Snow is not in the forecast, and it’s mostly washed away (again) due to heavy rain, but here’s a last few photos to look over before the year comes to an end. Taken on December 26th.
Fun fact: I regularly mistype “Burnaby” as “Burnbaby.”
This morning, I donned my running clothes and headed out to Burnaby Lake, though I didn’t actually intend to run. I did want to see how much snow was still on the trail, to get a sense of how long I might need to wait until running becomes viable again.
Technically, I did run a little, as a test, about 20 meters or so. The trail is certainly walkable, but for running, the compact snow is that yucky combination of uneven and slippery. I could run, but only very slowly, in order to maintain my footing.
Conveniently, I got a newsletter from Running Room today with tips for running in the winter, which included wearing something like these to keep from landing on your face:
On the one hand, if I was faced with a a long layoff from running due to snow, this might be tempting, though I can’t imagine it makes for a very pleasurable running experience. On the other hand, based on my assessment today and assuming we don’t get a pile of new snow, I am assuming I’ll be able to run possibly by this Monday (five days from now). That means I will miss one more run and a total of five runs (two last week, three this week). This makes me sad, but at least it won’t be the multiple months of the 2016-17 snowpocalypse.
This is what the trail looked like near the Avalon parking lot. The snow looks shallow, but that’s mainly due to it being compacted. The darker bits are slippery.
There’s a tiny chance that if we get a lot of rain tomorrow (Thursday) a run could be viable on Friday, but I am not expecting this. What I might do in lieu of a run is walk to Piper Spit (weather permitting–the last time I tried this, it started snowing hard) and shoot birbs with my camera. I saw a heron at the lake today, but with my stinky phone camera, the best I could do was this cropped image (which isn’t too bad, I suppose; it definitely captures the overall gray/blue quality of the day):
Back to Piper Spit, as Nic sought out the elusive white-throated sparrow.
We did not see a white-throated sparrow (though Nic saw it today when he went back on his own).
First, the weather was crazy–25C and sunny, so sunny that if I hadn’t put on sunblock I’m sure I would have burned. This is very strange for the second week of October.
We hit Burnaby Lake and Colony Farm, but did extended tours of each and saw plenty of birds and other assorted critters, including a snake and coyote (alas, we could not get shots of either in time).
Here are a few shots of the million (well, 500+) I took.
After reaching 60 posts, I realized that if I posted 62 it would be the most ever in a month, and I’ve been blogging since 1897 2005! So naturally I had to do it.
This is Post #62.
Here’s a photo I took at Burnaby Lake back on September 2 showing a pair of dead trees next to a pile of plywood. I wanted to say something clever or profound about this juxtaposition, but couldn’t come up with anything good, so never posted it.
UNTIL NOW.
Enjoy.
(And think of your own clever or profound observation on this.)
With the high today forecast to be 30 or 31C, I decided to duck out in the morning to get a walk in before it got Africa Hot. As I walked down the river trail, a crazy thought entered my mind: What if I went to the lake…and then walked all the way around it?
I just ran at the lake yesterday and had over 31,000 steps, so today would have been a good day to rest, but I followed that crazy thought and did a complete loop around the lake, pausing occasionally to take photos here and there. The total distance was 18.7 km, and it took me 2 hours and 53 minutes to complete. By the end, I was definitely glad to be off my feet, but I’m also glad I gave in to the impulse and did it. Although it was quite warm, the humidity was actually closer to normal. On the negative side, the taste of smoke was in the air, likely carried in from a forest fire in the Fraser Valley (you can see the smoke haze in the shots I took, which I will put in a separate post).
The only real running I did was for about 30 seconds, to put some space between myself and a pair of people walking behind me, one of whom was carrying on their part of the conversation at maximum volume for reasons unknown to me.
Tomorrow: I’m going birding at Reifel, so there will be walking, but no Mega-Walking™.
One shot, from the viewing tower just west of Piper Spit, showing the smoke haze:
Stats:
Walk 83 Average pace: 9:16/km Location: Burnaby Lake and Brunette River trail Distance: 18.70 km Time: 2:53:10 Weather: Sunny Temp: 24-29C Humidity: 21-34% Wind: light BPM: 102 Weight: 160.2 pounds Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12 Total distance to date: 633.02 km
We did a triple-header today and saw a bunch of birds. Here are a few, from the super common to one I’ve never seen before.
Since I had an abbreviated run today, I was able to get a shot from the creaky old bridge at Deer Lake Brook. Everything is still looking lush and summery at Burnaby Lake:
Specifically, Burnaby Lake Regional Park.
I decided to get some exercise on a non-run day by walking to Piper Spit at Burnaby Lake (about a 12 km round-trip from my place). I took my camera in order to shoot many and assorted bird shots.
When I got there and opened my camera bag, the spot normally occupied by my camera was not occupied at all. Because I had left the camera back on my desk.
Whoops.
I took a few shots with the iPhone while I was there, then made my way back home (it was 32C by the time I got back, definitely an Africa Hot kind of day). I will now remember to actually check my camera bag before leaving, so lesson learned.
I took mostly scenery shots, and a seagull photobombed one of them. Here it is:
It was forecast to get up to 28C today, so I opted for a mid-morning run to beat the heat. Here’s my run report in handy list form, because I like lists.
Award:
Stats:
Run 694 Average pace: 6:12/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 10:00 a.m. Distance: 10.02 km Time: 62:08 Weather: Sunny Temp: 22-25ºC Humidity: 64% Wind: light BPM: 150 Weight: 165.6 Total distance to date: 5085 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (198 km)
A view looking over Burnaby Lake after a storm had just passed.
A junco bouncing around at my feet:
A coot in all its magnificence:
Wood duck marching forth:
A bunny:
A song sparrow living up to its name:
