Tag: The Capilano Review

2019 week twenty four

Book Read
24. When Running Made History – Roger Robinson

Kilometres Ran
week twenty four – 41.2

2019 to date: 1,162 KM

I read and wrote about this book last fall just before I ran the Victoria Marathon, after meeting Roger Robinson at Forerunners on West 4th while out on his book tour. (A book tour of running shops, go figure.) What struck me then, and having a bit of a reread now, are the bits about running’s connection with charity.

The impulse among the majority of runners to run for a cause other than, or greater than, their own result has brought measurable enrichment to the work of many charities and thus society.

Roger Robinson

As my personal situation has improved I’ve been able to give back to the arts and culture community, which is easy if you’re able. It’s a lot harder to ask other people to join in. I learned pretty quickly that I’d never make it as a development officer or a fundraiser, and yet I’m currently trying to figure out how to ask my social circle and beyond to support The Capilano Review just because I’m running twenty-one point one kilometres in a week’s time, along with 5,000 other people many of whom are likely asking their social circle to support their charity of choice. While it does seem a bit weird to choose a running race to raise money for a pauperous literary arts organization, it was around the time that I took on their managing editor role that I gave this whole jogging thing a try. So for me, it seems, the two are rather tied. In timeline at least. Since I left The Capilano Review office, they continued to bring me a certain amount of enrichment. I always look forward to the writers and artists that I’ll be introduced to, always exceptionally curated, and often stuff that I wouldn’t otherwise see. If you’re familiar with their work, I hope that you’ll consider making a donation in support of my run next Sunday.

USE THIS LINK TO DONATE

If you’ve never head of The Capilano Review, I hope that you’ll check them out. Maybe attend an event, or purchase a subscription, or just get lost in their massive archive of work that was recently posted online in collaboration with Simon Fraser University Library.

Mile2Marathon train on the track at Swargard Stadium for Chase the Pace at the Pacific Distance Carnival. Photo by Debra Kato.

On Thursday I made my fifth attempt to run five kilometres in under 20 minutes, this time at Mile2Marathon’s sixth-annual Chase the Pace 5,000 on the track at Swangard Staduim in Burnaby. The event was in collaboration with the first Pacific Distance Carnival put on by BC Athletics, Mile2Marathon, and the BC Endurance Project. The evening started with a few 1,500 metre foot-races and a wheelchair heat, then four heats of 5,000 metres with pacers. I registered with the goal to run 19:59, which put me in the 7:55 p.m. heat where I and about 30 others chased three different pacers. The gun went off and I tried to get in behind pacer Laurel Richardson (19:55) but got stuck in the crowd for the first of 12 and a half laps of the 400 metre track. The field started to thin after the first couple laps and I managed to find a rhythm that felt ok but not great. By the eighth lap I’d slipped quite a bit and knew that I probably wasn’t going to be able to catch the pacer. There was a cluster of us that were right on the cusp of 20 minutes and we traded leading a few times. On the second last straight I remember M2M coach Rob Watson telling us we only had about a minute left and to give it hell. I didn’t have much to give but I managed a bit of a sprint coming out of the final turn. Ryan Chilibeck from East Van Run Crew was in front of me and I tried to catch him but he crossed the finish a few tens-of-a-second ahead of me. Perfectly ahead of me, if his intention was to block my view of the clock. Not that it mattered. I knew that I was over 20 minutes. Strava said I ran 5 KM in 19:53 but my Garmin said my run was 20:12. I checked the results board and my official time was 20:10:97. Not near my goal, and third in terms of attempts. It’s not a great result but, unless you count running loops of a park in Paris, I’ve done just two speed workouts since running the BMO Marathon at the beginning of May. While I do feel a bit like it was a missed opportunity, I’m really rather pleased with just how well it went.

With Philip Finlayson (who’d just run a 17:40 5,000) getting ready to cheer on the 10,000 Canadian championships at the Pacific Distance Carnival. I bet he loves this photo by Debra Kato almost as much as I do.

After the 5,000 metre heats were complete, the Pacific Distance Carnival main events got underway, with Canadian 10,000 metre championships. The 25 laps of the track saw Ben Flanagan finish in 28:37 in the men’s race, followed by current record holder Natasha Wodak finishing in 32:09 holding off B.C. 5K champ Sarah Inglis, and Canadian half and full marathon record holder Rachel Cliff. The whole event was a lot of fun both to participate and to watch. I look forward to next year.

