The disappearing trail run

Average pace: 4:45/km <– ties personal best

Location: Burnaby Lake, CW
Distance: 11.21 km
Weather: High cloud, some sun
Temp: 20-22ºC
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 795
Total distance to date: 1682 km

A big ol’ thunderstorm rolled through the area last night, bringing rain and, of course, lots of thunder. The rain had stopped by morning but the cloud cover persisted for most of the day, along with notably cooler temperatures. As such the run was done under mostly an overcast sky, with the sun only poking through briefly a few times.

The branches were still there. I think the park crew has determined that they will slowly decay on their own over time and as such do not require immediate removal, just a few hundred years for nature to do its thing. In better news the broken faucet by the Cariboo dam has already been fixed. Since I ran clockwise today I discovered this at the start of the run and headed out knowing I could drink like a horse after I’d wrapped it up.

The cooler temperature and lack of sun made a dramatic difference. I lopped a full 13 seconds off Monday’s pace, coming in at 4:45/km, tying my fastest-ever pace. There was no real downside during the run. I felt good throughout, despite sleeping lousy last night and waking up with some vague stomach nausea (that fortunately dissipated by the time I ate breakfast). The only real down part was at the very end when my naughty nano would not behave. Despite my hands being dry the clickwheel refused to acknowledge the touch of my fingers. This no longer amuses me. After some fiddling and wiping the iPod on my shorts in an attempt to dry it (which did cause it to activate) I finally managed to bring the run to a halt. Methinks the iPod is starting to wear out after three years of service (apart from the clickwheel being an inherently lousy design).

The title of this post refers to a section of the trail a few meters or so wide on the south side that had slid off and into the bog. I’m assuming this happened last night as a result of the storm and it’s the first time I’ve noticed the trail deteriorating because of the weather. The strip itself was fairly narrow so only the edge of the trail was affected but it definitely looks like more could slough off f it’s left unattended (like tree branches).

Chart

Date Average Pace
August 8 4:45
August 6 4:58
August 3 4:56
August 1 4:50
July 30 4:57

Leave a Comment