This Week’s Long Run: The Calm After the Storm

Last week’s long run was the Tel Aviv Marathon 10k (I broke my PR!), and the week before that was a majorly stormy day, so it was nice to get back to an early morning 10k after a hiatus.

There was a storm on Thursday, which meant that the sea was choppy, sand-brown, and there were even more seabirds about than usual.

That was 10k done and dusted, and as a bonus I’m adding some pictures from yesterday evening’s 5k, because the sea at sunset now is extra gorgeous.

How majestic is that sunset?

Tel Aviv’s Gordon and Metzizim beach, flooded after the storm:

This Week’s Long Run: A Day Early

It was supposed to rain heavily on Saturday morning (of course it only drizzled), so I pushed my weekend 10k from Saturday morning to Friday evening. There was a very brisk wind and I could see the storm clouds gathering as I ran (it did rain heavily throughout the night), but otherwise it was perfect running weather, not to hot, not too cold, and dry.

There were a lot of people out and about in the park, so I had less wildlife photo-ops than usual. An Egyptian goose taking a nap at the riverbank:

The “sea scouts” taking their distinctive green boats out:

Cormorants getting ready to sleep on a eucalyptus tree:

All in all it was a good run, even though I still prefer to get my long runs in in the morning. And to those who listened to this week’s “This American Life”: Tootles!

This week’s long run: baby ducks

Started out extra early today, so ran most of my run in the dark.

Two geese and a coot:

Mom and dad duck bringing their babies to the water’s edge:

Duck and egret ignoring each other on the exposed riverbed:

10k done, and my Egyptian goose friend approves:

This week’s long run: it’s worth getting up after a fall

On Sunday’s running group meet I tripped on a bit of uneven sidewalk in an unlit section of the park. I blocked my fall with my hands and knees, saving my head but tearing my tights and the skin off my knees. So I’ve been on a running hiatus until Friday, giving my knees time to heal. This meant that this week’s 10k was slow, as I was both out of shape and wary of the sidewalk, but at least I got it done.

Spur-winged lapwings waded along the riverbank:

The cormorants, wintering near the river, have a thing for this eucalyptus:

Two Egyptian geese perched on the river edge:

Rowing on the river:

A little egret fishing:

I also saw a moorhen and a pied kingfisher, but didn’t get the chance to photograph them.

Another 10k in the books:

This week’s long run: dark to light

Started this week’s long run in the cold, very dark pre-dawn, with a deserted promenade mostly to myself. Things started looking up near the halfway point, with the sun rising and warming things up a little. I’ve had almost a week’s running hiatus because of the rain, so getting back to it on Friday and today (Saturday) was painful, but in a good kind of way.

My iPhone 8 died on me on Wednesday night and is now getting checked out in the lab, so these are iPhone 6 photos, so you’ll extra have to forgive me for the quality. And with that, here are a few pretty, pretty pictures:

This week’s long run: coot on a boat

Last week’s long run was cancelled due to horrific weather conditions, but this one was run in almost perfect conditions, as if to compensate.

Check out this great bittern all camouflaged away waiting for some unsuspecting fish to come along. He’s in the water, on the right centre side of the photo:

Geese and gulls in the sunrise:

This little coot climbed on board the peddle boat and started nosing around for something good to eat. They’re pretty shy, so it was cool seeing him so relatively clearly:

A cormorant swimming in the middle of the river:

10km done and dusted.

This week’s long run: running rainbows

This morning’s long run was a race against the rain (spoiler alert — I lost at the last kilometre). Started out at 5:30, one of my earliest runs yet, and I could see the dark rain clouds come in over the sea. I would have loved to take a picture of them and the giant waves, but I prioritized getting my run over with before I got completely drenched, so I pushed forward instead.

I did stop to take a picture of this heron (there’s a better picture of him on the way back) because he looked so majestic against the backdrop of the river and the rising sun.

You can’t see him particularly well, but this is a pied kingfisher atop a pole. I saw him there last week too, so maybe that’s his spot. Later on during the morning seagulls take over the area and no kingfishers are to be found.

These pair of Egyptian geese were out grazing and the male really didn’t approve of me taking photos of his wife. They are large and pretty fearless birds, so once he started complaining at me I made sure to give him plenty of space.

And the heron from earlier, enjoying a cold morning dip:

A little egret paced along the temporary beach created by the low tide. He looked busy and preoccupied.

Just after I took this photo in a light drizzle on the last 900 meters of my run, torrential rain started, coupled by cold winds. Arrived home drenched and freezing, but elated. Running in the rain is a wild experience that everyone should try at least once.

Jaffa in the Sunshine

It looks like another year without winter here. I drew this during an Urban Sketchers sketch crawl, but since the sun was right in my face and it was blazing hot (31 degrees centigrade), I didn’t place the shadows properly.