Cav's Place

The first run I’m yet to write about was on February 21, when I got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, though I had been drifting in and out of sleep since dad had left, which should have been a little before noon, though I didn’t actually check. Then I had the usual stuff plus almonds, with a slice of cozonac, with added honey, as the sweet thing, put on the full running gear and left at 4:15 PM, when the reported temperature was 14°C, supposed to drop by a couple of degrees by the time I’ll finish.
The time was 1:17:41, with sector times of 4:13, 5:11, 6:01, 4:32, 5:09, 5:55, 4:31, 5:11, 5:54, 4:35, 5:09, 6:02, 4:32, 5:00 and 5:46, making for lap times of 15:25, 15:36, 15:36, 15:46 and 15:18. I was just aiming for 1:20 at first, and while the first lap’s overall time was all right, that was just thanks to the first sector, the second and third being concerning. But lap two was better, with a normal sector one and faster sectors two and three. It was also right on target for 1:18, but I didn’t think I had any chance of maintaining that pace and just started thinking of 1:19, even that not seeming too likely. When lap three was the same, however, I started wondering whether I could manage to stay under 1:18:30, becoming quite certain of that after lap four, as long as I wasn’t going to have problems. But I was feeling good enough to finally start thinking about 1:18 and just went for it from the start of lap five, though it was only after sector two that I felt reasonably confident, though in the end I had a very safe margin. This marks only the second time I managed to get back under 1:18 since July of 2020, after that amazing 1:16:16 from October.
There were only a few small fenced areas left, one surrounding a hole and a couple of others in places where they had poured concrete, plus one narrow strip of fresh concrete, so narrow that it’d have been harder to step in it than over, without a fence, on the long sector one straight, though a similar one, before that straight, had a fence going all across the path, so I had to step off it each time. On the other hand, there were many small scraped patches, at most a couple of meters or so, probably more repairs. A few were short enough to jump over if I dared, but many were on the long straights of sectors one and two, so I couldn’t really use the lane in those areas, as I’d have had to keep weaving… Not that I didn’t have to anyway, with people on either side. Either way, I did jump over one such small patch on the long sector two straight of lap three, but when I meant to do the same on lap four I realized I’d have stepped right in it and likely tripped, so I stopped right before it and went around, losing a little time.
The first brief stop, however, was on sector two of lap three, when a small dog without a leash got right in front of me, and the next was at the end of that sector two of lap four that I already mentioned, when I meant to pass between two guys on scooters and two women with a large dog, but the dog barked and seemed to want to jump at the guys and I got startled. And there were plenty of people in general, making me have to weave, go the long way around, squeeze through and also slow a few times. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either, though it did seem to get better on lap five. As for physical issues, I started to feel the need to snap my back early on and couldn’t manage it, so I just had to deal with it, and the right knee started hurting some time later, I think on lap three, maybe from sector three, though I’m not sure about that. Later, there were some warnings lower down that leg as well, but they didn’t get past that level. And a certain pressing need did start appearing as I was pushing hard on lap five, but it wasn’t bad. And I felt I could push, as the time shows.
Jogged back as well, then changed and left again close to 6:20 PM, hurrying to take the book back and getting there at 6:50 PM. Then I tried a route that should have taken me from there to Obor, and while one that Google Maps listed as being only about 100 meters longer would have been easy enough and I found where I should have turned in order to follow it and reach a known area, I decided to explore the one it listed as being the shortest, wanting to see if I could learn a new area, as I hadn’t been there before… And that didn’t go well. I was sort of aware of the fact that I turned too early, but didn’t go back to check, and that wouldn’t have been that bad anyway, as I could have recovered on the next street, but I then missed that turn, not really looking for it since I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t already on the right street. And then I missed yet another chance to recover. Turning then would have meant covering a noticeably longer distance compared to the planned route, but still significantly less than I ended up walking, yet I missed that turn as well, maybe because that street was blocked, a water company truck being there, with workers around it and both sides blocked off. I’m not quite sure that was the place where I should have turned, but it seems likely. Either way, I ended up walking almost a kilometer more, compared to that shortest route.
It was almost 7:45 PM when I finally got to the Auchan from Obor, just getting a few things. Then I also went to that Carrefour, put those first purchases in a cabinet, just bought an expiring bread for dad, retrieved the purchases and continued to Kaufland… Only for the exhaustion to suddenly hit me as I left that mall, after that fast run and all the walking. Still, I kept going, put the purchases in a cabinet, washed my hands and walked in, seeing that the bakery discounts were already listed even though it was still a little before 9 PM. I didn’t get anything that was discounted, however, despite getting back there and looking multiple times, but I was out of bread, so I bought one, even though it wasn’t only not discounted, but the price had increased as well. Then, not seeing any other interesting evening discounts either, I got one more bag of cat food, out of the three that seemed to be left, and eventually also got one more bread for dad, after looking multiple times through what was left in the packaged bread area and finding that they were out of all the cheaper ones bar that regular white bread that I ended up buying for him. Actually, two of one other kind were left at first, but the bags were a little torn, so I left them there and by the time I got back even those were gone.
Still, the trip did yield some cheap finds. I wanted to wait for 9:30 PM, to see whether there would be some more discounts, and it was a few minutes before that when I got back to the fruits and vegetables area and saw people gathered around the Golden apples, the price of those having dropped to a tenth of what it had been. But I didn’t want to squeeze among them, so I looked for other new discounts and grabbed two bundles of green onions and the last three bananas than seemed sort of all right, then went back to the apples and took all those that still seemed sort of all right from there as well, almost two kilograms… But then I have no idea what I did with the green onions. I wandered around a little longer, made my way to the self-checkout at 9:45 PM, had no problems with the machine, retrieved my things from the cabinet, arranged everything in the bags, used the scales close to the bathrooms for a label that I used to keep the bag with my bread closed, washed my hands again, went out, and it was only as I was getting to the street that I realized that I didn’t have those green onions, so I must have left them somewhere without realizing it.
On top of feeling tired, the tongue of my right shoe was also digging into my foot, in front of the ankle, hurting more and more, but I just kept going for far too long, only finally stopping to fix it as I was quite close to getting back. Either way, it was almost 10:55 PM when I got here, had a banana and the third of those four cakes, put most of the purchases in their place, washed what dad had left, and had a small lunch starting at 12:05 AM and finishing ten minutes later. It was past 12:20 AM when I went to the toilet and to shower and 1:10 AM when I got out. Even so, I might have been able to start eating dinner before 3 AM, but I took it sort of easy towards the end, so I started at 3:05 AM, but still finished at 3:40 AM, which is the latest time I’d consider acceptable according to that new schedule that I’m trying to stick to.

