Run 641: People ‘n puddles

Run 641
Average pace: 5:50/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:35 am
Distance: 10.05 km
Time: 58:44
Weather: Rain
Temp: 8ºC
Humidity: 92%
Wind: light
BPM: 181
Weight: 165.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 4810 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 8
Shoes: Saucony Switchback ISO (170 km)

I once again planned to run Saturday and ended up running Sunday. The weather today was predicted to be cats and dogs so I arranged the day before to have Jeff gently push me to head out in the morning when it would likely be pouring and I’d likely be thinking about how warm and dry it was inside.

This is exactly what happened. After about half an hour of gentle persuasion I changed and headed out into the rain.

I wore shorts and two layers up top–a sleeveless t-shirt with the long-sleeved Nike short over top, as it was an unseasonably cool 8ºC. This turned out to be a good choice. Yay for dressing for the weather.

As per the forecast I didn’t expect the rain to stop and it didn’t, though it varied in intensity over the course of the run. Luckily the wind was nearly calm, so it didn’t feel even colder. I had a surprisingly sluggish start, with the first km coming in at 6:01/km, and finished strong at 5:40/km, with an overall pace of 5:50/km. This is a bit slower than the last run, but given the weather and slow start, pretty decent overall.

There was a running event earlier in the morning and they still had their tents set up on the south side of the dam, so rather than starting over by the 9K marker, I began on the other side of the dam. This meant my run went “long” and I didn’t hit 10K until I was actually running across the dam. If I’ve finished a run on top of the dam before, it’s been long enough that I don’t remember. The top of the dam is always covered in puddles when it rains, so it was a splashy end.

Speaking of puddles, this was definitely a run where I had to dodge and weave frequently around puddles large and small. At the athletic fields, the usual part of the trail that floods was flooded as usual and after a quick assessment I realized there was nothing to be done but to go straight through, so my feet got dunked good just shy of the halfway mark. They seemed to be fine after. I would have liked to have seen how the runners in the race handled that part. It’s not an insubstantial puddle (the parks people should really fix the whole stretch one day, there is essentially no drainage at all).

Speaking of parks people, I encountered a putt putt car on the Conifer Loop, something I wasn’t expecting. Maybe the driver was trying to avoid the main trail out of courtesy to the other runners. And speaking of people, for the first few km I encountered far more than expected. A few were running, a few had dogs, but most were just out walking, many without umbrellas, and all very wet. As I exited the Conifer Loop I saw a pair ahead of me that I’d have to dodge, then another pair approaching from the other side, so I had to navigate between all four. I was not expecting this on such a crappy day. Why were these people not home, safely warm, and getting drunk while playing cribbage? I don’t know.

For most of the run after, people were few and far between, and my pace picked up toward the middle of the run, then see-sawed after until a strong finish on the dam. The one area of concern was my BPM, which shot way up to 181. That is high, but perhaps just reflecting the cold and wet. As I get used to the conditions I should see that come back down. If not I will be alarmed and consider staying home and getting drunk while playing cribbage.

Overall, this was a good run for a couple of reasons. I experienced no issues during the run, and just as importantly, I did the run, knowing how bad the conditions would be.

Book review: The Liar’s Bible: A Handbook for Fiction Writers

The Liar's Bible: A Handbook for Fiction Writers

The Liar’s Bible: A Handbook for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Anyone looking for nuts and bolts advice on writing should be warned that this is a collection of some of Block’s fiction columns from Writer’s Digest, and as such they sometimes provide instruction or advice, but sometimes Block just takes you along on his musings about the writing life.

It’s probably also relevant to add that the columns in question date from 1981 to 1987. He mentions typewriters a lot.

And that is probably what I enjoyed most about the book. Some of the writing advice is obviously dated–he has a wonderfully detailed column about self-publishing his own book that isn’t particularly relevant to how self-publishing works in the 2010s, but Block has such an affable style that the column still entertains.

The columns also serve to paint a portrait of the author as he draws extensively on his own experience writing and publishing–he had been in the business about 25 years at the time these columns were new–and in a way, this makes the pieces serve as a kind of memoir. Block recounts his early days writing soft porn novels, confesses to questionable behavior in his youth, details his fights with editors, agents and others, and regularly reminds the reader that what works for him may not work for them and to adjust as needed.

If you want a no-nonsense book about writing full of advice on plot, pacing, story structure, characters–you will find that here, to a degree. But more than that, you will get a good glimpse into the life and habits of a particular writer, and a snapshot look back at what the writing life was like in the 1980s.

I wouldn’t recommend this as your first book on writing advice, but I would recommend it as one of the books to check out.

View all my reviews

Fat is back

I don’t mean that plus-sizes are suddenly in vogue again (or if they ever were in vogue–I don’t really keep up on fashion trends, as anyone observing how I dress can see), what I mean is that last month when I was hitting 162 pounds and trending downward, I am now, in October, trending upward. Fatward.

This is likely related to a combination of running a bit less for various reasons (though I am doing 10K runs again, yay), along with no change in diet. The two in concert tend to lead to weight gain. A symphony of cellulose.

Upon stepping on the scale this morning, I got the weight equivalent of sticker shock. I was up, which is not uncommon after a run day. But I was up 1.3 pounds, to 167.5 pounds, which is the first time I’ve been over 167 pounds this year. Weight gain is not a good way to lose weight. I don’t recommend it.

More depressing still, I was recently looking for some old images on my backup drive and found a couple of screen caps from my iPhone 4 from July 2012. The caps were from the MyFitnessPal app, showing the tracking for my weight loss at the time.

On the day in question my weight was 144.8 pounds. That was 22.7 pounds ago.

Depressing.

To battle the depression I had a chocolate chunk cookie at Starbucks. Probably not the best plan.

Still, with our spare room cleaned up, we are that much closer to getting a treadmill, after which getting in a workout will be as easy as walking into the room and jumping on. I just need to make it past the couch.

So here’s hoping history doesn’t repeat itself, because this is pretty much exactly what happened at this time last year: the days get shorter, I exercise less, eat the same, and bloat up like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloon. Maybe this time–we are only halfway through October, after all–I can reverse the trend and get back to svelte.