Tag: Running Goals

2020 week fifty two

My year in review

Books Read: 31

Kilometres Ran: 2,591

Kilometres Cycled: 2,644

Times hit by a dumb fuck in a truck cycling: 1

Reading

When I started this blog a few years ago the goal was to read 95 books in the year and write weekly here about what I’d read. Since then I’ve read less and written more, until this year. This year my reading goal was 45 books “and other stuff” and I was doing okay until things went sideways back at the beginning of August. I ended up at 31 for the year, and I’m about half way through number 32, which I guess will be 2021 number one. In the past I’ve broken down my reading list and chosen a few highlights. This year I want to focus on just three. I read three books that, in spite of my biases going in, changed the way I think.

I wish that everyone would read these three books. I also know that the people who most need to read these three books probably won’t, or if they do, their brain will shut off while they read them. One can hope, though. Ordered by author.

Photo ordered by aesthetics.

Bikenomics by Elly Blue
All the anti-cycling greatest hits (and obscure favourites) decimated by facts. Whataboutism doesn’t even survive.

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
It is not easy to casually believe you’re not racist only to be forced to confront all the ways that racism is systemic within society and it’s not enough to simply not be racists but you need to be overtly antiracist. And by you I mean me. But there’s hope.

The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
What does “defund the police” actually mean? “Abolish the police” sounds terrifying. Read this and remap your brain. Also, ACAB.

Running (& Cycling)

It was quite the year, hey? Normally my year in review recaps accomplishments and sets goals for the year that follows. I did accomplish a few things this year worth noting. My top three:

I have raced the 5K with Courtney McEwan twice. Both times we finished seconds apart. This time over a minute faster than the first. This Dave Mallari photo is one of my favourite race photos all time.

1. Ran a new fastest 5K in 19:04 at West Van Run in March, then another in 19:02 in a solo time trial for the Mile2Marathon Virtual Race Series in May.

Staring down (hill) my fastest mile (so far).

2. Ran a new fastest Mile in 5:18 and then two days later tried again and ran 5:16 for the June leg of the Mile2Marathon Virtual Race Series. Unofficial, of course. Also, gloriously downhill all the way. Think you can do better? Here’s the Strava segment (hint: you definitely can).

For Halloween, I stitched back together the stinky, bloody (unwashed) jersey paramedics had cut off me, and went for a ride. Bit of a metaphor for 2020.

3. Didn’t die. If you’re new here and want to get caught up start here and just work your way forward.

This blog started as a public diary of sorts for my running (and reading) life, but then a couple people started actually reading along so I added a Subscribe plugin and a bunch of people (bunch is generous) actually subscribed. Feeling obliged helped keep me posting mostly weekly (weakly?) per my self-imposed social contract. Then I went for a bike ride and got hit by a truck. I’ve written about my experience and subsequent recovery trials four times in the twenty weeks since August 3. And I’m sure my lawyer is going to have fits about all four, plus this one. In B.C. you don’t sue the driver, you make a claim against their insurance, and the Insurance Corp of B.C. has a monopoly. And they’re awful (hence the need for a lawyer). They also have a well established propensity to troll the internet looking for reasons to limit or diminish a claim. It’s unlikely they have read this or my other post-crash posts, but it is absolutely certain that they will.

On December 19 – 139 days since I was clobbered cycling the Sea to Sky highway – I ran my first half marathon. It was a very big deal to me, and apparently to a few people who follow me on Instagram, Strava and Twitter. Normally I would have written about it here. I guess I am now. A journalist from Global News asked to do a story. I asked my lawyer all the while already knowing his reply. “No good will come of this,” he said. And he’s right, because Global would have wanted to turn it into a good news story, and it’s not a good news story. People on social media heaped congratulations upon my accomplishment and it felt really great but it was also fucking awful. I went deep to the well on that Saturday morning and came out with a half marathon that was nearly ten minutes slower than it *should have* been. It took me nearly three days to recover. I had a headache for over 48 hours. It sucked, and the whole time I was thinking fuck that guy (I’m so tempted to type his name) and also fuck ICBC who will try to turn this into some sort of win “for rate payers.” Meanwhile, I have gotten addicted to pain meds only to kick the addiction and then come out the other end with the realization that I now have chronic pain. As in all the time. I still can’t reach my armpit with the soap in the shower without (painfully) using the wall for leverage. So, yeah, I’m doing really great (ICBC stopped reading back at “fuck ICBC”).

Hurray for fast fashion. The other kind of fast fashion.

