Run 588 Average pace: 5:59/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:29 am
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 30:07
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24-28ºC
Humidity: 49%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 162
Weight: 162.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 4520 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
Do you know what happened on April 14, 2018? Well, you can assume a few things, like the sun rose, there was no nuclear war and so on, but in general you probably don’t remember a lot of specific details of that day.
That day was the last time I jogged at Burnaby Lake and had an average pace below 6:00/km–until today.
My pace today was…5:59/km. Yes, I beat the six minute mark by precisely one second, which could be a rounding error. But I’m taking it.
For this run I decided to start at the official 0K marker, run CCW over the dam and skip the side trails. I would be running only on the main, official Burnaby Lake Loop, to see how accurate the GPS on the phone really is. As it turns out, it was off even by the 1K mark. By the time I hit the 5K marker I was showing a distance of 4.82 km. Not catastrophically off, but not exactly super-precise, either. I had to run well past the marker to hit 5K, but at least I did so before hitting the next corner and getting back out into the cruel and unforgiving sun.
I also skipped the sun block and amazingly didn’t get burned. Because that already happened weeks ago, mainly.
I felt fine for most of the run, despite the heat, though it was easily the sweatiest run to date in terms of flicking it away from the sides of my eyes. I also did a lot of running after finishing the official 5K on the way out and maintained a good pace for those stretches, too.
The trail was a bit congested in weird ways, with long stretches featuring few, if any people, then I’d suddenly find myself approaching a couple from behind while another person walked toward them, and a runner or two behind that walker, all converging for the same spot at the same time. Thanks to dexterity, timing and luck, collisions were avoided.
The only real downside came after, with the knees feeling the most sore they’ve been in weeks, but I’ve been subjecting them the past week to daily 5K walks, a post-work run and today’s run, so this is not unexpected. It’s not horrible, just a nuisance. For now, at least.
Overall, it was a relief to finally break the 6:00/km mark again and the increased activity is definitely leading to improved stamina, as I’m no longer thinking, “Why won’t this run end?” on the 5Ks now. I’m not sure when I’ll try a 10K, but possibly sometime in August.
Run 587 Average pace: 5:55/km Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 6:34 pm
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 30:50
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 31ºC
Humidity: 38%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 162
Weight: 163.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 4515 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
For the first time in a long time I actually ran after dinner. Yay!
In the middle of an Africa hot heatwave. Maybe not the best timing, but…
It went possibly better than expected. I sweated a lot but it was just humid enough to keep the dreaded dry mouth™ under control. I experienced a few moments of pushing too hard (for the weather) after the 4K mark, but it subsided quickly, and the knees were actually not feeling too bad at all.
Most of the river trail after 6 p.m. is under the shade of the tree canopy, which made a huge difference, too.
I also managed to stay under the six minute mark at 5:55/km, which pleases me greatly, the way catnip pleases a cat. Well, maybe not that much. Still, it was nice.
No real issues to report, except it was muggy and hot, starting at 31ºC and dropping a negligible one degree. Weather Underground said it “feels like 29ºC”, which is also negligible. 😛
BPM was actually down slightly–could it be more regular runs are actually starting to get me back into shape a little? Possibly.
If I stick to the schedule I should run again on Thursday, with the weather about the same. If my results hold up to tonight’s, that’ll be good enough for me.
Run 584 Average pace: 6:12/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:21 am
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 31:18
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24-28ºC
Humidity: 50%
Wind: light
BPM: 167
Weight: 162.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 4500 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
I hit a new milestone today, or, I suppose, a kilometerstone, passing 4,500 km officially run. It’s actually more than that, but I wasn’t really tracking much (or at all) in the early days. 4,500 km is enough to pretty much go from the west coast of Canada to the east coast, depending on where exactly you start and stop. It did take me nine years to reach this, so jogging may not be the most practical way (for me) to cross the country.
My last run was 22 days ago, on June 22, and with the return of warm, sunny weather, my goal today was to simply finish and not feel horrible after. Mission accomplished!
