We’re keeping our heads low. Training in the mornings. Hiding in the dark corners of cafés in the early afternoon, sometimes writing and sometimes reading, but mostly letting our heads drop onto the table. Mostly sleeping. Going to the familiar spots like Habit and Bubby’s, but also trying new places. Shatterbox. You go for their cappuccino. Go for the conversation and the art on the walls and go for the bright European space, but the first time you go you’ll want a cappuccino. It’s their signature drink. Calin spent two years as a Barista in Germany, and that’s the germ he brought home, along with the dream of a café. So he sets up on Yates street. He’s a block from Atrium Habit and half a block from Starbucks, and it’s not Habit’s customers he’s trying to draw. His flavour profile is different from theirs. He wants to pull from Starbucks. He wants to enlighten their customers. He's encouraging them to transcend. Shatterbox in the afternoon and out front the cars driving past and the sun angling in low over the opposing buildings. A bit of sun. Legs jittery. Legs wanting to run.
Sunday was a key session for my upcoming half-marathon. 3 x 3miles progressing from a few seconds over to a few seconds under goal half-marathon pace. First two intervals were good. 15:15, 15:10. Then I got cold. The wind and the rain slanting in off the Pacific ocean. I started the third one well but slowed to 15:28. Frustrated. I need 15:11 for our Canadian masters record. I don't like slowing down at the end of workouts. I work the other way. Build into a session and finish stronger. I need to be running 3:09km pace feeling controlled. Oh, my legs will get heavy. They'll start feeling like I'm running on Neptune. Then Jupiter. The gravitational pull increasing. Air getting dense. But by then I would hope to be in the final couple of kilometers and I'll be able to cross the threshold into ragged breathing and lactic acid.