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Best Run Times at the End of 2024

Since I finally managed to write about the last runs of 2024, it’s time for another one of these posts, obviously just for my own use, likely including as a way to stay at least somewhat motivated. Just as before, I didn’t copy the times for the shorter distances, so those are still in the first two such posts. And I still consider the Dream Trek Summer Edition as something different and not relevant for these purposes, so I’m still not including it here, even if I took part in it last year as well. On the other hand, with the new additions compared to the previous such post again being underlined and the usual notes being in the same format, between square brackets, with the first value representing the distance and the second the lap on which that particular time was achieved, only a few additional comments were needed. And the times still include only the seconds, ignoring the fact that I now usually have exact ones as well, especially for the 10 km runs, and those may change some things. And I still won’t link to the page where I list all the times and also have charts, since it’s still in the temporary location and still lacks many of the dates, the situation being pretty much the same as it’s been for the past few years… Which is also why I discarded the idea of actually adding the dates here, though I have been considering it for a while.

10 km (through the park)
1. 45:59
2. 46:09
3. 46:18
4-5. 46:22 (twice)
6. 46:24
7. 46:28
8. 46:31
9. 46:32
10. 46:35

16 km (through the park)
1. 1:14:53
2. 1:15:10
3. 1:15:37
4. 1:15:40
5. 1:16:09
6. 1:16:16
7. 1:16:17
8-9. 1:16:47 (twice)
10. 1:16:48

Half Marathon (21.1 km)
I. Bucharest Half Marathon real time

1. 1:43:13
2. 1:45:36
3. 1:45:42
4. 1:49:26
5. 1:50:54
6. 1:51:54
7. 1:54:56
8. 2:02:38
II. Through the park
1. 1:42:20
2. 1:42:52
3. 1:42:54
4. 1:43:15
5. 1:43:23
6. 1:43:49
7. 1:44:04
8. 1:44:29
9. 1:44:51
10-11. 1:45:50 (twice)

35.2 km (through the park)
1. 3:18:07
2. 3:23:09
3. 3:25:45
4. 3:26:38
5. 3:42:43
6. 3:44:40

Marathon (42.2 km) – Bucharest Marathon real time
1. 3:57:49
2. 4:02:14
3. 4:11:28
4. 4:14:40
5. 4:19:40

Lap around the park lake (3.2 km) [10-1 unless otherwise specified]
1. 14:21
2. 14:31
3. 14:38
4. 14:40 [10-3]
5-6. 14:41 (twice [10-3])
7-8. 14:43 (twice)
9-10. 14:44 [16-1] (twice)

Lap sector one [10-1]
1. 3:56
2. 4:00
3-4. 4:03 (twice)
5. 4:05
6-7. 4:06 (twice)
8-11. 4:07 (and a second, third and fourth time)

Lap sector two
Note: All times from one and two years ago are still here, despite the new additions.
1. 4:32 [10-1]
2. 4:42 [10-2] (Slightly uncertain that I remembered it correctly.)
3. 4:49 [16-2]
4-14. 4:50 [10-1] (and a second [10-2], third [16-2], fourth [10-1], fifth [10-1], sixth [10-3], seventh [10-3], eighth [10-2], ninth [10-2], tenth [10-3] and eleventh [10-3] time)

Lap sector three [10-3 unless otherwise specified]
Note: All times from one and two years ago are still here, despite the new additions.
1. 5:24 [10-1]
2. 5:25 [10-1]
3-4. 5:32 (twice)
5. 5:33 [16-5]
6. 5:34
7-12. 5:35 (and a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth [10-1] time)

Final sector on a 10 km run
Note: All times from up to five years ago are still here, despite the new additions since then.
1. 1:40
2-3. 1:41 (twice)
4-9. 1:42 (and a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth time)
10-21. 1:43 (and a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh and thelfth time)

Final section of a Half Marathon (21.1 km) run (through the park)
1. 9:40
2. 9:42
3. 9:45
4. 9:52
5-6. 9:54 (twice)
7. 10:00
8-9. 10:03 (twice)
10. 10:04

Written by Cavalary on February 7, 2025 at 4:12 PM in Personal | 0 Comments

After 11 Months of Struggle, Halep Admits the Inevitable

Even if I was glad to have apparently been proven wrong when she was allowed to compete again, I guess I can say that my initial assessment that Halep’s ban will mark the end of the career was, in the end, correct, just that it took her 11 months of struggle, plagued by injuries that only allowed her to play six official matches and win a single one, to admit it and announce her retirement. And I do believe her when she said that she hadn’t made up her mind at the start of what ended up being her final match, only doing so when what happened on court made it clear that her body simply couldn’t handle playing tennis at a high level anymore.
But the question that remains is who should, and most preferably who actually will, pay for what was done to her, especially considering the recent cases of other important players testing positive for banned substances, claiming that it was a result of contamination, and receiving little more than a slap on the wrist, possibly without the matter even being made public at first. Not that actual payment, in terms of money, would make up for ending such a great career and the toll all of this took on her health, both physical and mental, and possibly her personal life as well, but some culprits should, at the very least, be clearly identified, and measures should be implemented to greatly reduce the risk of others needing to go through something like this. And by “measures” I’m referring to specific decisions and regulations, not decisionmakers choosing to more or less turn a blind eye, as it happened in those cases that I mentioned…

Written by Cavalary on February 5, 2025 at 11:47 PM in Sports | 0 Comments

The Last Two Runs of 2024 and the First Two of 2025

In the early hours of December 19, I started eating dinner at 3:10 AM, but still finished at 3:40 AM. Then, after getting up after the alarm rang, at 1 PM, I had the usual stuff, with the yogurt being an expired bio (organic) “Greek” one with 8% protein and 2% fat, while the sweet thing once again consisted of two of those nicer biscuits, with added honey. Since the reported temperature was 12°C and it held basically steady, I just wore the full running gear and an undershirt, leaving at 3:10 PM.
The time was 47:12.26, with sector times of 4:16.60, 5:05 (5:04.41), 5:51.47, 4:30.00, 5:01.12, 5:40.00, 4:23 (4:22.94), 4:55.44, 5:42 (5:41.18) and 1:49.10, making for lap times of 15:12.48, 15:11.12 and 15:00 (14:59.56). Since it felt like my right shoelace was coming loose and I looked at it multiple times on the first sector’s long straight, I feared a poor time on that sector, so I was quite pleased with what I saw at the end of it, but after two sectors I had doubts about staying under 48 minutes, and those doubts remained at the end of the lap. And then I actually stopped for a few seconds because of that shoelace on the long straight of sector one of lap two, but I pushed hard after that, so that sector’s time was probably pretty much the same as it’d have been if I’d have continued running normally. But after sector two of lap two I was quite worried, even if that sector’s time was good in itself, so from sector three of lap two I pushed really hard, being pleased with that sector’s time, as well as with the lap’s time. And after sector one of lap three I thought of squeezing under 47:30 and kept pushing in order to manage that, doubting that I’ll be safe at the end of the lap but finding at that point that I actually had a chance to get under 47:15 as well, which I also managed.
While I obviously still had to weave or go the long way around at times, I wouldn’t say that the people caused any notable problems, and I even used the lane more than I’d normally tend to, despite all of the damage. And there were no particular physical issues either, while the fact that it was sunny meant that I could also see the time well enough. So the only notable loss of time was what I already mentioned, when I probably slowed down a little while I kept looking at that shoelace on the long straight of sector one of lap one and then actually stopped for a few seconds in the same area of lap two, hoping to cut my losses by tightening it then and preventing it from actually getting untied later.

