Between the return of major league sports, peak hiking/biking season across Canada and medical officers asking all of us to be good sports about wearing a mask, there is a wide range of subject matter for this month’s photo blogging challenge.

1. Major League Sports

Mr GeoK likes to record NHL, Blue Jays and Raptors games and watch them during his morning workouts. He also enjoys afternoon games while snacking on a bowl of freshly popped popcorn and sipping a cold root beer. And while my interest in major league sports is limited to asking who won, I do appreciate the popcorn!

2. Hiking

Enter “is hiking a sport” in your favourite search engine and you’ll see strong arguments for yay and nay. We define sport as any recreational activity that requires physical exertion and gives enjoyment, which puts hiking on side.

I keep a log of our hikes: at least one hour, at least five km and purely for exercise/enjoyment. Our 2020 log ’til the end of August has 73 entries that total to more than 600 km distance and 18,000 meters total elevation gain. Our most challenging hike in August? Reaching the summit of Cirque Peak via Helen Lake, in northern Banff National Park (hike report pending). It was our fourth time hiking to Helen Lake, but our first time continuing to Cirque Peak. Here’s Mr GeoK, looking back to make sure I made it up the first bit scrambly bit.

3. Biking

Biking lands in multiple camps: it’s a competitive sport (the 2020 Tour de France is currently underway), a recreational activity, and a mode of active transportation. We enjoy cycling for fitness and regularly ride our bikes instead of our car when running errands. When we ride for fun, we like to see who completes each ride with the highest moving average speed. In 2020, Parks Canada has closed a stretch of the secondary highway in Banff National Park to vehicles and it’s amazing to see how many people ride this stretch of mountain road every day, many of them repeat riders. In August we rode this stretch of highway for the third time, changing it up a bit by doing the short hike to Silverton Falls at the far end.

4. Water Sports

I grew up lake sailing, but it’s decades since I last took the helm of a water craft. And that last time didn’t go so well – I capsized a 15-foot catamaran and needed help to right it. But COVID-19 has got us thinking about getting out on the water, where social distancing doesn’t seem to be a challenge. We’ve pretty much decided on an inflatable, two-person kayak. But they’re pretty much impossible to find this first summer of COVID-19. So we’re keeping an eye on a couple of online stores and look forward to getting out on some turquoise mountain lakes next year. Meanwhile, every time we cycle around Glenmore Reservoir (Calgary’s main source of drinking water), we enjoy watching kayaks, canoes and racing shells cutting through the water.

5. Winter Sports

We’ve been talking about what’s going to happen this winter. We expect social distancing, small bubbles/cohorts and daily exercise will still be central tenants of COVID-19 guidance from chief medical officers. So will skates, skis, toboggans and snow pants sell out by Halloween? We are already equipped with snow shoes, MICROspikes and appropriate winter clothes, so will still get out and explore Mother Nature all winter. When it’s just too cold to get a good sweat on outside, I have a little collection of full-body strength and cardio workouts that I do indoors. The only equipment I need? A set of hand weights, a resistance band and a smile. 🙂

That’s it from me on the topic of sports. Now it’s time for you to be a good sport and hop on over to host PJ’s post, scroll down to the link up and see what kind of fun and games the other participants got up to this month.

While you’re there, please consider joining this photo blogging challenge. I think of it as a low-stress photo assignment – an excuse to hone photography skills. For each month’s theme, share five photos taken with any camera. The amount of accompanying text is up to you. The next theme will be posted at a ‘lil Hoohaa in early September.