Average pace: 4:37/km
Location: Brunette river trail, Lower Hume Park
Distance: 11.49 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 23-19ºC
Wind: light to nil
Calories burned: 779
Total distance to date: 1851 km
Tonight’s run was a virtual repeat of Tuesday’s, with my pace being virtually identical (the one second difference could be a rounding error). I had intended to ease off a bit and indeed my right calf and ankle both felt a bit sore starting out but once I’d warmed up they felt fine.
Speaking of warm, tonight saw a late summer surge with the temperature a balmy 23ºC at the start of the run and a still-mild 19ºC by the end. This higher than average may also explain why the run was so buggy. It felt like running though the alpha code for Ultima IX. At certain points along the trail it even felt a bit like rain except instead of drops of refreshing water splatting against my face, it was tiny bugs. Yuck.
There were several other joggers out and because of the bridge closure, we would pass each other as we looped back and forth. Except for one girl — I watched her make her way past the fence and onto the bridge. Remember, it’s just narrow support beams right now and while it’s now towering hundreds of meters above a gorge, you would still do some decent damage if you fell into the shallow water below. Since I was running I never saw if she made it across safely but I’m going to assume the lack of bloodcurdling screams and/or ambulance sirens means she did.
I passed another fellow jogger several times and we did that polite jogger nod each time. After the third pass, he looped back and I looped behind him, putting us on the same side of the trail. This is where I abandoned my slow and steady pace as I strove to catch up and hopefully pass him. It took probably the better part of a km but I eventually did. The point where I was catching up shows plainly on the Nike+ chart, with my pace nearly matching that of the first km (and this at the 7K mark). After I passed him it dropped off by over 5% before rising back up to my usual level. I’ll find out tomorrow how much I’ll regret turning on the turbo charger.
Chart (records are in pink)
| Date | Average Pace |
| September 13 | 4:37 (11K) |
| September 11 | 4:36 (11K) |
| September 9 | 4:35 (11K) |
| September 8 | 4:33 (5K) |
| September 5 | 4:40 (5K) |
| September 3 | 4:39 (11K) |
| September 1 | 4:43 (17K) |