While the pace of 6:12/km is certainly not blazingly fast, it *is* ten seconds better than my previous run at the lake, which is kind of impressive given that happened 27 days ago. I actually did not feel bad and managed to pick up the pace in the last km, too. I did feel the knees, but they were no better or worse than the last half dozen runs or so. I was surprised my stamina held up as the temperature climbed from 24ºC to 28ºC during the run. Equally surprising was the minimal sweating, perhaps due to the humidity hovering around 50%, coupled with a light and refreshing breeze. For an Africa hot run, it was pretty tolerable.
Also, a few new things on the trail since my last run. The UH OH BEARS sign is out again for the season, and the stretch of trail from the western boardwalk to the area resurfaced last year has also been resurfaced, with one small section still waiting its top coat of compressed gravel/dirt. This was a pleasant surprise, though it did mean the one unique corner on a hill was smoothed out. It was also fun to cut in short when going counter-clockwise, but now it’s just a regular corner.
The Cottonwood Trail remains as rooty as ever, but they are running out of sections to resurface, so it may get done in the next year or so, if they stick to the same rough schedule.
Overall, this was a pleasant return and went much better than it might have, given the conditions and the time between runs. Now to build on this without my knees collapsing.
The best part actually came after I finished the run. There was a woman jogging ahead of me, but her pace was what one might describe as languid, so languid that I actually caught up and passed her–while walking. That’s definitely a first. Shortly after passing her I turned a corner and saw the poopmonsters were again cluttering up the trail at the north end of the sports fields. I eased up to let the “jogger” go first and draw their fire. It turned out that not much of anything happened. You can see one goose in particular still flapping its wings in umbrage in this shot as she passes by, but the rest just went about with their usual goose-standing, goose-grooming and, of course, goose-stepping:
Run 581 Average pace: 6:15/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:40 pm
Distance: 1.98 km
Time: 12:25
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 28ºC
Humidity: 33%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 164
Weight: 164 pounds
Total distance to date: 4487 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
Run 582 Average pace: 6:22/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 1:02 pm
Distance: 3:01 km
Time: 19:14
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 28ºC
Humidity: 32%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 164
Weight: 164 pounds
Total distance to date: 4490 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
I got started later than expected, but it didn’t look like it would be too hot, as the temperature was around 24ºC when I headed out. I originally planned on running at the river but the lack of shade convinced me to go ahead and do a counter-clockwise circuit on the lake instead. Was this a miscalculation? Read on to see!
By the time I got to the lake the temperature had gone up to 28ºC. This is Africa Hot territory, it’s significantly warmer than the last run (16ºC) and I’d kind of skipped out on the runs during the week, so I was going in with a full week off. Plus I’d walked the lake loop yesterday, which might have left me feeling tired (though I felt fine heading out).
I started off and thought I’d push just a little for the first km, knowing my pace would surely droop after, so it might lift my average time a bit. I averaged 6:04/km, which is already not great. By the time I neared the 2K mark I had crashed out to 6:28/km, which is very bad for less than 2 km of running. I did not feel good. I mulled my options, then decided to call the run there (had I looked at the watch I would have pushed the wee bit to make it an even 2 km because I’m obsessive like that).
I switched to a walk and after about a km I felt recovered enough to start running again. I set a goal of 5 km but would be satisfied by just picking up the remaining 3km of my original 5K.
I definitely felt better hitting the 2K mark this time, but I was exercising a lot of caution. Even then, as I got into the sun-baked stretch leading up the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, I knew I would stop at 3 km. I looked at my watch a lot. I finally hit 3K shortly before the bridge and happily switched over to walking again.
The walk out actually went fairly well.
The factors playing into this stop-start run would seem to be:
lack of regular running leading to generally lower stamina level
the knees complicating things in their own way
significantly hotter weather
strong breeze contributing to dry mouth/thirst
On the plus side, I did get in 5K, just not all in one go. I didn’t give up, I regrouped and tried again–and succeeded. My BPM, despite the high temperature, was actually down from last week. If you combine the two times you get an average pace of 6:18/km, which is nearly identical to last week when the weather wasn’t really hot and gross.