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.

2019 week twenty two

Book Read
22. It’s a Big Deal! – Dina Del Bucchia

Kilometres Ran
week twenty two – 56.9

2019 to date: 1,077

I’m a day late writing this blog post and I can’t even blame it on a long weekend, but I flew home from Paris on Wednesday morning and I’m still trying to finish my travel journal. So no big deal. But what is a big deal is this new collection of poems from Dina Del Bucchia and if you don’t believe me then just read the title of the book. How can you argue? You can’t. I especially liked the Megafauna part of this collection – 19 poems with the following criteria: 1. Must be heavier than 100 pounds, 2. Must be fauna, and 3. Must be extinct. These are great. These belong in a museum. Who needs binomial nomenclature and some dry, stuffy description along side the Smithsonian’s dioramas? Put these there instead. And since we’re on the precipice of a mass-extinction event, Del Bucchia will have lots more to write, and we’re going to need her humour to help get us through. (We’re not getting through.) It’s pretty URGENT! Speaking of which, a couple years ago I was the managing editor of The Capilano Review and we collaborated with Daniel Zomparelli of Poetry is Dead for ti-TCR #11 “Urgency and Response,” which you cannot find online anymore but if you could you’d see that I got to typeset Del Bucchia’s poem “URGENT!” which you’ll also find in It’s a Big Deal. (Actually, since it was meant to be online and it’s not anymore for some reason, here it is.) Nostalgia enough? I still have a soft spot for TCR, which makes me do stuff like, years later, still try to help them out.

The 2018 Scotiabank Half Marathon. This year I’m running in the Charity Challenge in support of The Capilano Review. I hope you will consider lending your support.

The Scotiabank Half Marathon is in three weeks and this year I’m hoping to run fast than last year but I’m also running to raise money for The Capilano Review, which this year is a registered charity, and I hope that you’ll consider giving your support. For over 45 years or something TCR has published the who’s who of Canadian and international literary and visual artists, many of whom were still who? when they first appeared in TCR‘s pages. I was a fan, and then had the privilege of being the managing editor for a couple years. (Hence, I know the state of the books….) In spite of its tenuous financial situation, it continues to publish uncompromising quality, and I’m still a huge fan who looks forward to finding it in my mailbox throughout the year. TCR gives back to the community too, hosting numerous free cultural events throughout the year. I hope that you will consider supporting my race for a new personal best, and to make a donation to The Capilano Review. As TCR is a registered charity, all donations of $25 or more receive a tax receipt. To find out more about The Capilano Review follow this link.

Use this link to Donate

Mile on the track at the Vancouver Distance Track Series hosted by the Vancouver Falcons Athletics Club. Photo by Charles Perrot-Minot

On Friday I got to race a mile on the track up at UBC for the Vancouver Distance Track Series hosted by the Vancouver Falcons Athletics Club. It was over pretty quickly, and was a ton of fun. I went into the day with a bit of jetlag and not really knowing what to expect. I’d never raced a mile. According to Strava, my fastest mile was the first 1,609 metres of the Chilly Chase 5K that I raced in January. Strava said I did that in 6:05. I wanted to run under six minutes. The gun went off and I got a good start and just tried to keep pace with Rochelle Marasa who’d taken the lead. In the second lap Paul Farrow took over the lead, Marasa second and me trying to keep Marasa’s pace in third. Going into the bell lap Marasa picked up her pace and caught and passed Farrow. On the final straight I thought he was within reach and I turned on the sprint, but just before the line he saw me coming and managed to find another gear too and held me off. I finished third just 3/10 second behind him, crossing the line at 5:52 for a pretty satisfying personal best.

Vancouver Distance Track Series Heat 1 – (L-R) me (3rd), Paul Farrow (2nd), Rochelle Marasa (1st) hosted by the Vancouver Falcons Athletics Club. Photo by Jan Heuninck.

I learned a few things too. The biggest one is to stay in lane one. I spent some time pacing the leaders on their right instead of from behind. Which meant my mile was a few metres long – a learning experience that I will carry into next time. There will be a next time.