Run 367
Average pace: 5:46/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:02
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 16ºC
Wind: light to nil
Calories burned: 392
Total distance to date: 3045
Device used: iPhone 6
For the previous two Sundays I gave into the allure of sitting on my duff come Sunday and did not run. This weekend was shaping up to be a repeat, especially since I did a brisk 16 km walk on Saturday, burning plenty o’ calories and thus justifying a burst of non-activity on the following day. But on Sunday the sun part of the day lived up to its name and then some. It was too nice to stay inside, so I changed into my jogging clothes and headed out.
That’s the good news. The better news is this run was an improvement on my previous run in pretty much every way.
I went out early afternoon and the temperature was an unusually balmy 16ºC (about five degrees higher than the monthly average). I ran counter-clockwise, shaved three seconds off my previous pace (a still-slow 5:46/km but these are early days in the running year). I did not suffer any stitches, cramps or foot weirdness. The only real issue was just generally being out of shape. After the first km the rest of the run was manageable but not exactly pleasant.
And even though it’s only the first week of March, I could already see the yellow bulbs of skunk cabbage starting to appear along the lake edge, ready to stink to high heaven any day now. Many trees are already unfurling freshly green leaves, weeks ahead of the start of spring. It’s nice but also a little odd given I half-expect to still need mitts and instead find myself wearing t-shirts.
As I mentioned previously, I did in fact practice putting the iPhone into my new large pocket spibelt and found it worked best without the case. I was able to get it into the pocket on the run without the comedy of errors that was my previous run’s experience. These little details matter when you are setting out to light your lungs on fire for the next half hour.
All told, it was a solid effort for the third run of the year. Here’s to each run getting a little faster, a little sleeker, a little sexier.
Okay, I’ll settle for faster.