On the negative, I felt like I was running on the proverbial empty tank. I was hot and bothered in the not-sexy way. I know I could have kept pushing on the first run and probably made it to 5K, but it would have been a protracted experience of misery. I’m happy to know my limits and work with them.
With Jeff away on dirt bike vacation next week, I have no real reason to not run after dinner, though it looks to still be hot. I ponder my options. Maybe I can carry a watering can and just keep sprinkling water over my head. Or hook up some VR simulation and go for a very convincing facsimile of a run.
Run 532 Average pace: 5:40/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:45 am
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 56:50
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 24-26ºC
Humidity: 55%
Wind: light
BPM: 160
Weight: 156.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 4144 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
It’s Labor Day so I went out and labored on a 10K run.
It was warmer than yesterday but my early start saved me from having to run in 30ºC+ temperatures. It was 24ºC at the start and 26ºC by the end of the run. It was also more humid so the sunny stretches found me sweating like some kind of machine designed for maximum sweating.
I didn’t experience any issues on this run, I was just generally a little slower, given the extra heat and humidity. My pace was 5:40/km, four seconds off Saturday, but consistent with the yuckier conditions.
The trail was fairly busy but unlike the last run there were no near-collisions. On the Cottonwood Trail I was humming along and doing fine in the shade of the canopy. The long version of “Disco Inferno” had just started playing (that song is long enough to last several km of running) when I felt a sudden catch in my throat. While grooving out I had swallowed a bug. Knowing a coughing fit was bound to ensue, I summoned up as much saliva as I could (sort of ew, sorry) and swallowed hard, twice. Better to just down the thing that try to spit it back out.
This did not work. Instead I started hacking fiercely and, strangely, I actually did manage to spit the bug out and was immediately fine after that.
I am uncertain if the bug survived. Sorry, bug!
The run went otherwise without incident, though the conditions were definitely eating away at my strength. I’ve been running just long enough in more seasonal temperatures that this Africa hot-stuff is throwing me off. It’s expected to last a few more days then the possibility of actual precipitation is in the forecast. I’m not running tomorrow and have a bike ride planned for Wednesday so my next run will likely be Thursday after work. The current forecast is calling for a pleasant high of 23ºC and cloudy skies. Good running weather!
Run 531 Average pace: 5:36/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 9:39 am
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 56:14
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 20-25ºC
Humidity: 48%
Wind: light
BPM: 155
Weight: 156 pounds
Total distance to date: 4134 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
Given the forecast (Africa hot) I thought it might be prudent to start the run earlier in the morning and to run clockwise, as there is less canopy in the first half of the loop when running this way, meaning I would face it while it was a little cooler.
I was wise to follow this plan. It was already 20ºC when I started out and was up to 25ºC by the end of the run less than an hour later. You feel a five-degree change in temperature.
Fortunately, the humidity was low so it remained tolerable (though I did experience some dry mouth, something that hasn’t happened much this sticky, sweaty summer). I initially tried to moderate my pace after a week off from running 10Ks and indeed, I felt a stitch in my lower-left abdomen around the 8K mark. I eased up a bit and it went away fairly quickly.
I also had a weird déjà vu moment as I ran down the part of the Conifer Loop with the tree root that tripped me up last summer. At around 10:10 a.m. the sun was still low enough in the sky that it was slanting through the trees in such a way that it created a flickering effect in my peripheral vision. This, combined with the trail being cast in a dappled combination of bright and dark areas made it difficult to see what was actually coming up even right in front of me. It’s quite possible that if I was running on the same side of the trail as the tree root that I might have tripped on it again, even knowing where it was.
I did not run on the same side of the trail.
I ended up with a pace of 5:36/km, a little slower than my previous 10K, but consistent with the higher temperatures.
This is the Labour Day long weekend and it turns out that this year a lot of people wanted to spend the first morning of it at the lake, as the trail was replete with pedestrians, joggers and one horse.
But no cyclists, hooray!
