Tag: Sub 40 10K

2020 week ten

Books Read
5. Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club – Megan Gail Coles
6. The Houseguest – Amparo Dávila

Kilometres Ran
week ten – 69.7

2020 to date: 591 KM

“February in Newfoundland is the longest month of the year.” So opens Small Game Hunting‘s synopsis on its House of Anansi page. Thank gawd February is over. I wanted to like this book and it was such a slog and I spent so much time wondering just WTF was going on that I just could not. It reminded me of reading Faulkner in undergrad, the echo of people much smarter than me lamenting greatness like tinnitus all the while just wondering what the hell is happening. Sometimes I get the urge to pick him up again. This reminded me maybe nah. Moving on, below the flat we let in Mexico City was an English language bookstore that -of course- I stopped in to browse. Inside was a wide selection of children’s books, high school and university textbooks, and various exam prep, as well as a small selection of local authors in translation. I picked up a few but this Dávila collection of short stories had a blurb that included comparisons to Hitchcock and Kafka. I like Hitchcock and Kafka. This collections didn’t disappoint, and Dávila’s comparison to Kafka is apt. I liked it quite a bit and it was fun to recognize references I would have never understood before visiting Mexico City. In a city with so much to discover, this was a pleasant surprise.

WestVanRun race weekend, about a mile into the Sunday 10K. The smiling did not last much longer. Photo by Debra Kato.

Race weekend in West Vancouver for the WestVanRun 5K on Saturday and 10K Sunday (today). I set a goal to run a new personal best and aimed for an under 19:00 finish. I had a pretty good morning. I got into a slightly uncomfortable pace that I thought I could hold onto. The course starts at the top of a pretty steep hill and then runs pretty much flat out through the Park Royal mall parking lot and then back along the West Van Centennial Seawalk to the finish. My middle splits were pretty even and I managed a bit of a kick to the finish and crossed the finish line 19:03 with not a lot left to give. When I checked my finish online it said I placed fourth in my age group. A couple hours later friends messaged to say I missed claiming my third-place age group award. The runner who finished second overall was first in my age group and instead of double-dip, the organizers bumped everyone up a spot. So I was third in my age group even though I was fourth. It seems so strange to claim an award that I got but didn’t actually earn. I guess now I know how people who wear those fancy Nike shoes must feel all the time…. Anyway! I am now 3/3 not being on hand to accept my age group award.

WestVanRun Saturday 5K PB times three for John Hamilton (L), Walter Downey (R) and me. Photo by Lindsay Maciver.

This morning was the WestVanRun 10K and after a 9/10 effort to get to 19:03 in the 5K 23 hours earlier (thanks, Daylight Savings Time) I dialed back my expectations. I’d wanted to try to go under 38:00 but that was a pretty lofty goal at the best of time let alone the day after a hard race. I decided instead to go out at 3:55/km pace for the first 5K and then hang on for dear life and at least beat the 40 min pacer. I hit half way in 19:36 – one second behind pace – and the hang on began. I dipped a bit through 7 and 8 KM then traded lead back and forth with Michael Prince. I thought I had him beat but he had a better kick to the line; I crossed the finish a few seconds behind him for 39:30 chip time and my second fastest 10K and second time running sub 40:00.

Mike Prince out kicking me at the WestVanRun 10K finish this morning. Photo by Maddie Wiseman.

Later today over-analyzing the weekend (as I tend to do) I’m sure that I have it in my to run a sub 38:00 10K but I have a bit more work to do to get there. I was really happy with how well I recovered between races, all things considered, and I wonder how I could have done in the 10K today if I hadn’t raced the 5K yesterday. I felt like my Saturday was a better day, but when I looked at the stats I found that today’s 10K was actually a better performance, which I still find really (pleasantly) surprising. I certainly do not regret racing both. I’ve decided to pass on the St. Pat’s 5K next weekend, and the Vancouver Sun Run in April and just focus on the half marathons I have lined up between now and summer. Summertime will bring the Mile2Marathon Chase the Pace 5K on the track followed by the VFAC Summerfast 10K around Stanley Park so I won’t have to wait too long to take another shot at going faster than I have ever before. Next up though, is the gruelingly hilly April Fool’s half marathon on the Sunshine Coast. If I can set a new PB there I’ll be ecstatic.

2019 week thirty nine

Book Read
38. The Body Artist – Don DeLillo

Kilometres Ran
week thirty nine – 69.2

2019 to date: 1,954

Another short novel about death and the human condition. I found this one sort of interesting because I was interested in the artist, and I found the review of her show written by a journalist friend in the latter part of the book to be the most interesting part. I was often tired when I was reading this book and, I don’t know but there’s something about DeLillo that I know I’m supposed to like him because he’s supposed to be this brilliant American novelist but I always find him a bit drab. I remember a review of a Timothy Taylor novel – I don’t recall which novel or by whom – and they compared Taylor to DeLillo as a compliment and I quite like Taylor and just did not take it that way. Anyway, this book was short, which is good because I think there’s a good chance I would not have gotten to the part that I actually liked otherwise. But it took me three tries to finally get through White Noise so what do I know.

Above, a couple frames from the finish video shot by Jeannine Avelino. Thanks Jeannine!

Today was goal race day and I’d been looking forward to this day for the whole year because last year I ran the NorthVanRun 10K as a tune up for the Victoria Marathon, so I ran the first half at marathon pace and then picked it up for the second. And I loved the course and I thought that this course style really suites me and I figured that I could really rip on it. There are some hills but nothing onerous and every one of them has an equal downhill right afterwards, with the start and finish at sea level. I was feeling great right up until Thursday evening when I felt the plague coming on, so I took Friday off and willed it at bay as best I could and it mostly worked. Head was a bit stuffed this morning but otherwise I felt pretty great. This was my last chance on my 2019 calendar to sub 40 minutes a 10 km race, and after missing the mark by 20 seconds at Eastside two weeks ago (without reeelly trying*) I was pretty sure that barring disaster today was going to be the day. And disaster abated! I went out a little bit hot but settled into a great rhythm at 3:55/km right behind Shauna Gersbach and in front of Jordan Hurdal and the three of us paced each other perfectly, right up until about 8 km. Gersbach started to pull away and I felt like I was fading and then Hurdal passed me and I hit a wall where I wanted to quit so badly and then at about 8.5 km I suddenly got really nauseous, but I swallowed hard and just willed it all to go away. The last half kilometre drops 17 metres before a couple tight turns and a sprint to the finish at the end of the North Van Shipyards pier. I had nothing left for the sprint finish, but somehow managed to maintain pace and crossed the finish line 39:22 gun time, for a new personal best by nearly a minute, third in my age group, and 15th overall.

This is my happy-and-also-everything-hurts-and-don’t-forget-coach-wants-another-10-or-12-km-today face.

I really wanted to stick around for the awards, but when I asked I was told they weren’t happening until noon. The race started at 9 a.m. and I had only paid for parking until 11, so rather that wait around another couple hours (plus I was freezing) I went home. And that’s my only regret. I wish that I would have stuck around for the awards, or that they were a bit sooner. This is only my third running award, and I am zero-for-three for the ceremony. But I ran an excellent race. My splits are nearly dead even. My goal was sub 40 but my number in mind was 3:55 pace, and I finished 3:56. My last three kilometres were 3:56 / 3:54 / 3:52 and I had nothing left at the end. I am absolutely satisfied with this race. The only way I am running faster is by getting faster.

*I can admit that now, but oh boy that could have blown up in my face. And I won’t be doing any of that sort of nonsense again.