Tag: Garmin

2019 week twenty four

Book Read
24. When Running Made History – Roger Robinson

Kilometres Ran
week twenty four – 41.2

2019 to date: 1,162 KM

I read and wrote about this book last fall just before I ran the Victoria Marathon, after meeting Roger Robinson at Forerunners on West 4th while out on his book tour. (A book tour of running shops, go figure.) What struck me then, and having a bit of a reread now, are the bits about running’s connection with charity.

The impulse among the majority of runners to run for a cause other than, or greater than, their own result has brought measurable enrichment to the work of many charities and thus society.

Roger Robinson

As my personal situation has improved I’ve been able to give back to the arts and culture community, which is easy if you’re able. It’s a lot harder to ask other people to join in. I learned pretty quickly that I’d never make it as a development officer or a fundraiser, and yet I’m currently trying to figure out how to ask my social circle and beyond to support The Capilano Review just because I’m running twenty-one point one kilometres in a week’s time, along with 5,000 other people many of whom are likely asking their social circle to support their charity of choice. While it does seem a bit weird to choose a running race to raise money for a pauperous literary arts organization, it was around the time that I took on their managing editor role that I gave this whole jogging thing a try. So for me, it seems, the two are rather tied. In timeline at least. Since I left The Capilano Review office, they continued to bring me a certain amount of enrichment. I always look forward to the writers and artists that I’ll be introduced to, always exceptionally curated, and often stuff that I wouldn’t otherwise see. If you’re familiar with their work, I hope that you’ll consider making a donation in support of my run next Sunday.

USE THIS LINK TO DONATE

If you’ve never head of The Capilano Review, I hope that you’ll check them out. Maybe attend an event, or purchase a subscription, or just get lost in their massive archive of work that was recently posted online in collaboration with Simon Fraser University Library.

Mile2Marathon train on the track at Swargard Stadium for Chase the Pace at the Pacific Distance Carnival. Photo by Debra Kato.

On Thursday I made my fifth attempt to run five kilometres in under 20 minutes, this time at Mile2Marathon’s sixth-annual Chase the Pace 5,000 on the track at Swangard Staduim in Burnaby. The event was in collaboration with the first Pacific Distance Carnival put on by BC Athletics, Mile2Marathon, and the BC Endurance Project. The evening started with a few 1,500 metre foot-races and a wheelchair heat, then four heats of 5,000 metres with pacers. I registered with the goal to run 19:59, which put me in the 7:55 p.m. heat where I and about 30 others chased three different pacers. The gun went off and I tried to get in behind pacer Laurel Richardson (19:55) but got stuck in the crowd for the first of 12 and a half laps of the 400 metre track. The field started to thin after the first couple laps and I managed to find a rhythm that felt ok but not great. By the eighth lap I’d slipped quite a bit and knew that I probably wasn’t going to be able to catch the pacer. There was a cluster of us that were right on the cusp of 20 minutes and we traded leading a few times. On the second last straight I remember M2M coach Rob Watson telling us we only had about a minute left and to give it hell. I didn’t have much to give but I managed a bit of a sprint coming out of the final turn. Ryan Chilibeck from East Van Run Crew was in front of me and I tried to catch him but he crossed the finish a few tens-of-a-second ahead of me. Perfectly ahead of me, if his intention was to block my view of the clock. Not that it mattered. I knew that I was over 20 minutes. Strava said I ran 5 KM in 19:53 but my Garmin said my run was 20:12. I checked the results board and my official time was 20:10:97. Not near my goal, and third in terms of attempts. It’s not a great result but, unless you count running loops of a park in Paris, I’ve done just two speed workouts since running the BMO Marathon at the beginning of May. While I do feel a bit like it was a missed opportunity, I’m really rather pleased with just how well it went.

With Philip Finlayson (who’d just run a 17:40 5,000) getting ready to cheer on the 10,000 Canadian championships at the Pacific Distance Carnival. I bet he loves this photo by Debra Kato almost as much as I do.

After the 5,000 metre heats were complete, the Pacific Distance Carnival main events got underway, with Canadian 10,000 metre championships. The 25 laps of the track saw Ben Flanagan finish in 28:37 in the men’s race, followed by current record holder Natasha Wodak finishing in 32:09 holding off B.C. 5K champ Sarah Inglis, and Canadian half and full marathon record holder Rachel Cliff. The whole event was a lot of fun both to participate and to watch. I look forward to next year.

