Tag: Victoria Marathon

2018 week thirty

Book Read:
38. Believe Me — Eddie Izzard

Kilometres Ran:
week thirty — 54.3

To date: 1,514 KM

This book took me too long to read and that’s probably because, as to be expected from an autobiography, there’s this whole bunch of stuff at the beginning about being a child and I don’t really like kids. I should have skipped it. It’s not as if there were any vital plot points that missing would leave me bewildered later in the book. But I trudged on through. I’ve been a fan of Izzard since a Dress to Kill DVD make the rounds of my friends sometime around the century change over. It’s funny(?) to think that in a small backwater town we didn’t even bat an eye at the notion of a transgender comedian. Izzard was very likely my first encounter and it all seemed utterly normal to me at the time, which has carried through to now to the point that I do not understand what the fuss is about. Reading this book reminded me of how many things Izzard has touched that I really like, many that he doesn’t mention in the book at all. Shadow of the Vampire is one of my favourite films and the NBC series Hannibal I will argue is one of the best TV series in ever and I generally hate network television. Maybe not generally. So anyway, it’s a good book.

Halfway through today’s recovery run, waiting my turn at the Third Beach water fountain.

Eight weeks out from the 2017 BMO Marathon I decided, yeah, I’m going to do that. As of today I’m ten weeks out from running my second. In July 2009, Eddie Izzard, decided to run around the UK. He writes, “Of course, I had no business running marathons–I wasn’t trained, I wasn’t particularly fit, and I had absolutely no experience in running anything that long, let alone running multiple marathons.” What I mean by run around the UK, I mean a marathon a day, six days a week, resting on Sundays. So with six weeks(!) until start, he decided he should maybe do some training. And he did it, running 43 marathons in 51 days and raised a few million dollars for charity. Then in February 2016 he ran 27 marathons in 27 days (including two marathons on the 27th day because he missed a day near the beginning, the loser…), all in balmy South Africa. And all I want to do is BQ at the Victoria Marathon in ten weeks. It seems so pedantic in comparison.

2018 week twenty six

Book Read:
33. Blown — Mark Haskell Smith

Kilometres Ran:
week twenty six — 56.2

To date: 1,288 KM

I picked up Blown because, well, I received a review copy from Grove Press, which happens a lot and I don’t mind at all. I liked this book a lot. It’s a fun, easy read, with a, captivating, entertaining story and likeable, interesting characters, most of whom I’m rooting for, in spite of knowing that it’s not going to end well for everyone, or potentially anyone. There’s decent suspense, and I’m not going to give anything away. The book opens and we meet Neil and Chlöe on a boat, and a lot of money, which Chlöe is very interested in knowing how Neil came about the cash. So begins Neil’s story. Is Smith a Conrad fan? Who knows? It doesn’t matter. The story of embezzlement and sex and high seas highjinx was, for me, a fine long weekend read. Experimental lit this is not. Trashy? Maybe. But good characters, great story, really well written kind of trash. Enough that it’s made me curious to check out more Haskell Smith work. Thanks to Grove Press for the copy.

Wouldn’t be a trip to Oak Bay without running into one of the local landscapers.

It was a busy week that included my first Grouse Grind, which I’ll probably revisit soon, when I revisit it soon. Initially I figured it would be a one-and-done, but I want to do it again so I’ll write about it then. I spent the long weekend in Victoria, lounging in Oak Bay, watching world cup, drinking spicy ginger beer, and doing reconnaissance missions on the Victoria Marathon route. Saturday the weather was rainy, so I stayed close to home and ran the middle bits through Oak Bay. Happily, there were no surprises or concerns. Heading north on Hampshire the route turns left onto Granite at about the course 14 KM mark a short but not so subtle hill that will get noticed on race day. I was a bit more worried about the hill heading north along Beach just past the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, but then realized I’d gone a quarter kilometre too far; the route turns back south at Loon Bay Park.
See you in fourteen weeks.

Sunday, Canada Day, I took course’s last 10 KM along Crescent Drive, then Dallas Road and around the Inner Harbour to the “finish line” on Menzies Street next to the Provincial Legislature buildings. There’s a bit of a hill coming up Dallas (fittingly) near the Ross Bay Cemetery to Clover Point, but then it’s pretty much downhill for the last 4.5 KM to the finish. After finishing, I traced the first 14 KM or so from “start line” at the Legislature, up Government Street onto Wharf, right onto Johnson until Cook, then down into Beacon Hill Park and a loop around Circle Drive (clever name…). I finished the scouting mission back on Dallas, onto Crescent, and back into Oak Bay. I think I ran about 95 per cent of the course, and I feel really good about it. It’s not going to be easy, and I have a lot of training to do between now and Thanksgiving. But I definitely have the mental angle nailed down. Confident but not overly, with fourteen weeks until race day.

2018 week twenty four

Book Read:
31. Run Forever — Amby Burfoot

Kilometres Ran:
week twenty four — 64.2

To date: 1,180 KM

Curmudgeon writes book about running, in which he reminds you over and over that 40 years ago he won the Boston Marathon, and that the only worthwhile running development since then is wicking socks. I was given a review copy of Amby Burfoot’s new book Run Forever. Burfoot won Boston in 1968 and went on to become executive editor of Runner’s World. He retired in 2013, but has not retired the word “scrumptious,” nor reminding you that he won Boston in 1968. Hey did you know Burfoot won Boston? Around the same time he also participated in a study into hydration and performance. He states that the results of the study showed he performed best on Gatorade, and worst drinking nothing, a result that pretty much anyone would say, “duh.” Except for Burfoot. He writes that one month after the study he runs (and wins the Boston Marathon) “without drinking anything en route” and goes on to declare: “I’m […] quite sure that, if someone had given me Gatorade on the course, I wouldn’t have run as well.” Reading Run Forever felt like reading a book about running written by Kurtwood Smith in full Red Forman. Once you get past surely old man writing about how he likes things the old fashioned way, the book is a decent compilation of running how-to with some good advice, but in that it is by no means unique and I think there are much better options out there.

Sorta smiley rainy run.

Whenever I get a new book, especially non-fiction, I like to look through the table of contents. If you read my 2018 week twenty three last week you may recall that I developed a shin splint while on holiday. Burfoot in Run Forever devotes a section to injuries, and a “chaplet” (his word for “chapter”) to shin splints, in which he says that pretty much every runner gets them, but that they’re something beginning runners suffer with, and “once you move past an initial bout, they rarely come back.” My first bout of shin splints came in the beginning of this year, and my physiotherapist put the Fear of God (or Saint Sebastian?) into me about proper care lest I develop a stress fracture. Burfoot, on the other hand, writes, “Shin splints are the perfect example of how most running injuries aren’t serious. You get them, then you get over them.” The bigger problem I have with this book is that there’s some really bad advice. And yet I’ll probably buy a hardcopy for my library. Thanks to Centre Street for the review copy.
Unintentionally frowny sunny run.

On Wednesday I went for a run in the rain up to UBC and back home following most of the impending Scotiabank Half Marathon route and I should have trimmed my toenails because my left big toenail had gotten a little too long and by the time I finished my descent of Marine Drive it was pretty uncomfortable. So after some 6,000 KM running I got my first black toe badge, and damnit I had no idea how debilitating it is. Thursday was a write-off but by Friday evening I forced myself back outside. It did not feel great but I pushed through, and then it felt better, and better Saturday, and better today. Whether the toenail falls off or not remains to be seen. I’m hoping it makes up its mind soon. One week until Scotiabank Half. And sixteen weeks until Victoria Marathon.