running

Random Run: David Balfour Park to Mt. Pleasant Cemetery

I had wanted to resume my habit of strolling around Toronto on a Sunday morning. Then I recalled that I hadn't gone for a run in a few days, and decided to go for a jog instead. After two years of living here, this city is still new to me, so I took the opportunity to pick a random point and make a randomly generated route that I could run. Vancouver-based app RunGo would provide the turn-by-turn direction this time, as the app I previously relied on seems to be defunct.

This run would take me from Davisville Station, south on Yonge, and then east on St. Clair, where I would veer into David Balfour Park. (I would later learn, through the Yelp review, that the park is popular for cruising.) A rivine bisects the park, so the hills are long and sometimes muddy, and going up the stairs made it impractical to cross railroad tracks. (I had to go under it, not over it in this case.) That took me to Mt. Pleasant Rd., which is not pleasant at all. The entrance to the park is car-friendly, not person-friendly, so I had to dash across an uncontrolled intersection with no crosswalk. I failed to heed my own instructions, that is, to take a look at the route in Google Street View before setting out. The rest of the run, which I mostly walked, took me through TK and over the railway I couldn't cross earlier, using the Summerhill railway Footbridge. I saw a half dozen giant inflatable Santas, and at the end, I walked through the humongous Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. I reflected on how both Vancouver and Toronto have cemeteries in a place called Mt. Pleasant, and both are named Mt. Pleasant Cemetary, and both have wide streets running through them.

The “run” took me an hour and a half, though it was still a great way to see a strange city. You can see the route I created (imported to RunGo) vs. the actual route I took. I played the usual place-based games (Foursquare's Swarm, Fog of World, and even fired up Ingress to see what I should be looking at). Strava crashed a number of times, though I used the GPX from RunGo to upload my activity. It was smart to bring my battery pack, as the number of location apps running in the background took my level down to 16 percent.

A Year of Races

The Couch-to-5k program got me started running, which carved out time to listen to podcasts, and inspired by the runners in my Twitter timeline I ran my first 5k race, the 2014 Scotiabank a year ago this weekend. For the 2015 event, I set two goals for the same race: run a personal best 1 kilometre over the course of the race, and run a best overall for a 5k. I achieved both, and would have done even better if it weren't for a heatwave. (The last kilometre would have been my fastest, though at the last second I decided to go the same speed as the rest of the race, already overheating.) Races are fun because there are hundreds of other people doing it, so there's a lot more watching out for everybody and a lot less paying attention to what's coming through my earphones.

This year I've run 4 races, with possibly another one in the fall to go. The BMO Marathon has added a 5k race for next year, ending where the marathoners end. That should be exhilarating! The Fall Classic added a 5k to their list of races, and it wore me out), so that race became interesting again. I enjoyed the 8k distance the most, having energy leftover after 5k and being worn out by 10k.

I track my races using Strava, which tells me segment times and compares my previous runs. I try to give 'kudos' to everybody who ran the same race. Who doesn't love getting kudos?

Some challenges remain, like getting the motivation to run 3 times a week rather than the 2 times it ended up being. I do hope to run in a half-marathon, but not for at least a year while I still get the hang on running in general and races in particular. There are no plans yet to travel to run, with the possible exception of Vancouver Island, where family could let me stay over. Starting small has worked out really well, and small increases in challenges has kept me engaged in the activity without burning out.

Two Random Running Routes: Kensington-Cedar Cottage and Kerrisdale

The first try was an unmitigated disaster.

I plotted a running route in Vancouver's Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood using an online tool. I accounted for the part of the route that crosses a busy street at an uncontrolled intersection and instead had it take the crosswalk near King Ed. A test run, which is to say, a test walk with the Co-Rider app to make sure turn-by-turn directions with a previously-defined route was successful. I made the mistake of updating the app the night before. And it started to snow just as I started my run.

Arriving at my hand-picked start and end point on February 22nd in the alleyway at E. 28th and Ross and Fraser area, I encountered a critical bug introduced into the version I updated to the previous night. The app itself would start but I could not press "play" for the turn-by-turn directions. I followed the route by looking down at my phone at every turn to see where I'd go next.

Apple recommends that one operate an iPhone 5 in between the temperatures of -20º and 45º Celcius. At the end of the run, with about 20% battery left, at an outside temperature below or just at freezing, the phone turned off on its own accord. Miraculously, the Couch-to-5k app had already logged it (twice, somehow), so I can count Feburary 22nd, 2014, against Week 7 Day 2 of the program.

