There was a lot of running this month. My Vancouver run club has a challenge where we compete against other run groups. On an individual basis though, it comes down to trying to run 400km in a month. That is more than I usually do these days, but was close to what I used to do. So I decided to join and relive the old days. I successfully completed the distance a few days before the deadline. I think we didn’t do that well as a group because we don’t have enough women willing to run stupid distances.
One of the things that helped motivate me was a discovery I made.
Along West Little York road there was broken marble. It looked like a solid countertop had fallen off the back of a truck and the pieces dumped on the side of the road. Interestingly, it wasn’t in one spot; it was actually in three different places, separated by about a kilometre. It was nice marble too, Italian Bardiglio, which retails for $25 a square foot. I know this because one of the pieces still had the label on it and I could look up the price. The whole thing is apparently 121 x 72, which I presume are inches. But that makes it 6 feet by 10 feet…
Really the whole thing looks like a big jigsaw puzzle. And I like jigsaw puzzles. So I started collecting the pieces whenever I passed. I have to run on West Little York road often because it is one of the few places with a bridge over the bayous; a lot of traffic on that road too. Initially I took small handfuls of rocks and carried them in my pocket.
Then I graduated to bigger pieces. Fortunately I could grab them on my way home when I only had to go about 800 metres to finish. One day I just decided to focus on the marble entirely. Instead of exploring the far reaches, I just went out and back carrying the pieces, and some of them were getting heavy. That was a rough day.
The final piece was 1.2km away, and was too big to carry. I convinced Catalina to support me as we drove out to the area, and under cover of night, I was able to get it into the back of the car.
Unfortunately it was too big. While trying to maneuver it so I could clean off the dirt, I caused it to fall and it broke into several large pieces. I feel terrible about that, but nothing I can do about it now. It was probably inevitable though; the marble had been through a traumatic experience and there were probably small fractures just waiting to become big ones. I think I still see more cracks, so I’m going to be gentle with it.
I’ve now got all the pieces strewn around the basketball court (that we never use). I’m trying to put it back together again, but it is not easy. I’ve found very few pieces that fit together. It is a big joy whenever I can get anything to connect, but it is rare to happen.
I’m also really doubting that I have enough pieces to make 6 feet by 10 feet. So either my scale is off, or I’m missing a lot of the parts.