I picked up a few cans with the deposit symbol on the way back, then vacuumed in the kitchen, weighed myself and found that I had less than 45 kg, did a load of laundry and the day’s squats, ate lunch, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt and the undershirt on, went to pay the maintenance bill, and after dropping off the receipt I left again at 8:25 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, and on the way to Penny I picked up two more, one of them being a pretty crushed can that I couldn’t do much about. But the recycling machine from Penny was sluggish, and when it took the first recyclable it just ate it, so I entered with the others, got what I wanted to get for dad and mentioned the issue to the guard after paying, and he seemed aware of it, but didn’t offer a coin for that eaten recyclable or anything, and only after I repeated that there should be a note about it did he use the radio… Not that I’m sure that it was for that, not hearing what he actually said, but when I walked out I saw some people in front of the machine, talking to the other guard. Either way, that meant adding that amount to what I had to recover from Penny at that point.
The next destination was Carrefour, but I first put in the remaining recyclables in the machine from Kaufland, even that crushed can being accepted without problems, and checked to make sure that it closed at 11 PM in that location as well. Then I entered Carrefour with the purchases from Penny and got some garlic and a bag of supposedly spoiling Florina apples, though they looked good, without charging myself for the bag when I used the self-checkout. And I was just paying when the closing announcement came, but I then took my time to arrange the purchases in the backpack, and also grabbed another recyclable with the deposit symbol, before walking out of that mall.
After putting that recyclable in the machine from Kaufland as well, I went to that Mega Image, entering with the purchases and seeing the employee placing the 90% discount labels, with a few other people around the cart, and when I meant to pick up one product one of them told me to wait until the employee was done, and that she was going to grab that one anyway. And when another product that I’d have been interested in showed up, someone else claimed it, so after the employee was done and asked us to wait until she also took a picture of all of those products, I just grabbed two bio (organic) yogurts.
When I finally reached Kaufland, I first added those two yogurts in the backpack, then washed my hands and entered the store, with everything, just before 10:30 PM, grabbing two bakery products that were discounted by 75% and scanning two other labels, which just confirmed that the regular bread had no discount and something else only had 50%. Then I looked around a little, grabbing an expiring product and considering getting some spoiling mushrooms, but eventually deciding against it, though there was an odd moment while I was looking at them, an employee calling out to me that the store had closed, so I called back that there were 15 minutes left and she muttered something about lying to the other one, but I’m not entirely certain what she said. Either way, I then went to the self-checkout, using the voucher for the single recyclable when I paid and then cashing in the other one, after which I took my time to arrange the purchases again before walking out just at 11 PM.
I got back at 11:25 PM, ate a banana and another piece of the cake, which I had taken out of the freezer before leaving again in the evening, put most of the purchases in their place, cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, and went to wash at 12:30 AM. I was done just after 1:15 AM, then I washed what was in the sink and cleaned a little after dad in the kitchen, put the remaining purchases in the fridge, rearranging the fruits in order to make them fit, and ate dinner between 3:25 AM and 4:05 AM.

Before moving on to December 23, when I ran again, I’ll also mention that I had noticed quite some time before that the apartment was full of fleas, or more exactly I had finally realized that what I had been seeing for a long time were fleas. That was also the reason why I had vacuumed in the kitchen after the previous run, and I had previously used some regular bug spray in my bedroom, while on December 22 I did so again, around the bed… Not that it seemed to do much good.
Either way, in the early hours of December 23 I put peanut butter on most of the bread, finally finishing the opened jar, which had expired in September, and on the last slices I put some jam. Then I got up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, and had the usual stuff, the yogurt being an expired bio (organic) one with 5.5% protein and 4.5% fat, and the sweet thing consisted of a large doughnut, with added honey. I left at 3:30 PM, wearing the full running gear and the thinner old training shirt, despite the shape it’s in, plus that thing on my neck and the gloves, and the jacket on the way, tied around my waist as I ran. The reported temperature was 3°C, dropping to 1-2°C by the time I finished.
The time was 48:05.66, with sector times of 4:18.85, 5:12 (5:11.35), 6:02 (6:01.93), 4:30.35, 5:11 (5:10.72), 5:49.28, 4:24.47, 5:04 (5:03.46), 5:44 (5:43.69) and 1:51.56, making for lap times of 15:32.13, 15:30.35 and 15:12 (15:11.62). I was feeling myself tiring even before the end of the first sector, so I wasn’t surprised by that time, even if I’d have obviously liked a better one. And after the second sector I was quite sure that I was looking at just staying under 49 minutes, and at the end of the first lap I was wondering even about that. So I tried to do a little better on lap two, and on sector three I actually pushed, being pleased by that sector’s time. And then, since after the end of lap two I started wondering about squeezing under 48:30, I kept pushing, and after sector two of lap three I thought that I was almost safe. But then, in part thanks to having a faster runner as a target, sector three of lap three was the fastest sector three of the day, and the lap was the day’s best as well, so at the end of it I was thinking that I’ll also squeeze under 48:10, which I did by a safe margin. But I was still on the wrong side of 48 minutes, and briefly stopping on sector two of lap three doesn’t account for that difference. It’s probably enough if you add the other moments when I lost a little bit of time, but that’s no excuse, so this remains a poor time.
Early on, I was thinking that the lack of energy that I was feeling was in part caused by that doughnut, being greasy, but the temperature was also a problem, as was the fact that fog was falling more and more as time passed. My fingers were frozen stiff by the end of lap one, so pulling the glove off to press the button, looking at the time and then putting it back on might have cost me a little more time than usual, and starting on the long straight of sector two of lap two I was noticing that the fact that my toes were also freezing, those from my right foot seeming to do worse, had some negative effect as well, though I might have corrected that on lap three. And a slight pressing need and also the feeling that I had to snap my back appeared at one point, I believe on sector three of lap two, but both faded after that. Otherwise, as I already mentioned, I briefly stopped on sector two of lap three, in order to see the time better, but on the other hand being passed by another runner, who then gradually pulled ahead despite being bundled up in a thick jacket, made me push even harder on sector three of lap three. And a surprising thing was that the lane wasn’t soggy, even though it had rained over the past couple of days… But it was still badly damaged, of course.

I picked up a recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way back, washing it a little when I got here, after doing the day’s squats. And then I counted and sorted 90 RON in coins for Penny’s campaign, since dad had told me to also take most of the pile he had gathered, so that took a while and then I just ate some grapes and a pastry that was supposed to be sweet but didn’t taste like much of anything, except perhaps butter, changed, leaving the running t-shirt and the training shirt on, and left a little after 8:10 PM, taking all those coins and the recyclables with the deposit symbol, picking up one more on the way to Penny Titan and putting them in the machine from there before telling an employee that I was there for the coins campaign… Only for her to let someone know through the headset and then say that she had been told to tell me to come back the next day because nobody was available to deal with that at that point… And I wasn’t going to go back there the next day, so I told her that and muttered a little about having brought so much for nothing before having a look in the store and just getting some expiring roes, using the voucher received for the recyclables when I paid.
After adding the roes in the backpack, I considered continuing to the next Penny and trying to hand over the coins there as well, but I decided against it and turned back, grabbing a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol as I approached Carrefour and trying to put them in the machine from there… Only for it to display the message that no bins were available, and a man who was also there at the time said that the guy who was supposed to work there had already left. However, plenty of recyclables with the deposit symbol had been left in the bins, so I grabbed those too, then put my things in a cabinet, finding a 0.50 RON coin which had been left there, and then retrieving everything after checking the store, without buying anything. However, going there turned out to be quite profitable, seeing as I grabbed yet more recyclables from that mall, and a few more on the way to Kaufland, the bag getting so full that after a while I didn’t really look for more. And, with the exception of three cans which weren’t accepted, and which I kept, I put those, along with a couple more which I picked up from there, in the recycling machine from Kaufland, even those which had been crushed and which I wasn’t sure that I had straightened well enough on the way being accepted.
After putting my things in a cabinet and washing my hands, I entered the store just after 10:15 PM, initially seeing labels listing discounts of 50% at the bakery area, but then noticing the sheets of paper with the discounts of 75%, which had just been left there. So I took one and scanned one QR code from it in order to confirm that the listed price was the correct one, then grabbed three buns and two sweet pastries, plus six regular breads for dad, a problem being that I didn’t find any bread or anything that I could use instead of bread for myself. Either way, after having a look at the expiring products and grabbing something for dad and some more roes for myself, the price being the same as for those from Penny but the expiration date being a few days later, I made use of the great evening discounts for some vegetables. I wanted to get plums as well, but since several crates of them were still left when I got back to that area, I left them last, only getting back to them a few minutes before closing… And finding that area empty. The crates were stacked nearby, but when I started picking from them, the employee who was adding other crates to that stack told me to stop, saying that they had been discounted for over an hour and he was taking them to the back, so I just kept the few which I had managed to grab and made my way to the self-checkout, the closing announcement coming while I was still waiting in line.
After my turn finally came, the machine didn’t accept dad’s expiring product as the correct one, and a single employee was working that area, so it took a while for her to get to me and override that error. On the other hand, I found that the discount for dad’s bread had increased to 80%. But then I ended up waiting even longer before I was able to also cash in the voucher received for the recyclables, because pretty much as soon as I paid and grabbed my change, another employee brought a young couple to that machine, moved my products aside as I was trying to pick them back up, and let them use the machine, so I had to wait until they were done, stepping in before the employee who wanted to use the machine after them. He made a comment at that point, but I had been there first, so I didn’t even look at him. And then I retrieved my things and arranged everything in the backpack, walking away when it was past 11:15 PM.
It was almost 11:45 PM when I got back, then I put most of the purchases in their place, and it was 12:55 AM when I went to wash, noticing something that looked worryingly like the beginning of a yeast infection when I pulled back my foreskin, though I later realized that I had been slacking on washing that area every day and the problem went away after I started doing so again. But, to return to that night, after washing I wasted quite a few minutes to try to put something in its place, so it was almost 1:50 AM when I was out of the bathroom. And then I also cut my toenails, only finally getting back in the kitchen when it was past 2:10 AM. And I still had the remaining purchases to put in their place, which also meant arranging the vegetables, and some things to wash, and I also cleaned a little and moved most of the roes from Penny into a jar, so I ate lunch, on and off, between 3 AM and 3:40 AM and dinner between 4:20 AM and 5:05 AM. And I got in bed at 6:15 AM.

