With the weather being sunny (woo), I set out to do my first 10K in a few weeks. While there was a bit of a chilly breeze on the walk to the lake, it was quiet once I got there.
For clothing, I wore shorts and two layers up top. This was sufficient.
I set out and, just to be different, opted to skip the first two side trails, the Spruce and Conifer Loops. Before I made it to the 1K marker, I passed four other runners, which may be the densest ratio of other joggers I’ve ever seen (extrapolate that over my run and that would have been 40 other runners). None of them were running together, making it even weirder.
This wasn’t the only people-based weirdness, though. On at least three occasions I had two people walking ahead of me who were utterly unaware of my approach–even after I warned them verbally. Multiple times.
“Behind you!” No reaction.
“Behind you!” Still no reaction. Getting very close now.
“Excuse me!” No reaction.
“Coming through!” At this point I have to actually put on the brakes to avoid collision–this particular incident was on one of the boardwalks and there is literally no room to run around. The guy on the left fairly leapt out of his skin at my last warning and practically hopped out of the way. his friend said something funny, but I couldn’t make it out.
This happened several other times, where repeated warnings produced no reaction at all. I’m not sure how some people–especially when they’re with someone else, so clearly not lost in their own thoughts–can become so utterly oblivious to their environment when walking outdoors. What if I had been a hungry bear? A hungry jogging bear.
As for the parts where I was able to run without having to duck around others, it went well. No issues at all, and though I never felt tired, the last few km I could already feel my leg muscles reminding me that’s what a 10K run feels like.
I intended to make this an easy, mellow kind-of run, but instead just ran like I normally do and ended with a pace of 5:46/km, which is my fastest 10K in quite a long time. The Garmin app bestowed me with badges for fastest 1K, 5K and 10K. I like badges.
Post-workout, the Forerunner advised 96 hours to recover, which is twice as long as I would normally wait for my next run. I’ll mull its advice.
Overall, a good run and a nice return to 10K.
Stats:
Run 740 Average pace: 5:46/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 10:02 a.m. Distance: 10.03 km Time: 57:51 Weather: Sunny Temp: 4-6ºC Humidity: 79% Wind: low BPM: 154 Weight: 165.5 Total distance to date: 5475 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (147 km)