(Above. The sun setting towards the left, using its remaining light to show the lake. Photo by author)

 

As I completely forgot to put this as an activity post last year, here is me doing it now. On the 18th of March, I spent the weekend with my grandparents in Dehiwala, and towards the late afternoon to the evening, my grandfather and I went to Bellanwila Park, a park that I used to go to and cycle almost every weekend. After the pandemic, we couldn’t go as much, and this was the first visit in roughly 4 years that I came back. Only this time, I jogged all the way.

Bellanwila Park is a nice calming area for people to exercise around the named “Weras Lake” (I have no idea who named it that, and that was the first tie I found out). You would expect to see some buffalos, and some lizards, and if you are really lucky, you could expect to see a crocodile. The path itself is 3 kilometers long, but at the time of jogging, I never realized it. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to go two whole rounds, but because of the rain clouds forming in the sky and ruining my mood, I only went about halfway. But this is where the problem lies.

I do enjoy these jogs, and even though I do know about the distance I travel for one round, the problem is I am unaware of my pacing and the time it takes to do a full round. Even more, if I wanted to go half a round or quarter of a round, I can’t keep track of that. That is where Mr. Lockwood introduces Strava. The popular activity app is crafted to monitor progress. Until you press end, Strava will map out your entire journey every step you go. So the next time I visit Bellanwila Park or any other walking track, I will use Strava to cover my tracks. Then I can see the progress I make and see where I can improve, like increasing my pacing, or setting a time to finish, etc. The possibilities are endless.