some customer reviews that the handle breaking is apparently a common issue. I guess I should feel lucky ours lasted as long as it did. Maybe some duct tape will fix it? I could get duct tape instead. It’s cheaper than a new mop and more versatile, to boot.

Now you’re thinking, you donated blood, urine, poop, swept and, with some effort, mopped. Surely this vacation day is done.

But no, there was more!

I thought a nice walk around Central Park would be nice (the logic is infallible), followed by a trip to Metrotown for some window-shopping (not actually shopping for windows, more like books and stuff). I took the SkyTrain to Patterson station, tapped out like a good little Compass card tapping-person, and sauntered off into Central Park, where I zigzagged through the many trails, utterly failing to navigate the “Terry Fox 5K walk”, despite numerous signs pointing the way. I swear the signs have arrows actually pointing at each other.

After about 45 minutes of quiet contemplation (well, except for the regular rumble of the nearby SkyTrain) I headed over to Metrotown. I scoped out Indigo and spotted the book Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. I’d heard some good things about it so I pulled out my phone to note the title in my OneNote app (I have a section for books). It was when I put the phone back in my pocket that I noticed something was wrong.

To be more precise, something was missing.

To be even more precise, my wallet was missing.

Little alarms went off in my head.

I had not taken my wallet out since tapping out at Patterson so I was puzzled as to how it escaped. I keep it in a front pocket so if someone tried to pick the pocket there’s a decent chance I’d see or feel something (“Is your hand in my pocket or are you just happy to see me?”) but perhaps pickpockets have stepped up their game. More likely I failed to put the wallet all the way back in the admittedly shallow pocket and it shimmied up and out as I strolled about.

Stupid wallet.

Thinking there was a chance I had accidentally pulled the wallet out along with my phone in the bookstore, I scanned the immediate area. No sign of it. I had a staff member check to see if some Good Samaritan had already turned it in. Nope. I left, retracing my steps.

About fifteen minutes in I get a phone call from an unknown number.

“Is this Stan James?”
“It is.”
“Did you recently lose a wallet?”
“In fact, I did.”
“Were you in Central Park?”
“About twenty minutes ago.”
“Your wallet has been turned in here at the community police office [gives directions].”
*excited noise*
“I’ll be there in five minutes.” I was literally two blocks away from the office when the staffer called.

I didn’t find out who turned my wallet in, other than it was a pair of women the community police office staffer thought were “GVRD workers” based on their dress. Anyway, I can’t thank them in person but I can thank them here so thank you, nice ladies!

The wallet was untouched, including the $10 in relatively worthless Canadian money stuffed in it. Ironically I started putting bills back in my wallet after I was pretty sure I’d lost a $10 bill from the same pair of shorts with the same shallow pockets. I shall now call them Devil Shorts, for that is what they are. Tomorrow I may go looking for cargo shorts or anything with a zipper on it. Maybe a chastity belt than can also hold ID and some keys. Something.

Finally, my partner came home, complained about how the long commute to and from his new workplace is, claiming it leaves him no time in the evening to do anything except go to bed and start the whole thing over, like some kind of Groundhog Day thing. This apparently renders life as not worth living, though he loves the actual new job. He then went to bed two hours earlier than he needed to as an ironic twist. People are weird.

And that was my vacation day today. Technically there’s still time for a mongoose to attack me, so I’m staying on my guard until I go to bed. Hopefully there is no mongoose in the bed.

Run 450: No tripping, just kind-of-slow running with bonus exotic snake

Run 450
Average pace: 5:50/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) – no side trails taken
Distance: 10:03 km
Time: 58:38
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 23ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 155
Stride: n/a
Weight: 158.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3600 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

My big fear today, of course, was coming across another evil tree root. Or more specifically, tripping across another evil tree root. To reduce the risk I chose to skip all three side trails (Piper Mill, Spruce and Conifer Loops) and chanted direction. This had the side effect of giving me more of that smoove resurfaced, uh, surface to run on and also meant that if I did trip again, I’d at least fall in a new direction and in a new spot.

I did not trip.

The first half of the run I was surprisingly brisk but the second half saw me slow a fair bit, partly due to the Monday effect, partly due to burning too much gas in the first 5K and maybe partly due to being cautious, though most of the exposed roots were on the Cottonwood trail, during the first half of the run. While the pace of 5:50/km is nothing special, my BPM was also down at 155 and the weather, though warm, was an entirely tolerable 23ºC throughout.

The various lacerations and bruises didn’t have any effect I could tell, though the hip bruise became less mysterious when I noted that the shorts pocket that holds my keys perfectly matched up with it. Now I know what it feels like to slam onto gravel into your own set of keys. I don’t recommend doing this.

The resurfacing continued sans detour, with only a single worker out raking dirt. The construction zone was fairly small and strangely I missed the excavator entirely. I can only guess it had broken down or been defeated in a similar manner to the killdozer.