I’ll also mention here that in the evening of December 24 I started Milo and the Christmas Gift, just poking around for a few moments, but the game skipped the intro when I started it again, so I guess it counts. And there were no visits that day. And then, on December 25, I surprisingly won a giveaway on the GOG.com forums despite having a single entry and two others having six each, making me feel the need to apologize for that luck. But, with the prize being a free choice and seeing as I don’t want to be the reason why games that have regional price hikes are purchased, my options were very limited and I picked Balrum, which I then installed just to check that it started up. And later I actually played Milo and the Christmas Gift, in one sitting, also writing a quick review for it that night. And on December 26 I finished The Lost Metal, though I only wrote the quick review two days later, before starting Henry Halifax and the Tutori’s Cloak, which I finished two more days later, once again postponing writing the quick review, albeit for just one day in that case. And after posting that quick review I also finished the tutorial campaign in Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. And I’ll also mention here that there were no visits recorded on December 31, and then I yet again ended up taking too long and got in bed at 5:20 AM. And on January 1 I also started Chains of Satinav.

To move on to the next run, in the early hours of January 2 I ate dinner between 3:20 AM and 3:50 AM. Then I got up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, and had the usual stuff, though in case of the cereals I added some oats on top of what was mostly cereal dust left at the bottom of the bag of whole grains, while the sweet thing consisted of a slice of cozonac, with added honey. On the other hand, it took a long time to only leave a little in the toilet. But I had to run, so I left at 3:30 PM, wearing the full running gear, with some things in the pocket of my tights, plus that thing on my neck, and the jacket on the way, tied around my waist as I ran. The reported temperature was 11-12°C, dropping by what was most probably a couple of degrees by the time I finished, though I couldn’t actually check at that point.
The time was 49:49.70, with sector times of 4:31, 5:24, 6:11, 4:48, 5:21, 5:59, 4:40, 5:16, 5:45 and 1:54.00, making for lap times of 16:06, 16:08 and 15:41. I realized from the beginning that there was no point in looking at the exact times, so I didn’t, though sector three of lap three would have deserved it. But it was clear that even staying under 50 minutes was going to be difficult, after sector two of lap one it seemed next to impossible, and after the first lap I was wondering whether I’ll even squeeze under 51 minutes. That passable sector three of lap two, when I took advantage of the clearer lane to push more, changed things a little, the target becoming to stay under 50:30, and after sector one of lap three the thought of perhaps having the slimmest chance of staying under 50 minutes after all crossed my mind again, even though at that point it seemed purely theoretical. But after the following sector I realized that I might just have that chance, if sector three of lap three will also be clearer, and it was, so I really gave everything, being really surprised by the time. Not that merely being safely under 50 minutes wouldn’t be bad, but I was ready to accept it under those conditions… Though when I checked and found that the only worse times since the hospitalization were obtained under special circumstances, not conditions, I felt worse.
The main problem was that it was awfully crowded, one potentially dangerous moment being on what I believe was sector three of lap one, though there is some chance that it was on sector two of lap one, when I was weaving a path through the crowd when a cyclist who was coming from the opposite direction was doing the same and we barely managed to stop in time to avoid crashing into each other. But otherwise I kept having to find ways through, squeeze, go on the grass, slow or even briefly stop, the only exceptions being those that are obvious from the times, sector three of lap two, where I only had to deal with a couple of roadblocks, and sector three of lap three, where the lane was pretty much clear. The rest of the path was crowded on those sectors as well, but most people stayed off the running lane, so I had to use it way more than I normally would, but I could run. And I used the lane way more than I normally would throughout the run, to at least be able to claim some right of way, not that it did much good. So, compared to all of that, the fact that it was somewhat windy as well didn’t make much of a difference… But having fallen in Kaufland several days earlier did, and as I started running I realized that the pain that I thought was from my backbone was most probably from a muscle that I had done something to at that point, and at first it was quite a problem. It lessened after a while, but it still prevented me from sprinting to take advantage of any clearer areas, though it’s possible that the good time from sector three of lap three was also thanks to the fact that by then I had warmed up enough to not really feel it anymore.

After the run I went to Kaufland, since it closed at 6 PM that day, though I also had a quick look in the Mega Image that’s next to the farmers’ market on the way. And I picked up a recyclable with the deposit symbol, so I put it in the machine from Kaufland, then washed my hands and entered the store a little after 5:10 PM, once again finding few products left in the bakery area and a woman who was just about to reach for the nicer buns, but that time around I was there just in time and reached over to grab two of those, even if they were still quite expensive, only being discounted by 51%. And I also saw one last bun of a cheaper kind, which was smaller and worse than those cheap ones that I tend to get and almost as much as their full price at half price, but I took it anyway, since I was going to use the three buns instead of bread for two days. On the other hand, there were no evening discounts for fruits or vegetables, but I eventually grabbed a few apples of a kind I hadn’t tried before that were among the spoiling products, even if they were expensive even with the discount. And then, after looking around a little longer, I took my place in the long line for the self-checkouts, using the voucher received for that recyclable when my turn came and then arranging the purchases.
I then jogged to another Mega Image, putting my things in cabinet, without locking it, and getting one of those apple pastries, two breads for dad and one more thing for myself, all of these products being at half price. And, after retrieving what I had in the cabinet and arranging everything properly, I wondered which other Mega Image to check next, since those closed at 7 PM that day, and while I initially walked, meaning to go to that one that’s next to Tei, after a little while I decided to come straight back, once again jogging, since I wanted to make sure that I had time to at least check the nearby one without being rushed out in case I’ll somehow find something else to buy. But I didn’t, so I just put my things in a cabinet that didn’t lock and then retrieved them again.
There was nothing new in the litter box, but dad had forgotten the bag which I had left in the morning, so after getting back I went to drop it down the chute. Then I put the purchases in their place, ate one of those apples from Kaufland and the apple pastry, did the day’s squats, took a bath, ate lunch, with some expired salty pretzels instead of bread, and easily stuck to the dinner schedule at night. And I’ll also mention here that no visits were recorded on January 3.

I didn’t have green onions for the salad made in the early hours of January 9, so I used a red one. Then, after getting up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, I had the usual stuff, though I didn’t open a new bag of whole grains, so I just put regular oats in the yogurt, which was a smaller but nicer one, “creamy” and with 4.6% protein and 5% fat, while the sweet thing once again consisted of a slice of cozonac, with added honey. On the other hand, I just wasted time on the toilet, despite feeling that I had something to leave there. Either way, I left at 3:30 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 16-17°C, only dropping by about 1°C by the time I finished.
The time was 48:23.01, with sector times of 4:19.01, 5:08.69, 5:58 (5:57.81), 4:34 (4:33.68), 5:07.70, 5:54.06, 4:30 (4:29.59), 5:05 (5:04.81), 5:53.00 and 1:55 (1:54.66), making for lap times of 15:25.51, 15:35.44 and 15:28 (15:27.40). I was hoping to get back under 48 minutes, but that muscle, if that’s what it was, made it unlikely, and after the first two sectors I wondered whether I’ll even complete the first lap in less than the 15:20 that’s the target lap time for 48 minutes… And I didn’t, which made me think that even staying under 49 minutes won’t be easy, the first sector of lap two making that even clearer. However, after the end of the lap I wondered whether I could squeeze under 48:30, even if that required no worse than the exact same time on lap three as on lap two. So I pushed from the start of lap three, to at least know that I did my best, thinking that I was going to have that chance after two sectors and already being safe at the end of the lap. But that’s still a poor time, and while that muscle offers something of an excuse, I should have still done better.
As I already mentioned, what I guess was that muscle which I hurt after falling in Kaufland was still hurting, being a problem from the start, and while the pain gradually lessened, it shot through that area when I put my left foot sideways on the long straight of sector one of lap two, to avoid stepping on a damaged spot of the lane, once again being worse for some time before lessening again… Until it shot through that area once more right at the end of sector two of lap three, when I wasn’t aware of having done anything which might have caused it. It wasn’t as bad as the first time, but then my left hip was giving warnings, so I tried to be careful on sector three of lap three. And there was pain in my abdomen as well, along with the need to snap my back, at least since sector three of lap one, only lessening on lap three and never actually going away. Otherwise, the lane continued to be damaged in all sorts of ways and a number of areas were also wet, what struck me as strange being that a couple of sizable areas of the path around the lake were wet as well. But at least the people weren’t much of a problem, still requiring me to weave and go the long way around plenty of times but only causing one notable problem, on sector one of lap one, when I slowed and hesitated because a kid on a bicycle moved to pass someone on the inside just as I was catching him and almost moved right in front of me. I also had to take to the grass right at the end of lap three, slowing while doing so, but since I cut that turn in the process, it probably didn’t make a difference in terms of time.

