It’s not actually about Black Friday, though it’s Black Friday adjacent. This is from an Adobe ad and it sums up this whole silly sales period for me:
Run 670: Slow and dry
I once again checked the weather forecast and the news was grim: Another major deluge on the way today, with the chance of rain increasing as the day progressed. I decided to head out even earlier than my last few runs, just shortly after 9:30 a.m.
I further cut down on the time outdoors by starting the run as soon as I got to the river.
To my surprise, it remained dry for the entire run and the rest of the afternoon (it finally started to rain in the evening). With the temperature again being unseasonably balmy, conditions were downright mild.
And yet I performed worse than the previous river run, not only by being slower, but also having a higher BPM. Boo.
I can only surmise that I was still feeling Monday’s run, my body was not quite ready to start running so early (relatively speaking) and I only did about a 15-minute warm-up walk. Another factor may have been the pace of the first km took a lot of wind out of my proverbial sails (5:50/km), reflected by the fact that it wasn’t until the final km that I began to pick up the pace again.
Oh well. At least I had no issues.
It turns out a lot of people walk their dogs in the morning on the trail and, perhaps strangely, there were a number of people walking pairs of dogs, with the dogs being gigantic. Like taking a couple of ponies out for a morning stretch. They were all leashed, though, so yay for that.
Stats:
Run 670 Average pace: 6:04/km Location: Brunette River Start: 9:56 a.m. Distance: 5:02 km Time: 30:30 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 12ºC Humidity: 90% Wind: light BPM: 159 Weight: 178.6 Total distance to date: 4956 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (220 km)
Raincoat vs. hoodie: A surprise winner
Every day I either go for a run or for an exercise-style walk, by which I mean I walk for at least 30 minutes at a brisk pace, so the Apple Watch activity app registers the walking as exercise.
Today was a walk day and since we are square in the middle of a system that is endlessly pouring rain, I opted to head out late morning, just to get it over with. Waiting out the rain was not a realistic option.
But knowing it would be very wet and that I might venture to areas with massive puddles, I made a few changes to my usual outdoor wear:
- I wore my nice Scarpa boots, which are waterproof
- I wore my Goretex raincoat, which is theoretically waterproof
Normally I’d wear my old trail running shoes and hoodie, but I felt these would not hold up.
I was half right.
The boots worked very well and kept my feet nice and dry. The only downside is I have to wear regular insoles, or they fit too tight, but for shortish treks, it’s fine.
The jacket was a weird and appalling disappointment.
The pockets got wet. And by that, I mean the indies of the pockets, meaning my hands, phone, mask and AirPods case all got damp. This was bad.
The wrists on the jacket allowed enough water ingress that I had to lock the screen of my watch to keep it from wigging out. And the hood is so big and floppy that it kept bouncing out of position, and any sudden breeze threatened to pull it completely down off my head.
The only good part is my torso stayed mostly dry.
The hoodie, in comparison, does not keep my chest and abdomen as dry when it is pouring out. I’ll end up with some lines of dampness running vertically down my t-shirt, enough that I’ll change when I get out of the rain.
But the hood itself not only keeps my head dry, it actually fits over the brim of my cap, keeping the cap dry and providing a kind of shield to keep the water away from my face. This has the added bonus of reducing rain splattering on my glasses.
And the pockets never get soaked through, so my hands stay warm and dry.
Really, it’s just weird that the jacket works so poorly, almost like the waterproofing has completely broken down.
I felt a bit silly going out as it was. No one voluntarily goes out in weather like this. I went down to Hume Park and didn’t even see some lunatic out with their dog, and there’s always some lunatic out with their dog. I did see two people riding bikes, though.
Mostly, I just want summer back. Yes, even with the occasional heat dome.
Photo of the Day: Lonely tree
Lone tree on the beach at Boundary Bay.
One billion gold
That’s how much gold my Season 24 wizard Blastbury has piled up in Diablo 3.
Am I done with the game now? I think…I’m pretty close. This time for real! I’ve gotten to the point where I’m getting four of every legendary item. This makes them feel more off-the-rack than legendary. I’ve done all the bounties repeatedly. I’ve done enough rifts that I would spontaneously name my child Rift if I had one. Tyrael has thanked me a thousand times for making the world safer. I’ve heard every stupid thing the enchantress says countless times over.
If there is anything left that I haven’t seen, I can’t say I feel I’ve missed out.
