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.
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.