Run 1,050: Yellow Warning

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Haze in the distance.

Canada has a colour-coded weather alert system and when weather is fine, it is colour-free. When it is bad, it can be Yellow, Orange, or Red. Today it is Yellow.

Environment Canada described today’s alert thus:

Issued By

Meteorological Service of Canada, CA, Environment and Climate Change Canada

Affected Area

Metro Vancouver - central including the City of Vancouver Burnaby and New Westminster

Description

Smoke is causing or expected to cause poor air quality and reduced visibility.

Yellow Air Quality Warning in Effect (High Health Risk)

Limit outdoor activity. Reduce activity duration and intensity.

The weather app on my phone described the air quality as “unhealthy”:

I ran anyway.

Did I regret it? Not exactly, but I can also say the run did not make my socks roll up and down in excitement, either.

It was not as hot as Friday, but humidity was significantly higher and I sweated like crazy. The first few km were fine, but the heat/humidity/haze triple combo began wearing me down just past the midway point. I kept going because to the west the sky looked more blue than yellow, and I was running toward the west.

Along the way, I noted precious few other people out jogging, so most were smarter than me. I didn’t experience any specific issues while running–no cramps, creakiness, or whatnot, the whole thing just started feeling like a long, sweaty slog.

Which it was.

In the final km, I reached the rowing pavilion parking lot, crossed over and was greeted by a Trail Closed sign. The last time on this stretch there was only a Trail Closed sign on one end and no sign (ho ho) of any work activity. I paused to contemplate whether to turn back, ignore the sign and assume no work was actually being done (which was the case last time), or go up Roberts Road and reconnect with the trail somewhere over yonder. I couldn’t recall where Roberts Road came out in relation to the trail, so decided against that and could not hear any activity, so I decided to continue running past the Trail Closed sign, telling myself I’d turn around if I saw any people and equipment.

I saw people and equipment right at the very end. Whoops. I felt bad, but at least they were working on the little spur of the official Burnaby Lake Loop and not the part of the trail I was defying the sign on. Ironically, my run ended about 20 seconds later, anyway.

Despite the conditions, I ended up being only four seconds slower than Friday, which surprised me. I guess that’s good. And the watch, which does not know anything about air quality, declared the run productive, so also good.

Now I am off to drink three kegs of water.

Still Creek, post-run, with bonus geese and a not very blue sky.

Stats:

Run 1,050
Average pace: 6:24/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: 0
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:40 a.m.
Distance: 5.01 km
Time: 32:11
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 22–24°C
Humidity: 62–57%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 170.0 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,055 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (35/84/119)

Music: Accelerate, R.E.M.

A thing that shouldn’t annoy me, but does (pods)

Lately I’ve noticed people shortening the word podcast to just pod. I understand the reasoning–a podcast originally referred to an audio program meant to be played on an iPod (kids, ask your parents) but with the iPod dead and buried, if not forgotten (I still have two) I can see why people might want to use a different term now. And this is before you get into what even counts as a podcast now, since a lot of them are now also on platforms like YouTube, where they are…videos.

Still, “pod” bugs me because it still retains the “pod” part of “iPod”, which seems to me to be the part you’d want to replace. But mainly it just sounds just too twee (yes, I have a kind of twee meter in my head that tells me when something crosses the “too twee” line) and doesn’t really make sense because peas are in pods, not people talking to each other. Also:

Podcast > Pod

Broadcast > Broad

If the latter becomes accepted usage, I will embrace pod.

Birding, August 3, 2026: Hawks on the ground, eagles in the sky

Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Boundary Bay (Delta)
Weather: Sunny, 18–23°C

The first birding of August, just before the fall fliers1bird and consumer joke rolled into one start arriving.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Marshland and distant mountains at Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

We started at Reifel, which was packed in the morning with both hardcore birders and their Very Big lenses, and assorted families and holiday goers (today is BC Day here in, well, BC).

We did a reverse of our usual route, which isn’t especially radical, but does give a slightly different view on things.

As expected, no fall arrivals have shown up early, but the barn swallows are still hanging around. In fact, we saw one actively maintaining a nest, so at least one more batch of babies is on the way.

Nic shot a billion swallows in flight. I shot a few and the results were not horrible, nor good, but somewhere in the middle. Horrigood.

Most of the ponds were devoid of any waterfowl, but we did see some:

  • A pair of Spotted Sandpipers in the pond by the viewing platform
  • A pair of Greater Yellowlegs in one of the small ponds east of the viewing platform
  • A large group of Long-billed Dowitchers in one of the large main ponds

The dowitchers and sandpipers were not very close, alas, but the yellowlegs compensated.

