Yesterday I felt off. I didn’t want to run, skip, walk, think or engage in any other similar activities.
I wanted to eat and just float away on a big puffy marshmallow cloud.
Today I vowed to change course and headed out in the morning, determined to do a 10K–and I did! But to say it did not go as planned would be an understatement.
First, the good news: I beat the heat. With a projected high of 29C, I made sure to get started no later than mid-morning. It was 17C when I started and 21C at the end. This kind of jump is very noticeable when it’s warmer, but starting at 17C, not so much. I actually sweated very little, so little I didn’t even need Nipple Guards™. I also ended up running mostly under canopy, so I probably could have skipped the sunblock, too.
I started counter-clockwise and as I approached the bridge at Silver Creek, near the start of the run, I saw tractor treads in the gravel–the work on the foot bridges had begun. Dun dun dun. I continued and at the fork between the main trail and the Spruce Loop, I noticed the treads heading down the Spruce Loop, so I took the main trail, being a smart runner and all.
But my smartness was to no avail. When I got to the next fork, between the main trail and the Conifer Loop, a sawhorse was blocking the main trail. Undaunted, I went down the Conifer Loop, only to find the Spruce Loop also had a sawhorse (with bonus KEEP OUT sign), forcing me to go back to the start of the trail. As I did, I contemplated what to do for the run and decided after hitting 2K just past the dam, that I would run clockwise until I hit the 6K mark, then double back to complete the run near the Avalon parking lot. A solid plan.
This is also the only time in recent memory that I’ve run twice over the dam. The new mesh they have on the surface to prevent ice build-up tends to kabong when you run over it.
But even this solid plan was thwarted, once again, by trail work. As I progressed along the Southshore Trail, I passed a sign reading MOWER WORKING AHEAD and rolled my eyes. Of course there’s a mower working ahead. I went a fair way without any sign of the mower (nor its melodic buzz saw song) and was beginning to think it was actually finished. But no, on a curve just ahead of the second boardwalk, there it was, just sitting on the trail, engine shut off, not mowing a thing. I don’t know why it was sitting on the trail doing nothing, but it had the trail completely blocked on both sides. I probably could have paused my run and gently picked my way through the vegetation on the sides of the trail, but this was close enough to where I was going to turn around that I just turned around, anyway.
I’m sure I confused some people, as I ran by a few up to three different times during all of this.
By the ninth km I was coming down the Avalon Trail again and was starting to feel tired. I don’t know if my body just assumed the run was over or what, but I was flagging and still had a km to go. I decided to run to the 0K marker, turn around and head back up the Avalon Trail, then turn with about 1 km left to make it feel like a “proper” finish. I even put on the gas a little for a final pace of 5:45/km, but my overall was 6:00/km even.
Still, considering how many times I had to change my route and backtrack, I’ll take it. I felt pretty decent otherwise, save for some creakiness in my lower back right toward the end (I think I slept funny/poorly). It was a perfectly cromulent way to end the week.
Here’s the map of the router. The long yellow stretch doesn’t really show it, but it actually forms a loop. Again, the maps of the runs are pretty terrible. Pour a couple of billion dollars you find under the corporate couch into improving this, Apple!
Stats:
Run 713 Average pace: 6:00/km Location: Burnaby Lake (all directions--see post for details) Start: 9:55 a.m. Distance: 10.02 km Time: 60:06 Weather: Sunny Temp: 17-21ºC Humidity: 64% Wind: light BPM: 150 Weight: 161 Total distance to date: 5232 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (340 km)
