Against better judgement I headed out for a run today. My right Achilles tendon had improved over the last few days - thanks to lots of ice - and I was hoping for a miraculous recovery....
Alas, it wasn't meant to be. The Achilles tendon felt stiff right from the start and didn't limber up either.
Michelle, Pat and I had chosen to run the
Burnaby Mountain Run course, a new CFA event, slated for 1 April. We were not at all familiar with the course and were relying on the course descriptions from Peter, the Event Host. The course description turned out to be flawless, with the exception of the start. I guess during the actual event, that is not a worry, as Peter will point us in the right direction. For us however finding a trail head
proved impossible. Run west...yeah right, dang, I didn't bring my compass. Heading towards what we thought was due west, we crossed a big expanse of grassy parkland, but could not identify a visible trail. Via cell phone Ean pointed us in the right direction down along a fence high above Burrard Inlet.
The views of the mountains to the north and the city to the west were breathtaking. Must be stunning on a sparkly sunny day. The trail meandered downhill and via a few legs on the road eventually brought us down to the waterfront. We could see the look-out near the start way above us...Yep, somehow we have to get up there again. We followed parallel to the water and eventually turned uphill. And what an uphill it was. Peter made reference to an 8% grade and raising heartrates and stomach contents. Definitely a killer of a hill.
Running uphill proved difficult on the Achilles and we walked most of it. The last few km's the route flattened out again and rolling back into Burnaby Mountain Park we were even rewarded with a downhill stretch and more beautiful views of the North Shore Mountains.
Mark 1 April on you calendar for this challenging, but rewarding CFA run. You can do one loop of 11.2km or repeat the whole thing for a total of 22.4km. I will update the instructions so that anybody training on the course beforehand will be able to find the initial trail.
