Run 1,068: The smoky tang of autumn

Brunette River, pre-run: Signs of fall. The first run of fall was stinky. I don’t mean performance-wise, because even though I felt lethargic starting out, I finished with a respectable pace of 5:57/km and an excellent BPM of 143. No, it’s because the air had a distinct smell of smoke from…somewhere. Combine that with the usual equally distinct sewer odour near the start of the river trail and it was an olfactory assault right from the start. I’m not sure if this affected my performance (the weather app on my phone said conditions for running were “fair” and air quality was listed in yellow as “moderate”) but it certainly didn’t help, nor did it give me exciting mutant abilities, either. I wore my Echo hoodie for the run, mostly in case of showers, but apart from a few random drops, it did not rain. It stayed cloudy and 14°C through the run, though, which was quite pleasant. I did not encounter many people and the run was pretty uneventful. I picked up the pace in the last few km and…