Despite being so tired, or probably just for that reason, I had a hard time sleeping that morning. It probably took me about an hour to fall asleep and I’m not sure I even slept for two hours, the daily backup waking me at 8 AM and then having no chance to get back to sleep. Also had a whole lot of gas and a bit of a riot in my belly, and that odd feeling again, though just in my right arm and it went away after a while. So I finally decided to get up around 9:40 AM, went to the kitchen, put the apples away, since I hadn’t done so at night, ate one of those apples and the last of those cakes, and then got on the computer until 12:25 PM. Then I cleaned the litter box, got back in bed and only got up again at 3:10 PM, but only managed to sleep for a matter of minutes during that time. I crawled back in bed in the evening and eventually managed to get another hour or so of sleep, but I was feeling out of it, and not having lunch likely didn’t help. But that was because the plan was to make mamaliga after dad left, so I stuffed myself at night, still just managing to finish on the current schedule.

Now I’ll skip to the next run, which was on March 3. Since I had an event in support of Ukraine to attend later, I had the alarm wake me at noon, put the water for the tea on the stove and went to the toilet right away… And I guess I took too long, because there was an obvious smell of gas when I came out and the kettle was cold, and I did turn off the bathroom light before noticing the smell, so that was a very dangerous moment, since there can be a spark. But fortunately nothing happened, and once I did notice the smell I ran to turn off the stove and open all the windows, then kept moving the kitchen window to fan that area for a little while. After a few minutes I turned the stove back on, then had the usual stuff plus almonds, with the sweet thing being a slice of a cozonac-sized chec, which Wikipedia says is a version of pound cake, with added honey. I left a little after 2:05 PM, wearing the full running gear, that thing around my neck and the gloves, plus the jacket for the way, tied around my waist as I ran. The reported temperature was 7°C, supposed to hold steady, but the clouds cleared as I started running, so the perceived temperature increased and it was fine.
The time was 48:20.89, with sector times of 4:16.64, 5:14 (5:13.88), 5:57.18, 4:32 (4:31.50), 5:09.72, 5:52.06, 4:30 (4:29.75), 5:04.00, 5:55 (5:54.72) and 1:51.44, making for lap times of 15:27.70, 15:33.28 and 15:29 (15:28.47). The first sector didn’t look too good and the second made me worry about staying under 49 minutes, but the third meant that the overall lap time gave me a chance, and lap two, and once again its third sector in particular, made me think that I was mostly fine if there won’t be problems. But sector one of lap three was good enough to make me start thinking of 48:30, and managing that seemed even more likely after sector two and quite certain at the end of the lap, and a final sector that wasn’t bad meant that I managed it by a safe margin.
While not a major problem, the reason why that run was uncomfortable at times was that I thought that something was about to come out the rear end early on sector two of lap one, or that maybe it even did, so after that point I held everything in, even though it was most likely just gas. Otherwise, I just couldn’t push harder, though things seemed to be getting better from that point of view as I went along. As for other issues, some small patches were still fenced off, but they didn’t cause problems, and there weren’t many people either, so there was some weaving and going the long way around, the reason for going the long way around in a couple of places also being that I was following the lane, but that was it.
After again jogging on the way back, not even putting the jacket back on, I had a quick lunch, changed, lost a good ten minutes trying to at least pin the neck of my sweater to some extent with two safety pins, since that zipper broke, simply being unable to do it while looking in a mirror and only finally managing it after I stopped looking, and it was almost 4:40 PM when I was finally out again. That event in support of Ukraine was supposed to start at 5 PM, and it was at Victory Square, so I had a long walk ahead, but only about 20 people were present even at 6 PM, when I got there. And there were only around 35 participants at the peak, though some left before others arrived, so the total was over 40, and maybe closer to 50, not that ten or so people more or less would make it any less embarrassing. And four brought banners against both Putin and NATO, but Remus, who organized the event, asked the gendarmes to send them away, the event obviously not being against NATO, and they did leave soon enough. Either way, some pictures were taken, and I also took a few, then people just stood around and talked… Or, in my case, stood around silently. I heard Remus tell someone that they were going to stay at least until 7:30 PM, and the event was supposed to last until 8 PM, but I left at 7:20 PM.
