Tag: Fall Classic

2019 week thirty six

Book Read
35. Wilful Disregard – Lena Andersson

Kilometres Ran
week thirty six – 69.9

2019 to date: 1,751

Translated from Swedish by Sarah Death, Wilful Disregard tells the story of Ester Nilsson, a young intellectual who falls in love with a (much older) famous visual artist. That’s really all that you need to know because just about every other cliché is on display throughout this novella, and yet I thought it was very good. The story is entirely from Ester’s perspective and there are times that I want to grab her and give her a good shake (not unlike her “girlfriend chorus” who play much the same role and do just about as well as Jiminy Cricket). Today I learned that there is a sequel by the translated title Acts of Infidelity, which given the rather apt title of the first, makes me quite curious about the sequel. So I picked up a copy and I sort of feel like it should sit high on the to-read pile. I’ll let you know how it goes soon I’m sure. I find it difficult to sympathize with Ester but I’m invested now and what to find out what happens next. Like watch a car catch fire in an accident and hanging around just to see if it will explode.

This photo of me by Debra Kato looking very official counting laps at the Vancouver Distance Track Series 10,000 event a little over a week ago. I feel like I need a job that involves a clipboard.

It was, for the most part, a rather uneventful week running and by uneventful I mean that maybe in a good way. The slow build towards December is coming along just fine such that I’m waiting wondering when the bad stuff is going to happen. So I made an appointment to see my physiotherapist just to check in for a maintenance visit next week. I’ve had a nagging pain in my hips that hasn’t bothered my running at all but it annoyingly sharp when I’m not. And then, within 48 hours or so of making an appointment I went for a run and my hip flexors were not very happy. They calmed down after a couple hundred metres and it could be due to the 27 KM I ran yesterday. I expect I’ll get some answers this week. They will probably sound something like, “you really need to warm up before / stretch and foam roll after / do some cross training / maybe something (anything) with some lateral movement.” I mean, those are all true but I’ve never had any hip issues before. I’d rather not mess up the very full fall I have lined up: one week until Eastside 10K, three weeks until NorthVanRun 10K, five weeks until Victoria half, seven weeks until Fall Classic half/10/5 and then the big one, thirteen weeks until California International Marathon.

2018 week forty four

Book Read:
49. Instructions for a Funeral — David Means

Kilometres Ran:
week forty four: 27.3

To date: 2,193 KM

I received an advance copy of this new David Means book of short stories. I was previously unaware of him or his work and I am not sure that I’ll bother to pursue any more after trudging my way through this collection. I see that he branched out briefly from short stories to write a novel that was nominated for the Man Booker. Perhaps that one is worth a look. Means has quite the résumé and I feel like I should have liked this a lot more than I did. The title story was dark and funny and okay, and I also liked “The Terminal Artist” about a serial-killer nurse. But I spent so much time going through this collection like running in the pool. So much work for so little satisfaction and often seeming to get nowhere. Then one day I was clicking through the Guardian online and came across this Tom Gauld comic and thought yep. But what do I know. Anyway, thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the review copy.

I bicycled a lot less and ran a bit more this week. The bicycling less due to the torrential albeit prototypical rains that have arrived in Vancouver, well, let’s be honest, about a month later than usual. So October was spectacular and I ran a grand total of 72 KM so I feel rather ripped off. But things are starting to feel a bit better so on Hallowe’en I took a Mobi bike from the station around the corner from my place and rode down to Sunset Beach and (since I missed the actual one this year) I ran the Ghost Race segment from Burrard Bridge out to Third Beach and back and it didn’t suck. I was slow and exhausted but the pain was manageable and knees and stuff worked the way they’re supposed to work.

Now I just need to not rush stuff. And with that in mind I did not run the Fall Classic this year but instead after wasting my extra hour of sleep from daylight savings time change overnight I got up at the crack of dawn to watch the NY Marathon on television and then bicycled up to UBC (PS Arbutus to UBC up 16th sucks BTW) to catch the half marathon and 10K finishers and then bicycled back home plus a loop around Stanley Park Drive and then had a snack and a short nap and then went a ran a 10K loop around the Park and wondered why I was so exhausted that I barely ran it sub-50. I’m taking tomorrow off.