Average pace: 4:37/km <– personal record
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW), Brunette River trail and Lower Hume Park
Distance: 8.03 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 21-18ºC
Wind: light to moderate
Calories burned: 545
Total distance to date: 1741 km
Ran Piper Mill Trail, Conifer and Spruce Loops.
Usually my runs are the time when I let all the other distractions fall away and my mind focuses on either the run or just drifts through various random thoughts, kind of like how you start on a Wikipedia page about barn owls and end up on one for moon landings. But tonight the distractions wouldn’t go away and I didn’t feel like committing to a full run. Instead I headed to Burnaby Lake, ran all three optional loops and when I came out from Piper Mill trail to the main trail I turned back. Shortly after passing the Cariboo dam starting point I hit 5K — not bad, but not enough. I decided to save time on the trip home by running much of the way back. After a brief pause to cross traffic-laden Cariboo Road I continued down the road to the RV park and then onto the 2 km-long Brunette River trail. I hit 7K there but kept running, across East Columbia and into Lower Hume Park. My destinations was two fold: the water fountain at the covered picnic area at the far end of the park and the 8K mark. I finished at 8.03 km and had a nice drink at the fountain.
It was strange to finish a run in only 37 minutes. It was also strange to have the temperature be lower at the end of the right instead of higher. I think the dog days of summer may be behind us now. The early evening is much nicer for running and that’s boosted my energy levels. Strangest of all was my average pace — a zippy 4:37/km, eight seconds better than my previous best. Granted that was with a shorter run but still, the change of route would seem to have had quite the positive effect on my speed.
This was further corroborated by two new records for fastest 5K and fastest mile. I missed fastest 1K by two seconds:
5K: 22:58 (finally breaking the 24 minute mark)
1 mile: 7:18
All told, an unexpected and unexpectedly good run.
Chart
| Date | Average Pace |
| August 22 | 4:37 |
| August 20 | 4:47 |
| August 18 | 4:51 |
| August 15 | 4:46 |
| August 13 | 4:55 |
| August 10 | 4:48 |
| August 8 | 4:45 |
| August 6 | 4:58 |
| August 3 | 4:56 |
| August 1 | 4:50 |
| July 30 | 4:57 |
