Tag: Sally Rooney

2020 week nine

Book Read
4. Exquisite Mariposa – Fiona Alison Duncan

Kilometres Ran
week nine – 77.4

2020 to date: 517 KM

As you might have noticed if you read last week’s post on here (it’s not necessary, don’t worry) I was reading the current issue of The Believer and early in the issue there was an article called “Flight Risk” that’s a pretty great review of Fiona Alison Duncan’s debut novel Exquisite Mariposa so I picked up a copy. Better than anything I’m going to write here anyway, so go read it over there. A Canadian expat living in Los Angeles, Duncan’s novel tells the totally fictional story of Fiona, a Canadian expat living in Los Angeles, who sublets a room at La Mariposa. Fiona signs a deal to produce a reality TV show focusing on the cast of characters living at La Mariposa. The show never happens, and Fiona spends the rest of the book questioning everything about life, relationships, and how-did-I-end-up-here. Is it creative non-fiction? Who cares. It’s a pretty great insight into a creative millennial mind. I liked this book, in spite of not really caring much about the characters. It feels like an L.A. Sally Rooney. I think that’s a compliment.

Finish line shot from the First Half half marathon back on February 9. RunVan skipped the no-good-very-bad Marathon Photos cartel and hired local professionals (as you can see here) and then sold the photos for $5 each with all proceeds to Variety charity – a great move! I hope it’s the start of a trend.

One week out from WestVanRun 5K and 10K and I had a great Mile2Marathon workout on Wednesday that completely kicked my ass. The workout called the Virgin after some dude named Craig Virgin is 4x 400 with 200 breaks in between and then finishes with an 800, followed by a 400 break then do it all again. I did three. Strava was not impressed. For a 15.4 km workout Strava gave me an effort score of 125. For comparison, the 16 km hills workout that I wrote about here last week Strava scored 209. I felt way more beat up by Craig than by the Chapultepec hills. Anyway, with the suffer fest that I have lined up for next weekend in mind I opted to do more speed work this weekend. But no, instead I set out on a solo 30 KM death march with a bit of half marathon pace to get some lead into my legs and then finish with 10 KM at marathon pace because Berlin is just 30 short weeks away. Truth is, I was a bit intimidated by the prospect of today’s workout. I’ve mostly hung around 22 KM for my long runs, and only put in a 25 KM last week – my longest run since CIM back at the beginning of December. Today went very well and was a big confidence boost, and Strava agreed, giving me an effort score of Chapultepec hills +1 = 210. So, yeah, I do not understand some Strava stats at all. I am looking forward to throwing down at WestVanRun next weekend. I think I can go under 19:00 in the 5K (current PB is a 19:40 en route) and then I get to see how well I can recover in 24 hours and hammer the 10K. I believe a new PB is achievable (currently it’s 39:20) but I have a rather ridiculously lofty goal to run a Vancouver Sun Run seeded qualifying time, which is sub 38:00. I think on an exceptional day that’s just barely within reach, so I’m curious to find out what Sunday has in store for me. I feel ready to go hard.

2019 week twenty three

Book Read
23. Normal People – Sally Rooney

Kilometres Ran
week twenty three – 43.7

2019 to date: 1,121 KM

A couple days ago I saved but haven’t yet read an article that, from the synopses provided, argues with itself as to whether or not Sally Rooney is good lit or chick lit (as if the two are mutually exclusive or something). I understand what the article is getting at but the dilemma strikes as everyday lazy misogyny. Anyway, like I said just a sec ago, I haven’t read the article any further than the deck headline, “The media can’t agree on whether her work is chick lit or literary genius—and maybe, for once, it’s possible to be both.” Maybe, for once. Moving along, I liked the book but maybe not quite as much as Conversations with Friends, which I devoured in a couple days. Normal People I enjoyed, but for whatever reason I found to be a bit of a slog. The story follows Connell’s and Marianne’s rather complex friendship beginning in high school and through college into adulthood. As should come as a surprise to no one, their relationship is anything but what one would categorize as “normal,” and yet I suspect people may find it somewhat familiar. It’s a good book. It has a lot of hype and mostly delivers, but I liked Conversations with Friends better, so if you’ve read neither and you’re going to read them maybe pick up Normal People first.

It was my birthday on Tuesday. This is what 44 looks like apparently.

Part of why I haven’t been reading all that much is that I do most of my reading during my daily three-hour transit commute to and from the office and since coming home from a vacation (that included a vacation from reading) I have bicycle-commuted everyday except one. So not much reading, but a quite a bit of time pedalling. I’m pretty happy with the results. On Wednesday was Global Running Day and Mile2Marathon teamed up with the East Van Run Crew for a workout at Strathcona Park. I was curious to see just how much fitness I’d lost since the BMO Marathon a month ago, and then a two-week diet of Swiss cheeses and Parisian pastries. And it went much better than expected, which is good because I’ve two bit events on the near horizon. In four days, June 13, is the Pacific Distance Carnival at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, where I’m running the M2M 5,000 Chase-the-Pace, and the pacer I’m going to be chasing is sub 20 minutes. Then ten days afterwards is the Scotiabank Half Marathon, where I’m going to chase a sub 90, while trying to raise money for one of my favourite charities. I wrote about running for The Capilano Review on here last week. You can revisit that here, and if you’re interested in lending your support you can do that here. I’m pretty crap at asking for help, but I probably won’t shut up about this much for the next couple weeks.