Run 559: Improbably swift

Run 559
Average pace: 5:27/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:18 am
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 54:49
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 4-6ºC
Humidity: 88%
Wind: light
BPM: 173
Weight: 161.6 pounds
Total distance to date: 4350 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

My goal for today’s run was to simply maintain a steady pace and perhaps beat last Saturday’s 10K pace of 5:50/km, which is rather sluggish.

Before getting to the run I’d like to say I’m convinced that my brisk walking pace that I adopt when heading to the lake is absolutely being interpreted by my body as the rhythmic signal to evacuate my bowels and/or bladder because I yet again had to go when I got there. Which I did, grateful for the sanitizer in the Jiffy John™.

Having concluded my bathroom business, I turned to the running business. I’d left my Cascadia shoes at work so I ran using my old Hoka Speedgoats. I’d forgotten how much they squeak. The shoes nearly double as an early warning system to other people on the trail. They were otherwise fine.

I also wore my AirPods because I apparently forgot my regular earbuds at work. It was cloudy but not looking particularly like rain, so I deemed it a reasonable risk. They performed fine and remained snug, though there was some confusion between it, Siri, the watch and the phone. Maybe too many Apple products together is actually a bad thing. Perhaps AI-based rivalries form.

It started out fine, with me selecting music: “Hey Siri, play The Go-Go’s.” My phone began playing The Go-Go’s.

Next, I started the run: “Hey Siri, start a 5K outdoor run.” (I always default to 5K because I’d rather go over than finish under.)

This seemed to cause the first bit of confusion. Instead of continuing to play the paused song, it moved to the next one. But it was still The Go-Go’s, as was the song after that. I also delighted in the watch audio signals for each km completed piping through the AirPods. But the fourth song that played was “Wasted Time” by The Eagles. The Eagles, as you may know, are not The Go-Go’s. I also realized that The Go-Go’s songs had been playing in alphabetical order, which was not my preference.

“Hey Siri, shuffle The Go-Go’s.” This fixed the music for the rest of the run. It also broke the audio piping in from the watch. Oh well.

The Eagles song is stored on both the phone and the watch and it looks like the watch or AirPods decided it would be a good time to play music from the watch instead of the phone because why not? So it just grabbed some random song. I’ve fixed this problem before by nuking all the music from the watch, but that’s sub-optimal. There is a watch update, so maybe that fixes it.

Anyway, onto the run.

My first km was 5:36/km, so in line with my stated goal of being faster but not, you know, fast.

In terms of issues, I felt a brief soreness in my right calf (that weak feeling again, like the muscle is flabby and out of shape, which it kind of is). It didn’t last long. I also briefly felt some stiffness near the inside of my lower left butt cheek. I don’t have a good explanation for this, except that the stiffness did not arise from doing anything fun (nor I think, from running). It also didn’t last long.

The trail was lightly populated, perhaps a combination of the cold and the threatening sky. I liked it. The “Beware of bears eating you” sign has been replaced with “Caution: icy conditions” sign. It wasn’t really icy, though.

I only felt like I really pushed at one point, along the Cottonwood Trail, where a fellow jogger suddenly sprang from the woods onto the path ahead of me (I suspect the urgent need to pee was involved). She began a pace that was almost but not quite as fast as mine. This was nearly 7 km into the run and I was not feeling super-energetic but it became clear I’d either have to deliberately hold back or expend some extra energy to pass her.

I chose to pass, then maintained that elevated pace until I reached the Piper Mill Trail where I gratefully dropped down a notch or two. My pace at this point was a zippy 5:19/km. I felt it.

In the end I finished at 5:27/km, slightly faster than Thursday’s 5K and substantially faster than the last 10K–a full 23 seconds faster per km. I really wasn’t expecting the result, which is pleasantly surprising.

Less pleasantly, my heart rate was elevated to right near the maximum of what I’m comfortable with at 173 BPM. The combination of the cold and the effort and being kind of flabby and out of shape is not a good one.

But I will try to ease up next week, with two runs planned for work before the holiday starts, then a week and a half of runs at the lake, barring sudden and annoying blizzards.

Overall, a nice effort, BPM notwithstanding.

Run 558: A modest proposal

Run 558
Average pace: 5:28/km
Location: Langara Trail
Start: 12:22 pm
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 27:31
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 6ºC
Humidity: 87%
Wind: light
BPM: 165
Weight: 163.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4340 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

Running conditions were near-identical today to Tuesday and my modest proposal (to myself) was to simply improve on the previous run’s performance. And I did, so hooray for me!

My pace improved from 5:35/km to 5:28/km and my BPM dropped from 170 to 165. I also didn’t feel like I was exerting myself as hard, especially in the opening km.

