Posts from — September 2008

Woooo! You guys, today I ran my first half-marathon! (That’s 13.1 miles or 21.0975 kilometres according to the incredibly anal Scotiabank race FAQ)

Six months ago, on March 26, I set the goal of running the Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon, and this morning I actually did it! I met my goal! Which goes to show you – if something is non-refundable, I’ll get it done. No way I’m lettin’ Scotiabank keep my 75 bucks without getting something for it!

This morning, after getting up disgustingly early, Stark and I headed down to City Hall to line up for the start. Stark was the official photographer and cheering gallery. Here I am, waiting in the dark for the race to start:

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A few days ago I finished What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami. When I first heard about this new memoir, I resolved to wait until it came out in paperback to buy it. I ended up buying it while it was still in hardcover for a couple of reasons. Murakami is my favorite author, and I was eager to read something new in order to forget about the disappointment I felt after reading his last novel, After Dark. Also, next week I’ll be running the Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon, my first half-marathon ever, and I thought I would reward/inspire myself after all my hard training by reading a book on running.

Yesterday, as I was off on an 11.5 mile jog, I was thinking about the Murakami book, as well another book I’ve read recently, “Slow River,” by Nicola Griffith, the TV show Heroes, and the Kowloon Walled City, which I’ve become obsessed with as of late.

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A few months ago I downloaded a copy of iTunes Publisher, with plans to keep track of my tastes and interests in music as they change. I wanted to save a new playlist for each month or each week and be able to revisit them in the future. This whole idea was inspired by my finding a stash of burned CDs from five years ago. At the time I had been obsessed with making mixes of the best track 8s or track 6s EVER RECORDED (in my opinion). These mixes all had cheesy names like “The Outrageous Eights” and “The Stupendous Sixes,” etc. I took them with me on the Road Trip of Champions and it was really disconcerting interesting to hear how my taste had changed. Since I don’t make mix CDs any more, this will be my attempt to record my possibly horrendous taste for posterity. I also hope it will help me weed through my obscenely large music library in the future, when looking for inspiration or just something to listen to while running. This first entry was taken from songs that from my “Recently Played” list in iTunes that had received a star or more in ratings.
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Books:
- After Dolores by Sarah Schulman
- Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain

Movies
- Roadhouse
- Magnum Force
- Friends With Money
- Batman

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