Today turned out to be very similar in some ways to Monday’s run, with the pace being only a second faster (margin of error), but there were a few key differences:
- It was cloudy. This was GOOD.
- It was 23-24C. This was also GOOD.
- Humidity was 68% and didn’t drop much during the run. This was BAD.
- There was very little breeze until the last few km of the run. This was also BAD.
The lack of sun was a pleasant surprise and while it tried poking through the cloud cover around halfway through, the clouds smothered it back up, which was fine by me.
I decided to try an earlier start to at least get cooler temperatures and it worked, but unlike Monday, humidity was even higher and the first half of the run the air was especially thick. By the third km I was doubting I’d have the stamina to go beyond 5K, but I pushed past it and gave myself permission to stop whenever I needed to.
By the 6K mark I actually passed a slower runner, which is always a nice ego boost, so kept going. By the ninth km, the bottom was falling out, and my pace plunged to 6:26/km. Yuck. But at that point I’m not going to call it, so I did the opposite: I put on the “Get this over with” jets and finished the last km with a pace of 6:05/km.
I’m not actually sure why I was so slow on the ninth km. It was like my mind started wandering off task and I forgot that I was actually running.
Anyway, it was overall gross due to the H word, but I managed a decent performance, anyway. The hip started out fine and never became overly sore, so it was definitely better than on Monday’s outing, which was nice.
As to the bad dog owners, just a lot of people with their dogs off-leash today, mostly on the river trail. When I was a block from home, a woman had a dog (on leash) right at the edge of the sidewalk on Fader Street. I walked by, giving them a bit of a berth, and the dog suddenly growled and lunged at me. The woman had to restrain the dog fairly aggressively.
Tip: If your dog is trying to lunge/attack random people on the street, you are probably a terrible person and a horrible dog owner. Get your dog trained or give it to someone who gives a damn. Signed, Me! Sometimes I’m curious knowing what is going on in the mind of as person like that and other times I’m glad I don’t know.
I’m pretty sure if that dog was not on a leash that I’d be sitting in the ER right now, waiting to get a tetanus shot. I had enough of those when I was a kid, thanks!
Stats:
Run 706 Average pace: 6:09/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 9:16 a.m. Distance: 10.02 km Time: 61:42 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 23-24ºC Humidity: 63-68% Wind: nil to light BPM: 153 Weight: 162.1 Total distance to date: 5182 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (290 km)