It was sunny and calm as I headed out today, initially planning a short loop at the lake. I changed my plan on the fly (as I often do) because the trails were more crowded than expected, so I opted to run halfway around the lake, as the crowds tend to thin the farther you head down the trail. And this was the case!
My pace was pretty much what I consider around average now, coming in at 5:46/km, just a second off the river run two days ago. I had to work harder at the lake, and BPM ticked up to 156 as a result.
The left hip was there, but tolerable. The knees seemed to handle the run fine, and only felt a slight bit stiff toward the end of the 9 km or so walk back home after.
A decent number of people were running, one bad woman had a large dog off-leash–and she was throwing a ball down the trail. Bad woman! I was done my run at this point, but started running again just to put space between me and them.
Speaking of bad people, another post-run incident nearly happened on the first boardwalk, when a runner came around a blind corner–on my side of the boardwalk. She was cutting into the corner and as a runner, this is something you never do when you don’t have line of sight, precisely because you could run into someone, as she nearly did into me. Bad runner!
I also saw a topless guy running, which is not exactly common for mid-October, and he had the weirdest arm movement I’ve seen in a while. It was kind of asymmetrical, each arm moving not just at a different time (which is normal) but in different directions, like he was subtly directing unseen traffic. He also had a big beard that looked thick enough to hold up a bowling ball, so maybe that was helping him with his form, too.
The thing I think stood out the most for me, though, was the second boardwalk, which has had little signs saying repair plans are underway, but in the meantime no horsies or vehicles on the boardwalk, please. These signs have been in place for well over a year. In recent months, parts of this boardwalk have developed a definite lean. That lean seems to be accelerating by the week now, because today it was starting to look less like a boardwalk and more like an old-time wooden rollercoaster, with the way sections were dipping and bending. Maybe I’ll take pictures next time, before it collapses into the marsh.
Anyway, the run itself went fine, I am hoping the knees will remain fine today and tomorrow, and I currently have no idea what I want to do run-wise on Friday, other than some kind of running.
Stats:
Run 817 Average pace: 5:46/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 10:49 a.m. Distance: 5:03 km Time: 298:02 Weather: Mostly sunny Temp: 14-15ºC Humidity: 77-73% Wind: light BPM: 156 Weight: 167.4 Total distance to date: 5965 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (100/192.5/292.5 km)
