Tag: Moustache Miler

2019 week forty seven

Book Read
43. Berlin – Jason Lutes

Kilometres Ran
week forty seven – 61.0

2019 to date: 2,466 KM

I was looking for something easy and casual to read because I just haven’t been in the novel mood lately and I’m pretty tired of short stories so I was poking around and came across this graphic novel called Berlin that I thought looked interesting and familiar. A while ago I picked up a copy of the Left Bank Gang by Jason; it’s a fun, easy read set in Paris. So when saw the cover of Berlin by Jason (Lutes) I expected a fun, easy read set in Berlin.

They’re nothing alike. At all.

Berlin is not a fun, easy read. The book is a collection of Lutes’ 20 year long, 22-issue series exploring the life in Berlin from 1928 until 1933. It’s a very deep dive into historical fiction. It’s all drawn black and white or whatever the graphic-novel lingo is for black and white and my only complaint is that from time to time the text is really small and dense and difficult to read. Otherwise, it’s really great. It’s timely what with the re-emergence of fascism that is currently happening here and south and in Europe. So, yeah, not a happy read. Makes me want to revisit Maus though. Maybe I’ll just read comics for the rest of the year.

It only happens once per year. Thank gawd.

So after not shaving my face since October 31 I got out the clippers and cut away the sparse sprouts from my cheeks and chin, leaving behind a snot saver just below the nose, and then jogged down to Second Beach in Stanley Park for the annual Moustache Miler. The weather wasn’t great but the rain was trying to stay at bay. With just two weeks until CIM I threw in for the one mile race, a short loop east and back on the Seawall, starting and finishing at Second Beach Pool. It’s a fun run, but I was taking it seriously only in that I felt like I had some unfinished business at the mile distance. I ran my first mile on the track in the spring and managed 5:52. Fast forward towards the end of summer and I set out to better that, once again on the track. I finished 5:52. I’m pretty certain that I am faster now, but I wanted to prove it, and find out how much. This course had some tight turns and a bit of a hill up and down, so slower than a track for sure, but also a lot of people who run anywhere from marginally to significantly faster than me for me to chase.

Coming Around Second Beach Pool, finish line in sight. I look surprisingly chill.
Photo: Jeanine Avelino

I got off the line okay and felt like garbage sooner than I was hoping to, then the climb from the Seawall up to Beach Ave and the turn around back towards the pool. I tried to check my watch at the halfway marker but whatever it said didn’t register. That second half is a blur. I got passed a few times until the pool when there was one just ahead who I thought I might be able to catch on the sprint to the finish. I managed to get by him and crossed the line and stopped my watch. It read 5:59.52. So that sucks. But it also read 1.69 km. The course was long. Later I checked Strava, and it said I ran a 5:41 for my fastest mile yet. I was 15th over all, and second in my age group. I am very please with all of that, but I’m also rather annoyed. I ran the fastest mile (and kilometre for that matter) in my life (so far…) but I don’t actually know what that is because the course was “a mile” and not one mile.

After party with Phil Finlayson who jogged the mile, thereby letting me have AG 2nd (and also helped take care of my free beer), and Declan White who jogged his way to first overall in both the mile and the 5 KM races.
Photo: Jeanine Avelino

But in the end it was all for fun and for a good cause. I’d set a goal to raise $614.54 for the Movember Foundation supporting men’s mental and physical health – one cent more than last year – and it wasn’t looking like I was going to make it. I was happy with the support regardless, but on Saturday morning before the run I was still a bit short. Then another donation came in, and then another, and I was closer. Then later in the afternoon Stephanie and I stopped for a coffee on our way to the Vancouver Art Gallery and two more alerts in my inbox tipped my total over to $621.45. Thanks so much to everyone who donated: Albert, Shannon, Dan, John, Kelly, Stephanie, Ryan, Sandra, Roland, Steve, Jeff and the five who wish to remain anonymous. I sincerely appreciate your support. Plus it was a lot of fun.

2019 week forty six

Book Stuff Read
The Capilano Review 3.39 (Fall 2019)

Kilometres Ran
week forty six – 83.8

2019 to date: 2,405 KM

Help me raise money for the Movember Foundation!

Click here to donate!

I didn’t read any books again but the new fall 2019 issue of The Capilano Review arrived in the mail and as usual it is beaut AF and as usual has a bunch of work by people I love and a bunch of work by people I’ve never heard of and that is just the best. I’d be lying if I implied that I’ve gotten all the way through it yet so I will probably keep picking away throughout this week but maybe I’ll also pick up a book. Who knows. Inside the issue, a tribute to Kevin Killian and the wave of regret returns that I didn’t see him when I brought Poets Theatre back to Vancouver this spring and I suddenly remember that buried deep in my phone is a video clip of Clint Burnham paying tribute to Kevin at the launch of Some lit journal back on June 23. I remember the date because it was the evening after I’d ran the Scotiabank Half Marathon and in the process helped raise a few dollars for The Capilano Review. I really need to dig out that video file.

Moustache Miler 2018 – Photo by Jeannine Avelino

My first foray into fundraising and running (fundrunning? Rundraising?) was the Moustache Miler last November and it was a lot of fun. Well, as I sit here I recall that it was a lot of fun. Fundraising really isn’t very much fun most of the time. My experience with both giving and soliciting (from long before the Moustache Miler) is that the cause is often secondary to how much you like the person who is doing the fundraising. It can be a humbling experience. And yet, here I am taking another stab at it because why not? I’m running anyway.