2019 week twenty

Book Read
None

Kilometres Ran
44.8

2019 to date: 976 KM

We flew to Paris then took a train to Basel and in that 13 hours of travel plus the waiting around time — and there was a lot of waiting around time — I read virtually nothing. But I’m a bit ahead on the book count so I feel like that’s okay. A bit of a lost opportunity. I started a new novel but as is prone to happen I was not inspired to do much reading at all. But I ran. Our first full day in Basel was Friday and I did an 8 KM loop along the Rhine and over a couple bridges and only got lost a little bit within the last couple blocks near our rented flat.

The Dreiländereck spire at the corner of France, Germany and Switzerland.

Saturday I waffled back and forth over whether to run or rest but decided to run so that I could check out a monument called Dreiländereck that is situated a bit north along the Rhine at the end of a pier in an otherwise industrial area. The spire marks the intersection of France, Germany and Switzerland. (The actual point is in the middle of the river.) My plan was to go to bed a bit early and get a good sleep before the race but our neighbours upstairs had a plan of their own, which included a sing-along dance party to go with the Eurovision song contest finale. Apparently Switzerland placed fourth. I remember at one point Like a Prayer started and I thought it was the worst Madonna cover I’d ever heard (it was Madonna). The party finally finished at about 1:30 a.m.

Race package pick up at the Rathaus (Basel Old Town Hall).

The 3Laenderlauf half marathon started at 9:45 on Sunday morning from the Rathaus in Basel’s Market Square. I left the flat at 9:00 for a 1 KM jog to the start. It was a bit hectic there and the queue to check gear was a bit disorganized and spilled out onto the start area for the 10 KM event that started at 9:30 but the atmosphere was pretty great. The field wasn’t very large, and the two 1:44 pacers had positioned themselves close to the front of the corral, so I seeded myself a bit closer to the line. (It didn’t matter much — once the gun went off I both ran over and was run over by people who’d seeded themselves poorly.) I went into the race hoping for a decent run, but also knowing that just two weeks out from a new marathon PB and still pretty tired from all the travel not to mention the neighbour’s late night dance party, I probably wasn’t going to have a great performance. A 4:20 pace would give me a new half marathon PB but wouldn’t quite reach my sub-90 goal for 2019. I thought 4:20 was pretty lofty, but decided to aim for it and just see how long I could hold it for. Turns out, barely 5 KM.

Coming up to Dreirosenbrücke.

I sent Stephanie the Strava and Garmin beacons so that could track me but neither one worked. She was there anyway at the Dreirosenbrücke crossing the Rhine (race bridge number two) at 3.5 KM. I was running around 4:15 but knew that I was not going to hold that pace much longer. Crossed the river and went north into Saint-Louis, France, then a couple hundred metres before the 6 KM marker my Garmin vibrated 7 KM and I stopped paying attention. At 10 KM I checked the time: 45 minutes — I started thinking about my other two races in Europe and decided to try to chase a Europe PB. By 15 KM I was running on fumes; I needed to be under 1:10 and my watch said 1:08:16 but I was fading pretty hard.

Passerelle des Trois Pays – ramp or stairs?

This race course had a bit of everything, including a couple odd route choices. At the Passerelle des Trois Pays footbridge from France into Germany (race bridge number four) there was a switchback ramp but the route instead took us up the stairs. A couple kilometres later the route took us up a steep worn dirt path from the lower road up to Friedensbrücke (race bridge number five) over the Weil am Rhein train station lines. (A spot, I’ve discovered, that Google Street View has never filmed.) Next a couple kilometres through an open field in Platz der drei Länder park and then a few more along the gravel path beside the Wiese river, crossing back into Switzerland, and crossing the Wiese as it met the Rhine (race bridge number six). By now I was just focusing on being mindful of the experience and not worry about the time but when I crossed the Wiese I realized I was in the industrial area that I had run the day before and that familiarity gave me a bit of a lift with 4 KM left to go. The last leg followed the Rhine south then climbed up over Wettsteinbrücke (race bridge number seven) before a right turn and a nice decline for the sprint to the finish line back in the old Basel Market Square.

High fiving kids on the streets of Basel, CH.

Last year I ran 1:39:09 in Helsinki, and in 2017 I ran 1:38:27 in Copenhagen (a PB at the time). I figured it was pretty close but didn’t see the finish clock and didn’t trust my watch. I found Stephanie and collected my gear, finishers medal and shirt, and took a few photos. I didn’t see a place to check times so we hopped a LRT back to our flat. After a shower and something to eat I went online and found that I’d finished 1:37:43 which is over five minutes off my current PB, but a new fastest in Europe. Plus I had a ton of fun.