On the way back, I had a quick look in the nearby Mega Image, leaving the recyclable with the deposit symbol which I had picked up by then outside and then retrieving it. Then I ate lunch, did the day’s squats, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, and left again at 8:10 PM, with the plastic and metal, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way, and a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol, which I put in the machine from Kaufland. Then I washed my hands, and it was a little after 8:40 PM when I entered the store, seeing that bakery discounts of 50% had already been made and some of those nicer cheap buns were left, so I took three of them. Then I asked another employee who seemed to be getting some things for herself and then started talking to another customer whether she could tell me what a kind of bread was, but she said that she couldn’t, so I waited until I could more easily get the attention of the one from that area and asked her, which made her come out, find the proper label for that product and place it there. But that label didn’t list any discount, and I didn’t see anything else to get, so I then had a look at the fruits and vegetables, not seeing good evening discounts but eventually getting some bananas, which got an evening discount after 9 PM, even if it wasn’t that good. Otherwise, I also got some salt and some expiring beer for dad, and when I got back to the bakery area I scanned a couple of labels, but there were no new or increased discounts, so I eventually made my way to the self-checkout, accidentally entering four buns at first and needing to call the employee to remove one. Then, after needing to call him again to authorize the sale of beer, I also used the voucher received for the recyclables, and the closing announcement came while I was arranging the purchases.
I walked out at 10:05 PM and initially just meant to check the non-stop Mega Image on the way back, but I had dad’s metro card and when I got to the metro station I decided to take the metro to Carrefour Unirii, putting my things in a cabinet when I got there. Then, even if I hadn’t washed my hands again and they aren’t as wasteful as those from Obor in that location, so they don’t bag the bakery products when they make the discounts, I took a sweet pastry with the 50% evening discount, plus an expiring bread and some expiring bean spread for dad. Then I retrieved my things, added the pastry and the spread in the backpack and walked away with the bread in my hand, grabbing a recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way back to the metro station. And, since I wouldn’t have been able to switch at Dristor anyway, since it was past 11 PM, I got off there and checked that non-stop Mega Image as well, putting my things in a cabinet and then just retrieving them.
I got back at 11:55 PM, then I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put the purchases in their place, ate a banana and a cake which had been brought by dad some days before, washed what was in the kitchen, and it was 1:15 AM when I went to wash myself, being done at 1:55 AM. The problem was that my other training suit had only been washed the previous night and it had been on the rack for just under 24 hours at that point, so it was far from dry, but I put it on anyway, then I sliced dad’s bread, and I ate dinner between 3:45 AM and 4:40 AM, with the last several minutes spent getting what was stuck on the plate. And, while they were much better than the training suit, my pajamas weren’t quite dry either, the shirt being more or less fine but the pants a fair bit less so, yet before getting in bed I put those on as they were as well.

Written by Cavalary on February 2, 2025 at 6:25 PM in Personal | 0 Comments

Books, Dehumidifier, Coins… And an Almost Certain Accidental Theft…

Two orders were supposed to be delivered this Wednesday, and while I had specified that the deliveries should be in the afternoon, the delivery people never care, and the store that I ordered the dehumidifier from even called me on Monday to mention that, and when they said that it’d have been likely to arrive the following day and I said that it won’t work for me, thinking that I really didn’t want to have to deal with that when I was going to run that day, they said that they’ll finalize the order that day instead, so it should arrive on the next. But only the books, as in those which had the estimated date range for delivery ending on December 13, did finally arrive that day, the SMS notifying me of it coming just after 9:30 AM and the delivery guy getting here some 20 minutes later, and again asking for the value to be rounded up and discarding the coins, in fact brushing them off the bills and saying that they don’t take “something like that”. So I gave him that 1 RON more, taking the opportunity to mention that the order was exactly a month and a half late… And after opening the box I found a card with “If you’re still looking for that one person who will change your life, take a look in the mirror.” handwritten on it, so I sent the store another e-mail, complaining a little about the delivery, including the fact that they hadn’t even bothered to mention what I had written about the preferred delivery time in the comments, reminding them of some serious problems with their site, and also “thanking” them for reminding me, not that it was needed, that I did find that person, talking realistically and not in “motivational” quotes, but 2025 marks 20 years since she left, and saying that they may see such cards as a human touch, but it fit really badly for me.
Either way, the books are The Narrow Road Between Desires, The Dark Defiles, Blood Communion, Ramses the Damned, Dawnshard, Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire, and this is pretty much the order I intend to read them in, at least up to Dawnshard, after which I’d really want to finally read Rhythm of War, while I may put off The Empire Trilogy for a while longer, possibly even for another year if I’ll end up having enough other books to read this year. But the problem with all of these is that a long time passed since I read the previous ones in the series, so diving back in may prove difficult. But I definitely mean to do it, and preferably sooner rather than later, so let’s see how that will work out.

To return to that morning, since I was still waiting for that dehumidifier, and also because the upstairs neighbors were making noise, getting back to sleep proved particularly difficult, and I’m not even sure that I had gotten a total of five hours of sleep by the time I finally got up, even if that was only around 3:15 PM… And at 5:20 PM I received an e-mail from the other delivery company stating that I hadn’t been found that day! But nobody had even called, so I tried using the landline to call the listed number, and when that was apparently out of service I sent them an e-mail about it. That e-mail is still left without reply, even if I sent one more since then, asking whether the problem had been caused by the sender or by them, but things were clarified the following day, when the delivery guy did call, at 12:40 PM, and when I asked what had happened he explained that he had only been given the pack of additional HEPA filters which I had also ordered, not the dehumidifier as well, yet the invoice was for the entire order, so he turned around when he realized that… And I ended up being woken up earlier on yet another day. But at least the delivery was made and everything seems in order.

