stupid hip

A haiku to half a summer of running

Half a summer of running is better than none.

I ran in the heat
Until my leg, it went “Ow!”
Walking, the new black

Okay, that’s pretty terrible, but in my defense I’ve got some kind of bug or virus or whatever it is I can walk a half dozen blocks, go down a flight of stairs, then feel exhausted and ready for a nap by the time I climb back up them (which describes my after-dinner walk tonight. I wanted to see how much of the tree destruction had been cleared. The giant tree on Sherbrooke had been chainsawed and piled on the side of the road but the smaller tree on Fader was still toppled over, albeit now with caution tape around it. It’s also not resting on the power lines. I wanted to check out if any clearing had been done down on the Brunette River trail but after climbing back up the stairs in Lower Hume Park–the trees at the bottom were still blocking the way–I was feeling more like exploring the comfort of being tucked under the sheets than the great outdoors.)

As to the running, the right leg is legitimately starting to feel better. I’m cautiously hopeful that with some physio and a few weeks of stretching exercises I may be ready to run again before the end of September. By then, of course, the light will be fading quickly after dinner and I’ll have little time to get runs in, but I’ll figure something out. At least it won’t be Africa hot.

The post-Nashville run

Average pace: 5:06/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Distance: 5.03 km
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 13ºC
Wind: light to nil
Calories burned: 364
Total distance to date: 2475 km

After another two weeks between runs, mainly due to a near week-long trip to Nashville on business, I approached today’s run with some trepidation. I headed off to the lake to do a wee 5K again and noticed a few changes. The Brunette River trail now has a permanent wooden fence built alongside the north area that was restored last year, completely blocking it off. The fence is short enough to be trivially easy to get over (I could do so without having to climb it) but it sends a clear message to keep out.

People will climb over it and trample everything anyway because that’s what people do.

I also noticed someone had parked a fancy Range Rover in front of the gate at the entrance to the trail. The gate with the “Do not park in front of gate” sign on it.

Then there was a handmade sign below the one warning about bears in the area saying it was some young bear’s one year birthday, along with a cartoon picture of the bear. Sadly I don’t recall the name of the bear. I also have no idea what the sign meant.

When I got to the lake I checked out the fish ladder at the dam and a bunch of salmon were gathered there, eagerly waiting to be let into the lake so they could die, as is their way at this time of year.

The trail was in fairly good shape as the weather has been dry and there weren’t a lot of leaves on it. As I started out I was immediately struck again by how incredibly stiff my right Achilles tendon was. It took most of the run to limber up. Worse than that, though, was my right hip which was also quite sore for some reason. It continued to ache for most of the run. No idea why and I’m hoping this was a one-time deal.

Despite feeling sluggish as all get-out, my pace ended up being 5:06/km, only three seconds off my previous. I consider this perfectly decent after two weeks of eating everything in sight and basically indulging in what can be described as anti-exercise.

A final note: I saw three (!) cyclists on the trail and all three were walking their bikes. I have never seen so many thoughtful cyclists all at once. I salute them!

I’m hoping to check out a treadmill at the Canada Games Pool in a few days as the sun is now setting before 6 p.m., effectively eliminating the possibility of running after work until the spring (weekends excepted).