Getting Better

That's what it feels like at least. That I'm running better and faster and smoother. It's spring and it's beautiful out, much too nice for indoor anything. Early Sunday mornings when it's sunny and clear are wonderful running times.

Except it wasn't all that clear. It was just slightly cool, bright and sunny. Still, it took me awhile to get moving. There was a slight breeze that had me thinking briefly of wearing the vest, but naah.

Foot traffic along the bluff was already busy, and the boot campers were tearing up and down The Stairs or running up The Path or laying on mats on the grass down below, crunching and planking and stuff. I ambled past all of that to the top of The Path and kept going down to the Centre Street bridge.

The Bow dominates the east end of downtown now, and it's only three quarters of the way up. There are no walls yet in the lower floors so you can see daylight through the glass. It's just massive.

At the bottome of the bridge, I took the pedestrian ramp down to the promenade and made off toward Eau Claire. Orange cones on the pavement again, so what could be happening today? I must have missed the start by a good twenty minutes or so. The first of a very few runners came toward me once I got past the Peace Bridge construction. And once past the Metawa Bridge there was the occasional kilometer marker.

At Crowchild I kept going toward the Lawrey Gardens. Quite busy down there, though not exactly a steady stream of people. I think people are glad to be able to walk that side of the river now, even if there is still a bit of an ice cap just past the avalanche warning signs.

The ice still covers the path for a good hundred metres or so. But there is a trail of sand making a path along the high side, and with the melting the old sand underneath is coming out so it's pretty easy to walk along. The gate at the far end is locked again, though I don't know why they would bother. It's probably been open for most of the winter. But I like that to get around it, I can dodge into the trees and take the short path that winds through there and around the gate.

Picnickers were setting up in Edworthy Park near where I approached the bridge. It was that kind of day. The parking lot on that side was looking to be filling up, and the north side was busy too. And just past Angel's Cafe, more orange cones and a few runners with racing bibs. I asked someone who said it was the Spring Trio run.

The public washroom is a welcome stop most times that I run this loop. It seems like once I stop there, I get a substantial second wind. As much as I describe the things I go by, I think I kind of zoned out for most of this run, just kind of set the autopilot and went inside of myself. From the washroom to well past the Louise bridge, I occasionally woke up to the fact that I was travelling.

I had a driven quick pace and I was stretching a little. When I came out of my reverie at times, I seemed to be flying. But I felt not there for some of it. Head gone off on some daydream or reverie.

By the time I got near the ramp up to the foot bridge at the curling club, I had to wake up. I was feeling the exertion by then. I consciously backed off a little. I got to The Stairs, didn't exactly bound up them, but I didn't slow too much.

On The Path, I knew I had had a good run because I pretty much had nothing left. Near the top I did push a little to finish it off, but I was breathing awfully heavy.

I ran through almost crowds of people along the top of the bluff, and it struck me again that I was still in the sunshine. At the beginning the western sky had been dark, and the middle part of the run it was mostly overcast. Now the sun was back, the west was clear. A beautiful finish, but I was definitely done.

Sunday's run:
Distance: 17.03 Time: 1:32:32
Average speed: 5:25 min/km. (11.04 kph)
Rest distance: .87 km. Rest time: 10:00.
Total distance: 17.91 km. Total time: 1:42:32.

Shoes: New Balance 769 (Blue).
Today's earworm: Yes Ma'am! I'm On It!
Weather: Partly cloudy, 11C at the start, 14C at the finish.