One Run, One Shot - Monday the 17th of June, 2011

Another weekend without a long run passes, and I'm once again trying to make up distance for my perpetual 40km/week target every day from Monday onwards. My physical and mental state mirrored that of my camera.... battery depleted!

I only got the single shot out of my camera before the battery was dead for good:


It's a little blurry, but you can see that this spider's obviously found itself a great spot and caught a feast!


The route I ran was half-trail, half-road, and while I was loving the trail sections, by the time I reached the valley floor I was already beat, and worked my way very slowly up the hills!


Quite a lot of climbing in this route. Thankfully just about all along roads, allowing my to zone out and keep moving slowly.

Extreme heat, super humid and a fairly tough course made this a really hard run. Even before I started the hills I was contemplating just walking up them. Pretty happy that I was able to stick it out and stay on the run though, even if I was moving very slowly. Can't wait to run in the cold weather in a month!

Melting in the Jungle
~ Joe

Dangerous Creatures - Thursday the 23rd of June, 2011

For a tally of 2 green snakes (possibly the deadly Cheng Juk Sae) and a huge centipede I got surprisingly few interesting photos from this run. Slipping on the Trail Gloves, I headed out for a slow cruise along the trails down to Po Lam and back up via another trail.


I really like this shot with the trail blurring into the background


A sign nearby an illegal structure where oldies gather to play Marjong and Chinese Chess


Scurrying


Not sure how long this trail will last for with the stream undercutting it!


Heading down these steps is where I saw the first snake. As I was quickly racing down I spotted the there was a snake on the next step and clumsily leapt a couple of steps before going back up to look for it (couldn't find it!)


Within one km I was starting to relax a bit and bring my speed up (watching my feet in the barefoot shoes of course!) when I came across the second snake! This was a potentially worse situation as I went right to go around it, but it also realised that right was the only was out and went the same way! For a brief period I was doing the Can Can while shouting f*ck, f*ck, f***ck...

After the second encounter I decided to slow down a bit and pay more attention to the trail further ahead. I was forcing myself to go slow, but still a little jumpy everytime a grasshopper shot off a blade of grass near by feet.


Towards the end of the trail I found further dangers, as my Trail Gloves had exactly zero traction on these dark, wet rocks and I was very close to slipping over while running slowly up the hill!

Despite everything, I was actually pretty pleased with this run, keeping quite a good cadence up the steep hilly sections, and my time would have been a fair bit faster if I wasn't deliberately slowing myself down. I would have loved to have a couple of shots of the snakes in the wild, but am happy enough just not to get bitten! It certainly made me consider what I would do in the event that I was bitten by the viper while alone on a trail!

Hong Kong: where natural jungle meets concrete jungle!
~ Joe

Blown Away - Tuesday the 21st of June, 2011

Another Tuesday night and I decided on a different run to the one I've been regularly completing. My wife was rather unhappy with me running in isolated areas alone, after dark (which I suppose I can understand), so the full High Junk Peak trail is out, but I thought that I'd still be able to run the front half of it (the half the includes the peak itself) and be finished with the trail before sundown. So post-work I set off south, towards the Clear Water Bay Peninsula.


Just hitting the start of the trail, and some serious climbing to do


Cruising through the "field" section before more climbing


This shot is purely for comparison. It was taken within seconds of the one above, and is of exactly the same scene. It just indicates how different the photos can come out depending on where you exposure for!

It seems almost everytime I run this route, there's some sort of wild weather around, and on this evening, it was extreme winds! To be fair Typhoon Signal 1 was on, and as I got higher, the wind got stronger.


Beautiful large white flowers pop-up along the trail


Stunning clouds streak across the landscape


Working my way higher along awesome trails


More beautiful trail-side flora


My next hill, just visible in the distance


Dramatic skylines in every direction


The trail closes in on me, and rain from earlier in the day absolutely soaks my lower half!


