Cruising - Friday the 25th of March, 2011

For what was planned to be my final run for the week, pushing my weekly total just north of 50km, I decided on a nice cruise out along the well worn path towards Fei Ngo Shan and back.


Crossing the bridge towards the hill


Cruising down towards Tseng Lan Shue


Look like figs to me


A pig farm... can smell it long before you see it!


Pig farm


Rusty stack


Fern Spores


A carpeted tree!


Hard to believe this comes from my compact "tough" DC.

I came back from this run so relaxed. Didn't pay too much attention to my watch, just enjoyed the ride. Awesome.

See you in the flow
~ Joe

Visiting the Trails - Wednesday the 23rd of March, 2011

Running a little behind on posts, so expect mostly photos for the next couple!

On Wednesday I took a half-day annual leave in the afternoon so I could go for a run in the mountains. Ex-Hong Kong resident and running/climbing friend Chris Fornelli was visiting Hong Kong last week, so we decided to take on a challenging section of trail, to get him out of the city for a bit.


Chris, already climbed ~350m is still only halfway to the 702m peak of Ma On Shan




An awesome valley that sharply drops off


A fairly hazy day, the view of our trail from the peak of Ma On Shan


Our trail curls around the hills


Chris moving fast out on the flats


Speckled colours and Chris' trail Asics


Looking down towards Lion Rock


An awesome stump sitting in a driveway on the way down Kowloon Peak


Detail of the stump



Ignore the max height on the profile, we reached 702m. My GPS (Phone) has been playing up lately.

Overall quite a tough run, and about 15km in I was wishing that I'd had lunch before setting out, but in the end it was great to spend an afternoon on the trails with a friend.

See you on the trails!
~ Joe

Urban Crawl - Sunday the 20th of March, 2011

After a late night and a sleep in, I missed my window for a trail run and decided on an urban crawl along a streamlined version of my Old Kowloon Tour route. Conditions were quite cool and overcast: ideal.

Lots of photos here guys, so get ready for the barrage:


Overcast! Hong Kong Island


Someone swimming in the harbour!! Not really my first choice of venue!


A tree growing on top of an industrial building in To Kwa Wan


Mobile Crane


Quite an old industrial building in TO Kwa Wan, possibly art deco style?


Passing through a section of footpath with some building works. I guess the roof of this section was 6 foot tall.... just short enough so I couldn't stand up straight!


Streetside


Deserted parking garage bordering on the old Airport site


A mass of tangled branches


Maryknoll Convent School on Boundary Rd




A Woman's Volleyball Tournament at the sports fields along Boundary Rd


More urban snatches


Pipes with some random items hanging in a plastic bag


A doorway in Sham Shui Po with an awesome pattern


Detail of the pattern


Locals playing a Shanghaiese card game - I have no idea how to play this


Confusing to everyone else as well?


A park out near Nam Cheong on my way to the western waterfront


A rusty gang-plank. Great colours and textures


Reached the shipping yards in West Kowloon. A huge claw


Three excavators neatly in a row


A man fishing with a handline between the dock and a barge


More fishermen. This time with rods fishing from rocks with Hong Kong Island in the background


Circumnavigating Kowloon

I must say that despite talking down road running recently, I really enjoyed this almost exploratory run around some of the less seen sections of Kowloon.

See you out on the trails!
~ Joe

Saving my Skin - Thursday the 17th of March, 2011

Fourth day in a row and still feeling strong, I decided to head out on a route that I haven't taken for some time: Down along the trails to Po Lam, and back up via the roads. Despite the quite cool weather meaning that I didn't really need to bring water, I decided to bring the new Nathan bottle along for a proper test.

After about 1km however, I was regretting this decision, and remembering why it'd taken me so long to buy a handheld: I normally hate carrying things in my hands while running. And just as I started out on the trail and was cursing it's companionship... I caught my toe on a rock...

Unable to recover, I was going down. The very first thing to hit the ground was.... the new Nathan bottle, very fortunately taking what could have been a nasty hit for my left palm. I rolled onto my right shoulder, ending crouched. I stood up, dusted myself off and took stock of the situation. A bit of a graze down my right thigh and left knee, right forearm was a little sore, but otherwise fine! (later I'd find a bruise/graze on my back and a quite sore right shoulder, but no major problems).


The section where I tripped is undeniably very flat and "easy" terrain. For all my talk in Monday's post about always having to think on the trail, it was probably the "easiness" of this section that let me lose focus and lose control

The Nathan bottle even looked in pretty good shape despite taking the hit! A bit scraped and dirty but after a quick wash, looked almost good as new!


I went down open handed, the bottle directly protecting my palm, the soft plastics taking the hit like a champ

I suppose I can't really talk badly about the Nathan Quickdraw now, can I? After it literally saved my skin!! Not bleeding badly or particularly stiff, I set out along my planned route.


Overcast conditions silhouette an eagle


Awesome views from the trails but I was paying closer attention to the trail!


Entangled


Almost back to HKUST and climb up Razor Hill clearly visable.

Aside from a few slips on paved, wet, slippery surfaces, I think this is my first true dive on a trail, if it can even classify as one. I have almost no "battle wounds" to speak of, and am normally more sore after a full day on the rock, or (in the past) after a day on the footy field. Very positive and reassuring really, but I'll certainly not be aiming to go down again!

Work Hard, Eat Right, Be a Tiger!
~ Joe