Cav's Place

There’s a long personal update that should be here, but I’m not getting around to it and starting to wonder whether I even will write it. Probably will, because I sent rants to someone and they’re in English anyway, so it should largely be a matter of just making some changes to make it suitable for a post, but I can’t be sure even so. What I am sure about, however, is the fact that I must write about yesterday’s run. And, while I’m at it, just briefly mention last week’s too, which was also on Monday.

So, to get last week’s out of the way, the time was 48:14, with sector times of 4:25, 5:11, 5:55, 4:28, 5:04, 5:48, 4:29, 5:13, 5:58 and 1:43, making for lap times of 15:31, 15:20 and 15:40. Only meant to stay under 49 minutes, and it was also quite windy so it wasn’t easy, but started with a first lap that was 40 seconds slower than the first lap on what at the time was the record run and then recovered 30 of those seconds compared to that run, nine on the second lap, setting a new second lap record at that moment, then 16 more over the third lap and five more over the final sector.

But the truly notable run was this week’s, yesterday, which showed that I still don’t quite know my limits. Was saying after setting the previous record that there’s room for a new target, aiming to get under 48 minutes, but sure didn’t dare to actually make a goal of it. Yet I managed not only that, but to get under 47:30 as well, the time being 47:26! Sector times were 4:25, 5:10, 5:45, 4:20, 4:59, 5:46, 4:27, 5:02, 5:49 and 1:43, making for lap times of 15:20, 15:05 and 15:18, so new records for both the second and the third lap. And I didn’t aim for a new record when I started, yet could have done even better, since there were a fair number of people to go around.
Admittedly, two people helped too, runners who were just passing by the spot where I start when I got going. They were suited up and had a solid pace, but were talking, at first about someone training but still being defeated by others who were around 40, so they were obviously not pushing that hard, since they could just chat like that. Briefly wondered whether I should stay behind them or start hard and overtake, but decided to overtake pretty much right away. They noticed me and moved aside a bit, seemed to catch back up when I lost a moment as a cyclist got right in front of me, both of us trying to squeeze past some other people through the same spot from opposite directions, then they dropped a bit behind again over the first sector, but I could hear them pretty much throughout the second sector and by the end of it they were right behind me. Admittedly, I had been rather slow in that sector, barely on pace for 49 minutes, if even that.
Rather expected them to overtake me then, but they didn’t, staying right behind me all through the third sector, which kept me really honest, pushing. They did pick up their pace a bit once the lap was over and did finally seem about to overtake at that point, so I moved aside before the bridge, the same way they had done for me a lap before, but they only got as far as being alongside me as we passed under the bridge. They were talking of losing weight at that point, one stating his goals, then just under the bridge the other said he had started a diet the day before by getting rid of all the sweets he had at home, and that it was delicious. I laughed along with them, then they just weren’t there anymore. Whether they stopped or went up the stairs, or up the path that’s close to the stairs, I don’t know, but they suddenly were no longer next to me, I didn’t hear them anymore and I couldn’t see them anywhere when I eventually looked. That only happened when I reached the spot where the lake ends and the path turns though, allowing me to look behind without turning all the way.
Still, I maintained that pace from that final sector, leading to that great second lap, and then managed a third one that was close as well, in fact also being faster than the first. My right shoelace seemed about to get untied towards the end of sector two of lap three and I knew I could stop and fix it and still have a good shot at staying under 48 minutes, but said I’ll risk it and maybe even finish with it untied if I’ll have to, hoping it won’t cause me to lose time or, worse, trip if it won’t hold. But it did hold, barely, not that I even cared about that anymore when I saw 45:43 after three laps, realizing that I could even get under 47:30 with 1:46 on the final sector. So I just pushed as hard as I could, probably even more so after a person with a dog got in my way at the top of the stairs, the dog being on the other side of the stairs and the leash blocking the way. But there was a bit of room to go the short way around, so around the person and not all the way around the dog as well, and I did that and then got around the next person, also with a dog on a leash, that was just behind, and just pushed every step of the way, telling myself to just keep falling forward step by step if I must. And in the end I managed it with three seconds to spare too!

My nose was very irritated after that, full of snot, kept sneezing and sniffing for the rest of the day, my right hip was also reminding me that it doesn’t want me to do this, and overall felt quite weak and drained, but that sure was something! And I’m a lot better today, though my nose is still being a bit annoying. But that may not be entirely due to breathing heavily and running so quickly, because I was around people who kept coughing and sneezing recently and was starting to notice something starting over the weekend, which was another reason why I wanted to run Monday and not give it more time to get worse.