This was the first run where I let a website randomly generate a running route which started and ended at the same point. As a way of seeing as much of Vancouver as possible, I didn't want to decide what direction to go it to see it. RouteLoops can randomly generate a map suitable for different modes (walking, running, cycling). You set the distance and it calculates the route, ending you where you started.

Things were decidedly different for my run in Kerrisdale. A week after my first run, on March 1st, instead of hand-picking a starting point, I used the Random Point Generator. It chose a spot on W. 47th Ave. between Yew St. and West Boulevard. The route, randomly generated by RouteLoops, had me turn right on West Boulevard, skip over to the parallel East Boulevard using 49th Ave and then run down East Boulevard to 50th Ave. With its lack of sidewalks, I had to run on the street. Turning right on Angus Dr., I found these pleasant little stop signs.

The second-longest leg of the run, Angus Dr. took me to W. 57th for a block, then turning left back on to West Boulevard where I saw a trolley pass by.

Hanging a right on W. 60th took me past Dr. R.E. McKechnie Elementary School, around Arbutus Park (by taking Arbutus St. and 59th Ave.) to SW Marine Drive.

Suspecting that SW Marine Drive lacked sidewalks, before the run, I looked it up on Google Street View. Arriving at the scene I got my final confirmation:

I ran against traffic, which was a little harrowing. At least one car cut the white line separating traffic from the shoulder, right in front of me no less. I know better than to run on any street like that again.

My 5K program for the "week" ended about 2/3 on SW Marine Drive. I was determined to finish the rest of the route and saw some construction on the 45th Ave. bike route.

  • construction on the bike path
  • Ryerson church.

All the while I had the Fog of World app track my movements. How do I describe Fog of World? I remember playing Warcraft II, and any movements into unkwown territory would reveal the map. As you left, the map would stay but you couldn't see any of the activity there. Fog of World operates in the same way: you visit a place you've never been to, and it "unlocks" that area.

The app runs in the background and when tracking is turned on, shows you the places you haven't been to yet. (It's possible you've been to that place before, just not with Fog of World turned on.) My FoW data suggested that I had already been on a portion of 45th, and it wasn't until I came upon the Ryerson United Church that I remembered how that was possible: at some point a few years ago, it seems I had been going in the wrong direction biking from Kerrisdale and must have turned around. (This was captured by RunKeeper, the data of which I imported into Fog of World.) I took a quick photo of the church and I was back to finishing my randomly generated route.

Kerrisdale doesn't loom large in my image of Vancouver, so I'm grateful that a computer chose for me to go there. Without randomly selecting a starting point and randomly generating a route, I'd have to rely on the invitation of others or know about its significance. This way of exploring a city leads to little surprises, like the mansion surrounded by trees, (barely) seeing unusual architecture, and a little exercise along the way.

Running

The receipt says I bought the app on or about November 20th, 2012. That means it has been a little over a year since I started running. There's a gap in the summer months of this year, even though it doesn't really get very hot in Vancouver (maybe for 2 weeks). Maybe it's my Icelandic blood, but I prefer to run in the cold.

The reason I avoided running for so long, all through college and after, even on the treadmill, was that it was so high-impact. I'd always done the stationary bike for cardio, and now regular cycling in the not-freezing months. When running, I do notice strain on my calves and shins sometimes, but rest, yoga and stretching helps with that.

Running in the morning is a struggle, but then, so is everything, being a not-morning person. I mostly run during evenings on weekdays and afternoons on weekends. On some mornings I'm able to sit down and will myself to run. It's mostly just a matter of finding pre-existing will from the previous night, after setting out running clothes and making sure there is something small to eat. I finally bought a pair of dedicated running shoes after a year with my basketball shoes (since washed so I can use them indoors).

Which app do I use? More like which apps, plural, do I use? I stopped using the Couch-to-5K app pending a support request. The app doesn't add up the total time right (right now the number is negative) and while all my runs are logged, the dates are missing from some of them. I've started the training program over again, and with a different C25K app.

I listen to podcasts while running. The Welcome to Night Vale podcast and Joseph Planta's interview podcast are my favourites.

The Moves app runs constantly in the background, and using Moves Export, if the running stretches are long enough, it will post to RunKeeper. (I used to have RunKeeper for the runs, but no longer.)

I wouldn't have started running without using an app to track it. Running seemed daunting until having a program, and even though the programs were available for quite some time (like those training programs marathon have always put out beforehand), having a handheld computer tell me when to start and stop is better than having to track it myself. It's also fun to relive it through the map right after the run and the stats, and having Fog of World tell me where I haven't been shows me alleyways and streets and neighbourhoods I'd never consider otherwise and gets me running farther and father away from home.