Spring?

The weather gods are toying with us again, I think. It is a beautiful day, sunny and very warm. And a lot of runners were out this morning, taking it in.

My start was slow. I slogged through snow churned up by traffic and well mixed with whatever it is they spread on the streets. At just below zero, the stuff is like dry sand, and it's almost impossible to run in. Even sidewalks this side of the bluff were a little bit like that.

Once across the street and actually on the hard packed snow on the edge of the bluff it was much better. For fun I went toward Centre Street again, and took the bridge across. I'd deliberately under-dressed for what I thought I should be wearing, so the first fifteen minutes were a little cold.

I took the promenade past Eau Claire and followed it to the C-Train bridge where I crossed to the north side of the river. And right in front of me was Peter Mark. From 10th Street, we chugged along yakking about stuff and generally catching up. But after thirty minutes, he waved me on. His pace was a little slower than my usual, and I had energy to burn this morning.

So near the Extreme Bean I went back to my usual pace, and left him to his. The paths were wonderfully clear, and there is even bit of hard packed snow on the sides, over the grass. I used that a lot as a break from the frozen pavement, though in places it was a little like the sand again.

I rounded Angel's Cafe and started back downtown, meeting Peter Mark again a hundred or so metres back. After that, it seemed my pace was quite fast. The couple of times I checked, it was under 5:10 min/km, a pace I'm usually not able to sustain.

At Crowchild, I crossed to the south side of the river. The breeze was even up enough to get some tunes out of those home made wind chimes that have beeen in the trees by The Pumphouse for the past few years.

After that, hard running all the way to Jaipur bridge, across Prince's Island and to The Stairs. I tackled them with some energy, but half way up, I was done. I managed to finish the climb, but without the bounce that I had at the bottom. I managed to go right back to running at the top, but very very slow.

After that, a short trip up 4th and I was done.


Distance: 16.39 Time: 1:31:31
Average speed: 5:34 min/km. (10.75 kph)
Rest distance: 1.03 km. Rest time: 10:00.
Total distance: 17.42 km. Total time: 1:41:31.

Shoes: Asics GT-2130.
Today's earworm: I'll See You In My Dreams,; Chet Atkins and Merle Travis.

Weather: Sunny and 2C, climbing to 5C.