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Another Half Marathon Distance and New Books

Rather sleepy right now, because I first woke up around 9 AM today, got probably 30 or 40 more minutes of sleep after that, then just sort of very briefly fell asleep again and woke right back up a few times until I finally got up, around 11:30 AM. And with this happening after yesterday’s effort too, I’ll be crawling back in bed after writing this, I think, so I’m trying to make it quick.

That effort I mentioned is the fact that I ran the distance of a half marathon again, through the park, using the same route as almost a year ago, when I first did this. The total time was better, 1:56:41, but not quite good enough, as I was aiming at 1:56 and hoping for 1:55. Means I should have a better chance of finishing the actual race, in May, in under two hours real time, but doesn’t look like there’s a good reason to hope for an official time under two hours at the moment, and that’s the one that matters if I want to advance another sector at the start in 2018.
Unlike last year, I actually remembered all intermediate times now, so here’s the list: 4:49, 5:35, 6:35, 4:56, 5:33, 6:32, 5:01, 5:29, 6:30, 5:00, 5:39 or maybe a bit less, 6:35 or maybe a bit more, 5:04, 5:49, 6:46, 5:26, 6:05, 7:10, 2:14, 7:29 and 2:24. The next to last intermediate time listed is the seventh third sector covered, while the one before it is the part from the start of the lap up to the start of that sector, so including climbing the stairs at the bridge, crossing it and climbing back down on the other side, and the one after it is what is the final sector of what’s lately my regular ten-kilometer run. Those two uncertain times are caused by the fact that the total time got over one hour not long before that point and this stopwatch, unlike the one I used a year ago and which displayed the hours in a different place in this case, moves the display, so minutes appear where seconds do for times under one hour, seconds appear instead of hundredths and hundredths are no longer shown, and since I wasn’t actually stopping it to have the intermediate times displayed separately, only doing that at the end of a lap, I got confused when I looked at it then and then deducted a few seconds from the time I saw when I figured out where I should be looking. It’s possible that the second sector on that lap may have been covered in as little as 5:37, which’d make for a third sector covered in 6:37, but 5:39, and therefore 6:35, seemed like a good enough guess.
Lap times were 16:59, 17:01, 17:00, 17:14, 17:39 and 18:41, with the final 1.9-kilometer section being covered in 12:07. Note how steady my first three lap times were, surprisingly so even if they’re the three laps I usually cover on the ten-kilometer run. Compared to a year ago though, it seemed I got tired sooner, with that sixth lap being just terrible in terms of time and a struggle to cover. Was also slower than back then on the first and last sectors of that seventh section, though the middle one, so the seventh third sector, was covered in about the same time, or I guess maybe a second faster. So I was 2:30 faster than back then, but that time was mainly gained over the first four laps, with just a little more added to the difference on the fifth, as, judging from what I wrote then, on the sixth lap I now lost 13 seconds, 26 in the first sector and three in the second before actually recovering 16 in the third, and then lost ten more in that seventh and final section, four in the first sector and seven in the last, with one recovered in the middle one.

Right after doing that, I just came back to change and went back out, to pick up the books which had arrived too late for me to be able to go Friday. Didn’t go Monday because dad needed the metro card and walking there and back didn’t seem like a good idea when I had such a run in mind for the next day, and waiting until today was too long, so I just went then, even if that meant a walk of about ten minutes to the metro station here and another 20 or so minutes from the one there, and then the same thing back, plus the steep stairs leading to and from the street the shop’s on. Also meant a couple of sprints, to cross streets while the light was still green, after which my legs complained, but it nevertheless went well enough overall.
Still surprised that I’m recognized there, since I pretty much just make one order per year but as soon as I got to the gate, before even ringing, I heard “that’s Robert” and somebody being sent to open, as they were outside. Something didn’t seem to work though, so the gate was opened by hand in the end, and I went inside and tried to get all seven books in my backpack before giving up and leaving two in the bag they also gave me, which this time I didn’t refuse because it’s cloth and not plastic. Otherwise, was awkward of course, but was also funny when I was asked whether I reach them easily, and I replied that I just take the metro and then walk the rest of the way, plus that I just started training for the half marathon with a run covering that distance, after which I just went straight there, to which the reply was that in that case the walk from the metro must not have even been a way to recover, but something I hardly even noticed. More or less, I guess.
Either way, I now have The Tower of the Swallow, which I mean to start no later than tomorrow, if not even today, and the six Mistborn books currently released, so The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages, The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self and The Bands of Mourning. And I actually did manage to put them all in my backpack after leaving, and the bag fit in there too, they just needed to be arranged properly. Did worry that I had dropped my receipt or invoice while doing that though, as I found none when I got back and remembered it being mentioned while there, so was concerned it might have been an invoice, containing personal information, which ended up on a street somewhere, but I sent a message to ask and was told I didn’t wait to take it, so that’s fine I guess.

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