Tag: Vancouver Distance Track Series

2019 week thirty five

Book Read
34. Grief is the Thing with Feathers – Max Porter

Kilometres Ran
week thirty five – 61

2019 to date: 1,681

In this pretty great debut novella a father and two sons deal with life and grief at the loss of partner and mother, along with a crow who serves as a sort of asshole grief counsellor who promises to hang around for as long as the family needs. Porter’s experimental style is not easily accessible but I liked it a lot. I am sure most of the Dickinson and (Ted) Hughes references went right over my head but I really enjoyed this book regardless. A relatively short read that you might have to work a bit for, but worth it.

Saturday was the third and final event in the Vancouver Distance Track Series hosted by Nic Browne and the Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club. Initially billed to be a 10,000 on the track up at UBC, a couple weeks ago Nic added an 800 and mile to the event so I signed up to see if I could better my mile result from back at the beginning of June. The field was a lot thinner this time out, which I think turned out to be a disadvantage. My goal was to try to run 1:25 laps for the first three and then try to explode my heart on the fourth but without a pacer my timing was merely guesswork.

Photo by Debra Kato

First lap I came through at 1:26 and I was rather pleased with myself and settled into a rhythm that, turns out, was a bit slow. Second lap the clock read 2:58. Third and into the bell lap and I don’t recall the numbers on the clock but I had a feeling it was my slowest. I pushed hard through the 300 metres of lap four and then tried my damndest to cough up a lung on the final straight to the finish.

Photo by Debra Kato

I crossed the finish 5:52 for the same finish time as my first mile attempt back in June, proving, I guess, that it was not a fluke. Hindsight being what it is, I think that I could have given more on lap three. I also think that back in June I benefited a lot from having people close to me throughout the race. This time out I was 14 seconds ahead of the runner behind me, and 38 seconds behind the next person in front of me. But then this morning I checked both times again; my run Saturday was 7/100 faster than June. I’ll take it. Twelve days until Eastside 10K. BONUS: I knew that Rachel Cliff is the current Canadian women’s marathon record holder, which won me an entry into the Gunner Shaw Cross Country race in December. Yay! BUT: I think I’ll be in Sacramento running the California International Marathon. Boo! I need to double check.

2019 week thirty four

Book Read
33. The Story of My Teeth – Valeria Luiselli

Kilometres Ran
week thirty four – 59.9

2019 to date: 1,619 KM

I went to the dentist the other day and it was fine and then at the end of the cleaning the hygienist said that the dentist will want to refer you to a specialist to have a look at those lesions in the back of your mouth and I said haha what is it mouth cancer because I’m hilarious and the hygienist and dentist both put on that face. You know the one. Then the dentist said “biopsy.” So, anyway, a couple weeks later the specialist office calls and books an appointment for a couple weeks later and so after about a month of thinking that I’m probably dying of mouth cancer, which to be fair was kind of asking for it throughout most of my twenties and thirties, I went to the specialist and he said that it is 99.9% nothing to worry about; however, he would still like me to see the doctor of oral medicine in September. So I’m probably not dying. I mean, we’re all dying but mine is probably not that accelerated. So I picked up this copy of the Christina MacSweeney translated The Story of My Teeth and it was really good. It has absolutely nothing to do with oral cancer but is much more hilarious than any mouth cancer joke that I might make in a dental office. I look forward to reading more of Luiselli’s stuff.

I found Gordon’s photographs from last weekend’s Seawheeze on the Marathon Photos website and if you’re completely confused then go back and read last week’s post. I’ll wait. Anyway, to my shock a few are not that bad and so in spite of my hatred of Marathon Photos I bought them because apparently you get all nostalgic (or vain?) when you think that you might be dying. However, this upcoming Saturday I’m going to try to give myself a heart attack again as I attempt to better my one mile personal best time of 5:52 with four laps around the track up at UBC at the final instalment of the Vancouver Distance Track Series. This event on August 31 features an 800, 10,000 and one mile distances. I missed the 5,000 back in mid-May but ran my first and only timed mile on the track and immediately thought I can do that faster. So we’ll see on Saturday. Although I’m seriously considering taking on the 800 too, and then cheer on the crazies running 25 laps before the one mile event. It’ll be a day-of decision.

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.