It'd been ages since I'd been out on the trail with Wai, and an easy-ish trail run followed by kicking back at his house sounded like a great idea (and, not to upset the wife, but probably a much preferred option than heading to Disney!!). Wai suggested a trail that runs between Tseun Wan and Yuen Long, finishing an easy distance from his home. The Yuen Tseun Ancient Trail, Wai told me, was how people used to get between the two villages / towns before roads and tunnels through the mountains.
Look back from where we came as the trail winds it's way up the hill
A small hobby farm (probably illegal!) we passed on the trail that, apparently, has a problem with small children stealing vegetables. (The rotting Garfield is sure to scare them away!)
A small bush reaches out for the sky
Small flowers poke above the grass
An old old school situated high one the hill. This was quite a way into the run, maybe 4km, and I didn't spot any village ruins around the area... Would kids really have walked that 4km up the hill everyday to attend school??
Inside the school
A dilapidated concrete slide at the old school. Wai, who used to have an identical slide at his childhood home, assured me that, in proper condition, these slides are faster and all-round more awesomer than the now prevalent plastic ones
Wai leading the way through a forested section
Bright sun making this shot possible (and me hot!)
The GPS plot is missing the first 1km - 1.5km which accounts for the first ~100m of elevation gain. Not a bad running route at all, with most of the hard work at the start, then a wonderful 10km mostly downhill cruise.
I would have thought that the fact that these 17.5 or so kms pushed my weekly total up to ~70km would have meant that they were exceptionally hard. Instead, I found them easy and relaxing. This is almost certainly because of the leisurely pace, but also because the route is mostly downhill after the initial rise. I'd been locked into the "harder is better" mindset for so long that I'd forgotten the simple pleasure in an easy run through beautiful terrain. Just about all the long weekend trail runs that I'd selected for myself, have recently been on MacLehose trail sections 4 and 5, some very hard terrain, and my lunchtime runs are never complete without a long climb. There's a lot to be said for the satisfaction of completing something difficult, but on this run, I rediscovered that it's also important to kick-back and enjoy something easy once in a while.
100th post giveaway!
If you've read this far... Congratulations! You have the chance to win a prize!
It's been about 8 months since I started this blog, and having come from posting 1 photo every day (for the 365 days of food blog) that seems like quite a long time to reach a 100th post, but here we are regardless.
So, to celebrate, I'm going to encourage participation!
Over the next two weeks I want people to send me photos from their own running adventures. I'll post the best photo and it's photographer will win one of:
A Triton Dry Bag
a Go-lite Visor
a pair of Thorlos Running Socks
or possibly something else....
exactly which of these prizes will depend on what I can find where, when, etc. All three of these (or whatever the "something else" is) are things that I use religiously when I hit the trails.
So... for those that don't know my email, either leave a comment and I'll get back to you, or there should be an email link near my name on my blogger profile. I'll be accepting entries anytime up until 12midnight on Friday the 15th of April. I don't care where you live, Melb, Brisvegas, Canada, etc, happy to ship, just get those entries in. I'll accept 3 entries per person, photos will be judged entirely subjectively by me, to see which I like the best. Photos should be from a run, but I may accept some hiking ones (if you tell a good enough story to accompany the photo). Possibly many other terms and conditions I forgot to mention!
So... take those cameras out on your next run and get shooting!
See you happy photographers out on the trails with cameras in hand!
~ Joe
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