Fourth run in a row up Maple Leaf, ending the series with whimper, not a bang. Short version: laces too tight, foot and calf cramps, had to walk bits. The irony: running up hill was more pain-free than running down. That horror: ran the whole thing shirtless.
Started off in the evening, around 8:30 PM, and walked to 5th avenue and 130th street. Used two crosswalks, and then started, south on 5th. The way my bluetooth headphones and hat sat on ym head my my sunglasses bounced funny, so I took them off. Didn’t need em. A left on 127th, a right on 8th, in anticipation of returning on a loop- for some reason, I eschew running any street twice in one run, if I can avoid it.
8th avenue is a nice, gentle drop, and I took it easy, mile one right before Northgate at a 9:16 pace. My feet were already starting to hurt. A little more descent after that, and then the lowest point, crossing 105th street, next to a bog called the Beaver Pond Natural Area.
And then, up. Of all the ways up Maple Leaf from the North, 8th avenue has the steepest portions. My speed dropped to 11:30 or so for a few blocks, but came back up to 10:00 or so. Having running up hills for the last three runs was paying off: steep as it was, it was very doable.
Mile two right at the left turn onto 92nd Street, 9:46, are you kidding me. A little more climbing to Roosevelt, crossed that, and then descending to 15th Avenue and the left turn.
And now the big descent, and the return of that bad foot cramping. Low point at 105th street again, and I told myself I would try to walk it off at mile 3– glanced at my watch, and I was right at mile 3. 9:04. I started walking.
Walked for about a 3rd of a mile, then picked it up again. Then a pause crossing Northgate, and I managed to keep going, climbing, albeit gently, all the way to 125th. Mile 4 right at the left turn, 10:21, not bad considering a third of that was walking.,
125th drops down and the goes up as it curves right to turn into 130th street, and I had another much appreciated pause waiting for the light at 5th avenue. And then, to stretch the run to 5 miles, I continued past 3rd Avenue to 1st Avenue, the right turn, and finished the run in the dark by turning right on 133rd, stopping when the watch said 5 miles on the nose. 9:34.
Final moving average was 9:36, and that’s okay by me considering the hill, the pain, the lateness of the day. Got a PR for a segment, that part from the lowest point at 15th Avenue and 105th street up to 117th street, .6 miles, 150 feet up, a 6% grade. Strava tells me I’ve run this once before, back in May. This time I did it in 6:27, nine seconds faster.
So that’s that. Lesson learned: looser laces.