However, the most annoying moment came when I approached the second boardwalk. The boardwalks only allow for two people to comfortably walk/jog beside each other and because they are elevated, it’s not possible to duck out of someone’s way. I got onto the boardwalk, which in the clockwise direction, has a corner right at the start, and was immediately confronted by a pair of joggers moving fairly swiftly. The one to my immediate left did nothing to make room for me. I had to nearly stop so I could shift and get out of the way to keep from falling off the boardwalk.
That jogger was:
selfish
careless
going to get attacked by a rabid goose, if there is such a thing as karma
Really, the pair should have been moving slower and running single file. It’s just common sense given the conditions imposed by the boardwalk. Anyway, it was weird to be annoyed by another jogger instead of a cyclist.
Despite the near-collision, it was still a good run overall and the new shoes were problem-free, so yay.
Run 519 Average pace: 5:41/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:14 am
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 57:18
Weather: Smoke haze, sun
Temp: 23-25ºC
Humidity: 58%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 159.0 pounds
Total distance to date: 4033 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
The run conditions were almost identical to Monday’s yet I definitely felt I had more spring in my step for the first km, as evidenced by my 5:11/km pace. That ended quickly, as further evidenced by the second km pace being 5:42/km. The last three km felt much like a slog and while my eyes didn’t burn quite the same as they did two days ago, by the time I approached the 9K mark I was ready for the run to be over.
Let me back up and set up another complication that made the desire to stop running even stronger.
Before leaving I went to the bathroom. I mean, I physically went into the bathroom, but nothing happened. My bowels remained silent and unmoved. Fine. I’d have one more chance when I got to the lake. I got to the lake and contemplated the Johnny Potty or whatever it’s called. I looked at the name but all I can recall now is the word Johnny. I like to think it is really called Johnny Potty and is named after someone who is legally known as Johnny Potty.
This time the bowel stirred, slightly. It may have been the heat. The temperature on the walk to the lake shot up from 19ºC to 23ºC and then up to 25ºC during the run. But again, no action in the ol’ “gotta go” department so I headed off and again, it was fine.
As I passed the 9K mark (meaning I had a little over five minutes to go) it suddenly became very much not fine. I had to go like I had never gone before. The urge was more than that, it was a command, a command delivered with great authority, a command you could not ignore. But I had to finish the run. Running, as I mentioned before on this blog, is about the worst thing you can do if you want to quiet a nascent bowel movement. Because you are agitating all your innards, see?
In the end (ho ho) I made it but it was an extremely close thing. Also, the Johnny Potty was a literal sweatbox. But at least there was toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The day was so humid the sanitizer would not dry on my hands until I had nearly exited the park.
Oh, and I did a 10K run, too.
After the speedy start I settled into a pace close to my overall average of 5:41/km for most of the run and it wasn’t too bad. I still sweated buckets and never exactly tore up the trail, but it was no worse than other recent runs.
Speaking of torn-up trails, today was the first weekday run that wasn’t also a holiday so I figured the crews would be out resurfacing the trail and they were. The shovel and little tractor/hopper that was getting filled with gravel were in the parking lot, so I knew I wouldn’t encounter them on the trail. I did come across a putt-putt car that took up most of the width of the trail not far into the South Shore segment. Ahead of it a guy was using one of those vibrating devices that has a belt that magically flattens and compresses the fresh gravel. I had to actually stop running to navigate around. Before I encountered him I came across several hundred meters of fresh gravel piled high along the middle of the trail. This stuff is basically impossible to run on, so you stick to the edges, but the edges are mushy and uneven so the whole thing is a bit of a trial. I nearly twisted a foot but I got through without face-planting.
The road construction crew at the rowing pavilion parking lot were out but no heavy equipment was in operation so I skittered across without having to worry about being crushed under a steamroller. One of the road workers even nodded to me as I ran by. He was kind of cute. He was probably nodding as if to say, “You can do it, just a little farther before you poop your shorts!”
The athletic fields were again covered in geese, all of them standing around or pecking at the grass. All except one, which was sitting there, in defiance of the others. When I looked straight at this one goose it immediately stood and started pecking the ground, as if I had caught it slacking off. “That’s right, poopmonster, get busy!” I pretended to shout at it.
