Monday August 1st:  BE PREPARED!  Is the City of Burnaby, taking precautions for ice, on August
1 on one of the bridges on the Burnaby Lake route.

Flora, Bob, Rod and Larry ran around Burnaby Lake on BC Day while Edie and April walked/ran to Nature House and back.  Alex went to Cameron and then came to Burnaby Lake, running at different locations and searched in vain for his fellow Cruisers.  


Wednesday August 3rd: On Wednesday evening RA Edie, Larry, Rod and Bobtoc met at the Centre for a walk using the route FGD backwards.  Flora joined the merry band on Forest Grove Drive on the hill west of the pedestrian overpass.  The five continued their walk on the Drive to Underhill, south to Eastlake, east back to the Centre via the usual route.  Frequent stops were made along the way to taste test the blackberries which are in abundance, albeit hard to reach in some spots due to height of the branches and lack of weapons with which to bring the branches down to reachable levels.  Again, it was perfect summer weather, cloudy, not too hot, again  the best evening of the year.  

Saturday August 6th: RA Edie, Flora, Larry, Sherian and Bobtoc from Production Way or Holdom Ave Skytrain stations  and Alex from the Metrotown Skytrain station met at the Telus Science World to begin their run/rog/walk of the False Creek area Saturday on a perfect day, best of the year.  The six began their journey on the north side proceeding west on the False Creek walkway, continuing to the Vancouver Aquatic Centre on Beach Avenue, then climbed the many stairs north of Beach to reach the Burrard Street bridge.  The six turned to south on the bridge to Cornwall, then Chestnut Street to the sites of Bard on the Beach, the Planetarium, the Museum of Vancouver, the Observatory and continued from there to run east toward and onto the south side of False Creek along the south side of Granville Island into the condominium area which faces to the north of False Creek.  The six continued their journey to the square at the Olympic Village for a coffee break.  The square teemed with folks enjoying the ambience and the weather, of

the setting.  From there the group ran/rogged./walked back to the Science World, located Flora who somehow had left the other five to run east on the north side of False Creek.  The six, now reunited, went to the Main Street Skytrain station for the return to Burnaby.  The morning was magic; world class scenery, perfect weather, a cloud cover which provided ideal temperature for the outing.  Time out, 1:48, distance about 10 km, more, say 12 km for Flora.  A good time was had by all!  Kudos to Edie for her planning for the outing.  The group has not done this route for quite a while.  Some photos were taken; hopefully they will be sent by Flora and Edie. 

From Coquitlam Cruisers:  Time away from running.  Jennel;s family to Whistler for 3 days, to  Harrison Hot Springs for 4 days, and on Saturday,
Heather and her hubby organized a volleyball tournament locally, in which Tony participated.  Imagine:  time away from running! (Editor’s note).

 Rocky Point Sunday August 7th:  Goose step

Monday August 8th:

RA Edie with canine April, Alex, Rod and Bobtoc chose to run, rog or walk Monday from the Centre using the route Eastlake to Underhill, from which Edie returned to the Centre, her time would have been about an hour; Alex, Rod and Bobtoc continued up Underhill to Broadway, Arden, Greystone, up Shellmont back to Underhill, east on FG Drive, the overpass and back to the Centre.  The three tested blackberries on the route, found the quality improved.  The four Cruisers enjoyed the cloud covering and warm temperature which prevailed for their outing..  Time and distance, 1:40 not counting 9 minutes used in blackberry testing, and 8.4 km respectively. 
Saturday August 13th:  RA Edie with canine April,  Alex ,Flora, Larry, Rod, Sherian, Bobtoc plus Ross with hike bike turned up at Rocky Point Saturday a half hour earlier than the customary 8:00 am on account of the hot weather anticipated, and experienced.   The seven on foot ran, rogged or walked to the north side,  Sherian to April Road and back, time probably about 1:45,, Edie and Flora also to April Road and back, time 2:15, Larry, Rod and Bobtoc to the Imperial Oil pearly gates, and return, time 2:18, and Alex to the White Pine Beach and return, his time 2:27.  Distances for Sherian, Edie and Flora, 9.4 km, for Larry, Rod and Bobtoc 11:4 km, and for Alex, 15:5 km.  Ross put approx. 8 km on his bike.  The group repaired to the ice cream shop at Rocky Point for debriefing.  Flora, hot to trot for additional mileage, opted to walk home via Thermal Drive to add additional steps on her pedometer, providing her an additional 4.6 km, for an expenditure of 70 minutes’ additional time.  Great work Flora, on a hot day!
Flash!  Flora and Ross met Gi-yun Moon at Mundy Park recently and took a selfie plus picture of him.  He looks good.


On Saturday Aug 13 Ivan ran the Lulemon Half Marathon in 2.39, his first run for a while.  Congratulations Ivan!

Monday August 15th:  RA Edie with canine April and Bobtoc welcomed Shiraz back to the Centre after an absence from the group.  In view of the heat and humidity the trio chose to walk the Stoney Creek trail to North Road and return.  Time and distance,  58 minutes, approx. 5.5 km.

Wednesday August 17th:  
On  Tuesday evening Jennel did the Coquitlam Crunch 3.5 km twice,  just before dusk.
On Wednesday on a hot, steamy evening Alex, RA Edie, Flora, Larry, Rod and Bobtoc opted to walk, the route chosen being the Stoney Creek trail to North Road, north to Chapman Ave to Clarke continuing on North Road to Lyndhurst St, south on Willoughby Ave back to Cameron Centre.  Edie, Flora Larry and Rod did the course in 1.27, and Alex and Bobtoc, 1.33.  Distance about 6 km.






