Average pace: 5:17/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Ran Spruce and Conifer Loops and Piper Mill Trail
Distance: 5.03 km
Weather: Cloudy, light showers
Temp: 10-8ºC
Wind: strong
Calories burned: 398
Total distance to date: 2521 km
The wind was blowing up to 25k/hour so I chose to head out wearing my running jacket. My logic was that I’d be fine in a long-sleeve t-shirt if it was windy or if it rained but not both. And the sky looked like it was preparing to stir up a nice brew of wind and rain.
As it turned out, I escaped the rain until after the run ended. At that point it showed on and off for the walk back. The wind blew fairly consistently, though, so I didn’t particularly regret the extra cover the jacket provided.
About halfway through the run I developed a stitch in my gut and it was just strong enough to inhibit my pace. I didn’t want to end up slower than the prior run (falling back is rather discouraging early on when you’re trying to build on each run) and even goosed it a little at the end. I was rewarded by shaving off an entire second off my previous run, coming in at 5:17/km. Sure it’s small enough to be a rounding error, but I’ll take it.
The trail was replete with many a puddle that required dodging and one alongside the athletic field that was so huge I opted to take the field around it–until I discovered the field was a quicksand-like sodden mess. I managed to pick my way along the muddy left edge of the monster puddle.
I also encountered a man with his young boy riding their bikes. I said nothing, as there seems little point when they’ve already reached a place where they’d have already passed at least three “no bikes allowed” signs. I guess it was good they were not racing along.
Speaking of racing along, a pair of women were walking along with both of their dogs off-leash. No surprise here, but the one dog, a collie, was hyperactive and racing off the trail, into a nearby stream, under a small footbridge, back onto the trail and then was off again into the stream. There are several signs along the trail (the parks people really like signs) noting that the streams are fish habitats and dogs are to be kept out. Were there fish eggs in this stream the dog would have shredded them into oblivion. Again I said nothing. It’s not like these people don’t know, they simply don’t care. The best I can do is hope karma deals with them appropriately.
Too bad I don’t believe in karma. 😛
Back to the actual jogging–this marked the first time in months that I completed three runs in the space of a week. Weird! The left shin felt a tony bit tender afterward but other than that the feet and legs are fine and the overall level of post-run stiffness has diminished noticeably.
My next run will probably be a 5K on the river trail so I won’t have as direct a comparison to these last three runs, but it will still be interesting to see how it goes. Excelsior!