Near the 3K signpost I passed a group of about six police and at least one park worker, all of them standing in a circle and discussing something. It seemed like a peculiar place for a discussion so there must have been shenanigans at play. This was possibly corroborated when I emerged from the Spruce Loop and noticed a sawhorse across the main trail with a “Trail Closed – Detour” sign on it.
I still don’t know what actually happened. But something!
It was not long after this that The Bowel Incident occurred. The bowel km was also the slowest, for reasons I hope are obvious.
When I got home all sweaty and stinky I wanted nothing more than to have a nice shower or a bath with invigorating Epsom salts. But thanks to a power outage last night we had no hot water. I ended up soaking in the hot tub at the Canada Games Pool with Jeff and having a shower there, which turned out to be perfectly decent. I always feel a little naughty dunking the Apple Watch into the water but the reality is it probably needed a good cleaning.
Overall I’m pleased that I turned in a decent pace given the ongoing terrible conditions (current forecast says the weather will change by the weekend) and basically everything else about the run other than the pace also being terrible.
Run 516 Average pace: 5:30/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 6:45 pm
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 27:39
Weather: Smoke haze, sun
Temp: 29ºC
Humidity: 40%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 159.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 4003 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
While walking to the river trail for tonight’s run I made the call to do a shorter 5K run because:
it felt even hotter than on Tuesday
the air quality was worse
there was little in the way of a breeze
the air quality was worse–did I mention that? It was bad. The fine particulate matter they keep talking about was a lot more tangible.
So I ran 5K and turned in an average pace of 5:30/km, which is not that zippy for 5K but pretty decent given the conditions. The air was thick, soupy and slightly stinky. It felt warmer even though officially it was 29ºC again. I sweated profusely.
Other than a moment or two when a cramp threatened but didn’t materialize, I experienced no complications. It was just kind of a gross, unpleasant experience. I saw no other runners, so apparently some other joggers have had enough of this weather.
We’re in the middle of a record-breaking heatwave and it’s hot enough that they’ve doubled the number of fire warning signs on the trail (the bonus sign is on the bottom):
Fire danger plus more fire danger
I did not see any briquette barbecues during my run. I’m a little surprised I haven’t seen anyone smoking, though. Fire bans is usually when the smokers show up.
Oh, and I hit a major milestone–or is it kilometerstone?–tonight, passing the 4,000 km mark in total distance. I’ve been running for eight years now, so it averages out to about 500 km per year. Not too shabby. My best year was significantly higher than that–980 km–but I don’t think that will happen again. In 2012 I was on fire instead of all the forests.
This was the last run before I start my vacation so I now have the luxury of doing each run in the morning when it will be mercifully cooler, if still hazy and yucky. Cooler and yucky is still better than hotter and yucky, so I’ll take it.
Specifically, I’d like the air to stop smoking. Yesterday was weird with an orange haze and the air having a thick, soupy quality thanks to that good old fine particulate matter blowing in from forest fires in the Interior.
Today the haze descended to ground level so it not only blotted out the blue sky, it created a thin, fog-like layer everywhere you looked. And unlike yesterday the smell of the smoke has become tangible. It’s like being on the periphery of a magic campfire where no matter where you move, the campfire is always the same distance away.
Anyway, it’s gross and unlikely to change soon due to a very strong ridge of high pressure. It’s also bad because, well, lots of forest on fire.
Run 515 Average pace: 5:41/km
Location: Brunette River trail and Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 6:18 pm
Distance: 8.02 km
Time: 45:36
Weather: Smoke haze, sun
Temp: 29ºC
Humidity: 46%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 154
Weight: 159.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 3998 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
The change in the weather not only brought much warmer temperatures, it also brought–thanks to a switch in the winds–a high haze of smoke carried in from the forest fires burning in the interior. The entire day was cast under a hazy sun, with the light an eerie orange.
This made running feel a bit like being on an alien world. Also the fact that the air had the quality of soupy smoke and it was hot as heck. The sweating returned in abundance, though the humidity meant I kind of self-hydrated through the run, unlike Saturday’s cooler but drier run that left my mouth parched.