Sparrows seemed to be mostly hiding from the sun, but some chickadees and House Sparrows were out. And we saw a scruffy young Yellow-rumped Warbler, who was just starting to show some of its yellow.

The geese had filthy mouths and fluff beards, but were well-behaved. A large gaggle on the shore past the marshland may have been migrating.

The oddest moment came when a bird of some sort flew directly over us on the outer dyke and landed on the trail ahead. The profile seemed to be a hawk of some sort, but having one land on the trail is very weird. It flew a bit into a shadier spot, and we got some photos before it…walked into the grass, then popped out and finally flew off. I correctly ID’d it as a Cooper’s Hawk because it’s one of the few I know are local.

And near the end we saw the Sandhill Crane family, so in all, a fine outing, even if many of the ponds are a little too green.

Boundary Bay

Boundary Bay minus the bay, due to low tide.

We originally went to Centennial Beach, but for some reason it was so busy the parking lot was full and backed up. Nice weather + holiday = overcrowded? Whatever it was, I finally relented and agreed to go to Boundary Bay. As always, the scenery was nice, but the tide was extremely low, so seeing shorebirds meant walking about a km across the mudflats to find some water and hoping for the best. We did not do this.

Instead, we walked a few km along the trail mostly populated by cyclists and a few people on horseback, and shot a lot of grasshoppers. We did see a few errant birds, such as some Cedar Waxwings, but that was it.

I am sated on this stretch of Boundary Bay for, let’s say, the next year. Or more. 😛

But overall, the weather was lovely (not too hot) and we saw some birds we don’t see often, so a good time was had.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted. Coming soon.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn swallow
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Cedar Waxwing
  • Collared Dove
  • House Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Greater Yellowlegs
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Mallard
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Spotted Sandpiper

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle
  • Cooper’s Hawk
  • Northern Harrier

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • A red-eared slider (turtle)
  • Woodland Skipper (approx. one million)

Some trees and a thought (not about trees)

First, this photo I took midway down the path to Lower Hume Park, showing trees and the park further below beyond them. I like the spot of sun on the centre tree.

My camera is a Samsung Galaxy S26, which I keep meaning to write a mini-review on.

And looking at the photo, which nicely obscures that it was taken in the middle of an urban sprawl…

The green to the left is Burnaby Lake Regional Park, where I jog. On the trails, not in the lake.

…I was reminded of an infection I got back in 2018. That might seem odd, and it is. Let me explain (or read this post, because I tend to chronicle all of my health issues and injuries for some reason). It was a kidney infection, which turned out to be a much gentler version of another I would develop six years later. This first one still resulted in me not being able to walk very fast as without a lot of discomfort while I recovered. Being forced to slow down made me pay more attention to my surroundings and I started snapping photos of local scenery and especially flowers. I dubbed this “flower therapy” because I found it very soothing to find some flowers, frame them, then snap a few shots.

And I still find it soothing. Lining up the shot of the trees above put me in an almost meditative mood. I’m sure there’s some science about chemicals being released into my brain. Maybe just plain old dopamine. Whatever it is, I like it, and it’s a simple pleasure I still indulge in eight years later, even without any infections (that I know of).

My first Blaugust 2026 post

My first official™ post for Blaugust 2026 comes with me at a crossroads when it comes to blogging.

A few years back I began exploring options to move away from WordPress, which started as a blogging platform but has evolved into something that does way more than what is needed for a simple blog with words and images.

Also, the head of WP started making…interesting public statements and committing actions that left me uncertain about the platform’s future.

I explored many different sites and platforms, and several came close, but always lacked something. I admit I am a fussy person, and it may be impossible to fully satisfy me. WordPress works, not because it’s exactly what I want, but it gives me flexibility to bend it to my vision, such as it is.

But it’s also complicated, and much of its UI and way of accomplishing tasks are things I’ve simply grown used to and tolerated, never enjoyed.

And now, with seemingly everything tech-related going up in my price, my Dreamhost unlimited plan is seeing a significant price increase, no doubt to move me over to one of the limited plans (the unlimited plan is already no longer an option for new customers). This huge price increase has rekindled my interest in thinking how and where I blog.

More thoughts on this soon–my billing renews on August 15th, so I’ll have to commit to some course of action by then, even if it’s just paying the increased cost of sticking with the Dreamhost unlimited plan.

(I will quickly add that I very recently saw a reference to Pure Blog on Mastodon [somewhat hilariously, I initially misread it as Purple Blog and was a bit disappointed that’s not the actual name] and it’s intrigued me. It looks like it’s Static Site Generator software, but tailored more specifically for blogging. I also feel like I’m more willing to get “to the metal” again with CSS and the like now than I was in the past. Anyway, what I’m saying is I’m actively looking for new options and this is one of them!)

