Run 632 Average pace: 5:37/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 10:52 am Distance: 5.02 km Time: 28:13 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 18ºC Humidity: 73% Wind: light BPM: 161 Weight: 162.5 pounds Total distance to date: 4740 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 8 Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (95 km)
Today’s run was done as if in reverse. I started out actually behind the average pace of 5:37/km, coming in at 5:39/km, and ended well below with the fifth km being 5:26/km–faster than my average on Thursday. Weirder still, I didn’t particularly notice any of this, I just felt good throughout.
But being slower on the first km is also interesting because I did run the side trails, now with the closed signs removed and the protective boards on the foot bridges removed. You’d think I’d glide along the super-smooth, root-free section of trail, but apparently I was so dazzled by the resurfacing that I slowed down to admire it.
Starting from the third km, I continued to pick up the pace, with the clouds shielding me from the sun, the temperature much lower than last weekend’s lake run, but humidity quite a bit higher–enough to ward off dry mouth, but not so much that I sweated like all get-out. Conditions were decent, in other words.
This is also the first time in awhile that I planned on a Saturday run and then actually ran on Saturday, so hooray for me!
The shirtless men thing was a bit odd. I had finished the run and was walking out from the lake when one of those tall, impossibly lean runners went past me, his shirt tucked into his shorts, the better to showcase the fact that his body had no fat at all on it. A short time later a similarly lean guy sans shirt passed. This summer I have not seen many guys without shirts (alas), so seeing two in a row was rather unusual. And they kept coming, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs or threes. Not all were topless, but many were. I figured they were part of some group, but I none were wearing anything to identify the group. I call them The Mostly Shirtless Runners Club.
I ran a lot on the way out, but not as much as I could have because I also had to go potty and as I’ve established before, running and having to use the washroom is not a good combo.
Overall, this was a good run, with no issues of note to report. I was 10 seconds off the river run’s pace on Thursday, but nine seconds better than the last lake run, which feels about right. I may try for a 10K when I’m next running at Burnaby Lake, or at least try running more than 5K. We’ll see!