I’ll transfer stuff to the non-season stash when Season 24 ends on December 5th. And then, just maybe…I’ll uninstall the game, forcing myself to fill [Diablo 3 time] with [something else].
I will update in six days.
Haiku to atmospheric rivers
The weather that keeps on giving.
Rivers in the sky Raining down so much water My spirit is damp
Amusing cat image: Torrential rain edition
As another atmospheric river dumps a month’s worth of rain on us, I end the month with this cat and windshield wipers:
Weight loss report, November 2021: Up 0.2 pounds
I gained a tiny bit of weight this month, all thanks to cookies and chocolate bars being on sale. What can I say? It was a very wet, dismal kind of month and I indulged. I was bad.
On the positive side, the weight gain was minimal, and I was trending down by a few pounds for the first half, so I know actual weight loss is within reach.
I just need to avoid sales. And buying stuff and then eating it. Easy peasy.
I won’t mention that December is likely to be even more dismal than November. Nope.
Stats:
November 1: 178.1 pounds November 30: 178.3 pounds (up 0.2 pounds) Year to date: From 174.2 to 178.3 pounds (up 4.1 pounds) Body fat (year to date): January 1: 22.4% (39.1 pounds of fat) November 30: 23.2% (41.4 pounds of fat) (up 2.3 pounds, unchanged from previous month)
Run 669: Riverside
Looking at the forecast, It appeared the odds of rain increased through the afternoon, so I once again headed off early to hopefully avoid a shower–and it worked!
As it turned out, it remained dry all through the afternoon, but we still have another weather advisory for The Rains tomorrow to make up for it.
In the interests of speeding (ho ho) things up to avoid inclement weather, I also decided to run the river trail, as it would allow me to wrap up sooner.
This also worked, and despite not pushing, the flatter, wider trail allowed me to sneak in under the six-minute mark again. The weather was actually quite mild at 12C, but I wore two layers in case of wind/rain or windrain. Luckily, there was also no wind, so the layering proved unnecessary (but it was not too warm despite it, so I feel I made the right call).
In terms of issues, my one knee felt a bit creaky for a bit, as did my right ankle, but both worked themselves out as I warmed up, and I managed to push through without any problems. I also ran without my phone, which has started pulling down on my shorts in a way I don’t like. I’m not expecting a wardrobe malfunction or anything, it just feels a bit weird. Maybe the elastic is starting to give out. I could probably use some new shorts, anyway.
In all, a good run and especially nice that I made myself go on a Monday, fearing the worst, weather-wise.
Stats:
Run 669 Average pace: 5:56/km Location: Brunette River Start: 11:53 p.m. Distance: 5:04 km Time: 29:55 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 12ºC Humidity: 90% Wind: light BPM: 156 Weight: 179.2 Total distance to date: 4951 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (215 km)
Photo of the Day: No Entry
The demolition of the old hospital buildings continues apace. This is part of the last building near the corner of the hospital lane way and Sherbrooke Street. I like that the door opens to a pile of rubble on a building that no longer has a roof.
NaNoWriMo 2021 update #2 (I think, or is it #3?)
Well, it never happened.
About ten days ago I went back to the idea of picking up on an unfinished NaNo project and re-read the 22,000 or so words of The Journal. And I liked it! Enough that I chose to pick it up, knowing I was unlikely to hit the 50,000 word goal, even with that head start.
But then the writing part never happened. I muddled about, then worked on other stuff. And so here we are with only three days left (including today) and unless I can manage 9,333 words per day, I will fall short. Alas.
But I think I will revisit The Journal, anyway, just on my own schedule, whatever that may be.
Technically, I didn’t actually “lose” NaNo 2021 because I never officially declared a project, but still, I feel bad. Fortunately, I have no cookies to console myself with, because I’d convince myself I need a lot of consoling, a lot of delicious chocolate chip-flavored consoling.
The dreaded writer’s blocks
No, this isn’t about my effort or lack thereof during National Novel Writing Month (that will be another post), this is about a quote from an overview of various writing programs:
This program focuses on productivity, allowing you to successfully avoid the dreaded writer’s blocks.
First, I want to know, who is this dreaded writer?
Second, what’s up with his/her/their blocks? I understand wanting to avoid them–blocks sound like they could hurt–but what are they? What are they made of? Where do they come from? Can I get some and also become a dreaded writer?
Bonus observation: Why do so many pages covering writing apps have such poor writing? Is it meant to be ironic? Have the authors of these pieces suffered from too many of the dreaded writer’s blocks?