View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Cool, calm and cloudy.
A later start today due to various things happening in the morning, but I headed out in my shorts…then immediately came back in and changed into my running pants. For the run itself, I think the shorts would have been fine, but the pants were definitely nice, especially on the longer 9 km walk back after.
And yes, I talked myself into doing a full run/walk around the lake when I originally thought of just doing a run on the river trail. This decision changed the amount of walking from 3 km to 13 km, but I missed Friday’s run and it seemed right to push a bit to get back in the saddle or whatever metaphor you like.
Conditions were very similar to the last run, with the biggest change being clouds instead of sun. This meant no strobing effect with the sun shining through the bare tree branches, so in a way, it was better. The clouds portent a change in the weather and likely rain, so boo on that.
I started out a bit slow but picked up by the third km and finished with the same pace as last time, 5:46/km. My BPM was almost identical, too, at 149. The range was much tighter today, peaking at only 153.
Despite the rain-free weather and later start, it was pretty quiet on the trail. Sections were a bit mucky from the cycle of freezing/thawing, but at least there were no massive puddles to negotiate. Parks crews have been shoring up some of the worst stretches with fresh gravel. The area next to the sports field remains neglected and unloved, though.
As for the laces–they stayed tied! The whole 5K! Amazing! I think I’m going to start looking for my next pair of shoes early, as I doubt I’ll stick with the Peregrines. The weirdly untying laces are like no other shoe I’ve seen. Maybe I’m tying them wrong.
In all, a good start to the week.
Still Creek, from a slightly different perspective. Still very…still.
Stats:
Run 1,004 Average pace: 5:46/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 12:43 p.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 29:00 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 3-4°C Humidity: 74-72% Wind: light BPM: 149 Weight: 169.1 pounds Total distance to date: 6,850 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (110/172/282)
Where: DeBoville Slough, Blakeburn Lagoons Park (Port Coquitlam), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam) Weather: Sunny, -2-5°C
The temperature started out below freezing, but thanks to sun, little wind and warm pockets, it didn’t feel too cold as we headed north and east for today’s birding. We had planned on going to Reifel, but they remain closed after a boat struck the only bridge to Westham Island last week. It’s looking like we may have to explore other places for some time.
DeBoville Slough
The frozen slough.
The first spot was a return to DeBoville Slough, on the north trail. We were here last summer, so the scenery is a lot more austere now. The freezing temperatures did help make things pretty, with vegetation and trees in shaded areas covered in frost and some of the waterways iced over.
And birds. We saw more birds than I expected, with towhees especially well-represented. The main item on the menu for them and others were berries that survive and grow in the winter. There is nothing quite like a towhee sitting on a naked branch, its red eye staring out, while it clutches a full, round berry in its bill. And I got that shot!
Other than the birds, a lot of people were out, too. Again, sunny weather in January is probably enough for most, regardless of temperature.
Some of the birds we spotted were deeper in the trees and proved elusive, like a Steller’s Jay and a Marsh Wren that Nic managed to get one shot of, but we still had lots of scenery to shoot as backup.
We did not see any bears because they are sleeping, and the osprey nest on the Pitt River is understandably empty, but it was nice to return and see the slough in a different mood.
Blakeburn Lagoons Park
A frozen lagoon.
We next went back to Blakeburn Lagoons, which remains a nicely compact pair of water bodies you can walk around fairly quickly if you need to just bird ‘n go. A lot of the water here was frozen, but in a few spots we did see some mallards and a surprise Northern Shoveller. While a Green Heron remained elusive, we were treated to a Varied Thrush a couple of times, allowing us to get some good shots, along with an Anna’s Hummingbird that was claiming half the place, and a single but very vocal chickadee.
Tlahutum Regional Park
Golden hour over the Coquitlam River.
By the time we got to Tlahutum, the light was turning golden and it was very golden when we left, shortly before sunset. Again, the waterways here were a mix of open and frozen, though most of the main pond was frozen. The open part was at the far end, alas, so the waterfowl were all gathered there because they aren’t going to walk all over the icy surface for our amusement and pleasure.
