Monday, November 28, 2011

Winter running (photo from this evenings run)



Winter has now settled over the Island and the days are getting very short which means running in the dark. I thought I would take my camera with me and snap a shot or two. This is my favorite photo from tonight's run.

This semester has been really tough, but running has helped me keep my sanity. I can't wait to have this semester behind me. Grad school is an endurance sport and I feel like I am using similar tactics to long distance running to keep going. Very similar to picking a tree or rock to run to, and repeating the process when you are really knackered; I am having to pick many small goals to work towards during my studies each day. If I look at the big picture it is a bit overwhelming, so by just focusing on finishing this paper or writing a paragraph is what is allowing me to keep on plowing through. Running is definitely applicable in many areas of my life!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Mount Doug Victoria, BC Trail Maps, (Hillshade, Contour, Satelite)

I have noticed that finding good trail maps of places like Mount Doug can be a challenge. The usual maps you find on line don't show enough detail and often are missing many trails. Before I started graduate school I worked in geographic information systems a.k.a. computer aided mapping. I found that the U.S. had great free resources to produce your own georeferenced maps using GPS or digital elevation models etc all free and readily available. Since moving to Canada I have found it difficult if not impossible to find freely available geographic information. So I decided to make a few maps combining data (all be it not the best data) from multiple sources in an attempt to provide a more useful map than currently exists. I had to use terrible quality rasters and photoshop them but in the end I feel these three maps are a nice approximation, and I hope others interested in viewing the trails on Mount Doug will find these maps useful. Keep in mind that they are approximate and by no means exact. They should give you a good idea as to which trail you are on and your options for various courses.

My next step is to put distance in Km's and miles on each trail section as well as a technicality ranking. That way anyone wanting to see the distances they ran or plan future routes can do so with ease.

The following three maps show a variety of formats ranging from hillshade and satelite, to street view, depending on your preference for viewing maps (I need to do a simplified grayscale one still). If you would like the maps in a larger format etc. feel free to e-mail or comment and I can send you a copy in the format you want. Feel free to use or re-post these maps if you would like and try to credit me if you are using them for public purposes.

Contour intervals are 20 meters or 65 feet.







Here is a short trail running video I made so my friend and I can train together even though he lives 1000 miles away. It shows a typical trail run on Mt. Doug.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

World in My Eyes: Trail Running Victoria BC at Sunset

This is a video I made at the end of summer of an 18 or 19 miler I ran at sunset. I like how you can see it getting later and later as the run progresses.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Fall trail running in Victoria, Vancouver Island

Here is a short video with some clips from a trail run a few days ago in October. It was a great run and the colors were brilliant. It might cause some motion sickness, I wish I had a camera stabilizer. It at least gives you an idea what a Fall run on the Island is like.