Checking Out New Running Routes

Today I went on a longish run to discover new trails in the ravines that are seemingly all over the place in Toronto, but remain largely hidden to much of the population. I was a bit apprehensive when heading out because yesterday my left shoulder started hurting like nothing else. It feels the same as a separated shoulder that I suffered a number of years ago when I was checked into a wall while playing ball hockey. Only this time nobody checked me into anything.

I had a bad night of sleep, and by that I mean that I barely slept at all. The shoulder pain is constant and I cannot lift my arm sideways at all. It throbs non stop and I am really puzzled by this turn of events.

Anyway, I did not want to miss my run on account of an upper body injury so I set of at a gingerly pace. The humidity of the past few weeks had broken overnight and it was +20C with a nice cool breeze. After so much muggy weather this felt like a real blessing and made the running seem really easy.

I ran up to Taylor Creek Park via Coxwell Avenue and then headed further north along trails that I'd never run on prior to this morning. The first section is called Serena Gundy Park, which leads to a big park where I used to play lots of Ultimate Frisbee called Sunnybrook Park, and then I veered off of the road onto another undiscovered trail called Willet Creek Park. This lead to Edward Gardens, which a really nice botanical gardens up near the swanky part of the city called the Bridlepath where celebrities like Prince live(d) and where the disgraced Conrad Black still has a heavily mortgaged estate. This was my turnaround point as I realized that I was already going to run farther than the intended fifteen kilometres.

In the end I ran 18km and it was great. The arm hurt the entire way, but as long as I kept my elbow near my body and didn't swing too much it was bearable. I hope it improves as quickly as it came on because I can't do any weights of any sort until this clears up (other than perhaps some leg weights and core strength stuff I suppose).