Moving on to odds and ends, I stayed up after the dehumidifier was delivered and, after eating lunch, I left a little after 6:20 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, the additional 30 RON in coins which I had just managed to gather by then, and dad’s metro card, so I took the metro to Obor and went straight to Penny, putting those recyclables, along with the two which I had picked up on the way, in the machine from there and then asking the guard if they had someone to take the coins for their campaign that day… But he once again said that they didn’t and told me to come earlier, before 4 PM, and when I told him that I couldn’t he said that he really wasn’t lying, they just don’t have anyone to deal with them after that hour, and when I reminded him that the campaign ended the following day he said that I could go to another location. So I just bought a couple of things, using the voucher received for the recyclables, and since another customer was asking about using one of the vouchers received in exchange for coins I mentioned that I had also brought coins but had been told that nobody was available to take them, and the cashier incredulously asked who would do that, but then said that there was still time, since the campaign would last until March 31, being surprised when I told her that March 31 is the deadline for using the vouchers, but January 31 is the one for receiving them, as it’s even written on the message posted on the entrance. And I even checked again now and I’m not seeing anything about the campaign having been extended.
Either way, I grabbed another recyclable with the deposit symbol after walking out, putting it in the machine from Kaufland and then deciding to ask whether what I had been told when I had asked on-line was correct and I could log on to dad’s old physical store card, which I’ve normally been using, if I no longer have access to that phone number, and after the information desk employee initially meant to make a new card for me, she tried accessing that one, but the only thing that happened was what was happening if I tried to access it from their site, which is that a confirmation code was sent to that phone number that dad lost access to after not recharging it in time… So I just walked in with those purchases from Penny and only bought a small yogurt, which was still at that slightly lower price, using the voucher which I had been left with two days earlier when I paid for it and then cashing in the one received that day, since you can only cash in such vouchers at the store where you obtain them.
I then continued to Carrefour, grabbing a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol and going to the recycling machine… But it wasn’t working, stating that no containers were available, so I washed my hands and put my things in a cabinet before entering the store and getting a little garlic, some expiring products, including five energy bars that expired the next day but which were discounted by 85%, and a few more breads, since the bakery discounts had already been made even if it wasn’t even 8:30 PM by the time I reached the bakery area.
After retrieving my things, I also checked Auchan, not having to wait until or even after 9 PM in Carrefour giving me the time to do that, so I entered with everything, since they still haven’t put any cabinets back in that location, put the recyclables with the deposit symbol which I had picked up by then in the machine, and found a few more expiring products to get, the discount applying to the entire remaining stock, so there were no discount labels on the products, and when I scanned them I found that one was actually even cheaper than the listed price. But when I went to the checkouts from the exit that leads to the metro station, I found that the two unmanned ones that should also accept cash were out of order, so I ended up using the manned one but my brain basically shut down when I had to deal with a cashier without being prepared for it and I forgot to give her the store card, and when I realized it, after handing her the payment, including the voucher received for the recyclables, and said so, she just confirmed that I had forgotten to give it to her but didn’t offer to do anything about it and I couldn’t make myself insist, and those expiring products were of their store brand, so 5% of the value should have been added on the card and I just mentally added that amount to what I should recover from them at some point.
I then took the metro back, but since the match was taking place here and I still had some time before it started, I actually made a point of looking for more recyclables with the deposit symbol after getting off at this metro station, not caring that I was obvious about it and seen my others. There was even a spot where I grabbed some from a trash can, initially stepped away when a guy’s dog started barking and snarling at me, but after standing there for a little while I turned around and took the others which I had spotted in that area as well, despite that guy continuing to stand there, talking on the phone, and his dog continuing to bark and snarl at me. At least he held the leash well… And I ended up pretty much filling a bag, just between the metro station and here.
I got back right at 10 PM, when the match started, putting the purchases in their place and eating an apple during the first half, jabbing my hand with the knife… Then, after cleaning the litter box and going to drop a bag of trash down the chute at half time, I also washed what was in the kitchen and ate something sweet and a small bag of nicer bagels, and just after midnight I went to take a shower with water that was clearly below skin temperature, so it wasn’t even 12:20 AM when I was done, another problem being that I had to wear boxers that weren’t fully dry yet and didn’t want to also put on an undershirt and t-shirt that were in the same condition, but I had worn the ones which I had been wearing until that day while I was out, so I didn’t want to keep wearing them inside either, and I ended up just putting the training suit on, with nothing underneath the shirt. But at least it wasn’t cold, so I managed, and then I stuck to the dinner schedule as well… Though I then ended up getting in bed at 5:20 AM.

With Penny’s coins campaign ending yesterday, I still had to give those coins and meant to go out earlier, but when I woke up and saw that it was 11:14 AM, I went to pee and then meant to sleep a little longer… Only to be unable to get back to sleep, so I eventually checked the time again, seeing 12:15 PM and deciding to get up, though it was 12:30 PM when I actually did so… And then I wanted to put some of the expiring cocoa spread purchased from Auchan the previous day on a large doughnut and got really suspicious when what should have been the seal came right off and the top of the spread was covered in white stuff. Seeing as it expired that day, the white stuff was probably fat bloom and the weak glue might have lost its ability to hold that seal in place, since it didn’t seem to have been pulled off, but I nevertheless scraped off all of the top part, then moved most of the spread into another jar, just leaving what didn’t fit in that one, and also cleaned the upper part of the original jar on the inside and threw away what came off it before finally putting some of the spread on that doughnut and microwaving it.
Either way, it was 2:35 PM when I eventually left, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol which I had brought back the previous evening and those 30 RON in coins, which I could easily hand over at Penny Basarabia. In fact, the employee who came to take them after I let a cashier know why I was there and confirmed that I had separated them handed me the 30 RON in bills and the voucher directly, only asking whether I had 30 RON there almost in passing, when she took the coins, so before any chance to count them, which left me quite surprised.
I then went to Kaufland, picking up some more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way and putting all of them in the machine from there. And then I ended up washing my hands just with water, since there was no soap, neither at the men’s nor the women’s, since I tried there as well, while someone was using the room for disabled people… Which I found out when I pulled on the door and it opened, so that was a little awkward. Either way, I then just cashed in that voucher, not finding anything to buy, and grabbed one more recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way to Carrefour and two more which had been left in the cart that’s next to the recycling machine from there, managing to put two of the three in and then putting the remaining one in a cabinet before buying a few expiring products and some wafers for dad, using the voucher received for the recyclables when paying and confirming that the voucher with 20% of the value of those wafers was correctly listed on the receipt.
After retrieving that recyclable from the cabinet, things got somewhat awkward as I looked for more, at first because I grabbed one from a bin just before walking out of the mall and my glove caught the top of the bin and made it come off when I pulled back my hand, which caught the attention of another person who was walking by, though they didn’t say anything and I didn’t even look to see whether it was a guard or just some other random person, just apologizing by reflex, replacing that piece and moving on.
Well, that paled in comparison to what I did next, since I’m almost certain that I unintentionally stole a water bottle belonging to a kid who’s likely on one of our national football teams for that age range. I mean, Penny is advertising the fact that they sponsor the national football teams at all age levels and a group of kids with Penny on their shirts walked past as I was walking past the stadium, and then I spotted plenty of bottles piled around the trees that are next to the fence, so on the other side of that grassy area, away from the path leading out of that area, and I wondered whether the cleaning people hadn’t gotten that far after the match, so I went to check and my attention was grabbed by a bottle that was just thrown on the grass, meters away from the others, and while it was full of water, I emptied it and took it before having a look at those that were around the trees, seeing that some reusable bottles were there as well, realizing that those had been placed there on purpose and walking away, without the fact that the one which I had grabbed had most probably been there for the same reason even crossing my mind at that point. And I didn’t even come back with it, since I ended up picking up a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol and went to put all of them in the machine from the nearby Mega Image, using that voucher to pay for some potatoes that I found among the spoiling products, also being charged for the bags.
I got back at 5:25 PM, and then I used more of that spread, putting it between some biscuits that I then ended up microwaving a little too much, though they were still edible. And, after doing the day’s squats, I was calculating what I had gained and spent that day when I suddenly realized that I had almost certainly stolen that bottle, since it had most probably just been thrown away from the others for some reason, but still belonged to one of those who had left their bottles there on purpose. I didn’t exactly feel bad about it, however, because it was simply thrown on the grass, meters away from any other, which definitely made it look like litter, even if it was full, so it may be a lesson to the kid who did that. But I still decided to add half of the amount received for it to what I mean to give away. Either way, hot water had returned at that point, so I also washed… And at night, after dad took a bath as well, we put the dehumidifier in the bathroom and turned it on… And then I yet again ended up getting in bed at 5:20 AM.

Written by Cavalary on February 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM in Personal | 0 Comments

The Four Runs from the Second Half of November and the First Half of December

This is getting ever more ridiculous, but after two weeks the second part of the post about the marathon remains untouched, as a two-paragraph placeholder, yet I absolutely must edit it and add the rest there at some point, seeing as I continued with the posts about the following runs since then. So I’ll now keep catching up on those regular runs, with a large post about four more of them, but seeing as I once again went out this evening and watched sports before that, I initially scheduled it to be posted at 11:59 PM with only the parts about the actual runs, leaving the odds and ends from those days to be added later. But the fact that, unlike that post about the marathon, everything else is pretty much already written, I edited the post and added everything else in the early hours of Tuesday.

