I woke up to a severe weather alert this morning that didn’t involve rain. I was intrigued!
Fog Advisory Severity: Moderate Possible threat to life or property Alert in Effect From 3:26 AM (PST), November 16, until 4:59 PM (PST), November 16 Description: Near zero visibility in fog is expected or occurring. Where: Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria. When: Now until late this morning. Hazard: Hazardous travel due to zero visibility in fog. Remarks: Dense fog has developed due to a ridge of high pressure that is trapping moisture near the surface. The fog is expected to dissipate late this morning.
I can’t recall the last time I ran in dense fog. I thought it might be fun, so I headed out early to make sure it wouldn’t dissipate before I could get to the lake.
It turned out to be slightly horrible!
On the plus side, I dressed for the cold (it was 0C when I headed out and 1C when I started the run) by wearing three layers up top and my running pants. I was not cold at all. It also helped that there was virtually no wind at all.
Visibility on the trail was actually fine, the fog would only be a hazard for people driving 80-100 km/h on the highways. I don’t run quite that fast and never on a highway, so I was good.
However, what is fog? It’s low level fine mist. When you walk in it, you don’t really think about it. When you run in it, that mist will adhere to things like glasses–which I wear!–and start obscuring your vision.
When I reached the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, I stopped to take a quick photo and to use the soft part of my gloves to wipe this misty residue off my glasses, because it was having the effect of making the fog seem about five times thicker than it was. I managed to turn the mist into a smeary mess, but with a clear bit at the top of the right lens, allowing me a tiny window to navigate through. I did this for about a km, then stopped on the next bridge at Still Creek, and gave the glasses a more thorough wipe. This fixed the smear and reduced the enhanced fog effect to about two times, which was good enough to finish the run.
Knowing this, I will not knowingly run in the fog again. Time to update my running conditions list again! But now I’ve done it and have the knowledge and experience to share and cherish.
As for the actual run part, I went clockwise and just maintained a steady pace. This was made easier by the reduced visibility.
Around the 2K mark a man walking the other way warned me of ice past the bridge. I thanked him and indeed there was a rather slick stretch. I tread carefully, remained upright, and encountered good conditions for the rest of the run.
My pace was 5:57/km, which given conditions, is pretty good. BPM was 154, also fine, considering the temperature ranged from 1-4C. Summer it ain’t.
Here’s that view from the bridge at Deer Lake Brook:
And a bonus photo of a spooky-looking pond, often occupied by not-so-spooky ducks:
Stats:
Run 731 Average pace: 5:57/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 9:07 a.m. Distance: 10.04 km Time: 59:44 Weather: Foggy Temp: 1-4ºC Humidity: 84% Wind: light to nil BPM: 154 Weight: 160.2 Total distance to date: 5395 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (72 km)