today's walk (3:45 a.m. start)

Let's just get right into this morning's 10K walk. I was out of the building at 3:45 a.m.

3:53 a.m.—walking for eight minutes and now going up the footbridge ramp

3:55 a.m. The electric light show turned off before midnight.

Looking southeast. Lotte World Tower looms in the distance.

This part of the top of the berm parallels this on-ramp/off-ramp above me.

4:09 a.m.—down at creek level

Tan-cheon to the right; the narrow ramp above me is almost complete after years of construction.

4:26 a.m.—burd, just chillin'

As bright as the above photo looks, it was actually still pretty dark.

Here, too, the camera picks up way more light than my eyes do. But dawn is here. 4:33 a.m.

Samseong Bridge (Samseong-gyo)

I've jumped away from the walking path next to the bikers so I can enjoy my alone time by walking the long parking lot that parallels the creek. There are occasional walkers and bikers here, but very few.

I get a Mines of Moria vibe whenever I walk this section. Thanks, Peter Jackson.

Sunrise will happen soon to the northeast (on the left in this photo).

old guy sitting where I wanted to sit, close to the U-turn point

U-turn point, 4:50 a.m.

turning around, walking back, almost at my chosen rest stop

I didn't have any angina today, but as I get older, I've been giving myself more rest breaks.

vaguely nigiri-shaped benches

This is where I decided to sit for 15 minutes. I always set my cell phone's timer.

the wastebasket cum cigarette-butt-tossing place

man walks by giant thigh bone

neverending construction

This part of the parking lot is too crowded with construction equipment and activity for parking.

The fences all say 안전재일/anjeon jaeil, or "safety first."

This dude was here very, very early compared to his tardy mates.

5:19 a.m. and fully daytime, but the marauding sun isn't shining its rays at me directly yet.

Lotte World Tower greets the dawn.

Today, I decided to become a crack addict.

Step on a crack, break your mother's back! Step on a line, break your mother's spine!

See the buses in the distance? The lot was full of them when I'd passed by on my way to the river.

Above, only two buses remain to stand guard.

5:32 a.m. I wonder if this is the same bird I'd seen an hour earlier (4:26 a.m.).

burd, in context

surprisingly un-skittish

and a surprisingly un-skittish magpie (ggachi/까치 in Korean)

It decided to show me its better side.

When I loomed over to take this shot, the caterpillar stopped, either posing or accepting that I might squish it.

I don't squish insects anymore. I've developed a superstition that the bad karma affects my angina. So I stopped randomly killing tiny creatures years ago.

planter boxes that I pass all the time and never photograph

"No unauthorized use of this route" or something like that.

safety rules for bridge inspectors

the fat pylon where those signs are located

along the top of the final berm before the footbridge back to my neighborhood

some kind of top/bottom-diagram chart, maybe for record-keeping of damage and repair of the bridge...?

the fence that has always blocked my view of whatever lies down the slope of the berm

Today, I used my phone camera to have a peek. Parking lot. For garbage trucks?

The garbage trucks I normally see in Seoul aren't white. I wonder if these are really garbage trucks. Maybe they haul cut branches and grass clippings and other plant debris.

The Rexa Gang leaves its tag!

Yeah!

The sun! It burns!

The longer-established DOEZN Gang, which can't seem to spell "dozen." (DOEZMY...?)

a tower, towering

a biker passes me

another DOEZN Gang tag

guardian cat, also unwontedly un-skittish

the other guardian, maybe waiting for a can of tuna

the two cats in context

looking ready to go somewhere but not moving

the quiet chaos under the bridge

yet another DOEZN tag

getting close to the footbridge

the benches near the footbridge where I rest for five minutes when I'm feeling chest pains

the footbridge and one of the ramps up

a less obstructed view

6:05 a.m. Contrast this with the previous photo at 3:55 a.m.

Don't fall through that hole.

the ramp down, my building in the distance

the final, shaded stretch

the white gaura

yellow Asiatic lily

If I have a daughter, I'm naming her Yellow Asiatic Lily. What, is that a problem?

6:20 a.m.—at my building

So... 3:45 a.m. to 6:20 a.m. = 2 hours and 35 minutes. Take away 18 minutes (15 minutes' rest + 3 minutes stopping and shutterbugging along the way), and that's 2 hours, 17 minutes. For 10K, that makes my speed 4.37 kph, which is positively vigorous by my pitiful standards (these days, I'm happy to range between 3.8 and 4.1 kph).

But I'm still getting hit by the sun even when leaving at 3:45 a.m. So I might have to pull a Jeff Hodges and wake up at 2:30 a.m. so I can end the walk before sunrise.

This become much less of an issue in the fall and winter, of course. At that time of year, sunrise happens significantly later, and ambient temps are much lower, making direct sunlight more tolerable. But Korean summer is what it is.

Huh... I just noticed that my building has a tax office. I didn't earn any income last year (unless you count the less-than-$100 I've earned through Substack and self-publication), so I'm not bothering with taxes this year.

Right, well, that's this morning's walk. Much cooler than the previous one. This week, I'm walking only MWF, with no walking over the weekend. On Saturday, I'm going to try to make carnivore hot-dog buns so I can eat some dang dawgs. That reminds me: I need to buy dill pickles to chop into relish. No ketchup, but I do have sriracha. And mustard. The 'tard.