Stephanie and I were talking the other day and she commented that probably the weirdest thing to lose in all of this is this stupid vanity blog and I used to so enjoy writing, and apparently, shockingly, people enjoyed reading. But I’m not allowed to anymore. At least not until the dust settles from 2020, and I’ve been told to expect it’s going to take years. So is this the end of this? I don’t know, to be honest. I could continue writing about reading and running stuff sans anything personal but I’m not sure that’s all that interesting. I haven’t figured that out yet. Wait and see? I guess you could subscribe to see what I come up with (if you’re not a subscriber already). Really zero chance I’m going to spam you. Happy new year, and thanks for all your support so far.

2020 mid check in

July 2 marked the middle of 2020 and for the past couple years of diawriting here I’ve written a bit of a mid-year check in. It is possible that when I look back on 2020, assuming I’m fortunate enough to be able to, that I’ll lament the little I read and wrote throughout it. Going into the pandemic I had pretty religiously kept up my end of my little bargain with my trio or readers, to post something about what I’d been reading and something about what I’d been running each Sunday covering the preceding week. I have fallen down and it’s been a struggle to get back up, reading and writing at least. As of writing, I’ve read 25 book-ish collections of word on printed or digital page. Sure, six were graphic novels (plus one comic strip collection), but I’m still within the vicinity of on pace to reach my goal of reading 52 books this year, which is, quite frankly, a shocker. I’m caught up in the midst of a real lull right now that I hope I can shuck off and get back into some sort of reading routine. This is what it looks like at mid-year:

  • Comix / Graphic Novel — seven
  • Fiction — six
  • Non Fiction — six
  • Poetry — seven

My running goals for 2020 where (as usual) a lot more thoroughly fleshed out, and then a pandemic happened, which basically cancelled everything. I say basically because rising like a putrid zombie came the virtual race. It’s no substitute. But let’s play along anyway.

Run (at least) one race per month

When the pandemic was declared by the WHO on March 12 I had run four races. Nothing happened in April, so even if I count virtuals (I don’t), this goal is not happening in 2020.

Run a BQ Marathon

My actual goal, whether I every said it out loud or not, was to run at or near 3:06 with home-course advantage at the BMO Vancouver Marathon in May, and then fun run the Berlin Marathon in September. Then the BMO went virtual, and Berlin was cancelled completely. I took the BMO virtual but on the advice of my coach dropped down to the half. I deferred my Berlin entry to 2021, though I’m not confident that it will happen in 2021, let alone that we’ll want to risk international travel. Who knows. Anyway, this goal is not happening in 2020 that’s for sure.

Run a new Half Marathon PB

Way back on January 1 I figured that I could run 1:27:59 at the First Half Half Marathon in February for a five second PB and then chip away at it through the spring. I got sick instead, and nearly stayed in bed on race day but instead opted to fun run it, then moments before start decided to give it hard. I didn’t PB but far exceeded expectations though 15 KM that I still wonder what if I was healthy. Ended up with my second sub-90 proving the first time wasn’t a fluke. I decided to give it another go and created a dead flat clock-and-counter loops of Stanley Park for my first virtual race: BMO Vancouver, and I learned quite quickly that going hard solo is really hard. I ran until my watch read 21.2 KM and the timer stayed under 1:30 for my third time.

Run a new 10 KM PB

I actually wanted to run 37:59 so that I could qualify for a seeded bib in the Sun Run, but that was really, really ambitious. Instead, on day two of WestVanRun I ran to a very close but still second quickest. Not unhappy with the result given the effort just 24 hours earlier.

Run a new 5 KM PB

WestVanRun day one and I really wanted to go sub 19 and came oh so close finishing with a big new personal best time 19:04. Then the pandemic, and then Mile2Marathon got onto the virtual bandwagon with their own virtual race series, beginning with a 5 KM at the end of May. The afternoon before I took a bike ride through the proposed rolling hill course, and the following morning I dragged my unhappy GI through the M2M “Big Aus” loop up at Pacific Spirit Park and came up a hair short of sub 19, crossing the virtual line according to Garmin + Strava at 19:02 for a new, fake PB.

One mile time trial stare down(hill).
Run a new Mile PB

I had hoped to take another shot at the mile on the track at the VFAC series again this year but then there was this pandemic thing and everything got cancelled. Cue the mile time trial for the M2M Virtual Race Series. Rather than trust my watch, I created a 1.61 KM public Strava segment to run through — from the top down the Stanley Park Causeway. The route actually has a really nice roll to it, starting with a nice slope to get you going, then a bit of a plateau before gentle decline for the last 300 metres or so right when your body should be screaming at you to stop. I felt a bit cheeky about time trialing a mile down 45 metres of elevation, that is until I saw one of the recommended routes posted on the M2M Virtual Race Series web page featured a 65 metre drop down Marine Drive to Spanish Banks. I raced the mile twice in 2019 and finish 5:52 both times. Then in November I ran an unofficial 5:41. I set my B Goal at 5:39 but I really wanted to go under 5:20. The day before, on June 23, I took a test run at the segment just to get a feel, and cleared it in 5:53. Game on. The following morning I hit it again as hard as I could and came out the other end in 5:18. I was happy but not satisfied, so on Friday evening, June 26 I jogged up and hammered it again, this time in 5:16. Unofficial. Downhill. Don’t care.