In the early hours of November 20, I didn’t have green onions for the salad, so I just used a regular one, and I was so sure that I’ll start eating dinner before 3 AM that I didn’t really check the time and once again took it too easy, ending up starting to eat right at 3 AM instead of before, but at least I finished at 3:35 AM. Then I got up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, probably after catching another brief nap or two after checking the time the second time I woke up, seeing 12:23 PM and only remembering that the alarm was set for 1 PM instead of 2 PM after going to pee. Either way, when I went to the kitchen I saw that dad had taken the battery out of the scale and realized that he must have done so in order to know what kind it was and buy a new one even though I told him that I had more but hadn’t dug them out yet. Not that it was completely drained, but I had taken it from the kitchen scale, as in the small one, and would have had to take out another one anyway, so I did that then, putting a new one in the larger scale and eventually writing a note about it and asking for that old one back for the small one. Otherwise, I had the usual stuff, the yogurt being one with 4.8% protein and 5% fat from a large cup that was rather banged up, so I moved the rest of it into a jar, and I started a new bag of almonds, also baked, but unsalted. And the sweet thing, eaten after just wasting time on the toilet, once again consisted of two regular biscuits, with added honey. And, after setting some things out for dad, who wanted to cook after he’ll get back, I went out at 3:35 PM, wearing the full running gear, once again with the t-shirt from the marathon of 2023. The reported temperature was about 15°C, dropping by a few degrees by the time I finished.
The time was 46:54.24, with sector times of 4:12.80, 4:57.06, 5:50 (5:49.22), 4:28.34, 4:59.00, 5:49 (5:48.88), 4:22.47, 4:54.03, 5:41 (5:40.78) and 1:42 (1:41.66), making for lap times of 14:59.08, 15:16.22 and 14:57.28. The target was once again to stay under 48 minutes and I pushed from the start, and while the first sector’s time could have been a little better, the second sector was quite nice, and squeezing under 15 minutes on the lap even more so. But it was only at the end of lap two when I wondered whether I could stay under 47:30, and when, after those really nice times on the first two sectors of lap three, especially after stopping for a couple of seconds on the first one, it was quite clear that I was going to manage that, I just went for it, trying to see how much better I could do. And at the end of the lap it looked like I might just have a chance to squeeze under 47 minutes as well. It required a great final sector, but I wasn’t exhausted, so I pushed even harder and wasn’t only safely under 47 minutes, but also managed a truly outstanding time on that final sector… And I was frustrated that I wasn’t a quarter of a second faster, to be able to list it as 1:41, since I have just two such times, along with the old personal best of 1:40. But I got back under 47 minutes, and also covered two laps in less than 15 minutes, for the first time since August.
I was worried about slipping on fallen leaves, but it wasn’t a problem. And, while the lane was once again the main reason why I weaved and went the long way around, there was also one notable problem caused by another person, right at the end of lap one, when I hesitated because a guy on a scooter turned in front of me and another person was between us, so I only saw that he turned all the way around when he cut me off. Otherwise, my back was still causing problems and I felt that I had to snap it from sector two of lap two, being unable to do much about it. And on sector one of lap three I thought that my left shoelace was coming loose, so I stopped to tighten it, but I did so next to the lane and I almost immediately heard someone shout, and when I looked up I saw a cyclist coming straight towards me, so I made room and then resumed running, which meant that I lost a couple of seconds and, on top of not tightening the shoelace, I was worried that I had just started to pull on it and might have in fact loosened it more. But at least it didn’t get untied. And I’ll also mention here that there were plenty of runners, which was unsurprising, seeing as the weather was going to get much worse from the next day, and on sector three of lap three I saw Radu, who was being filmed while running.

Dad got back just after I did, so I got some more things ready for what he wanted to cook, then ate lunch, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, and left again a little after 7:15 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol. And I had checked on dad’s Kaufland app and the voucher with a small value which I should have obtained wasn’t there. But I had dad’s metro card, so I took the metro to Basarab, grabbing another recyclable with the deposit symbol before the metro station and then having the metro doors slam in my face, though at least the next one came less than five minutes later. Then I tried to use the recycling machine from that Kaufland only to find that it wasn’t working, but the plan was to first go to Carrefour anyway, so I did that, picking up two more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way and two more from the recycling machine from there, which I used, splitting what I had on two vouchers and ending up with a third for one of those recyclables, the other one not being accepted, so I entered with it and wandered around, my right hip bothering me a fair bit, and eventually just cashed in the vouchers, at a regular checkout, the two that should accept cash having handwritten notes that they also only accepted cards. Either way, I then returned to Kaufland and one recycling machine was working again, and it accepted that recyclable.
After washing my hands, I entered the store a couple of minutes after 9 PM and went to the bakery area, scanning the label for a sweet pastry, since there were no discount labels and there had been no announcement about bakery discounts either. And when that did show up as having the 50% evening discount, I also took the labels for two kinds of bread on my way to put back the one for that sweet pastry, but before I could do that the employee, whom I had noticed eyeing me, asked where did I have those labels from and argued with me, saying that I had no right to take the labels, only the employees can touch them, that it didn’t matter that I was going to put them back in a matter of seconds and I had no business trying to check the price when it was listed on the label, and she ignored me when I said that in other locations there’s a price checker right at the bakery area, quite obviously just to let people scan those labels quickly, but even though at first she said that she had no time for me, when I insisted that one product had a different price than the listed one she started to walk with me to the price checker, though when I pointed out that I was talking about the sweet pastry she stopped and said that the discount had kicked in for that, but not for the bread, not that I could have known that if I’d have just looked at those listed prices that she was saying were all I needed. So I walked a few steps away at first and stared daggers in her general direction while she complained about me to a coworker, and after she stepped away I walked around that area a little and made a point of staring with all the fury that I could muster at that other employee, who actually jumped a little and took a step back when she noticed.
Either way, I did take one of those sweet pastries before walking away from that area and making use of the great evening discounts for fruits and vegetables, though I lost two bags after taking them out, so I didn’t have enough for what I wanted to get… And the time lost to look for those bags meant that others took most of the grapes, and when I finally went there, with a partly torn bag which I had found discarded in that area, an old woman asked me to leave those that were left for her, so I did, though when I saw that she had left a handful of scattered ones I did take them, using that bag, before making my way to the self-checkout after the closing announcement. And I waited in line for a long time, the other customers being awfully slow and needing help, and my attempt to help the woman who was ahead of me didn’t solve anything, but even the employee who eventually came asked for a coworker to sort the matter out. And then, after scanning the label for the grapes, I poured them in the bag where I had the lemons, so I won’t take that second one and wonder about charging myself for it, but the machine apparently canceled the product while I did so, maybe because the weight was varying too much, and then wouldn’t let me enter anything else, so I held up my hand and someone who came over said that I had mixed the lemons and grapes, but I explained what I had done and two employees came over and sorted it out after I scanned the label for the grapes again, and then the one who had logged on entered everything else as well, just asking what I had, without checking. And then I also used the voucher received for that recyclable when I paid, the time on the receipt being 10:16 PM, after which I put the sweet pastry in a separate bag and checked that I had everything before taking the metro back, picking up some more recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I got back right at 11 PM, and there was a lot to wash and clean in the kitchen, though dad had wiped the stove quite well, which was nice of him. I’d have eaten some of the stuff he had dumped into a cup, with the leftover burned oil, but he said that those leftovers were too burned and oily, and while I disagreed, I set them aside and sieved the oil into a bottle, which I mean to eventually hand over in a proper place. And I also cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, forgetting about those burned leftovers at first, so I then went back to leave them behind the building, for the cats that are in that area. Then I ate that sweet pastry and some of the grapes, eventually putting the remaining grapes in their place, after just doing that for the garlic at first. And I washed and cleaned a lot in the kitchen, put what dad had cooked in the fridge, spread out the other purchases, scraped and ate what was left on the two pans, gathered my clothes from the balcony, and finally went to take a shower when it was almost 1:40 AM, being done when it was past 2:15 AM.
The computer looked like it was defragging when I entered my room, so I left it to it, washed and cleaned some more in the kitchen, put all of the purchases in their place, rearranging in order to make room, and finally started working on the salad at 3:15 AM, eating dinner between 4:25 AM and 5 AM… But the computer still seemed to be defragging when I got back in my room, and when I checked the logs I saw that it was true and it had just stopped when I moved the mouse, so I checked and it had just finished the two System Reserved partitions over two hours earlier and nothing else since then, and the Backup partition was usually next, so it had been working on that for over two hours, and I figured that the cause was that I had recently downloaded something to that partition which had left very little free space, so after manually defragging the system partition I tried the Backup one next and it looked like it wasn’t going to finish anytime soon, so I stopped it, deleted that large installer which I didn’t mean to keep anyway, and then tried again, and it finished very quickly. And when I got on-line I saw that the Windows 10 order had finally been dropped off at the pick-up point during the evening. And I got in bed at 6:20 AM.

After once again meaning to finally switch to the new computer, switching the cases, the previous day but only booting it up again as it was, installing a few more things, and then continuing to use the old one, on November 28 I got up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, and had the usual stuff, though the sweet thing was unusual, taking the form of a small piece of pumpkin pie, albeit still with added honey. On the other hand, a spot on my right calf muscle was hurting, which was a concern. But the plan was to run, so I left at 3:35 PM, wearing the full running gear, getting back to what was the usual running t-shirt, the one from the half marathon of 2017, but also an undershirt, as well as the gloves and one of those things on my neck and another instead of the hat, which was still in the laundry basket, plus the jacket on the way, tied around my waist as I ran. The reported temperature was 8°C, dropping by just 1°C by the time I finished.
The time was 46:46.76, with sector times of 4:14.44, 5:00.38, 5:53 (5:52.47), 4:27 (4:26.87), 4:57.41, 5:43.09, 4:17.00, 4:51 (4:50.85), 5:39.21 and 1:45.04, making for lap times of 15:07.29, 15:07.37 and 14:47.06. I wasn’t that pleased with the first sector, but I didn’t read that much into it because I hadn’t been quite sure how much I wanted to push during it, and the second sector’s time was quite nice, while the lap as a whole made me think that I should be able to stay under 48 minutes, which remained the primary goal. But covering lap two in pretty much exactly the same time as lap one, recovering what I lost on the first sector over the next two, made me think that I should be safely under 47:30 and wonder whether I could do even better. So I pushed from the start of lap three, managing great times and, after two sectors, thinking that a good sector three might just give me a chance to squeeze under 47 minutes again, so I went for it… And at the end of the lap I was surprised to see that, despite having briefly slowed on sector two and even stopped on sector three in order to see the time properly, I was pretty much safe already, and a very good time on the final sector as well meant that I ended up being even faster than the previous week.
I already mentioned that, since my eyes wouldn’t focus and I couldn’t see the time properly while running, I slowed to a walk for a couple of seconds on sector two of lap three and even briefly stopped on sector three of lap three, but I actually slowed one more time before that, on sector one of lap two. But other than that there was only a strange feeling that seemed to come from my heart on sector two of lap one, which started to go away after I managed to snap my back to some extent. And it had rained a little, but I wouldn’t say that the lane was that soaked, though it was still damaged in many places and the moisture obviously only made it worse, so it remained the main reason why I had to weave and go the long way around, the people not causing notable problems.