No real issues to report, other than post-run my leg muscles are all a wee bit stiff as they got through the initial phase of getting used regularly again. It’s amazing how quickly you lose your fitness level.

I am toying with the idea of running again at lunch tomorrow since all of my gear is still at work. It’s probably a better idea than donuts.

We’ll see.

Book review: The Boy Who Drew Monsters

The Boy Who Drew MonstersThe Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The ending of The Boy Who Drew Monsters caught me by (pleasant) surprise, which was a fun way to end the novel, but it also made me reflect back on the story’s events that lead up to that ending, and I’m left with the feeling that while this is a good, creepy story, it falls short of its potential.

The potential goes unfilled for a couple of reasons. On the plus side, all the ingredients are here for a spooky tale–a remote(ish) seaside location during a snowy winter, a strange child with some rather unique talents, old shipwrecks and their possible ghosts, unearthed bones, sightings of weird people and animals. Into this author Keith Donohue inserts an unhappy family–a young couple straining to hold everything together as they raise their son, a ten year old with Asperger’s and agoraphobia who spends most of his time withdrawn into himself.

Things get progressively weirder as the house and area are beset by unusual sounds and fleeting glimpses of monstrous things. Holly, the wife, finding little comfort from her husband, the once unfaithful Tim, returns to church, seeking guidance from a surprisingly skeptical priest and his odd Japanese housekeeper, who speaks openly of ghosts over the objections of the priest.

All of this is good material but there are problems. The pacing feels off. When the first big storm of the winter arrives you know it’s going to lead into the story’s conclusion. The problem is that while a lot of plot points are introduced, there is no sense of escalation, things just keep happening until the storm hits and the story leaps forward to an abrupt conclusion.

The priest is an entirely odd character, seeming to fit more of a “skeptical scientist” role who adds little to the story. The housekeeper offers more, bringing comfort to Holly and speaking to the boy, Jack Peter, holding out the promise of a breakthrough with him, but this gets abandoned without further exploration, again making her character seem superfluous.

Jack Peter, the boy, is unsympathetic. While the reader will naturally feel bad about his afflictions, his behavior is compulsively strange and remote, and never really changes.

In the end the story just needs more flesh on its bones. What is here is decent enough, there’s just not enough of it, leaving the story feeling thin and underdeveloped. Donohue’s writing has a lyrical rhythm to it, which makes the relatively thin material all the more frustrating. This could have been a great read instead of just a good one.

View all my reviews

Run 557: Slow, but not as slow

Run 557
Average pace: 5:35/km
Location: Langara Trail
Start: 12:27 pm
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 28:03
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 7ºC
Humidity: 80%
Wind: light
BPM: 170
Weight: 163.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 4335 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

For the first time in awhile I actually ran  mid-week, taking advantage of the current dry weather to run the loop around the Langara Golf Course.

The first 500m or so I felt like I was pushing way too hard but this has happened before on this trail and I’m not entirely sure why. It starts on a slight downward slope but I’m not sure that’s it. I felt more or less normal later, though my body is still a bit weirded out by the different dynamics of this trail, with its long downward and upward slopes. I’m tempted to try the Nike Run Club (NRC, nee Nike+) app again to see if I can get a bit more granularity in the post-run stats and see exactly how and where the terrain affects my pace and BPM.

Speaking of BPM, it’s still up there but no better or worse, so in line with my current fitness level, I suppose.

Overall I had no issues apart from a brief sensation of weakness in one leg a little over a km in. It just felt very briefly wobbly, possibly because of the combination of doing two runs close together for the first time in more than a month and the unfamiliar route. It went away quickly and didn’t last.

And I was slow. My last 5K here was 5:20/km, today it was 5:35/km. Ouch.

I expect to be a little sore tomorrow.

Here’s hoping that I regain my stamina reasonably soon if I keep up the regular runs. If nothing else I’m at least moving in the right direction now.

Run 556: Slow

Run 556
Average pace: 5:50/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:08 am
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 58:35
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 6ºC
Humidity: 83%
Wind: light
BPM: 171
Weight: 161.7 pounds
Total distance to date: 4330 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone

This was not a good run. It wasn’t a bad run, either, just thoroughly blah.

One complication–my left hip felt a bit sore for no apparent reason, but it largely worked itself out by the end of the run and was fine on the walk home.

I was expecting a temperature of 1-3ºC but it was actually 6ºC when I started out. Again, the difference in temperature here is quite noticeable so while I was not over-dressed with two layers on top and running pants instead of shorts, a jacket and gloves would have been too much. I passed a number of joggers early on and everyone wearing a jacket either had the jacket fully unzipped the next time I saw them or the jacket was tied around their waists.