On the way back, I went to the Carrefour from Obor, finding cheap eggs sold by piece again, including bio (organic) ones. As I was selecting those, an employee first made himself seem busy around me, then asked what was with some of those I had set aside and, after I said those had code one, whether I’ll take them. I said I won’t necessarily do so, he asked what was I looking for, I said code zero, he said that they usually have code three in those piles, I said I’d never buy those and even signed to ban them, explaining that it was because of how the hens are raised, in cages, when he asked why, which seemed to baffle him, as if he couldn’t grasp the concept that something like that could possibly matter. I also showed him a couple with code zero that I found and then asked whether the eggs sold by piece are from broken cartons, and he said that he didn’t usually work in that area but they may often be those that are close to expiring. It wasn’t the case then, and in fact it often isn’t, but I said that I don’t mind that anyway, after which he advised me to not put more than ten in a bag, finally leaving me alone after I said I never had a bag with eggs tear before and added that at that price I wanted 20 and would even buy them if they had code two, but why not take the best I can find? And I actually found no less than 21 bio (organic) ones, none of them cracked, so I got all of them… And told the cashier I had 21, meaning to just take the bag past him, but he asked what if I had 22, so I handed him the bag and told him to count, and after he did so he said he counted 20. But he had already entered what I had told him, so I paid the correct price and walked away, though I counted them twice more before leaving that mall, to make really sure.
Then I also went to Kaufland, put the eggs in a cabinet, washed my hands, found nothing I’d want left in the bakery area, and also thought that the specific kind I wanted of a chocolate that was on sale was out, though entire boxes of all the other kinds were still there. It looked like people had really been digging, however, and at least one probably wanted to hide one of those I wanted, since I found it in the second area where those chocolates were placed, neatly placed almost in the middle of an otherwise full box of another kind, which was underneath another one. But I found it anyway, and took it. Then I checked the fruits and vegetables, getting some that were on evening discounts and some that just had regular discounts. Had to really dig through the deeply discounted but mostly really bad bananas to find some that still seemed usable, then heard an employee tell another that those left were a total loss. Then I also found cat litter again, so I took a bag… Unable to know that it was going to be on sale the following Monday and Tuesday. However, I should have known that the cans of sardines had been on sale that Monday and Tuesday, and I had been in Kaufland then as well, but I had completely missed that fact, ending up meaning to get some that evening and obviously giving up when I saw that they were no longer discounted. Then, with closing time approaching, I rushed to grab one more thing for myself and some bread for dad and just made it to the self-checkout area when it was announced that the store had closed. And then I had to wait for a few minutes before being able to start using a machine, and after I placed the lemons on the scales it told me to scan the item first, though just taking them off the scales allowed me to continue, strangely, so I didn’t need to call an employee.
It was still quite late when I went to the cabinet and arranged some of the purchases in the backpack and bags… And almost forgot the eggs, fortunately realizing it before walking out and rushing back to grab them. Then I took a little more time to finish arranging my purchases outside and was walking away at 10:15 PM, getting back a little after 11:05 PM, having carried about 17.5 kg. Then I put most of the purchases away, had a banana and another slice of that chec, with added jam, went to shower around, if not after, 12:30 AM, and got out at 1:10 AM. I still had things to do, however, and also lettuce to deal with, so I started eating dinner at 3:05 AM, but again managed to finish at 3:40 AM.

I was exhausted and my ankles and even toes hurt, and my feet were also burning again, but the forecast for this week looked too bad and I had to cover a half marathon distance, so the following day I decided that I had to do that the next day, even if it was Saturday. As a result, I spent the evening of March 4 in the kitchen, in order to eat earlier, having what ended up being a huge combined lunch and dinner, consisting of what’d have otherwise easily been two servings of the pasta dad had brought and what’d be a dinner before an important run, including the peanut butter I had left and had been saving for such an occasion.

The original plan for this post also included writing about that March 5 run, when I covered a half marathon distance, but this is how far I got before going to bed Monday morning, and what I managed to post before midnight actually stopped after walking away from that event in support of Ukraine, and since I didn’t add anything else on Monday, or even in the early hours of Tuesday, I decided to not cheat even more and leave it like this, with March 5 to be covered in another post.