Tag: The Believer

2020 week nineteen

Stuff Read
The Believer Vol 17 No 2 – Night Snow – Apr / May 2020

Kilometres Ran
week nineteen – 63.2

2020 to date: 1,220 KM

I expect issue number 131 to get shoved through my mail slot any day now so I thought I should finally get around to thumbing through issue 130. I started the interview with Stephen Harrod Buhner but lost interest before I even got to the interview. Ross Simonini’s introduction didn’t do much to make me want to read on, but maybe I’ll revisit it. I liked the short piece How to Furnish an Apartment by Weike Wang and really enjoyed the long-form from Laura Preston The Voice Keepers about the forgotten (or in my case, completely unbeknownst) brief trend of recording letters to onto record and then mailing them. It is way more interesting than I’m making it sound here, so it’s good that Preston wrote it and not me. Titles link to the articles online. This issue also lists the finalists in the annual Believer Book Awards, which is very likely going to provide me with a whole bunch more books that I might get around to reading some day, just like all those other ones I am absolutely going to get to honest I promise.

Running is a privilege that I enjoy but that I don’t think about very often. Usually that only time I do is when I’m injured and then I think about what it would be like to never be able to run again. For a while I wanted to get a motorcycle because I’m a cliche post-punk white male approaching (or slightly beyond) middle age but I’ve decided against it because if (when) I crashed it I won’t be able to run. I haven’t ever considered the privilege I have as a cliche post-punk white male that allows me to go for a run. I run everywhere and anywhere. I don’t travel to the most dangerous places, but when I do have the privilege to travel I run there too. On Friday I ran and really thought about that privilege and how much I take it for granted. I, along with thousands of others, was appalled by the news that an African American man, Ahmaud Arbery, was lynched by two white men while he was out for a run. Friday would have been Maud’s 26th birthday. People everywhere ran 2.23 miles, the date of Maud’s murder – February 23 – to demand justice. News came the night before that the two white men who lynched Ahaud (Maud) Arbery had been arrested and charged with murder. There’s no denying that they did it. No, instead there will be debates that essentially boil down to whether two white men are allowed to extrajudicially execute a black man while he is out for a run. Tomorrow I’m going to go for a run. I will take it for granted. I am extremely privileged to do so.

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.