I wore my fancy new Under Armor jogging pants that include zippered front pockets and everything and they kept my legs nice and warm on the walk to and from the lake. For the actual run I would have been fine with shorts, especially since it was dry with little wind. I also had fancy new Under Armor underwear to go with the pants and they are thin and silk-like, so they stayed dry and pretty much felt like they weren’t there. Gear-wise, the run was a success.

The walk to the lake was one of the slowest ever at 9:41/km. My usual pace is below 9:00/km. The walk back was a bit better but still slow, while the run itself was a full ten seconds slower than last Saturday’s at 5:50/km. Lowlights included a couple of km where the pace was over 6:00/km. By the third km I was already feeling tired, though I got my second wind and felt decent for the last few km, even if my pace never improved. The cold seemed to keep my BPM up, too. It also doesn’t help that each run I’m getting a little heavier.

Basically I need to eat better and exercise more, just like that doctor told me way back in april of 2008. And I will. I’m taking my running gear to work and will dash around the golf course at lunch instead of dashing food into my face at the cafeteria. It also helps that after next week the cafeteria will be essentially closed for inter-session (no classes, no exams).

Since the weather was nice a lot of people were out, though I didn’t encounter any large roving gangs of walkers. Instead of dodging puddles I dodged people. I think I prefer puddles if I’m honest about it. Puddles don’t make sudden movements.

Overall, a slog but I finished it and to quote Elton John, I’m still standing (though I’m sitting as I write this). I plan on doing more and shorter runs this week, rain or shine (but no snow, please). We’ll see if I start to regain some form before year’s end.

Pencilled in

This post was lovingly hand-written using my iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Nebo note-taking app.

Nebo converts the handwritten text to type on the fly and the accuracy seems pretty good considering l’m writing this in bed while the neighbors make strange thumping sounds upstairs.

All in all, I give the technology ten thumbs up and this post’s excitement level half a thumb up.

My Top 10 Albums of 2017

Or “Why I don’t know anything about the current state of pop music.”

I apparently only bought seven albums this year. That may actually be higher than average compared to most album buyers, since the album format is either dead or dying (or just on a temporary downward trend if you’re feeling less doom and gloom about it).

The albums I bought fall into these categories:

  • Albums previously owned but purchased for the sake of having them in digital format: 1
  • Albums bought because a friend had them and I liked them and they were on sale: 2
  • Albums that were cheap and had at least one song I liked so I figured why not: 4
  • Albums I bought that were released in 2017: 0
  • Albums I bought that were released in the 21st century: 0
  • The year each of the seven albums were released:
    • 1976
    • 1978
    • 1982
    • 1983
    • 1984
    • 1986
    • 1992

So really, this was an exercise in 1980s nostalgia. Not surprising since that was the formative decade for my taste (or lack thereof) in music. The seven albums are:

  • Hotel California, The Eagles. I’ve heard the title track a billion times and somehow I am still not tired of it. The rest of the album holds up well given its age and Don Henley’s cynicism is just as appropriate–or moreso–in 2017.
  • The Cars, The Cars. The Cars! This album got played endlessly in Drawing and Painting class in junior high but I didn’t mind because it’s a crazy good pop confection.
  • Vacation, The Go-Go’s. Worth it for the title track, “He’s So Strange” and “Worlds Away.” Not quite as catchy as their first album but pretty close.
  • Eliminator, ZZ Top. For some reason I can never bring myself to listen to the whole album, just the singles that I’m familiar with like “Sharp-Dressed Man” and “Legs.” I have no buyer’s regret.
  • Welcome to the Pleasuredome, Frankie Goes to Hollywood. What an improbable success. A friend had this on that newfangled CD format and it’s a bizarre mix of covers, ersatz prog rock, dance music and ballads. Somehow it works, in no small part due to Holly Johnson’s commanding presence.
  • Crowded House, Crowded House. A lovely pop album with one of the most essential songs of the 80s, “Don’t Dream It’s Over.”
  • Harvest Moon, Neil Young. The title track is a sweet ballad and the rest of the album is similarly soothing as Young gets quiet instead of weird or angry.

Maybe one of my resolutions for next year will be to buy an album released next year. Hey, it’s happened before! (Last time in 2014.)

In their pocket

I got an email yesterday from Pocket, the service that lets you save stories on the web to read later (various browsers and other apps do the same thing but I glommed onto Pocket, in part because it was bought by Mozilla and integrated directly into Firefox).

