Tag: 2600 km in 2017

forty two by forty two

Books Read:
Zilch

Kilometres Ran:
week nine — 55.5

To date: 490 km

So I didn’t read anything this week. Well, I read some bits of some stuff and a couple New Yorker articles. And I signed up for the architecture course through Harvard online called The Architectural Imagination and I think I’m going to like it a lot so I’ll probably be talking about that for the next ten or so weeks. Maybe I’ll read some stuff too. Hey, it could happen. Stranger things have happened. For instance, did you notice this post isn’t covering multiple weeks?

For the record I abhor the RHCP

I got this lamebrained idea I’m not quite sure when exactly, but I’m pretty sure that it was while I was running, that I should run 42 kilometres on or around my 42nd birthday and then in the midst of the run I spent entirely too much time trying to figure out when I turn 42. So that’s embarrassing. But I’ll write about it, publicly, so now it’s comedy. Anyway, once I figured out that I turn 42 this June it did seem really lamebrain. I’ve said, out loud, that I have no interest in running a marathon and that I probably never will. But lately. Lately…. I ran 12-and-a-bit kilometres today, and/but my past three runs have been over 20 kilometres each and I’m well aware that 20 km isn’t exactly 42 km but the BMO Vancouver Marathon is nine weeks away and although I signed up for the half-marathon back in June of 2016 or whenever the super good deal was for past participants after spending the past 24 hours or so looking around for eight-week marathon training plans today I changed my BMO Vancouver registration from a half marathon to a full marathon and put down the $70 difference plus the $10 change fee plus Justin Trudeau’s share (I’ve decided to just imagine that all taxes go directly to him) so I guess I’m going to run 42 kilometres a little less than a month before I turn 42 years old. And just think, after that I’ll never have to do it again!

persuasion

Books Read:
9. In Persuasion Nation — George Saunders

Kilometres Ran:
week seven — 53.4
week eight — 68.3

To date: 434 km

I lent someone my copy of Tenth of December and I cannot for the life of me remember who. I thought that I remembered who but I asked her and she does not remember borrowing it, which doesn’t necessarily mean that she didn’t or and that I didn’t but it also got me to thinking that maybe I didn’t lend it to anyone and maybe my copy was an epub copy and not a physical copy at all. My copy of Persuasion Nation is an epub copy. I really liked Tenth so I thought that I would really like Persuasion but I didn’t really like I just liked it. It was good. It didn’t make me want to stop reading Saunders or anything. Yet I’ve been having trouble finding motivation to read much of anything lately. I do spend a lot of time on the sofa listening to music and just thinking about stuff. And the clock just seems to spin.

Strava says third best half at 1:45:14. Doppelgänger says that’s what you get for being social.

I am not bored with running, though I still only run three or four days per week. But I’ve been running longer on those three or four days. In lieu of the canceled Vancouver First Half, Forerunners hosted a social half marathon on February 18. It took a little bit of sitting on the sofa listening to [probably Underworld] and pondering the mysteries of the universe to persuade me to participate. I’ve written many times about my solitary-itude when it comes to running. But I did it, and I’m glad that I did. I even *gasp* talked to people while I was running. I blame being social (though it could have very well been the stopping for water around kilometre 15) that I failed to post a new PR, but I had a good time and I ran a route that I’ve only sort of run once before — the route follows parts of the Scotiabank Half route. And I learned that running down hill (obviously forgot after last year’s Scotiabank) absolutely destroys my quads and maybe I need to do some hill training or something. I’ve been saying that for about a year now…. So I didn’t post a new PR, but I learned something and had a good time. Also, beat my Scotiabank time, so there’s that too. So now the lingering thought, do I persuade myself to up my BMO Half to the full marathon. I turn 42 in June, and I’ve been thinking that running 42 the year that I turn 42 would be, I dunno, interesting? I checked the other days, and I have until mid-April to persuade myself, and put down the $70 race registration change fee. I think I need to decide sooner than that.

running with sasquatch

Books Stuff Read:
Advanced Collective Bargaining
B.C. Labour Relations Code
B.C. Employment Standards Act
Yarrow Lodge Ltd. [1993] BCLRBD No. 463

Kilometres Ran:
week six — 84.1

To date: 312 km

There was never any risk of insomnia. I spent the week out at Harrison Hot Springs Resort for the fourth week of the annual Canadian Labour Congress’ Winter School in the Advanced Collective Bargaining class. So I completely missed the snowpocalypse in Vancouver. But Harrison had its own, so I didn’t miss it, per se, I just got a different version. Mine was colder, dryer, windier and snowier but the first two made the last one much more bearable. Or maybe Sasquatchable? If I ever knew (seems probable) about the Fraser Valley’s fascination with Bigfoot I’d forgotten. But I digress. I didn’t get a lot of reading done this week because I was busy reading other stuff and by the time I got back to my hotel room each evening I opted to go sit in the hot springs rather than stay in my room with a book. Small sacrifice. From time to time I almost very nearly impulse bought one of those glowing, waterproof Kobos. That would have been handy. Though by now one could hardly characterize it as impulsive.

I arrived in Harrison on Sunday in the midst of an ongoing blizzard and between the walk from the bus to the hotel cabin fever was already setting in. After checking in and getting settled I checked out the fitness room: two treadmills, one elliptical, and one stationary bike. The room opened at 6:30 a.m. Classes started at 9. I was confident, for reasons I should refrain from articulating. Suffice it to say, there was a “no scent policy”, so while deodorant was verboten, smelling of booze and/or cigarettes was a-okay. Hence, I wasn’t expecting a line up for the fitness centre at 6:30 in the morning. And I was wrong. I showed up Monday morning to find the machines spoken for and a line up. Frustrated, I went back to my room. And then my stubbornness set in. I changed from shorts to tights and grabbed my toque and went outside. My phone read minus 10 plus the wind. My Garmen couldn’t find a GPS signal (not confidence inspiring, Garmen, ahem…) so I just used Strava on my phone and set off. And I am so glad that I did. The wind was sporadic and while the snow drifts were sometimes over my knees the snow itself was dry and soft. No surprise ice patches and no slush. The mornings were beautiful, with barely even a car to contend with. I ran every day this week, and in spite of the worst weather since I started running this is the farthest I’ve ever run in one week. So after a rather frustrating week five, with week six I’m back on track for 2,600 km. I didn’t make it to Sasquatch Park though. Perhaps Harrison deserves a return visit.