Some Sort-of-New Snow

There wasn't too much of it, but where it hadn't been brushed off the paths, it was like running on a layer of wet sand. An occasionally, where the path had been salted, a layer of wet sugar. Both kinds tended to stick to my shoes so I felt at times like I was running with lumps under my feet.

It felt a lot colder this morning, too, when I was first out. So I added a layer in getting ready to run. It was too extreme a case of over-dressing, but I was a little warm for most of the run.

It was still kinda cold, though. And yet there were a lot of people out. Lots of large groups and pairs. I like when there are lots out, because it gives the paths a good energy.

I had a slow start, with that weird wet-sugar snow on the Centre Street bridge. But even along the promenade, I wasn't setting records. I felt good, and my pace seemed right on, but the GPS said otherwise. Anyway, after thirty minutes I was doing much better.

The underpass under the Louise bridge near 10th Street is still clear. The ice was scraped out and piled up along the river bank. It feels like you're running in an ice trench. It looks very dramatic and is quite lovely.

Not much else was striking about the run. I knew I was a little slow as it wasn't too long before the one hour mark that I circled Angel's Cage. I usually get there about 53 or 54 minutes, but today it was more like 58 minutes. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's very noticeable.

On the homeward leg, I was a little faster to start, but slowed down a lot after 10th Street. The climb up The Path wasn't hard, but I was almost out of gas, and the run along the bluff was more of a shuffle.

Still, I finished, and as always, I'm glad I got out.

Sunday's run:
Distance: 16.34 Time: 1:39:34
Average speed: 6:05 min/km. (9.85 kph)
Rest distance: 1.11 km. Rest time: 11:00.
Total distance: 17.45 km. Total time: 1:50:34.

Shoes: New Balance 769 (blue).
Today's earworm: fun L n K.

Still Still Here

Despite the best of intentions, I am again late in writing up my run. I was out Sunday morning, and endured a cold start as I recall. No cramping like a couple of weeks ago, just a little bit of an ache which disappeared after thirty minutes or so.

Even though it was cold, there were a lot of people out running, and even quite a few walking too. Of course I was running against the usual west wind, and about half way through, I thought about my cold tummy from a couple of weeks before. But this time all was staying warm.

I think that whatever was slowing me down in December is completely past. This run felt so typical, with a slow warm up, and middling speed in the second quarter, to fast in the third quarter, to spent and all done in the last quarter.

I was tempted to follow the previous two long runs, in cutting through Sunnyside and taking the easier slopes of the groomed paths that were slashed across the face of the bluff last year. But I went back to the usual course, and stayed on the berm along Memorial, to The Stairs and The Path Under.

The top of the bluff by then was a little slippery, but I stayed on the path as usual, and had a slippery finish along unshovelled sidewalks.

Sunday's run:
Distance: 16.69 Time: 1:36:15
Average speed: 5:46 min/km. (10.40 kph)
Rest distance: 0.92 km. Rest time: 10:00.
Total distance: 17.60 km. Total time: 1:46:15.

Shoes: New Balance 769 (blue).
Today's earworm: endless L n K.

A Short One

I did run a few days ago. This was not much of a run. I was a little short on time, but wanted to get something in. My mid week runs have been hard to get in lately.

I started out as usual, heading down to the river and running along Memorial, but I cut it short at the C-Train bridge.

It was a long enough run to get warmed up though, and it was enough to burn off some of those holiday calories that seem to have settled right around my belt line.

Tuesday's run:
Distance: 5.76 Time: 34:14
Average speed: 5:56 min/km. (10.10 kph)

Shoes: New Balance 769 (Blue).
Today's earworm: Wistful L n K.

Becoming the Occasional Runner

That seems to be what I'm doing. I do want to get back into a routine of getting out at least three times a week, but it seems lately that my motivation has flown the coop. And I have excuses: too cold, too late, too early, too tired, blah, blah.

I got out this morning, a little later than usual. The streets now have that brown mush that has the consistency of wet sugar, and it's hard to run on. Meanwhile the sidewalks are either packed snow, which is not bad to run on, or wet ice, which is treacherous as heck. But the paths are really pretty good.

I trekked down Nony's Awful Little Hill to the Centre Street bridge, and across it. The first interval was pretty slow, but that's because the hill had some icy spots to pick my way through.

Along the promenade, it was clear. The Sunday morning running groups were just finishing up by the big brass propeller. Farther along, it was a little quieter. At the Louise Bridge, the ice jam was still huge, and the path underpasses were still under tons of ice. I stayed topside and jay-walked across 9th Street.

The path was clear all the way after that. Lots of runners out along that stretch of the river. In fact, for the entire run there were lots of people out running and a few walking.

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. At the C-Train bridge on the return leg, I took the pedestrian overpass across Memorial and ran down that side to 7th Street, where I cut northward and ran through Sunnyside to the path that follows along the bottom of the bluff.

I took one of the new trails that they slashed across the bluff face last year. This one lead up to where 4th Street met Crescent Road, and from there I headed home.

It was a pretty good run. I still felt a little slow, but I wasn't too far off where I was a couple of months ago, performance wise, and I didn't get any of the leg cramps. It was better than last week's run, for which I'll include the stats here too.

Last week's run:
Distance: 16.10 Time: 1:35:56
Average speed: 5:57 min/km. (10.07 kph)
Rest distance: 0..96 km. Rest time: 10:00.
Total distance: 17.06 km. Total time: 1:45:56.

Today's run:
Distance: 15.98 Time: 1:32:48
Average speed: 5:48 min/km. (10.33 kph)
Rest distance: 0.92 km. Rest time: 10:00.
Total distance: 16.90 km. Total time: 1:42:52.

Shoes: New Balance 769 (blue).
Today's earworm: all L n K.

Weather: Partly cloudy and 6C.