Books Read(-ing)
24. How to be an Antiracist – Ibram X. Kendi
25. The End of Policing – Alex S. Vitale
Kilometres Ran
week twenty four – 51.5
2020 to date: 1,492 KM
It did feel a bit weird that in the midst of listening to all the calls to amplify BIPOC voices the book that everyone is turning to is by a white woman and I was one of them too. So this week I tried to correct my wrong while I continue to try to correct all my wrongs with Ibram Kendi’s How to be an Antiracist and while I did not get nearly as far through it as I had hoped to it is excellent and I think far better than that other one that everyone is reading. I mean, read them both, I guess. But if you’ve decided that you only have time for one or the other I suggest this one instead. I also started into Alex Vitale’s End of Policing because ACAB but also I’d like to be educated ACAB and while I think a lot of “defund the police” is just pain common sense it has because rather apparent through my interactions online amongst mine own circle that I have a rather different notion of common sense. Plus I want to really understand where I stand. I’ve heard people question what “defund” means but I also think that most of the time they’re just doing the typical white person devil advocate nonsense when they know exactly what “defund” means. (It means stop giving public money to law enforcement and put that money into public programs instead.) But for gawd’s sake “defund” doesn’t mean “abolish” does it? Maybe! I’m still trying to sort that out, and Vitale’s book is going to help force me to come to terms with that and that’s a good thing that everyone should come to terms with. We should at least all agree that “I know this one cop and they’re okay” is a pretty shitty argument for why, for instance, the Vancouver Police Department needs 21 per cent of the entire City of Vancouver budget. Anyway, you can currently get a free digital copy of The End of Policing on the Verso website. Link at the top of the page.
I took it easy this week to give my right foot / achilles / calf a bit of a break. At least I thought that I did until I sat down to start typing this drivel. I backed off to three runs but still managed over 50 KM and added in another 83 KM on the bike for a weekly Relative Effort score of 603 versus 561 the week before and 446 back in week twenty two. What does that mean? I have no idea! But apparently Strava thinks I’m still hitting it pretty hard. My fancy new watch, however, still tells me at the end of every single activity that what I just did was “unproductive.” My foot feels a bit better but not better-better, but better enough that I decided to cancel my physiotherapist appointment for tomorrow since it’s not getting worse, there’s no swelling, and it hasn’t caused me to limp nor change my running stride. Sure, there’s something unhappy going on in the tendons on top of my foot and at the point where my achilles attaches to my heel, but it’s either plateaued or it’s healing. So with fingers crossed for crisis averted, we’re going to cautiously put a bit of load back onto it on Workout Wednesday and see what happens.