Email from Pocket is not unusual–I get several per week with recommended and sponsored stories. This one was different, though (and yes, it included the little rocket because that’s become a strange and slightly annoying trend in email subject lines over the past few years):

? Stan, you made the Top 5% of readers in Pocket this year!

It goes on to elaborate a little:

You’re a top reader in Pocket for 2017, and you should be proud! Not only did you make it into the top 5%, you’ve also exercised your brain and undoubtedly learned a ton in the process.

I just find this weird. There are about five hundred billion people on the internet, so how did I manage to get in the top 5% of Pocket users? My first thought is that Pocket is drastically unpopular and any moderate use by anyone would put them in the top 5%. This is also my second and third thought because all other possibilities seem so much less likely. But perhaps most people only use Pocket occasionally because they read a story right when they find it, rather than holding off until later. Maybe we live in a culture of instant rather than delayed gratification and I’m an outlier.

Maybe this would all change if Pocket featured Facebook integration (I would then hate it forever and plunge into the bottom 5%).

Anyway, I suppose it’s nice but mostly still weird that I’m in the top 5% of anything on the internet. Go me!

The ongoing death of brick & mortar: NCIX edition

The personal computer market has changed a lot since I moved to Vancouver in 1986, and the retail market has changed along with it.

In 1986 the Macintosh was only two years old, the IBM PC was all of five. Walking into a decent computer store, whether a hardware-focused place like Future Shop, or a software-focused one like Super Software, you could buy titles for the following systems:

  • Apple II
  • IBM PC
  • Atari 8-bit
  • Commodore VIC-20
  • Commodore 64
  • Macintosh
  • Amiga
  • Atari ST (520/1040)

Ten years later the market every system was dead or dying, save for two. The Macintosh had carved out a niche, primarily for those using it in desktop publishing, but it was the PC that came to dominate, both with businesses and home users, with the advent of VGA graphics and decent sound cards making them viable for gaming. The growth of the PC led to the number of stores selling PCs, PC parts and software exploding.

I did a lot of my early shopping back then at a few local stores such as ATIC Computers and Frontier PC before settling on NCIX for their combination of good stock, retail locations and solid pricing. Just this summer I was still buying from them, picking up a mouse and some USB stick, not realizing they were on the verge of shutting down all of their retail stores and declaring bankruptcy. It makes me sad to see another long-time local business go under, even as I admit to a bad taste in my mouth over the way customers are predictably getting the short end of the stick as the company goes under.

Also, how does a company selling tech in the shadow of places like Amazon and Newegg not realize the future is online? I liked shopping at NCIX because I live in a condo and it’s a pain to get larger items delivered, because they end up at some depot and it’s just easier to get them at a store. But if I lived in a house? I’d order everything online–it hardly makes sense to do otherwise, with either free or cheap shipping. But the owners of NCIX apparently thought otherwise, and even as the competition got swallowed up (Best Buy devouring Future Shop), shifted to corporate/online sales Frontier PC) or just vanished altogether (to my surprise, ATIC is still around, though they have moved to a new location next to MEC), they kept their focus on retail stores that never generated enough traffic to justify the expense of operating them.

And in this case, we’re looking at stuff that doesn’t translate easily into digital format like books, magazines and music. But it doesn’t matter–people are shifting their purchases for a lot of electronics online and NCIX lost out.

I guess I’ll get a chance to see how well delivery works from Amazon and Newegg now.

Angry on glass: A SkyTrain station message by Author Unknown

A few days ago during The Rains I trod to the Sapperton SkyTrain station to begin my morning commute and I discovered this message finger-painted onto the glass near where I usually stand on the platform.

“fuck you ya you fuck head” – a possibly aggrieved passenger or urban poet

One might quibble about the lack of proper punctuation but the message is nonetheless unambiguous. What I find most intriguing is what would prompt someone to:

  1. Feel this angry while standing on the platform of a commuter train very early in the morning (before 6:30 a.m.)
  2. Be moved to transfer the anger into a message written via finger on a rain-slicked sheet of glass

This leads to other questions, such as:

  1. What did the person feel later, when they were presumably on the train. Remorse? Regret? Catharsis? Ongoing anger?
  2. Would I be able to pick this person out if I suddenly found myself on the car on which the angry scribe was riding?
  3. Has this person written similar messages before?
  4. Is this act usually a one-off or just one in a series?
  5. Is the person–almost certainly a guy (sorry, guys, you know we’re mostly jerks) an otherwise nice fellow, entirely reasonable, and just found himself in a foul mood due perhaps to an unexpected and unpleasant event?

I am slightly sad I will never know the answers to these questions, though I’m not sure what I would do with the answers, anyway. Maybe one day I’ll make the answers up and turn it into a story called “The Messenger.”

(Probably not, though.)