It’s Labour Day and running counts as labour, so I’m good.
I ended up having a not-great sleep last night, so slept in a bit to try to salvage what I could. This meant that I’d be running later than desired–and on a stat holiday, to boot.
On the plus side (except for people hoping to tan or have picnics in the sun before school resumes), it was cloudy and cooler today, never getting above 17C and with the sun only briefly threatening for a few minutes. This made for much nicer running conditions.
What didn’t make for nicer running conditions were the huge crowds clogging up the trail as people go on their once-a-year trek for fitness or something before winter sets in. Generally this is not a problem, as most will either see or hear me approach and make room. The worst, somewhat ironically, are those walking toward me, because many of them seem to think I will somehow make room for them.
Somewhere between the 2 and 3K mark (this becomes significant later) a large, sprawling group approached, spread out into about three groups. The largest blob of people approached, with a young and apparently very happy young woman on the edge. As I neared, she seemed to remain oblivious, somehow, to my presence, giggling and carrying on with the others. There was a tree right on the edge of the trail as I got nearer. This meant that even if I wanted to, I would not be able to duck off the trail if she failed to give me room to pass. She gave me enough room to pass if I weighed half as much and was twice as tall. I put up my left hand to act as a kind of cow catcher (I’m not casting judgment, it’s what they were called!) As it turned out, I made contact with her shoulder and gently pushed her slightly away as I ran past. I’m pretty sure she was still unaware of me.
By this time, I was annoyed with two things:
- My pace. The first km, where I admittedly have been taking it easy lately (somewhat paranoid) was a slow 5:59/km. The second km was worse–6:07/km. The dream of getting a pace under six minutes seemed unattainable.
- All the damn people getting in the way. In reality, most were fine, but that one young happy woman irked me enough to make up for all the others.
These two things made me just want to get the run over with as quickly as possible and get out. This meant that, opposite to what usually happens, I got faster as the run progressed. My fourth km was 5:45, my last was 5:34–the fastest since hurting my knees a thousand years ago.
This meant my overall pace was below six minutes, at 5:52/km. Woo!
Better, my knees and legs survived. The left hip was being its dumb self again, but a little more muted, and the knees seem no worse for the extra speediness. No doubt the conditions helped, too, because despite the time, my BPM was back to a nice, round 150.
Overall, I am pleased with the run, and annoyed with the people.
Run 804 Average pace: 5:52/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 12:12 p.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 29:35 Weather: Mostly cloudy Temp: 17ºC Humidity: 75-70% Wind: light BPM: 150 Weight: 166.8 Total distance to date: 5900 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (35/65/100 km)