We saw a lot of the usual birds here and a couple of odder sights, such as an appropriately-named murder of crows harassing a bald eagle, a flock of Canad geese flying in a classic V-formation, then shifting into more of a Silly String formation, without any particular goose leading them. But mostly, voles.
Tlahutum is the kind of spot where voles–small rodents related to hamsters–are likely to hang out, as it has a number of large, grassy expanses. It’s also why we often see eagles or raptors here, as voles are bite-sized snacks for them. But I had never seen an actual vole until today. Then I saw all of them.
Along the first trail into the park, there is a tall wild grass on both sides. Right now it is yellow and flattened down for the winter, but on the trail edges, shorter green grass and vegetation is still growing. And it seems that a whole pile of Meadow Voles know this. We spotted one, then another, then an entire platoon, or whatever you call a bunch of voles. Each would have its own little burrow in the tall grass and would dash out to the trail edge to eat the green grass, then dash back under cover. They did not seem especially perturbed by people, waiting mere moments for someone to pass before returning to nibble. And they may have felt safer with the crows deciding the best use of their time was to pester and chase the one eagle in the area.
They are also very cute, if you find hamsters or hamster-like animals cute.
I wonder if we will see them as the weather warms and the wild grass grows tall again.
We stayed close until sunset and ended with some final shots of the sun going down.
In all, a fine day and an enjoyable alternative to Reifel.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Gadwall quack (I actually couldn’t hear anything).A Meadow Vole noshing away on grass.Sunset at Tlahutum, with bonus plane.A Spotted Towhee haz berry, as the kids say.
Or at least the website is, now. I’ve changed up the colour scheme again, going with an icy blue theme to reflect our wintry cold. Mostly, I just wanted a change.
For future reference, it looks like this:
Also, if John Gruber was dead, he’d be spinning in his grave because the header font is Aptos. Yes, Aptos! (I was lazy and just grabbed a font that was handy. I may change it later.)
The next experiment in design might be to go with some kind of dark mode style. I wish WordPress had a built-in way to switch between light and dark themes (you have to use a plugin). It seems like an obvious thing to add, vs. whatever AI nonsense they’re planning to shove in.
First, Werdmuller is a great name for a writer or someone who writes.
Second, Ben is an incredibly decent and thoughtful person working in tech and media, and he wrote 47 lessons for his 47th birthday. They are worth a read.
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Just a touch of mist on the water.
I changed things up a little for today’s run. It looked like it might be as low as 2C when I headed out, so I opted to wear my running pants. It turned out to be 4C, but I didn’t exactly sweat with the pants, so no biggie there. They’re also nice because I don’t need the belt to tuck my phone in.
My bladder basically decided the route. I had to go before starting, so I opted to run clockwise, since I was already over that way, by the Jiffy John™.
I started out well, then flagged a bit on the second and third km, before picking up and finishing stronger, for an overall pace of 5:46/km. My BPM was higher at 150 and the run did feel harder, possibly a combination of not sleeping as well last night and the cold, which for the past few foggy days, kind of seeps right through anything you’re wearing.
Still, it was sunny and I further mixed things up by running the back half along the Freeway Trail. I normally avoid this trail, but today I chose it for the very reason I usually avoid it–it’s wide-open vistas. That is, I thought it would be less likely to have frosty/slippery sections because it is fully exposed. It turned out that was only half-true, because I was about an hour too early and the sun hadn’t climbed high enough to de-ice all of it. But it was still fine.
The miscalculation came when I turned off the main trail. I realized I’d done so too soon and jogged a bit up the Freeway Trail before turning back to compensate, but as you can see in the map below, I still ended up overshooting where I started. Not a big deal, just a minor boo-boo.
I ran a loop without going around the lake.
Overall, not a bad run and still better than running in the rain.
More fog and light on the river trail, post-run.
Stats:
Run 1,003 Average pace: 5:46/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop) Start: 11:12 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 28:59 Weather: Sunny Temp: 4°C Humidity: 77-78% Wind: light BPM: 150 Weight: 169.3 pounds Total distance to date: 6,845 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (105/159/264)
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Clear, calm, cold.
