Tag: Dystopian Fiction

2019 week thirty eight

Book Read
37. The End We Start From – Megan Hunter

Kilometres Ran
week thirty eight – 68.1

2019 to date: 1,885

This is Megan Hunter’s first novel (more of a novella but who cares) and I thought it was pretty good. I generally have a good time when poets turn out fiction (Nick Flynn and Meredith Quartermain come to mind). The End We Start From tells a dystopian story of a young couple who along with their newborn are displaced when London floods (I don’t recall being told why but I think rising seawaters). The story is told in first person by the unnamed new mother, and it reads a bit abrupt and sharp, as if we are reading her diary. Other character’s names are only initials; the newborn is Z and the father (I assume father) is simply R. Maybe Hunter had read Roger Farr’s IKMQ. I guess it’s possible. It’s a good first book that plays pretty well with a couple interesting ideas, though I could have done without all the baby stuff.

A couple hours after I got home from racing the Eastside 10K and then taking a 12 KM cool-down jog around Stanley Park I found out that immediately following the race the Lower Mainland Road Race Series handed out their annual awards and not only did I not know anything about the race series (run a minimum of four of the nine races), I had no idea that I had placed 5th in my age group having raced five of the series this year (St. Patrick’s Day 5KM, April Fool’s Half Marathon, Scotiabank Half Marathon, Summerfast 10K, Eastside 10K). I’m a bit sad that I missed the awards, but I did get my 5th Place award in the mail this week. Thanks Lower Mainland Road Race Series! I’m definitely going to keep this in mind for 2020.

forty two by forty two week six

Books Read[ing]:
14. The Mercy Journals — Claudia Casper

Kilometres Ran:
week fifteen — 84.8

To date: 873 km

I was looking at my bookshelf and I have no idea how this book got there or where it came from or who it came from. Actually now that I think about it I think that Elee gave it to me when she returned some books that I’d lent her and this was not one of them but it ended up with me anyway so if you’re reading this and you are missing your copy of The Mercy Journals and you want it back I might have it. But I need to finish reading it before you can have it. Oh, and wouldn’t you know it, the book is dystopian, post-apocalyptic speculative fiction. I wasn’t even trying. So far it’s okay.

I ran 36.5 kilometres on Sunday and I didn’t die, though I also got a bit bored at the end and ended up running the last couple at a slightly sub 5 minute/kilometre, which is not exactly the goal of an LSD day. I still don’t quite understand the LSD but I’m still trying to follow it. Regardless, at the end of my Easter Sunday LSD I was pretty confident that I could easily do another 6 kilometres and being that according to this schedule I’m following it was my last long run before the marathon May 7 I’m pretty happy with my mental confidence and my physical level. I’m not sure that I’m going to meet my rather lofty goal of finishing in under 210 minutes. I’m okay with that. I think. We’ll see what happens race day.