Warning signs are up at Second Beach. Gross face coming along grossly.

Last year I somehow raised $614.53 so I though that this year I would aim higher and go for $614.54. If you’re reading this and maybe think that I’m alright then perhaps you’ll feel inclined to help get me there. All donations $25 or more receive a tax receipt. You can donate here or paste this URL into your browser if the link isn’t working: https://raceroster.com/events/2019/26302/2019-moustache-miler/pledge/participant/6930111

Yesterday I ran my last looong run before CIM – 35 km out to Confederation Park in Burnaby and then back under the Iron Workers’ Memorial Bridge, through Hastings/Sunrise, Strathcona, Coal Harbour, and finishing up with a loop around Stanley Park. It was a killer route with some hearty incline up Adanac just east of Commercial, and then some rolling hills before a long climb from Boundary to Willingdon.

And it went really great. It was a nice confidence boost for a last long run, something that I haven’t had in my past two marathon builds. With three weeks to go I’m not saying the work is done but this was the big week and I came out the other end of it with a solid week’s load and feeling pretty great. It’s made me reconsider my goals going into the home stretch (I need to have a conversation with coach Kevin…different Kevin, ahem…). I am feeling pretty excited to see what happens in three week’s time.

2018 week fifty two

My year in running

My goal for 2017 was to run 2,600 KM. In the autumn I hurt my knee a couple hours before flying to Denmark to race the Copenhagen Half Marathon. An aggravated injury meant I didn’t meet my 2017 goal. I was still recovering at the beginning of 2018, so I set a more reasonable goal to run 2,018 KM. Then in August I hurt my other knee. Then in September, on a crap knee, I passed 2,018 KM. And then, in October, with a crap knee, I raced the Victoria Marathon and barely walked let alone ran again for a few weeks. In mid-December I was easing back into decent weekly milage and noticed that 2,600 KM for the year was within reach. So I went for it, and on December 29 I ran 11.8 KM around Oak Bay for 2,601 KM for the year.

Running races

I ran ten races in 2018, set a bunch of personal best (PB) times, and earned my first age-group podium finish.
First Half 21.1 KM – 1:43:04
West Van 10 KM – 44:06 (PB!)
BMO Half 21.1 KM – 1:34:52 (PB!)
Helsinki 21.1 KM – 1:39:09
Scotiabank 21.1 KM – 1:32:37 (PB!)
Kamloops 21.1 KM – 1:32:20 (PB! & Age group 1st!)
Eastside 10 KM – 41:23 (PB! + PB!)
North Van 10 KM – 43:46
Victoria 42.2 KM – 3:25:59 (PB!)
Moustache Miler 5 KM – 20:28 (PB?)
The Moustache Miler was two firsts for me: it was my first 5 KM race, and the first time I’ve raised money for charity. I expect more of both of those In spite of the Moustache Miler being my only 5 KM race to date, my fastest 5 KM time is 20:21 over the first 5 KM of this year’s Eastside 10 according to Sportstats.

Going places

I’ve drawn a circle around Stanley Park over 200 times and I still love that loop but this year I got to do a few new loops that were a lot of fun. These four are my favourite.

Final run in Helsinki. I thought this city was okay when I arrived and by the end of the week I didn’t want to leave. Some amazing running history there, too.
And then I fell in love with Tallinn. Didn’t hurt that the weather was unusually amazing the whole time we were there.
Stockholm is the first city I took my running stuff along on holiday, and I’ll never holiday without my running stuff again. I didn’t get a Sodermalm loop on that 2016 visit but I did this year.
Surrey?!? I KNOW! But this run was so much fun — down the hill then over a free ferry to Barnston Island. Plus I (currently) have the 3rd overall time looping Barnston Island (and it’s nowhere near my 10 KM PB). If I find myself marooned at the Surrey Sheraton again I’m definitely going for the crown.

Missing in action: the Helsinki City Half Marathon and the Victoria Marathon. I loved idea of racing Helsinki but the route just wasn’t my favourite. Victoria, in spite of setting a pretty huge personal best of over eight minutes, the race was a disappointment and I’m still bitter.

The numbers according to Strava:

Total Distance: 2,601.3 KM
Number of Runs: 226
Average KM/Run: 11.5 KM
Total Time Running: 212 Hours, 50 Minutes
Average Time Every Damn Day in 2018: 35 Minutes
At the beginning of the year I joined a group challenge to run the elevation of Mount Everest — 8,848 metres — and then forgot about it until I was crunching numbers the other night. I ran 38,419 metres of elevation in 2018, or the Everest summit 4.3 times.

Running’s free right?

When I first started running I bought a pair of adidas shoes at Costco for $40 or something, and Joe Fresh shorts and a top from the Superstore. I still wear adidas. JF not so much. I spend a lot more on running now. This year I decided to see how much.
Shoes: $1,434
Clothes: $970
Health: $619
Nutrition: $230
Race Entry: $724
Other: $665
TOTAL: $4,642
These dollars have caveats, of course. My shoe budget includes orthotics that I was not expecting, and I probably have shoes covered for 2019. I exhausted my extended health coverage and kept going to physiotherapy anyway. Race entry includes fees paid this year for races in 2019, but then excludes a few 2018 races paid for in 2017. Other includes a new Garmin watch, which had better not be an annual expense. The bloated Clothes expenditure is just embarrassing. I expect my 2019 total to be a lot less, but I’m a very recent convert to technical running socks.

Next week: New year — reading & running goals for 2019.