I am back to my regular running schedule after last week’s weirdness.
It was sunny but chilly, as befits winter, but my three layers kept me warm and it actually felt nice on the sunny parts of the trail. Conditions were good–the titular frost in the shady areas was not an issue, as most of it was on the trees and vegetation, not the trail itself. The pavement and sidewalks to and from the lake were worse.
I decided on a short loop, as I started a little later in the morning. This was deliberate, as I wanted it to warm up and thaw a little to avoid icy conditions.
For whatever reason I was feeling a lot peppier than the last run and except for flagging a bit on the second km (I may have been a little too zesty on the first) I was averaging a very consistent pace, finishing with a solid 5:42/km and a BPM of 144. I am pleased with this.
A fair number of other joggers were out, all bundled up with their gloves and toques, but I suppose any sunny days in winter are prime for running, especially when it’s above freezing.
In all, a good start to the week.
There were some nice shader effects on the river, post-run.
Stats:
Run 1,002 Average pace: 5:42/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop) Start: 11:21 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 28:41 Weather: Sunny Temp: 4-5°C Humidity: 82-83% Wind: light BPM: 144 Weight: 169.0 pounds Total distance to date: 6,840 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (100/155/255)
Music: Shuffle mode (but mostly Pink Floyd's song "Echoes")
Where: Centennial Beach (Delta), Richmond Nature House (Richmond), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby) Weather: Fog and sun, 5-8°C
For the first time in five weeks, the schedule and weather cooperated and we went birding, woo.
Reifel has been closed for a few weeks due to some fairly significant flooding, so we opted to start at Centennial Beach, where things were not quite as expected.
Centennial Beach
Not a gallows! It was very foggy at Boundary Bay. It’s there, trust me.
Namely, there was very dense fog, so dense that we could barely see Boundary Bay at all.
Despite the fog, the area turned out to be chock-full of birds today, starting with a juvenile bald eagle chowing down on a snack in a tree right next to the parking lot. There were other eagles perched on various branches and nearby trees, as well. The kid eagle was regularly dropping bits of whatever ex-animal it was eating, which would be kind of a gross thing to land on you if you happened to be walking by underneath.
Golden-crowned Sparrows were in abundance, as were the somewhat more scarce but sexy Fox Sparrows.
The fog rolled back enough for us to see a short ways across the bay and we noticed a large gathering of waterfowl that did not look familiar. Checking later, we confirmed it was a gaggle of Brant Geese–the first time either of us have seen them locally. Neat! Too bad they were so far away.
Closer up were shorebirds, teals and plenty of gulls mixing, mingling and occasionally bathing.
The fog provided a nice spooky backdrop to the scenery and shots of broody herons and the like.
In all, we saw a lot more than II was expecting.
Richmond Nature House
Anna’s Hummingbird, plotting against Nic.
Nic wanted to check out the Richmond Nature House, because you don’t have to find the birds, you just go to the feeders and the challenge is deciding which of the billion juncos to shoot. In addition to the juncos, there were squirrels fattening themselves on seed, along with towhees, finches and a Downy Woodpecker.
One of the hummingbird feeders, clothed in a knit sock to keep the nectar from freezing, saw business from a female Anna’s hummingbird. The hummingbird did not have socks.
Since you don’t need to go anywhere to get shots at the nature house, we got our supply in and headed out for Piper Spit, hoping it would not be foggy there as the light shifted into the golden hour.
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
A Wood Duck couple basking in the golden glow of the late afternoon sun.
And it was not foggy! What it was, was busy. And there were bad people feeding the birds, because apparently nothing short of running around and poking them with a cattle prod will stop some people. And maybe not even that, who knows?
Likely due to the shifting depth of the lake, the dowitchers were much closer to the pier than usual, and seemed unperturbed by us pesky humans. A few were so close I had to pull back on the zoom, which happens approximately never.