Meanwhile, I remain as cool and collected as typing cat.

#blaugust

Run 1,049: Consistency and fewer dogs, people, and geese

View from Cariboo Dam: Sunny and warm.

I wasn’t sure what to expect heading out later than usual today, except that it would be hotter and probably more challenging as a result.

I was half right, because it was indeed a full six degrees warmer, with humidity also way down, though curiously it still felt humid, so a dry mouth was not a problem.

But I was wrong about it being more challenging, because I posted an overall pace two seconds faster than Wednesday at 6:20/km and my BPM dropped from 149 to 147. Nice. The BPM likely benefitted from a brief pit stop at the Nature House to hydrate at the water fountain there, just past the 2K mark, but not too much, as I really did just sip and run.

I did begin to feel the heat, as they say, later in the run, but managed to keep a consistent pace from beginning to end, with a variance of only five seconds from slowest to fastest km. I think this worked to my benefit.

And despite the sunny conditions, there weren’t as many people, dogs, or geese around as on Wednesday. I have no explanation for this.

The Pavilion Trail has been resurfaced, and the water is being held at bay for now. Parts of the trail seem a bit unfinished, making me feel there is more work to do. When I got to the end, where it reaches the rowing pavilion parking lot, there was a Trail Closed sign. But there wasn’t one at the other end, so it is existing in both a closed and open state at once, a paradox unto itself. Or someone nicked the other sign.

Keeping above the water, but only just.

In all, this was a nice way to end the week, doing back to back 5Ks, seeing improvement and having no issues.

View from the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, post-run. There is an actual lake here.

Stats:

Run 1,049
Average pace: 6:20/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: 0
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:35 a.m.
Distance: 5.01 km
Time: 31:48
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 25–26°C
Humidity: 38–37%
Wind: light
BPM: 147
Weight: 169.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,050 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (30/76/106)

Music: Glass Houses, Billy Joel

July 2026 weight loss report: Up 0.9 pounds

The weird part is I actually ended the month at the same weight as last month and the same weight as January 1, so in seven months I have achieved no weight loss (or gain) at all, which is impressive in its own way.

And that weight is 169.4 pounds.

Stats really didn’t shift too much. Body fat % is up a little, everything else is flat. I was bad when it came to snacking multiple times throughout the month. I had Pop-Tarts. I sought solace in food.

I again vow to do better. It could happen! I don’t have any handy snacks as we head into August, so that’s a plus.

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 169.4 pounds
Year to date: Unchanged

July 1: 168.5 pounds
July 31: 169.4 pounds (up 0.9 pounds)

Body fat: 
July 1: 26.0%
July 31: 26.4% (up 0.4%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
July 1: 29.8 kg
July 31: 29.9 kg (up 0.1 kg)

BMI:
July 1: 24.1
July 31: 24.2 (up 0.1)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Run 1,048: Smell the run(ner)

View from the Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Sort of cloudy, but calm.

I figured I was ready for another 5K, so I attempted one today and succeeded, woo. Also good: my training status is productive, which pleasantly surprised me, and my BPM was a nice 149.

I was slower, but deliberately so. The first two km especially were done at a very measured pace, coming in at 6:30/6:29/km. I did get faster each km and by the fifth I’d improved to 6:12, basically matching the pace of my previous shorter run.

The weather was fine. I got lucky in that there was just enough high cloud to blot out the sun for pretty much the entire run. Much of it burned off shortly after, so the walk back was under sunny conditions. It was 19-20°C and humidity was in the mid-60s, which helped prevent any dry mouth.

There was a fair number of people on the trail, but it’s midsummer and the weather is nice, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Everyone was friendly and courteous. I even saw the spitfire, but for a change she was walking and I was running. It felt weird.

The trail was in decent shape after Sunday’s day-long showers, but I had to double back on my walk out because apparently they are finally addressing the floody parts of the trail to the north of the rowing club:

You shall not pass.

I started to get a bit tired the last few km walking back home and may regret it tomorrow, but I’m pleased at how today’s run went. Yes, my pace of 6:22/km was slower, but it was planned and all other signs are good.

Oh, and the title of the post? When I was walking the river trail to the lake, a guy jogged past me. Pretty nondescript–dressed in a dark t-shirt, black shorts, black running shoes, no cap. A few moments after he passed, I caught the distinct and piquant body odour emanating from him. I think the light breeze managed to waft it perfectly to my nose, as I can’t remember the last time I could smell a runner. But I did today.

Still Creek, post-run: Return of the sun.