Grasses hustled by the wind with the ridgeline I just climbed in the background


Rocky heights


From the top of High Junk Peak, the tall buildings of Kowloon are clearly visible


A self-portrait. I was very worried here about the camera blowing off the post it was on!

Clouds drifted quickly across the vista with strong winds


One of my favourite views... Looking down towards the Clear Water Bay Beaches from the top of High Junk Peak.


A final panorama from the top of High Junk Peak, before I start my (very slow) descent


Heading backdown through the jungle, almost down to the road. Through some of the denser sections, I was tempted to get my headtorch out!

I snapped a few more photos on the way back to UST, but the quickly darkening conditions made taking any (even mediocre) photos tough. I spotted a couple of tiny frogs on the way back, but each time they disappeared into the undergrowth before I could get the camera ready.




This was a really enjoyable run, and I felt much stronger than expected on the uphill sections, running almost everything aside from a few very steep sections. Only about a month now till I leave Hong Kong, and I'm really going to miss the accessibility to wonderful dirt trails like this.

Saying goodbye one step at a time,
~ Joe

Midday Heat - Monday the 20th of June, 2011

With the approach of every tropical storm Hong Kong experiences calm, very sunny and very very hot weather, and this week is no exception. Just surviving my runs is enough for me, and any time goals go out the window!


Don't let the dark looking photos fool you, if I had pointed the camera at the mountains, the sky would be lost to pure white!


All of Hong Kong experiencing a good bake


Very vivid colours direct from the W90. I think I'll have to turn the saturation down a little!


The view looking towards Fei Ngo Shan (Kowloon Peak) before gently cruising back to UST.

Took things quite easy on this run and rather enjoyed it, but the hot weather sure does make things pretty difficult. Looking forward to a long slow week of running!

See you under the sun!
~ Joe

Swimming Upstream - Thursday the 16th of June, 2011

Heading out for another post-work jaunt around my normal sunset route, the super high humidity made things notably harder than on previous days. The air felt heavier around me, like halfway between running and swimming! My legs were a little tired from running all of the previous 3 days and being in no rush, I took this run slow.


It had been raining on and off all day, pushing the humidity super high, but didn't rain at all on my run




Clouds move across the peaks in the Ma On Shan Country Park


Right down at the end of this valley is the ridgeline I will eventually be running along


The ground very wet as I set out along the trail section


The darkening valley


This isn't a gutter, but rather, a quite impressive viaduct to transport water from the stream to the little community/illegal garden nearby the trail


The graffiti of someone with a mild stomach complaint?


The sun finally breaks through the clouds to project the ridgeline onto some nearby buildings


A garage essentially just made of rusting corrugated iron sheets


A less dramatic look at the peaks that encircle Kowloon


A panorama exposed for the clouds and sky


Along this ridgeline there are two of these very large reflector looking objects... but they have no electrical connections, no parabolic shape and are very dirty on the front. No idea what they could be for!


Front view


View from the next hilltop showing their alignment. Very strange!


Things darkening quickly. Looking towards Hong Kong Island


The clouds break up only after the sun has disappeared


Looking down towards Tiu Keng Leng, where I'll soon be


I almost stepped on this little guy who wouldn't budge from his spot on these concrete steps


Obviously upset by all the media attention!


Lights from the new Lohas Park buildings reflected off Junk Bay


Still lots of water around as I prepare for the final hill


Plenty of snails all over the trails as I work hard up the last push




Completely dark back at UST with the light pouring out of the Atrium

I was pretty happy with this run but it did take a lot longer than this route normally does. I'm beginning to think that with Hong Kong just getting hotter and hotter, and myself leaving soon, I've already ran my best time on this course a couple of runs back. It's a little disheartening to think that. Ah well. When the heat comes and makes going fast hard, it's best to just relax and enjoy the runs instead of pushing hard.

Hope you see you all out and enjoying yourself on the trails!
~ Joe