Tag: Rebecca Solnit

2019 week forty eight

Book Read
44. Wanderlust, A Book of Migrations – Rebecca Solnit

Kilometres Ran
week forty eight – 50.0

2019 to date: 2,505 KM

I picked up this book because I like Solnit’s essays and I like the idea of this book and so far it hasn’t disappointed. And by so far I mean I’ve been taking a bit of a stroll through this book rather than a run or even a casual jog. I’ve read quite a few books that explore the relationship between mental health and running; this is the first that I’ve found that focuses on walking, and in Solnit fashion explores the walking within an ever accelerated culture. I’m interested, but I’m not hooked yet. I’m not ready to give up on it yet, but I’m also not in any rush to finish it off.

Another finish sprint shot from last weekend’s Moustache Mileish courtesy of Jeanine Avelino

This afternoon I noticed that after my run this morning I surpassed 2,500 km so far in 2019 and I got to thinking about that. Two years ago I wanted to run 2,600 and didn’t quite make it. Then last year I sort of tongue-in-cheek went for 2,018 knowing full well that I wanted another crack at 2,600. Injuries threw a wrench into that plan but as the year came to a close I closed in on that number, and managed to surpass it on New Year’s Eve. With four weeks and a marathon between now and New Year’s Eve 2019 it looks very much like I’m going to run far more than I ever have. The California International Marathon is now just a week away. My goal is to run a Boston Qualifying time, and then my plan was to not run a full marathon in 2020. (CIM could still go sideways, though I’m riding some pretty high confidence right now.) Sometimes life comes along and changes your plans. Injury has been the one that has crashed my running quite a bit since I started this stupid sport. Then this week, it was a lottery. On Wednesday morning I woke up and made coffee and eased into my day doing pretty much everything and anything except checking my email, having completely forgotten that November 27 was the beginning of Berlin Marathon lottery notification. I’m no Hitchcock; you can see where this is going. I finally opened my email to find out that contrary to my grand plans I am going to be running the 47th Berlin Marathon on September 27, 2020. This is the World Marathon Major that I want. Needless to say I’m very excited. It’s ten months away and I haven’t lost sight of the looming 42.2 that’s just seven days away, but I’ve already set a goal for 2020: to run a sub three hour marathon. Berlin seems like as good a place as any to do it.

week ten

Books Read:
20. Men Explain Things to Me — Rebecca Solnit
21. Lemon Hound — Sina Queyras

Kilometres Ran:
this week — 34.48
to date — 300.11

I didn’t plan for the one-two punch of you should really read some Virginia Woolf that came with reading Rebecca Solnit’s collection of essays followed by Sina Queyras’ poetry collection but I have the two literary black eyes to show for it and I don’t mind. I don’t have any excuses. None come to mind except that I just haven’t bothered to yet. I will probably rectify the situation in the near future. I’m not quite sure how I managed to avoid Woolf so completely throughout my undergraduate degree in English literature. I also didn’t know that Lemon Hound was a book of poems before(?) it was the formidable force in Canadian/feminist poetics that is the (sadly, defunct) blog lemonhound.com though the blog started in 2005 and the book was published in 2006. Defunct isn’t the right word, either, since the site is still alive, though with no new material since May 2015. I recall reading Queyras’ to social media announcing that she was moving on to other endeavors and the wave of ugh that swept through the community. It left a hole that has yet to be filled that I’m aware of at least. Maybe I’m out of touch. It happens.
week ten
I’ve been trying to keep my running interesting by mixing up my routes but it’s not really working all that well since I really only have two routes and they’re approximately the same distance but with dramatically different scenery and my decision to turn left or right is usually decided by the position of the sun in the sky when I leave my building. With Daylight Savings on the near horizon about to push the sun away from its horizon that could change, but for now it’s left for the lit path if the sun sets before I finish, and right if it’s a morning or midday run. They look like this.
Turn Left
This one takes me over the Burrard Bridge the then down (up?) Cypress Street connecting to the Seawall path at the Maritime Museum then around Science World and back to English Bay. It’s a nice, flat run with the exception of the climb to the middle of the bridge, and it’s lit from the bridge all the way back to English Bay (except for that part through Vanier Park). I have a headlamp for the short dark section from the north side of the Burrard Bridge to Bute Street that has garnered me a couple “TOO BRIGHT!” comments. I highbeam people. I’m a jerk.
Turn Right
This is my lit-by-the-sun option. Although I have said headlamp, I prefer to use it sparingly. Not glaringly? [groan…] This route is straight down Barclay and then under West Georgia and onto the Stanley Park Seawall. I like this run, and it’s probably my favourite especially in inclement weather when the Seawall is mostly deserted. The one part that I still find slightly deflating is when rounding Brockton Point under the lighthouse and seeing the Lions Gate Bridge way off in the distance. It looks a lot farther than it is.