Looking forward, running

At the end of week 27 I’ve run 1,688 KM, which puts me well on pace to run over 3,000 KM in 2020, a total I’ve never come close to in one year before. The M2M Virtual Race Series continues through the summer, with a 10 KM coming up in a couple weeks when I’ll have another chance to go under 39 minutes. Following that, I’m taking my first crack at 15 KM in August and I’ve set a pretty lofty goal to run sub 60. Then around Labour Day, another crack at the half marathon when I plan to challenge for a new fastest in the virtual CRS West Scotiabank Half Marathon. By then I’m going to be thoroughly virtual raced out.

2020 week three

Book Read
1. The Architecture of Happiness – Alain de Botton

Kilometres Ran
week three – 57.6

2020 to date: 163 KM

I’ve been a de Botton fan for a while but I have a few gaps in my collection. Then before Christmas SC and I spent a day shopping local on Main Street and Mount Pleasant, which never excludes a visit to Pulp Fiction Books. These visits take longer than they did back when I lived a few blocks away and I could come in and quickly peruse the new arrivals and then carry on my merry way. Anyway, on this visit I didn’t get much farther then the new arrivals and ended up at the cash register with a small pile, including this de Botton title that had been on my radar for a while. And it did not disappoint. I think my only complaint is that de Botton tends to use “which” sans preceding comma and in every single instance when “that” would suffice, which annoys me slightly more than the lazy use of the Oxford comma but not quite as much as the comma splice. Incidentally, I also quite like le Corbusier and if you don’t then you might not share my enjoyment of this book. Okay, I have two complaints. The second is that the book is chock-full of fantastic photographs, all in black-and-white. I wish that they were most or all in colour.

Apparently this was the week to quit, and the weather definitely cooperated. I was quickly reminded that once you just get outside and do it, it is almost always way less terrible than you thought it was going to be.

Strava says that today is Quitter’s Day – according to their data, January 19, 2020 is the date they predict most people will give up their fitness resolutions. I have mixed feelings. I think New Year’s resolutions are dumb because they so often fail but then they’re arbitrarily attached to a date that only comes around once a year so there’s a tendency to put off trying again until the arbitrary date comes around again. If you can get past the arbitrary date, then I think resolutions can be great. I have read that it takes 21 days to create a new habit, so tripping on or before day 19 and then not getting back up makes sense. But I also read that the 21 days thing is bullshit. Maybe if you want to make positive change, just decide to do it, be ready to fail, and also determined to learn from failure and move the fuck on.

Pre-Icebreaker 8K warm up strides in Steveston. First race of 2020.

So this morning I woke up and dropped some Nuun into the CIM Finisher bottle I got after failing pretty hard back at the beginning of December last year and I went and ran my first race since – my first race of 2020 – the Icebreaker 8K. After snowing all week the weather warmed and the rain washed most of it away, and then it rather miraculously cleared up a bit to provide a slightly damp but otherwise pretty perfect race morning. I had set a rather arbitrary goal to run 31:30. I’d never raced an 8K before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, or where my fitness was at coming into the new year. I ran my best 5K and 10K this past September and I was rather curious to see if I could run 3:59s for eight kilometres and not die. Well, I’m alive. I had a great start and felt really good going through the first couple kilometres, and I just focused on keeping a steady pace through seven and then finish strong. It didn’t quite go that way, because by six kilometres I was really feeling it. I managed to catch a couple people who’d been leading me for most of the race. With just under a kilometre to go I was passed back by one who had a better finish kick than me, but I did manage a bit of a kick down the last long straight to the finish, crossing the line in gun time 31:40 (31:38 chip time) for 3:58 /km average (and very even) pace and fourth in my age group. I am very please with that result. My body felt good and still does a few hours later sitting here typing this. I was very close to my arbitrary goal, and exceeded my other. I checked off my January race with a smile, and I’m really looking forward to my first goal race of the year: the RunVan First Half half marathon in just three weeks.

All smiles post-race – a few of us from the Mile2Marathon crew (l2r): Katie, Meaghan, Mel, Rose and me. iPhone button pressing provided by Raymond Cayas.

Last thing: during some step near the Icebreaker finish and my post race warm down jog my Strava running odometer clicked over 10,000 KM and I think that’s pretty cool.