A few walking groups were out but were more on top of things than usual, so I was able to consistently slip by without incident.

The most interesting thing happened on the walk back along the Brunette River trail. Shortly after I crossed the bridge there I saw a snake. Now, I’ve seen several snakes this summer, of the small, slithery black and yellow garter variety. Observe below that this is not a small garter snake:

pythons in Burnaby
This is a python. It is a long way from home.

As mentioned in the caption, this is a python, about a meter long. It was very chill, as the kids say, and just laid there while I and a guy passing by on a bike took pictures. It eventually moved very casually off into the vegetation. As you might guess, pythons are not local to Burnaby or most of this continent, so it was either an escapee or an unwanted pet. Poor guy. Or girl. I’m not sure how you tell with a snake, really.

Looking back, maybe I should have contacted animal control or something, though the snake would have been long gone into the bush by the time they arrived. Still, I’d feel bad if it ate someone’s little moppet or something.

A little trip down Burnaby Mountain (no actual tripping involved)

Today Jeff and I went on our first hike in a good long while, a relatively gentle saunter down various connecting trails on Burnaby Mountain. The weather was sunny and warm but fortunately not Africa hot. We encountered a few cyclists but got out of the way without incident each time. One of them approaching from behind tipped us off to his presence with the world’s screechiest bicycle brakes. Seriously, an entire can of WD-40 may not have been enough to quiet that thing.

I knew there would be tree roots a-plenty on the trails and indeed, I tripped up on several of them, but because I was walking and looking down instead of running and gazing off at some non-specific thing up ahead, it was easy to recover each time and so I emerged at the bottom of the mountain sweaty but otherwise unscathed.

I only took two pictures because as pretty as trees on a mountain are, I didn’t have the time or inclination (or skill) to make fairly generic nature shots look like more than generic nature shots. But trust me, it was pretty.

Here is Jeff posing on the same bridge I froze my butt on when we did a similar hike in the winter. He looks much happier than I did:

Jeff posing on a bridge at Burnaby Mountain

The only other picture I took is of the vehicle cast down on the mountain in the olden days when the area was still a logging operation. Apparently some people tried to make a trail down to it or something, perhaps as a weirdly unprofitable salvage operation, as signs and fencing make it clear you are not meant to go down to touch the car:

Do not go to the dilapidated car

All in all, it was a pleasant little outing.

Returning to the scene of the crime where I tripped on a really big tree root

I returned today to Burnaby Lake and the Conifer Loop, to see if I could find that tree root that will forever mock me, at least until the trail is resurfaced and it is buried under a crushing load of fresh gravel, which it should be. Or set on fire. I’m not fussy which.

As I was approaching from the opposite direction I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find the spot. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find the spot at all, really, because the trail looks pretty much the same over long stretches. You got your gravel, your trees and other nature stuff. It’s very idyllic and peaceful when your exposed skin isn’t skidding on the gravel part. I remembered a few details, though. I knew it was before I got to the point where the Spruce Loop and Conifer Loop meet, I knew it was in a shaded area and I knew it wasn’t on a corner. This narrowed my search down to a section that was probably still several hundred meters long, most of which looks the same.

But I think I found it.

The shot below is from a “midway to face-planting on the ground” perspective, looking in the same direction as I was running yesterday. That is to say, I took the shot while crouching. The root is near the bottom center of the photo. You will observe several things:

  1. It’s a very pretty trail
  2. This particular stretch of the trail is what one might call sun-dappled. One might also call it a mix of sun and shade that makes it hard to see objects on the ground, especially when moving at high speed
  3. That is one seriously big tree root to accidentally trip on, so I suggest I was dazzled by #1 and ultimately felled by #2

evil tree root

I think when I run on Monday I’m going to skip the optional Spruce Loop/Conifer Loop combo. There are plenty of other exposed roots to trip on (the Cottonwood trail, which stretches for several km, has a bunch of them and in similar lighting conditions) but it seems a little too playing-with-fire to follow up the fall by running the exact same route. Or maybe I’m just paranoid.

No, I know I’m paranoid. Every root will no longer present itself as something to be simply stepped over, but as a potential trip to the emergency room. I’ll think about wearing my fingerless biking gloves to protect my hands. I’ll wear a helmet. I’ll actually run inside a human-sized hamster ball.

Or maybe I’ll overcome my fear by remembering that I completed 448 runs without tripping and falling.

Maybe.

Run 449: Just scraping by

UPDATE, July 8, 2022: I have changed the title of this post from the original of Tree root: 1, me: 0. Credit to Nic Demers.

Run 449
Average pace: 5:43/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 10:09 km
Time: 57:52
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 27ºC
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 158
Stride: n/a
Weight: 159.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 3590 km
Device used: Apple Watch and iPhone 6

I was concerned about two things today: my right leg and the temperature. As forecast, it turned out to be very warm so I was glad to head out in the morning. Even then it was already 27ºC but fortunately it stayed there for the length of the run.

