Run 544
Average pace: 5:16/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:28 am
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 52:57
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 72%
Wind: light
BPM: 169
Weight: 155.5 pounds
Total distance to date: 4232 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
It was actually a bit chilly on today’s run, with the temperature never climbing into the double digits. I do not regret wearing the long-sleeved shirt.
With clouds, cool temperatures, and a small but real threat of showers, I expected the trail to be fairly quiet, but it was actually almost as busy as a stat holiday, with several incidents of traffic clogging up.
The walk to the lake was a bit slower than normal, maybe because I was still trying to get warm. I noticed a commentary of sorts on one of the new STAY OUT signs along the Brunette River trail:
I chose to run counter-clockwise upon arrival to the lake and was uncertain how it would go with a four-day layoff (I missed a run on one of my usual days due to illness). The first km didn’t feel sluggish, exactly, though my pace was not exactly like greased lightning at 5:23/km. I really think it was cold enough that it took me awhile to warm up and find a rhythm. My pace would prove to seesaw throughout the 10K, with the fastest stretches coming at the third, fifth and tenth km marks. In the end I finished with an average pace of 5:16/km, my best 10K of the year, so I’m pleased with that.
The extra time off seemed to help with the stiffness in the left leg. It did feel a little stiff, but only a little, and it took much longer to get there. The walk after was faster and I had no issues.
The trail, as I mentioned, was busy. There were some runners, but mostly it was people bundled up in parkas determined to enjoy the outdoors. I salute them for that, as long as they don’t get in the way, which for the most part they didn’t. The clogging incidents mentioned above were mainly just people converging from different directions at the same time.
By the sports fields there appeared to be some kind of informal run competition of sorts happening. I say this because I saw no special markers, banners, flags or anything else. I also saw, upon just rounding the corner where I head onto the part of the trail bordering the fields, about a dozen runners heading straight toward me at high speed. A wall of runners. I scooted over to the right to avoid being stampeded and they flew by in a blur. About halfway along the stretch here–so a minute or so later–another similar group came barreling at me, including a young guy cheekily running topless and pretending to not feel the cold. He was not pretending that his upper body was perfectly chiseled, however. Oh to be young and, well, perfectly chiseled. I got about 50% of that when I was his age.
There was one other thing I came across on my run, but it wasn’t a pedestrian or a runner or even an accursed cyclist (none were in view today). I was maybe 20 or 30 meters along the Piper Mill Trail when I rounded a corner and saw on the trail ahead of me a dark orange cat. Not someone’s pet, though, as it was about three times too big. It was a bobcat, making this the second time I’ve come across one at the lake. As soon as it spotted me it darted off into the bush, so I never felt threatened by it. It just looked like a really big housecat without much of a tail, kind of like this:
I sent off an email to the Metro Vancouver Parks people, just in case. I’d hate to have a bobcat eat someone’s baby.
This was the first run at the lake where I’ve used the AirPods and playback was fine until just near the 6K mark when it abruptly stopped. I checked the music app on the watch and it looked like it had paused for some reason. I tapped Play and the music resumed and continued without incident through the rest of the run.
I’m going to blame Siri, just because.
While the double-tap on the left earbud at the start of the run properly paused play, I was never able to get the double-tap on the right earbud to skip to the next song, though it’s worked before. I tried once using Siri instead (“Hey Siri, next song”) and still nothing happened.
I definitely blame Siri on that one.
It’s possible that I may not have held the watch up high enough to turn the face on (which Siri requires before it will listen). I can use the actual music app controls to skip ahead–this requires bringing the watch up, swiping left to get to the music controls, then tapping the Forward button. None of this is difficult, but it takes a few seconds to do and you have to look at the watch when you do it. Taking my eyes off the trail while running is something I’m really hesitant to do, as I’ve got direct experience in what can happen in the span of one or two seconds (it involves falling and bleeding and picking gravel out of your skin). In the end I just listened to everything that came up and thanked myself for not having completely awful taste in music.
I may reverse the control scheme on the AirPods and see if that works better.
Overall, though, this was an unexpectedly brisk run on a rather brisk day.
