With my right shin feeling tender, but not on a love story way, after the last run, I got up this morning and went back and forth over whether to run today, do a shorter run or something else.
In the end, I opted to do a short loop counter-clockwise at the lake. This would shave off a not-insubstantial five km of additional walking after the run.
The walk to the lake went fine, though I could feel the right shin. I started off slow, feeling things out. I slowed even more on the second km, not because the shin was hurting, but, as they say, out of “an abundance of caution”. I picked up and returned to my initial pace for the third km and by then the shin wasn’t really bothering me. Was it endorphins masking the pain? Maybe! I picked up the pace for the final two km and finished overall with 5:49/km, a slight improvement over Monday. My BPM, thanks to the cooler temperatures, was down to 144.
Okay, that was the shin, which I will continue to monitor.
The squirrel? As I neared the halfway point of the run on the Piper Mill Trail, I saw a Douglas squirrel on the right edge of the trail. They don’t seem as twitchy about people getting close and sure enough, the squirrel did not immediately react to my presence as I jogged by. Then it got weird. The squirrel took off–in pursuit! Yes, it began running after me. It was so close to my right foot at one point that I was worried I might step on it, so I put on a little extra burst of speed and left it behind. I have no idea what it was doing. Did it think I had nuts? I mean, I do, but they are reserved for human use only.
And finally, the shoe. Not long after the squirrel incident, as I reached my turnaround point, I felt a sharp jab in my left foot, the telltale sign of an especially jagged little piece of gravel getting into the shoe, under my foot, then getting squished into my foot. After a few steps, it shifted and the pain stopped, but IU did not want to risk further incidents, so I paused the run to fish it out.
The left shoe is always double-laced, so I had to work on the carefully tied knot for a bit to get the lace finally untied. Then I had to take the shoe off, get the gravel out (success!) and, because my left foot was on a gravel trail without a shoe, I also had to somehow make sure I didn’t put even more gravel into the shoe when putting it back on. I’d like to say I have the poise and balance of a flamingo and can stand on one leg and remove a shoe without wobbling over, but this is not the case. I wiped my left foot on some nearby grace, did a regular bow (hoping for the best) and finished my run without further squirrels, rocks or other weirdness.
In the end, the shin issue seemed to fade, much as it had on previous runs, so I am cautiously optimistic it will be OK.
We’ll find out Friday!
Stats:
Run 1,037
Average pace: 5:49/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 1:14 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:13
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 14-16°C
Humidity: 73-69%
Wind: light
BPM: 144
Weight: 168.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,010 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (280/500/780)
Music: Shuffle play