Had my pre long run breakfast of coffee and a thin bagel, packed up all my stuff (shot bloks and lots of water) and hit the road. Again it was warmer than I'd expected but there was some good cloud cover before I left so I was hoping it would hold.
This would be my first time running down Thornton Ave so I wasn't sure what to expect. I have mixed feelings about trying new routes because a) it's exciting - everything's new, despite how many times you may have actually driven down the road before and b) it's scary, 'cause you don't remember the weird hills that pop out of nowhere, despite having driven down the road many times before.
As I ended my time on Taunton - the long eastern run - I turned on to Thornton to head south and made my way to the east side of the street. By now the sun had come out and was much stronger than I'd expected so I was all about running on the shadier side of the street.
Problem.
There IS no sidewalk on the east side of Thornton. Allllll the way down to Rossland. Sigh. So I ran in the blazing sun.
When the sidewalk finally revealed itself to me in all its shady glory I couldn't have been happier. I didn't even wait for a stoplight - I ran right across the middle of the road and was rewarded with a much cooler environment. Even better? Shortly thereafter I came upon a massive downhill that seemed to go on forever. Bliiiissssss. Pure bliss.
I enjoyed the hell out of that downhill then paid for it with a massive climb on Rossland back up to Garden. But I walked as much as I needed to then took a quick pee/water break at Tim Horton's and carried on.
The rest of the run was slow but steady. Tried to stay out of the sun where possible but yeah. Some things you just can't dodge.
Felt great hitting yet another milestone. Wasn't too happy with my pace but really, at this point it's all about getting the distance in and less about speed for me. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.
20k next week - eeps!!