I was a bit concerned starting out due to this combination of unpleasant conditions and planned a conservative run. Indeed, save for the first and last km, which were faster, my pace was remarkably steady. Weirdly, though, it didn’t feel nearly as bad as I’d expected.
It was hot, but the haze kept the sun from beating directly down. There was an intermittent breeze. The heavy humidity kept me from drying out. And while the air was filled with “fine particulate matter” (fancypants talk for bits of stuff from the smoke), I couldn’t specifically detect it. I didn’t come out smelling like a campfire, anyway.
I was surprised by the number of other jogging fools out with me. We are all masochists.
In the end I actually beat Saturday’s pace by three seconds (albeit over a shorter distance) and felt a lot better doing it.
Two other things I’ll mention. Somewhere between the 5 and 6K mark I heard the scissoring of legs behind me and to my left. A moment later a runner zipped by me. He was really trucking, which seemed silly to me, given the conditions. I thought of goosing my pace a bit to keep him in sight and see how long he could maintain his torrid pace but he was out of sight in nearly an instant, a phantom on the trail.
A short distance before the increasingly rickety Deer Creek Brook bridge and I saw him coming back, having short-turned before the bridge. As he went by I noticed that his mouth formed a perfect O. His face had the same look one might observe of a fish that’s been out of water just a tad longer than it would like. Given this heart-attack-imminent look, I didn’t feel so bad about being left in his dust.
Speaking of heart attacks, I had my music set to shuffle play and They Might Be Giants’ song(let) “I’m Having a Heart Attack” came on. I felt a bit uneasy at this possibly providing unintentional narrative to my run so skipped to the next track, which was The Cure’s “Hot Hot Hot.” It’s like the music knew.
Overall, this turned out to be a surprisingly decent run. Here’s hoping the trend continues, as the next two runs are likely to be under similar conditions.
The weather has been pretty nice in July and this week promises an actual heatwave, with temperatures climbing up over 30ºC on multiple days. Not great for all the forest fires out there burning across the province, but nice for getting a tan.
I went the entire month–save one day–without wearing pants. And I kind of regretted wearing pants the day I did.
As an aside, it seems harder than it should be to find a pair of shorts that look decent* and aren’t festooned with pockets. I only need to carry a phone, wallet and keys, not two weeks of camping supplies.
* what I consider decent may vary from the popular definition. It’s like art, I know it when I see it. At least when it comes to shorts.
Run 512 Average pace: 5:37/km
Location: Brunette River trail and Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 6:30 pm
Distance: 7.03 km
Time: 39:38
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 28ºC
Humidity: 41%
Wind: light
BPM: 159
Weight: 160.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 3971 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
Tonight’s run was a bell curve covered in sweat.
With the temperature up around 28ºC I adopted a steady-but-not-quick pace, hoping to endure the heat. I actually managed better than expected, coming close to Saturday’s pace (5:37/km tonight vs 5:34/km on Saturday). While that run was 3 km longer, it was also 11 degrees cooler. You kind of notice a difference like that.
At the midway point I could feel cramps threatening, so I eased up, then picked the pace back up for the last few km when the potential cramp crisis passed. Other than that the only other real issue was sweating. I sweated a bunch, especially around the forehead, where it always dribbles down and threatens to get into my eyes. No wonder headbands became so popular in the 80s.
They still look too dumb to wear. My finger can wick sweat away at no extra cost.
I felt a little bad for the people riding the SkyTrain with me on the way home. I’m pretty sure I didn’t smell spring fresh. Or summer fresh. Or any kind of fresh.
The only other complication came when I turned onto the Piper Mill Trail. A large group of nature enthusiasts were gathered and studying pine cones or something. They also blocked the entire path. Even though any of the dozen or so could have seen me, not a single one acknowledged my presence or moved to let me pass. I actually had to stop and then make my way around them off the trail. I hope they got attacked by a swarm of rabid butterflies, the jerks.
Still, even the nature-loving but people-hating clods could not take away from this run going better than expected.
