Thursday, August 5, 2010

Iona Park – Bald Eagle sighting on the Jetty

Panorama at the tip of the Jetty

Last Friday, a few friends (Brian, Maca, Lional) was just starting to pick up running again and so what better way to (secretly) break them in than by exploring the scenic ocean view on the Jetty at Iona for an afternoon run. The goal of the run was to figure out their long run paces with the assistance of the distance markers on the jetty (because not everyone has GPS watches, which is simply wrong!). Conditions were hot and strong headwinds on the way out.


Q: What's the difference between 'see' and 'sea'?
A: I can see the sea but the sea doesn’t see me.

My left eye had been a little foggy of late so I figured after 8 years I should book an appointment with the optometrist to do a regular check-up earlier in the morning.

As expected, my optometrist confirmed that my left eye was inflamed and I was given the choice to go on antibiotics or let it heal itself in two weeks. I choose the latter greener option; however I’m now banned from wearing contact lenses until I fully recover.


This is not exactly good news if you have global domination on your agenda. Regardless, How to become one step closer to global domination with very keen sightedness, STEP No. 4: have eagle-eye vision.


Unfortunately for me, recently being banned from the use of contacts, I couldn't wear both my prescription glasses and polarized sunglasses (without some clever engineering as recommended by Scott - duct tape).




Apparently from what I learned after the visit with the optometrist, an unscientific explanation on the polarized lenses is that they can filter out polarized rays, unwanted glare, (rays that have been reflected from the ground) so that your brain do not need to delete them afterwards if absorbed, thereby allowing you to see more. NEAT-O!!

So the trade-off is do I want squinty vision limited by unwanted bright glare and sunlight, or polarized vision with blurry far peripheral vision? I went with the latter.


Honestly, the first thought that came to mind was “Andrew will beat me in Sooke!” I’m just a competitor by nature; these thoughts just kick in by instinct. The optometrist was very understanding and offered me a couple pairs of daily contacts for Sooke. Sorry Andrew!


Running back on the jetty with my blurry left eye vision and holding onto my camera like a quarterback, I managed to see this big brown fluffy thing sitting on the rock just 3 metres away.



I halted to a grinding stop from my blistering 4:30 min/km pace (with tail wind) and shot these sweet pictures.


Ironically, I don’t need eagle-eyes to see a bald eagle.


My sister screams CUTE!! Not sure I would agree.

Not bad for an ordinary day of training.

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