After quickly checking the nearby Mega Image on the way back, I ate a banana and lunch, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt and the undershirt on, and left again at 6:45 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and dad’s metro card, so I went to Obor again, putting the recyclables in the machine from Auchan and using the voucher when I paid for the few things I bought. Then I put the liquid soap in the backpack and the biscuits for dad in an inside pocket of my jacket and meant to go to Penny, but decided to also check a Mega Image on the way, entering with the purchases and getting four bio (organic) eggs that were among those sold by piece, and at least two of them were also large. Then I put everything except those biscuits in a cabinet when I got to Penny and bought a few things from there as well, including a carton of regular eggs that had an unannounced discount, after replacing a few of the eggs in it, which I was uncertain about, with some from another identical carton. And, after retrieving what I had in the cabinet, I arranged the purchases.
It’d have probably been better to go to Carrefour next, but I couldn’t afford the time to go back and forth, so I continued to Kaufland, where I once again put everything except those biscuits in a cabinet, peed and washed my hands, and got a few more things, including some potatoes that had a good evening discount which was probably going to increase later. But, again, I couldn’t wait, and it was getting late even so, and at the self-checkout one of the expiring products wasn’t accepted by the machine, but an employee logged on to override the error, and then she also struggled to straighten the discount label on the other similar product in order to see the code, which she entered in order to allow me to purchase that as well, though I repeatedly said that if it won’t scan I’ll just leave it.
After retrieving my things and adding the new purchases, I rushed to Carrefour, once again putting everything except those biscuits in a cabinet and finding a lot of expiring bread of the kind my grandmother wants, so I took all of it, plus the one fluffy flatbread of that kind that I found is really nice to use if I want to make a sort of pizza that was also among the expiring products, a little garlic, and two sweet pastries and a bread that had the evening discount, managing to get to the last self-checkout that accepts cash that wasn’t yet closed and even finding a pile of coins left in its change tray… Which proved to be a good thing, since rushing hadn’t allowed me to calculate the total and I found that I’d have been a little short otherwise, but as it was I managed to pay for everything… But the cabinet wouldn’t open when I entered the code, so I tried all the others that were still closed, wondering whether I had forgotten which one I had placed my things into, since the doors aren’t transparent in that location, until a guard came to ask what was wrong and then what did I have, so I told him what I had in there, which cabinet I thought it was and the code and he entered the override code and opened it for me, after which I retrieved everything and rushed back to the metro station, picking up one recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way and quite a number of others after getting off at this station.
It was close to 10:20 PM when I got back, so I lost the start of the match. And I had carried just over 14 kg and still only weighed 45 kg. Either way, I then put the purchases in their place, washed or straightened a few of the recyclables, cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, washed most of what was in the kitchen, dad having cooked again, ate one of the sweet pastries and a small bag of bagels, also did the day’s squats, and then took a quick shower with water that was below body temperature by the time it reached my skin. But at least that meant that I got back to the kitchen early and, despite dealing with my bread and also washing a large pot, I still stuck to the dinner schedule.

In the early hours of December 3, I ended up eating dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:10 AM. Then I woke up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, and had the usual stuff, with the apple being the last of those spoiling but huge ones, so even after getting rid of the bad parts it was about the size of two regular apples. And the sweet thing once again consisted of one of those small pieces of pumpkin pie, with added honey. And I left at 3:25 PM, once again wearing the training shirt without anything underneath it and that thing on my neck, and while on the way I also wore the jacket, which was tied around my waist as I ran, while running I wore the gloves, though I kept them, and my hands, in my pockets on the way. The reported temperature was 5-6°C, holding steady.
The time was 47:31.52, with sector times of 4:15.55, 5:05 (5:04.81), 5:53 (5:52.81), 4:29.53, 5:01.03, 5:47 (5:46.78), 4:26 (4:25.66), 5:02 (5:01.85), 5:46.53 and 1:47 (1:46.97), making for lap times of 15:13.17, 15:17.34 and 15:14.04. I felt rather off on the first sector and didn’t have high hopes, wondering if I’ll manage to stay under 48 minutes, the question remaining at the end of the first lap, so I pushed more from sector two of lap two, which led to a time after two laps that didn’t just make me feel reasonably safe, but even briefly wonder whether squeezing under 47:30 was possible. That’d have required covering lap three in 15 minutes, or at least no more than a few seconds more than that, which hardly seemed possible, but I still pushed at first, and continued to do so on sector two, but when on sector three of lap three I once again felt rather off, I settled for aiming to just squeeze under six minutes on that sector in order to be certain that I was going to safely stay under 48 minutes… And I regretted that, as well as the seconds lost on sectors two and three of lap three in order to see the time better, at the end of the lap, when I saw that I fell just short of having a chance to squeeze under 47:30 after all. I still gave it everything on the final sector, hoping to somehow make it after all, but I didn’t.
I once again had that strange feeling that seemed to come from my heart pretty much from the start, though on sector two of lap one, when it got worse, I tried to determine its source more accurately and it seemed to have more to do with breathing and maybe a little crap in my chest. But at least it went away after that, until sector three of lap three, when I already mentioned that I was starting to feel rather off in general and this feeling also returned to some extent. And on sector three of lap two I started overheating a little, and I also had the feeling that I hadn’t left everything in the toilet, though that passed after that. Otherwise, the lane was obviously still damaged in all sorts of ways and rather wet, but some of the need to weave and go the long way around was because of other people as well, though they didn’t cause any notable issues, the possible exception being when a dog went for my legs and I quickly stepped aside before the owner pulled on the leash, but by the start of lap three I realized that I couldn’t recall whether that happened on sector two of lap two or at the end of sector one of lap two. And, as I already mentioned, on sectors two and three of lap three I slowed to a walk for a couple of seconds in order to see the time better, possibly even stopping for just an instant on the first occasion, so I should have squeezed under 47:30 without that loss of time. Plus that I probably lost a little bit of time whenever I took the glove off in order to press the button and then put it back on.

