Tag: Boston Marathon

2020 week two

For the past couple years I’ve tried to read a book per week but as life has gotten more busy, mostly running life, my reading has suffered, which means missing out on my goal last year. After 54 books read in 2018 I only managed to get through 45 last year. I feel a bit like I’m just reiterating what I wrote here last week in my 2019 review. My goal this year is to read 52 books but to not get too hung up on the idea of having to complete the goal at the expense of quality. I dislike the idea of setting goals without the intention of completing them, or at least having a plan to complete them, but there it is. Technically it’s the second week of the year and I’m already behind. I have at least 52 books lying around here waiting to be read, and a veritable plethora that deserve a revisit, so at least something-to-read is never going to be an issue.

Other than the rather ubiquitous run 2,020 kilometres in 2020, I wanted to come into the new year with some personal, tangible goals on the running side of things, but for the first time in a long time I’m coming up kind of vague. The problem is that I set really specific goals at various distances and, while some took a lot longer to achieve, last year I surpassed all of them except for that one big one. Go faster seems like a rather lame goal, but my problem is that I have absolutely no idea what a reasonable goal is when it comes to running anymore. I wonder if I will have a better idea after a couple races. If I’m crushing new PBs, then maybe I’ll have a better sense. I’m going to find out, soon. Last year I set a goal to race every month and smashed that, running 23 events throughout the year. My goal for this year is the same as last year – [at least] one race per month. I’d like that to become just a thing I do and not a necessarily a goal. I mentioned I’m going to find out soon, as I have my winter and spring pretty much mapped out already.

January 19 (next week!) – Icebreaker 8K
I’ve never raced 8 KM so I’m really curious to see how this one goes. Weather, especially the wind, apparently can be a huge factor at this event so I’m not getting too hung up on it. But in ideal racing conditions I’d like to finish in 31:30.

February – RunVan First Half Half Marathon
I have had terrible luck with this event. The first time I signed up it was cancelled when the City of Vancouver closed down the Seawall after a blizzard. The following year I went into it a bit hurt and finished barely walking. Last year I went into it recovering from an injury and ran party pace for the first 8 KM just to see if I could. This year I want to use it to set the tone for the year. So I’m aiming to finish 1:27:59 and a new, five second PB.

March – WestVanRun 5K + 10K
I’m not sure how it’s going to go racing at 101% effort back-to-back but I’m up for finding out. Saying that I’d like to PB both deserves a “duh” response, but won’t know my target until closer to the end of February. I will throw this out there though, it would be amazing to run the 10K in a time that would get me a blue bib at the Sun Run.

I love a good deal, which often means signing up for races to beat the rolling price increases, which means I’ve already put my name down for quite a few. Here’s what’s on tap for the rest of the year, so far.
April – Sunshine Coast April Fool’s Half Marathon
May – RunVan BMO Half Marathon
June – Scotiabank Half Marathon
September – Eastside 10K
September – BMW Berlin Marathon

I haven’t figured out anything past my the big one: the Berlin Marathon in September. I’m excited to race it and also for a chance at redemption after the disappointing performance at the California International Marathon this past December. I still want a BQ, and I think (hope?) Berlin will help me punch my ticket to Boston #125 in 2021.

This week was supposed to be all about setting goals for the year, and it was harder than I expected because last year went so great. But another thing happened this week, and that is I threw my name in the hat to be a Nuun Ambassador for 2020 and whatdayano my name got pulled. So that’s cool, not just because it’s a product that I really like a lot. Will I be a Nuun billboard in the start corral? Seems unlikely. In fact I’m still trying to figure out what exactly I signed up for, but I know a bunch of cool runners on the ambassador roster along with me this year, so I’m expecting some fun times in 2020.

2019 week thirty one

Book Read
29. No, Wait. Yep. Definitely Still Hate Myself – Robert Fitterman

Kilometres Ran
week thirty one – 42.3

2019 to date: 1,457 KM

I picked up this long poem expecting a bit of dark humour but instead found only dark. It’s not funny at all. Okay, there are accidental moments of humour sprinkled here and there, but over all it’s just banal, self deprecation that goes on for 88 pages. Fitterman trolls social media and blogs to compile a singular voice of abject sadness. Not this one though, as far as I could tell. The endeavour is interesting, and the way in which he manages to string it all together so that it seems to be coming from one voice is impressive, but otherwise it’s really rather meh. I mean, I’ve encountered the very real people whom Fitterman gives a mic with this work, and I’ve muted them. The (surprisingly?) out of print book is available for free as a PDF press proof here in case you’re in a fine, level mood or better (worse?) and have had just about enough of that shit.

Finish line sprint for a 40:40 at the 2019 VFAC Summerfast 10K. Photo by Taylor Smith (cropped).

So it happened that I was at Summerfast 10K to run around Stanley Park and I ran into local marathoner extraordinaire Walter Downey (PS this link will only work until his next marathon PB) and we got to talking about running and he asked me about what I was up to and I told him about my long goal to get into Boston #125 in 2021 and that meant running a late summer / early autumn 2020 marathon to go along with turning one year older and therefore ten minute qualifying time slower next year. If you’re confused, imagine moi. So Downey took pity on me and set me straight on how Boston qualifying actually works and then I said, “Oh.” And then, just to be sure, I asked, “So, what you’re saying is that I can run a marathon this fall that would qualify me for Boston #125 in 2021 and if things go terribly I won’t have proverbially put all my eggs in one basket?” and he said, “Yes.” So I asked, “What do you recom…” “CIM,” he replied. So I ran Summerfast and then for the next week I was basically that kid in The Wizard.

The Wizard California GIF from Thewizard GIFs

(Have you guessed my BQ age category yet?). So after a few days pondering and without confirmed time off approval from the office and with only about 4% space remaining I registered to run the California International Marathon in Sacramento, CA on December 8 and then booked a hotel and then booked a flight and then I met my past Mile2Marathon coach Kevin Coffey for coffee and asked if he’d be willing and interested in doing another marathon build with me and he said, “Yes.” Next week is sixteen weeks from CIM and Kevin and I start building on Thursday. I’m pretty damn excited.