 Saturday August 20th: Great news!  Flora arrived at Rocky Point spot on 7:30 am !  She joined Larry, Rod, Alex and Bobtoc to greet Len and Miriam, back from the 8,273 k cycling trip as far as St. John’s NF, and Cape Spear by cab.  They looked great.  They brought along their granddog Jax, the name being as short as the dog was small, and the dog also was given greetings from the Cruisers.  The seven rogged or walked in three groups the usual route, crossing to the north shore to Alderside to April Road, continuing on the Ioco Road to the “pearly gates” and return.  Distance, 11.5 km.  The first group came in 2.12 with the other two groups a bit later.  Alex and Bobtoc continued to the pier before joining the others as they came in to gather at the ice cream parlour.  The group enjoyed reasonable temperature at the outset of their jaunt, and the temperature increased early.  Back to Flora:  She again walked  to her home again, adding 7,099 paces to her pedometer, distance 11.4 km,  in time 1:05.  Good show Flora!   Life is good!

Monday August 22nd:  Alex, Larry, Libby, Rod, Sherian and Bobtoc met at the Centre Monday evening.  The destination for the six used  was North Road using  Cameron Street to Government Street to Cariboo to Joe’s Trail  to the gate at North Road and return to the Centre.  Larry’s time was 1:02; Alex, 1:13, Sherian guestimate 1:15, Rod 1:24 and Libby and Bobtoc 1:31.  The six re-convened at the rustic fence we all know and love at the Centre, and generally enjoyed the weather, the scenery and the company of each other before departing.  As said before, life is good.

Coquitlam Cruisers:  Jennel on Sunday RAN the Coquitlam Crunch twice; 11 km total with a stop to refill her water bottle.  Saw a friend training for the Coquitlam Crunch Challenge, Sept 10th, the challenge being the 437 stairs of the Crunch.  Time 8:00 am,  4 times up and down the Crunch in 4 hours.   Registration at Coquitlan/crunch.com  or at running room.com.

Wednesday August 24th:  Alex, RA Edie, Larry, Laura and and Bobtoc met at the Centre Wednesday on a hot, steamy, 30C evening.  In view of the heat and humidity the group walked the Stoney Creek trail to North Road and returned to the Centre; time 58.18 and distance 4 km, from the rustic fence we all know and love and back.  The Creek trail provided shade and cooler temperature. 

Saturday August 27th:  RA Edie, Alex, Larry, Laura, Rod and Bobtoc met 7:30 am Saturday at the Burnaby Lake parking lot under some cloud and a most comfortable temperature, about 15C. Once the destination for the morning run/rog/walk was announced,  Alex took charge and led the six to Deer Lake,  and what followed was an extraordinary outing which included exercise of course,  new trails, new scenes, and some history of 19th and 20th   centuries in what is now Burnaby and Vancouver.   Alex led the group south on Kensington to the road between the City Hall grounds and the Burnaby Village park to the beach at Deer Lake, west on the trail south of the lake, continuing into a walkway leading to the Oaklands complex of condominiums.  The group encountered a substantial concrete set of steps and rails which are preserved from the Oakalla Prison, which was built in 1912, on land formerly occupied by Coast Salish aboriginals, who in the
19th century assisted the Royal Engineers in surveying the lands in the area.  The set of steps led up the hill to the west to a well-constructed path and sets of steps.  Twelve bronze plaques provided bits and pieces of history of the 19th century of False Creek in the west, etc. plus a progressive count of the steps which took the group to Royal Oak and Grange St.  There are 321 steps; great fun.  From there the group moved north on Royal Oak to a trail leading back into the Deer Lake area.  The group continued east eventually back to the road taking them back to Canada Way and Kensington, returning to the Burnaby Lake area, although the group continued first on Kensington to the Fortius complex to enjoy a coffee at Starbucks.  Time and distance, 2:05, and  10 k. The members of the group during the outing thanked Alex for his leadership in showing us what we saw.  Thank you again, Alex, for a very interesting outing.  There may be a history test Monday..

Monday August 29th:  RA Edie, Alex, Larry, Rod and Bobtoc met 6:30 pm at the Burnaby Lake parking lot.  The five rogged and walked south on Sperling Ave to its end, hung a left on Glencarin, ran east until the five had reached 4 km distance then returned on the same route. The hours of daylight are noticeably less, therefore we did not wish to be running with insufficient light.  The five enjoyed cooler temperature but noted fairly high humidity.  Times in ranged from 1:12 to, for Bobtoc, 1:21; distance 8 km.  The rugby fields were busy with teams in training.

Coquitlam Cruisers:  Jennel reports her hookey is over.  She and Heather went for a walk down Parkway Blvd in the rain, while Jennel;s girls babysat Heather’s dog named Burrows.  The two runners debriefed at Starbucks then retraced their steps back up Parkway to Jennel’s home.  A start, says Jennel.  Long term plan: run in September.

Wednesday August 31st: Alex, Larry, Rod and Bobtoc met 6:30 pm at Confederation Park, enjoyed a 18C or so temperature, some cloud pregnant with rain.  The four rogged and walked east from the park using Penzance Drive which is north of the Park, south to Gamma Ave, east to Cambridge St, east up up up the hill to Delta, Hythe, Glynde Avenues to site-see (spelling intended) the Capitol Hill area and enjoy the fabulous view from a number of vantage points, and on the way, salivate over some outstanding homes established, new, or being torn down to make way for new construction.  The views enjoyed stretched far to the west past the Lions Gate Bridge and then some.   Distance and time, 4.5 km, 1:16.