After getting back, picking up a recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way, I ate a banana and lunch, did the day’s squats, changed, albeit leaving the shirt on, and after the handball match, at 8:45 PM, I went out again, taking the plastic and metal, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way, the recyclables with the deposit symbol, and also the tiny and old piece of fish which had fallen on the floor after dad had fried fish, quite some time before, and which I kept meaning to give to a stray cat but kept either forgetting in the fridge or just carrying around because, the couple of times when I did remember to take it, I strangely didn’t find stray cats to give it to… And I bumped into dad just after walking out of the building and he gave me a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol. And then, after making a small detour but still not seeing a stray cat in the immediate area, when I spotted one on a fence I put that tiny piece of fish in front of it, to at least be able to say that I finally gave it to a cat, even if it was quite clearly not a stray and probably wasn’t interested in something like that. And I picked up some more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way to Kaufland, starting with a crushed can that I then tried to straighten to some extent.
When I got there I found a cart with the coin left in it, connecting it to others and retrieving the coin… And then seeing that the people who were taking their purchases out of their cart when I did that just left theirs there, also with the coin in it, so I connected that one as well, also retrieving that coin. And then I found yet more recyclables with the deposit symbol in the bins that are around the recycling machines from there and managed to put everything in, though quite a number of the recyclables required quite a number of tries, and removing the lids in case of three of them. The machine even accepted a bottle that I found there and which didn’t have the deposit symbol on its label but on which I placed that label that did have the deposit symbol which I had been carrying around for some time, after taking it off a plastic bottle that was too crushed. All of this led to having three vouchers, since the machine gave me one voucher on its own after finally accepting the first recyclable and then it timed out while I was putting that label on that other bottle at the end.
After washing my hands, using the room for disabled people, I entered the store a few minutes before 9:30 PM, grabbed a lettuce of a different kind that had a good evening discount and some deeply discounted expiring germinated wheat, and then just got some bun that seemed like it should be sweet from the bakery area, after scanning the labels for the cheap buns that were left and confirming that those had no evening discounts. But I didn’t scan any of the discount labels, and since I didn’t hear any announcement stating anything else, I assumed that the listed discounts of 50% were correct, so I didn’t touch the two much nicer buns that were left. And then I just got two yogurts and two kohlrabies, the kohlrabies also having a good evening discount. On the other hand, I didn’t find what I had otherwise gone there for, so after looking around as much as possible I was just starting to use the self-checkout when the closing announcement came, the frustrating thing being that the bakery product showed up as having a 75% discount, which probably meant that those nice buns had that discount as well and I should have scanned the labels to check… But it was too late to go back at that point, so I just continued, using the two vouchers with a small value while paying and cashing in the one received for all of the other recyclables, after which I arranged the purchases a little.
When I got outside I found another cart with a coin in it, so I connected that one to others as well, retrieving yet another coin. And on the way back I entered two Mega Image locations, putting my things in a cabinet both times but only locking it the second time, getting two buns for the price of one from the first one, each costing what the cheaper one of those nice ones should have been at Kaufland if they actually were discounted by 75%, and a sweet pastry, with the 50% discount, from the second one, and then retrieving my things.
I got back just before 11:10 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, washed what was in the kitchen, ate the sweet pastry from Mega Image, put most of the purchases in their place, and went to shower a little before 12:30 AM, the water being only a little above body temperature. I was done a little before 12:55 AM and, after picking the kohlrabi leaves and using the small ones, along with the worse leaves from that lettuce, for the salad, I started eating dinner at 3:15 AM, but still managed to finish at 3:40 AM. On the other hand, I saw that there had been no visits that day, and before going to bed I bought two more games for what ended up being my little giveaway on the GOG.com forums, plus one for myself, which I installed after getting up. And I’ll also mention here that, in the early hours of December 5, I ended up eating dinner between 3:40 AM and 4:25 AM, though I also wrote a message during that time and the last several minutes were spent gathering what was stuck on the plate, and got in bed at 5:25 AM.

On December 10, I got up at 1 PM, when the alarm rang, and had the usual stuff, though the yogurt was expired, while the sweet thing consisted of two nicer biscuits, with added honey. The problem was that, while the previous evening the forecast had listed the rain as ending around 2 PM, it had been updated by then, all sites actually listing the worst rain between 3 PM and 4 PM. But I had decided to run that day, and at 3:10 PM, when I went out, it was only drizzling, so I just hoped that it was going to stay that way, which was fortunately the case. Either way, the reported temperature was 4°C, holding steady, and I wore the full running gear, the training shirt, that thing on my neck and the gloves, plus the jacket on the way, tied around my waist as I ran.
The time was 48:48.51, with sector times of 4:20.57, 5:16.16, 6:05 (6:04.40), 4:34.22, 5:06.00, 5:53 (5:52.66), 4:30.88, 5:09 (5:08.65), 6:01 (6:00.62) and 1:54.35, making for lap times of 15:41.13, 15:33 (15:32.88) and 15:40.15. Considering the conditions, I was thinking that I was only aiming to stay under 50 minutes, and after the first two sectors I was having doubts even about managing that, which doubts only increased when I saw that I failed to even complete the first lap in the 15:40 that would be the target lap time for 49 minutes. And then sector one of lap two was only marginally under the target time for a 16-minute lap, so I pushed harder after that, the next two sectors and the lap as a whole making me wonder whether I might manage to stay under 49 minutes after all. So I kept pushing, each sector of lap three making that more likely, and at the end of the lap I was quite certain that I’ll manage to squeeze under 48:45 as well… Only to fail to do so, the final sector being worse than I thought it’d be. And, of course, the time was quite bad overall, and the worst one since the middle one out of the series of three in five days, from the end of September, but it was nevertheless not as bad as I expected under those conditions.
It was obviously very wet, the lane being almost completely unusable and quite a number of puddles requiring me to pick my path carefully or go the long way around, but the weather also meant that there were only a handful of people in the park… Yet one of them did cause me to lose some time on sector one of lap three, when I caught a girl who was walking slowly, with her eyes on her phone, just as she reached one of those puddles, and not wanting to go through it meant that I was stuck behind her for a few seconds. And I also hesitated and slowed for a moment at the end of sector two of lap three, when several ducks who were on the other side of the path decided to rush to the lake just as I was about to pass by them. But I probably lost more in order to check the time, since that caused me to slow to a walk for a second or two on that same sector two of lap three, while on sector three of lap three I actually stopped for a similar amount of time, for that same reason. And there was probably a little more time lost when I took the glove off and then put it back on, and maybe also when I was looking at the time in general. As for physical issues, I started feeling like I hadn’t left everything in the toilet almost from the beginning, and while that feeling soon passed, it returned with a vengeance on sector three of lap two, and on sector one of lap three it was even worse, making me think that it was actually going to be a serious problem… Only for it to suddenly go away for a while, and when it returned again, on sector three of lap three, it was faint and nothing to really worry about.

I picked up a can with the deposit symbol on the way back, straightening it in my hand, since it was somewhat crushed. Then I ate a banana and lunch, with a small bag of nicer, albeit recently expired, bagels instead of bread, and did the day’s squats, and a little later dad called to say that he was bringing that old and large radio and needed my help to carry it up, so I went down to help him, and finally went out again just before 8:05 PM, without taking the headphones, which felt weird, but taking the recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I put those recyclables, plus the two that I picked up on the way, in the recycling machine from Carrefour. Then I got some expiring products, though the ones that were for dad had blood from other products on them, and while they were shrink-wrapped, I didn’t want to take them like that, so I used the paper that some bags of sugar had been wrapped in to wipe them as much as I could. And the total was enough to allow me to use the voucher which I had received for previous purchases, but not the one received for the recyclables as well, and I still had to use a regular checkout in that location, and after the cashier also charged me for the bag that the spoiling apples which I had bought were in and took away the receipt that had that voucher received for previous purchases, when I wanted to cash in the voucher received for the recyclables she said that she was new and asked a coworker to help her with it. And she didn’t give me the receipt for my purchases, and when I told her that she said that she had thrown it away already, so I walked away, and I did so without counting what she had given me that carefully, just checking that I had three 1 RON bills and a larger one, which should have been a 5 RON bill. That will become relevant later, but at that point I was in a hurry and wanted to wash those products a little as well, so I went to the bathroom and did that.
Since it was already late by then, I rushed to Kaufland, jogging most of the way and, after putting the purchases in a cabinet and washing my hands, it was 9:35 PM when I entered the store. Then I scanned some price labels from the bakery area, but that didn’t help in case of those slightly sweet buns, since the price checker stated that the product was not found, while it otherwise just confirmed that the other products that didn’t have discounts listed really had none. Still, I took one of those buns, meaning to leave it if I’ll see the full price at the checkout, which wasn’t the case. Either way, I then rushed to grab some other things as well and just after the closing announcement I dashed to also have a look at the non-refrigerated expiring products before taking my place in line at the self-checkouts. And while waiting in line I calculated what the discount should be for my shaving cream, since it was going to be applied at the end, and it was, and I also used the picture of the QR code for dad’s store app again. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged everything before walking away when it was past 10:10 PM.
On the way back, right on the street, I spotted a debit card, stopping to pick it up and then glancing around after crossing, to see whether anyone seemed to be looking for something. But I didn’t spot anyone, so I then walked away with it, meaning to leave it on one of the ATMs from the branch of the issuing bank that I knew I was going to pass by on the way back… Only to be unable to do so, because when I tried to use it to unlock the door, there was a message that the system was out of order, so I held on to it and decided to go back out the following day, to actually leave it at a branch, unless I’ll happen to find the owner on-line before then, which I didn’t.
I got back a little after 10:40 PM, then I put the purchases in their place, washed most of what was in the kitchen, and put some other things in that slightly sweet bun, the result actually being quite nice when I ate it… But I picked it up with a fork and ended up biting that fork when I was about to finish, chipping a front tooth a little, though the damage was just something that I felt with my tongue that night and not anything otherwise noticeable. Either way, it was 12:35 AM when I went to wash and almost 1:20 AM when I was done, and I ate dinner between 3:20 AM and 3:50 AM.

Written by Cavalary on January 26, 2025 at 11:59 PM in Personal | 0 Comments