Bait and Switch - Monday 17th of August, 2010

The morning was overcast, slightly cooler... good for running! Maybe I'll run along that seaside single-track I ran once, I thought, but then right around midday the heavens opened... If you've never lived in the serious tropics, you might never have seen what in Hong Kong counts as torrential rain. This was tor-rent-ial rain.

Off putting? No way! I love running in the rain. Aside from making me feel like a real tough guy, it's a welcome change from sweltering heat. I wouldn't be able to run my dirt track, but nevermind. So I rush downstairs to get changed and hurry back topside to find.... super bright blasting sunshine. And on top of the heat, everything was soaking wet, with huge puddles everywhere fueling super-humid conditions.


Impressive cloud formations in the sun after the downpour.


My route followed roads and bike paths but is generally bordering on jungle. A drop off here to the right.


Puddles everywhere and wonderful clouds to reflect.

This is the first time I've ran this course, I always expected that going around Hang Hau would take me too long, but it turned out to be not that bad since it's all paved and mostly flat. My lagging time was much more due to the hot and humid conditions as I made my way up the hills!



Trail shoes are on their way, so expect some interesting looking, dirty trails!

Happy trails,
The Ghost Who Runs (and photographs!)

The Photographer's Biathlon

4 Demons in 5 Days - Friday 13th of August, 2010

Well, completed the week's running today with another midday session in the baking sun. Ran today with a friend who also works here at HKUST. I Didn't have the motivation today (again) to run down to Bak Sha Wan so ran up the hill towards Choi Hung again, along the same route as Tuesday.


Across this bridge before the fun starts: the hundred metre elevation gain over the next kilometre seen in the profile in Tuesday's post. Sorry for the crooked panorama!


Willie moving quick on the return journey back to HKUST.


A detour down the "garden path" at the tail end of the journey.

So, about 37km in four different runs this week. Rest day tomorrow and then perhaps more running on Sunday or Monday again.

Remember, I'm still looking for more people to contribute to blog... so let me know!

See you on the trails!
Joe

The Photographer's Biathlon

Saturation Point - Thursday 12th of August, 2010

Might try to give the posts a name from now on, just to differentiate them a bit. I didn't fancy the hard, hard run down to Bak Sha Wan and back this lunchtime, so opted to run the same route as Monday.

It poured rain this morning, which meant the jungle was still very wet and the trails were a little muddy. Despite being a designed-and-bred road shoe, my Asics Gel DS-Trainers (15s) have easily enough grip to take on this terrain. I alternate these with a pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 12s which, compared to the Asics, are terribly unstable and have poor poor traction. I, in fact, came to grief in the Mizunos, losing it big time on a waterfront board-walk in downtown Hong Kong but that's a story I'll save for later, perhaps my shoe review.


The road heading out of HKUST. It crosses a bridge over a small stream that eventually leads to a great waterfall, there's a nice run down there (depending on your definition of "nice run"), but I'll have to wait till my trail shoes arrive to tackle that. Also, that big hill in the centre of the picture is called "Razor Hill" and has a great trail right along the ridgeline. This is also ear-marked as a future route for when the trail shoes arrive!


The section of the trail facing Po Lam before you cross a saddle onto the waterfront side (as seen in Monday's run).


Bigger than it looks, this foot-long skink was sunbathing on the path.


It's not all fun and games... Roasting here on this open, uphill section of the road leading back to UST.

Tuesday 10th of August, 2010

Tuesday hosted a less interesting run, but one that is a little easier on the legs than Monday's route. It's an "out and back" route along a mountain road from HKUST here, with a little detour to take some trail towards the end. Most of the altitude gains are made at the start, so towards the end you can just cruise home. The negatives of pounding pavement are greatly offset by the views along the way!


Just at the top of the climb looking downhill. Hot weather!


Almost stepped on this guy who was wandering around on the footpath.


Crossing a little stream on the detour on the way home.

Very hot conditions for this run, and for the first time I experienced problems with my iPod Shuffle because it was getting too wet! The course map shows the obvious out and back route which is nicely represented in the symmetry in the elevation profile!



The Photographer's Biathlon

Monday 9th of August, 2010

First real post! I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to be titling these posts yet, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

I know this is a little late (as the run was on Monday) but now that the blogs up and running (ha.ha.ha.) things should be smoother.

These photos are from a lunchtime run along my favourite route in hills here around HKUST. All up it's about a 40mins round-trip, with no overlap and no doubling back. It's about 20mins on wonderful wooded trails and the rest beside (mostly) unpopular roads.


This is the start of the wooded trail, and even on scorching days like Monday, the shade is a welcome retreat.


The course then winds around the slope eventually ending on the valley floor much further around to the right. The road you can see down there is the return route!


The road back. Sea-views make up for having to run along a road!

As I often run similar routes many times, I'll try to keep things interesting by taking photos of different parts of the routes. As this is first time I've listed this route, I'll include a route map and the elevation chart!

Running and Shooting

So, this is my new blog based around running and the beautiful places that I do it in. I've spent long hours running, at sunset, on trails, the waterfront, and often thought: boy that's beautiful, I wish I had my camera. The Pentax K20D is far too heavy to run with, and my previous compact, a Casio EX Z-850, would have quickly died in the heavy rain and heavier sweating conditions, so this was purely wishful thinking. That's all in the past now, and armed with my brand new Pentax Optio W90 I can attend to my own personal biathlon... Running and Shooting!

I'll be posting photos of the beautiful places I run here, snaps of interesting things, (likely) reviews of running and photographic equipment and possibly even some hiking stories/posts. There's plenty of room for guest articles or even co-authours, so if you're interested, let me know! The first couple of posts about this weeks runs should be up soon, so stay tuned!

I'd love as many comments and whatever feedback people care to give so don't be shy!

See you on the trails!
Joe