Stats:

Run 1,048
Average pace: 6:22/km
Training status: Productive
Performance Condition: +1
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:01 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 32:02
Weather: High cloud, some sun
Temp: 19–20°C
Humidity: 67–63%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 169.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,045 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (25/68/93)

Music: Shuffle play

Birding, July 25, 2026: Briny beaches and between bridges

Where: Maplewood Flats (North Vancouver), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Mostly cloudy, some drizzle, 20°C

The alliteration will stop when it gets too terrible even for me.

Maplewood Flats

Low tide at Maplewood Flats.

The weather was looking iffy, but we braved not the weather, but traffic, to get to Maplewood Flats (which actually has a big ol’ hill in the middle of it). It was cloudy, but otherwise fine. We saw some bushtits and they were fantastically difficult to capture, as always, along with some mallards, one brooding heron, some gulls and not much else. The scenery was nice and the inlet smelled especially briny, perfect for people who want to “touch ocean.”

Burnaby Lake

Still Creek doing its thing.

We opted to skip Piper Spit, where no doubt people were hauling giant bags of seed to the pier and shovelling it all into the water. Instead, we did a bridge to bridge walk, starting at Still Creek and going to Deer Lake Brook. Along the way we saw mallards, wood ducks (and youngsters), a rare sighting of a Swainson’s thrush, about a million Canada geese claiming the sports fields, and lots of very pretty scenery. The weather continued to hold, with a very occasional bit of drizzle here and there. The park was busier than I expected, given the weather. Maybe Netflix has finally raised its prices too much.

A person at the rowing club said they’d seen a beaver and indeed, we saw the head of a muskrat or beaver as it swam down Still Creek. I am not expert enough to identify by the back of a head at distance, so I’m going to claim it was a beaver. Maybe THE beaver.

Tlahutum Regional Park

Greenery and signery at the community garden.

We ended the afternoon at Tlahutum, but opted to focus solely on the target-rich environment of the community garden. There, it was almost exclusively young birds, looking all spotted and scruffy and getting out there in the world. Robins dominated, though there were lots of house finches as well. We also saw a fair number of hummingbirds, some white-crowns and towhees. Bumblebees were out in numbers and as always, red soldier beetles were getting it on.

Nic once again demonstrated his ability to scare off birds by either getting too close (I declared I have better BirdSense™ than he does and stand by that) or by pointing at them. I always felt his pointing reminded me of something and I finally figured out what it was:

OK, not with the mouth hanging open, but otherwise yes.

I mean, if I was a young robin, I’d book it, too.

I actually got some very nice shots of the beetles and hummingbirds, so I was pleased. We opted not to take our chances any further as by this time it was starting to sprinkle lightly, but it was still a bounty of birding.

The Shots

All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Bushtit
  • American Goldfinch
  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Eastern Kingbird
  • House Finch
  • Song Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Swainson’s Thrush
  • Tree Swallow
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Willow Flycatcher

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Belted Kingfisher
  • Canada Goose
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Mallard
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Various seagulls

Raptors:

  • None

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators
  • Other naughty bugs
  • A lone black squirrel

Run 1,047: Happy clouds

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Cloudy and cooler.

Today it was all about the differences in conditions:

  • It was cloudy (not sunny)
  • It was only 18°C (not 25°C)
  • It was humid as all get-out (85% to start)

The humidity prevented dry mouth but surprisingly wasn’t a big factor, either negatively or positively. I sweated, but not profusely.

The pace breakdown for each km was:

  • 6:12
  • 6:16
  • 6:01

The last was only 500m, but it’s interesting that my pace improved so much because I didn’t feel like I was pushing. I did try extending my stride a bit instead and maybe that helped. Also the smaller gap between the first and second km is welcome after seeing the bottom fall out on previous runs.

I did a short loop going clockwise and originally planned to turn around after crossing the first boardwalk, but as I approached, a mower with giant mowing attachment was occupying the entire width of the footbridge before the boardwalk, so I opted to turn around at that point, which was fine.

I did experience that proto-cramp on the right side of my chest again, but it never really did much, so I don’t think it was a factor. I otherwise felt…not bad.

And woo, my training status after the run was Maintaining, a welcome sign of normalcy after several weeks of “you’re overdoing it!” I am going to try a 5K again on Friday and hope the weather is equally conducive to running (right now it’s showing a high of 26 and sunny). We’ll see!

Brunette River, post-run, doing its best Still Creek impression.

Stats:

Run 1,047
Average pace: 6:11/km
Training status: Maintaining
Performance Condition: 0
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop)
Start: 10:58 a.m.
Distance: 2.51 km
Time: 15:34
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 18°C
Humidity: 85–79%
Wind: light
BPM: 153
Weight: 170.5 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,040 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (20/60/80)

Music: Shuffle play