The cormorants were not here this time, though, replaced by a lot of crows and gulls. The usual waterfowl were present, and the light presented both opportunities with shadow and reflection, as well as challenges with overexposure. But hey, it was actually sunny!
In all, a much better day of birding than I had expected. I’m probably good for fog for the rest of the year, though.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
What the title says. Presented using a carousel, because I’m feeling wacky. No captions because the shots are pretty self-explanatory. The sun was out, and low fog was hanging over the river, allowing for some nice shots, even using my olden iPhone 12.
I skipped Monday’s run due to a cute little weather phenomenon known as an atmospheric river. As you may know, rivers are wet and full of water. The atmospheric version is very much the same. I could have opted to run in the downpour on the river trail and been relatively safe–there are fewer large trees to be upended there vs. the lake, but I still would have been utterly drenched within the first few minutes.
So today, under merely cloudy skies, I headed to the lake. With four days off, I decided to adopt a more mellow pace that ended up being kind of sluggish. I had no oomph. This was made clear when I clocked in at 6:04/km on the second km. It’s been a long time since I was that slow. I did pick up after than (my best was the final km at 5:42) and finished with 5:54/km–my slowest run in a good long time.
I didn’t experience any issues and actually slept well last night, but I had a headache in the morning (possibly related to dehydration, or lack of caffeine) and that could have affected my performance. I just felt like I was plodding. Because I was plodding.
Still, the run itself was otherwise fine. Despite the rain, there weren’t really any puddles until the sports fields. When I hit one that spanned the entire width, I reversed and started running back the way I came, but was close to the end, so wrapped up the run shortly after, anyway.
The most visible sign of the storm were all the freshly cut trees. A fair number looked like they had been deliberately cut, because the trees were dead//rotten/in danger of toppling, but a few had just plain toppled as well. The trail, despite being mostly puddle-free, is in pretty bad shape in areas where water is cutting in. Water vs. gravel trail = water wins!
In all, not one for the record books, but it was still good to get out.
Still Creek, post-run. Has there ever been a more aptly-named body of water?
Stats:
Run 1,001 Average pace: 5:54/km Training status: Maintaining Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 11:43 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 29:29 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 8°C Humidity: 96% Wind: light BPM: 145 Weight: 169.1 pounds Total distance to date: 6,835 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (95/150/245)
It was time for more fun involving the little mass in my chest that shouldn’t be there. Today, it was CT scan time! To recap, I’ve had the following done:
CT scan #1 (this is what led to the discovery of the mass, as the scan was actually for a kidney infection)
MRI
PET scan
Pulmonary Function Test (PFT)
I was not told I’d be getting a CT scan, though they feel almost old hat at this point. I just got a call to book one and two days later, I was on a table getting scanned yet again, this time at UBC Hospital.
Attending to me this time was a cute young technician with a very Australian accent. It was kind of adorable.
What was less adorable were his attempts to insert the IV. I needed the IV because they would be using contrast dye to enhance the imagery and also, briefly, enhance the sensation that my bladder was emptying itself when it’s just a big psyche as the dye works through your system.
Here’s how the IV hunt went:
Crook of right elbow: failed.
Left hand: failed.
Right wrist: failed.
Crook of right elbow, but slightly to the right of the first attempt: success!
A couple of the failed attempts stung a bit and the tech asked if it was painful and I confirmed it was, a little, but I remained calm, and promised I would give my veins a good talking to afterward. They tell you to drink water before to be hydrated, which helps. Next time I’m going to drink a 4 litre jug of water on the way in.
The fourth and successful try did not hurt, which seemed a good clue that it would work, and it did.
I had to hold my arms over my head, which was as awkward as always, and at one point–I think just after the dye went in–the IV started to hurt a bit again, but it only lasted a few moments.
The actual scan was quick and simple, as CT scans are.
I celebrated by having a Sausage and Egg McMuffin. Which I ate before going in, actually.
Also, good news: Despite the repeated jabbings, no bruising! Here is my gallery of cotton wads, done Polaroid style, because I’m all about chintzy nostalgia! Also, I don’t recommend clicking on the thumbnails, they are sufficient as is.