The right leg started out fine, which surprised me. I could eventually feel it but not until I was more than 6 km in and it was much milder than on Wednesday. I’d say it was of almost no consequence.

Expecting to detour along the sun-drenched Freeway trail, I opted to run clockwise, to get the extra-hot part out of the way first. As it turned out, the detour wasn’t in effect today so I was able to run the usual route. The excavator that trundles loads of dirt or gravel from a location off the Freeway trail and to the Southshore trail once again had a near-close encounter with me as it came off a feeder trail directly toward me. I was faster so ducked by but I swear that thing has a GPS lock on me. It is always right there no matter when I show up.

Despite the heat and much sweating I felt decent as I continued on, never straining or struggling. I encountered a curiously still snake that didn’t move as I approached it. Maybe it was zonked out from the sun? I hopped over and continued on. Around the 8K mark I dragged my left foot once, which is an indication I’m getting a bit tired. This is bad on a trail with many bumps and uneven surfaces (thank you park workers for helping make the trail smoother, safer and sexier), so I made an effort to pick up my feet. This turned out to be an omen of sorts.

As I entered the Conifer Loop I checked the distance and saw I was at 9.18 km, right about what I expected. I continued down the trail, heading toward the Spruce Loop and the final stretch. I was about 500m from finishing (roughly 2-3 minutes) when it happened.

The tree root.

The Conifer and Spruce Loops are side trails and while some work has been done on them (a foot bridge on Spruce was recently rebuilt as part of the current construction/resurfacing), the trails are in fairly rough shape, with lots of ruts, some loose gravel and tree roots poking through.

I have tripped up on tree roots before, my foot just catching enough to cause me to stagger before righting myself and continuing on.

That did not happen today.

Instead, my left foot firmly wedged against a root, causing my entire body to twist to the left. This made regaining my balance impossible. I was going to fall. And I did. The whole thing happened in less than a second. I remember hearing myself let out an “Oof!” and having enough time, somehow, to stick out my left hand to absorb the impact and prevent my face from hitting the gravel. My cap and glasses popped off. I skidded to a stop and laid there on my right side, looking over to the cap and glasses.

I picked up the glasses and they seemed undamaged, so I popped them back on, did the same with the cap, stood up, then without even bothering to dust off, I resumed the run because I was not going to let a spill at the 9.5K mark end my run early, especially if, as it seemed, I was just bruised and a bit battered.

I finished with a pace of 5:43/km, almost identical to Wednesday, and with a lower BPM of 158. Considering the heat and the fall, that’s pretty decent. My slowest km was actually at the 5K mark.

When I hit 10K (and those few minutes getting there seemed to stretch on unto forever because I really wanted to check out what exactly I’d done to myself) I walked over the dam to the snazzy new fountain and used the bottle-filling part to wash off the affected parts: my right leg, my right arm and left hand. I walked home at a brisker pace than normal, had a warm bath (avoiding using the usual Epsom salts and thus also avoiding screaming) then finally inspected my body in detail.

The right leg looks like a bear raked it with its claws, a set of nasty-looking scrapes along the upper half of the calf.

The right elbow and part of the forearm are nicely banged up.

The top of the right shoulder (covered by my t-shirt) sustained some abrasions, though it doesn’t look like the skin broke.

There’s a sore spot on the right hip that will bruise but again, no broken skin because it was under my shorts (the shorts came through fine, just a little dusty).

The left hand has five puncture wounds where the gravel hit. Three are small, though one still had some gravel embedded, the fourth was more sizable and the last is big enough to be kind of grossbuckets.

There’s probably more I’m missing. The bruises tomorrow should look great and sleeping tonight will probably be fun.

I have applied copious amounts of Polysporin to everything.

Overall, I consider myself pretty fortunate. I didn’t sprain or break any bones, I didn’t hit my head, none of my stuff was damaged and on top of all that, I still finished with a decent pace.

I’m planning on my usual run on Monday and admit I’ll be feeling a little paranoid every time I see a tree root peeking above the trail surface. This is the first time in nearly 450 runs spread over the course of nine years that I’ve actually gone down (not counting that stupid dog) so hopefully this was just a rare convergence of circumstances that is unlikely to ever repeat.

I’ll know in three days!

I’ve put three images of “what happens when my body hits gravel at high speed” in the spoiler tag below. They’re not super gruesome, but you may not want to look at them while eating your Cheerios.

[spoiler title=”Scraped and bloodied” icon=”arrow-circle-1″]

right legThe right leg ain’t quite right right now.

right elbowElbowing my way to various scrape and lacerations.

left handYeah, just kind of gross, isn’t it? You can even see a tiny bit of gravel still stuck in there. Kids, don’t try this at home![/spoiler]