spooky fog

Run 737: Jet joke here

After two weeks, the snow has finally retreated enough that I can run on the trails again. Yay.

I could definitely feel the two weeks of not-running, though. Not as yay.

But I made it without any issues, so here’s a list of conditions and observations:

  • It was foggy. Ack. Unlike the November fog run, it was lighter this time, so my glasses didn’t become coated. It just lent a somewhat spooky ambience to the run.
  • I started out slow and never really got faster, but stayed fairly steady. I only had one km under the 6:00/km mark (the fourth, on the Cottonwood Trail)
  • The trail was mostly clear, though some snow persisted on parts that get less sun. I was able to navigate these without issue.
  • I started to feel a bit tired between the 6’7 km mark, but maintained pace and a steady BPM of 151 overall, which is good considering the cold.
  • Speaking of cold, I wore two layers up top and that was fine. My hands never really warmed up, though. I blame the fog, somehow.

A few dog owners had their dogs off-leash, but fortunately no problems arose because of this. The fog began to lift slowly over the course of the run, but it wasn’t until the walk back that the sun actually broke through. This probably worked to my advantage, since it kept the sun from “strobing” through the naked trees on the run.

Overall, it was nice to get back out, but I definitely felt missing those five runs that got called due to snow. Here’s hoping no more snow this year (or next year, while I’m at it).

The view from the bridge at Deer Lake Brook. There’s a lake in there, trust me!

Stats:

Run 737
Average pace: 6:05/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:57 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 61:06
Weather: Foggy
Temp: 2-4ºC
Humidity: 91%
Wind: nil
BPM: 151
Weight: 162.8
Total distance to date: 5455 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (127 km)

No damn snow, a creepy painting and fog on the water

Christmas 2009 has come and gone and unlike last year’s silly snowpocalypse, there was nary a flake to be seen fluttering across the sky this time. In fact, the past few days have been dry, cool and sunny, save for today when the fog rolled in.

The trip back on the ferry in the early afternoon was a bit unusual in a few ways. First was the fog. It’s pretty rare for me to be traveling to or from the island in the fog so it was kind of eerie to have the ship glide into a huge bank and be lost from the world, the ship’s horn blasting every minute or so to warn people in smaller boats who thought it was a great day to go blundering about the strait in zero visibility. Periodically we’d come out of the fog and into sunshine and it was then that the other unusual part of the trip was most noticeable — the water was almost completely calm. I mean, there was barely a ripple in the surface. It was like gliding through a pond. A really really big pond, but still. Rather weird but soothing at the same time.

Christmas dinner this year was especially daring as I broke tradition and ate a Brussels sprout. It was okay. I suppose I can cross it off the list of foods I hated as a kid (and I hated a lot of them — I was a fussy eater). Next year I’ll try a sprig of asparagus if I’m feeling really crazy.

While staying at mom’s I was compelled to take a picture of a painting that hangs in the guest bedroom.

At first blush it appears to be a rather benign pastoral scene painted by someone who is obviously not a professional artist. Let’s call them earnest.

But on closer examination I discovered a Lovecraftian horror:

This is not a woman and her young daughter out for an innocent stroll picking flowers and enjoying the sun. No, these faceless horrors are merely in disguise, waiting for the moment to turn their mishapen fleshy hooks onto the unaware and claim their souls as their own, sending them into the spiral of madness that comes from staring into a face that is an evil blank canvas of poorly-shaded skin.

Also, the parasol looks like it’s been turned inside out. My theory is that it’s actually the leathery skin of some unnamed thing that went rogue and was made into this particular object to serve as an example to others who would dare challenge the ways of the Great Old Ones.