I had no particular goal today, except to hopefully be faster than Tuesday–and I was!
With my BPM edging up only slightly to 151, I managed to shave 13 seconds off Tuesday’s pace and come in under six minutes, at 5:58/km. Not bad. The second km was the only one over six minutes, but as on Tuesday, I improved on the stretch.
I opted to go clockwise and apparently the resurfacing has moved over to the Freeway Trail, as I didn’t have to detour at all, which was a nice bonus. The weather forecast had it as mostly sunny and a high of 24, so for the first time this year, I slapped on some sunblock before heading out.
It turned out to be 18 and cloudy. Still, better safe than sorry. It was still humid enough to stave off any dry mouth and for the most part, the run was comfortable, with no issues. At one point I ingested a piece of cottonwood dander, which is suboptimal, but at least we’re no longer seeing giant clouds of the stuff.
Around the 3 km mark, I was approaching a bend in the trail and saw on the opposite side a tan-coloured dog. A moment later my brain corrected this to coyote, but it was adopting a very passive posture, so I just keep jogging. As I got nearer, it turned and casually walked just far enough off the trail to be tucked in the brush, but still visible. It watched me pass and probably re-emerged shortly after. It looked kind of mangy, but I’m not sure if that’s because they shed in the warmer months or because it was malnourished or something. I kind of felt bad for it. I’m not sure how much they have to eat around the lake. Plus, you can’t go far without bumping into people, which must be annoying for them. I mean, I’m annoyed by people.
Speaking of people, there were more than a few today and some were doing weird things, like crowding on the boardwalk and not making room or, as I approached from behind, splitting and forcing me to run between them (this is bad for several reasons). I also had to dodge around an off-leash dog. Despite these things, I remained unperturbed and maintained my zen.
In all, a good run to end the week.
Stats:
Run 927
Average pace: 5:58/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:34 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 30:00 (the watch said 29:58, so it must have rounded up later)
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 18°C
Humidity: 58%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 167.2
Total distance to date: 6,470 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (65/119/184)
Music: Ta-Dah, Scissor Sisters
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