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Two Runs in One Week in Order to Get Back on Schedule

I guess I’ll first mention that on the evening of August 14 I was concerned because I again had a weird feeling in my chest and it was starting to make me feel like I had to cough. Then, in the first moments of August 15, when I got back out of my room to let dad know that I had disconnected after posting what I had written until then of the post about July’s runs, he talked over me right away, angrily asking why was the litter box stinking of pee again and if I was again “experimenting” with spreading it, just continuing to talk over me when I tried to say something, insisting that I can’t do that, that you must gather the pee and add new sand, or more exactly bentonite, to not have Liza use a wet litter box like I had done with Micky and so on. And he had gathered the pee and spilled bentonite on the floor, just in those ten minutes or so when I was connected, couldn’t even wait and ask me after I was done… And I had just “escaped” that bathroom, after needing to use it before the negative test, so I simply hadn’t wanted to look there that day and therefore hadn’t cleaned the litter box, and he could have just nicely reminded me to do that. So, after cleaning what he had spilled, going to pee and taking some deep breaths, I reminded him that most arguments actually don’t start from what is said, but from the manner in which it’s said, and that when he attacks like that I just want to lash back and the resulting conflict is personal, the topic becoming irrelevant. Either way, I then started eating dinner at 3:05 AM and finished at 4:05 AM, after going back to the kitchen to put honey on the last slices.
Speaking of Liza and the litter box, she woke me by going there at 12:25 PM, and after going to pee then, I kept waking up, being awake for a few minutes when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, and only managing to catch a few brief naps in between. Then, with just one apple left, I had an orange instead, and started the bag of muesli, adding some of that in the yogurt, along with the almonds. The sweet thing were again some expired “digestive” biscuits, with added honey. Then I put on the full running gear and left at 4:25 PM, when the reported temperature was about 29°C, holding steady.
The time was 49:40.42, with sector times of 4:34, 5:19, 6:10, 4:41, I think 5:10, I think 6:03, 4:42, 5:10, 5:58 and 1:53.00, making for lap times of 16:03, 15:54 and 15:50. Over the course of sector three of lap two, I was sure that I had covered the previous sector in 5:10, but at the end of the lap I was also sure that I had covered sector three in 6:04, which didn’t add up, and I suddenly couldn’t recall whether I had seen 25:53 or 25:54 after sector two, so I’ll go with the first impression, assuming the 5:10 to be correct, but I’m far from certain. Either way, at first I just wanted to be less slow than the previous time, and when I saw that first sector that was even slower than then despite not holding back, I feared that I’ll need to just aim to stay under 52 minutes, and also decided that there was again no point in looking at the exact times. I still hoped to stay under 16 minutes on lap one, however, and even though I failed to do so, I felt that I won’t get much slower, so from lap two I was thinking of staying under 51 minutes. I didn’t know whether it was possible, but had reasons to hope after sector two of lap two, and towards the end of the lap I even started thinking of 50:30. So I gave everything on lap three, keeping it up even when I was getting really exhausted, and after sector two I realized that I might just have a little chance of staying under 50 minutes, being surprised to already be safe at the end of the lap. And each lap being less slow than the previous one was nice, though the times themselves were anything but.
I felt warnings from my right knee and left thigh and hip even before starting to run, as I was walking down those stairs, and they continued for most of the first lap, but then lessened and eventually went away. On the other hand, while I gradually got used to the tiredness, which I also felt from the beginning, on sector two of lap two I started feeling exhausted, even a little lightheaded, and it got worse on lap three, even more so from sector two, and on sector three of lap three it was like there was not enough energy for my brain to function, it seemed that I was losing track. I wasn’t quite blacking out, however, and it didn’t feel dangerous, my body seeming to know how to handle it. Otherwise, I felt the heat when I wasn’t in the shade, but after feeling like it was burning on the way to the park, it actually ended up being less of a problem than I feared. The fact that it was occasionally windy, mainly on sector three, might have helped with that, but fighting against the wind was quite a problem on the early part of sector three of lap one. And another problem was that, after the rain from the previous evening and night, the lane was wet in plenty of places, feeling like a wet sponge, so I was avoiding some areas and trying to deal with others. As for people, there were plenty of them, but also less than I feared, considering that it was a free day, so I had to weave and go the long way around a lot, but I wouldn’t say that there were notable problems, even the roadblocks that I had to squeeze through, on sector two of lap two and sectors one and two of lap three, having openings just in the right place and therefore probably not costing me noticeably more time. And a guy who was in front of me at the end of lap three probably helped, since I pushed to catch him, doing so just before the end of the lap.
After getting back, I had watermelon, changed and went out again at 7:25 PM, going to Carrefour Unirii. It started to rain minutes later, but I had taken the jacket, so I put it on, only taking it off again when I got there, though the rain had stopped earlier. I was mainly looking for eggs, and while just a few of those sold by piece were left and I couldn’t find any that I wanted to get among them, there were some in the expiring products area, so I got a carton of ten from there, plus a bag of bagels… And, as I was wandering around, saw a guy that I knew from protests, but pretended not to and quickly walked away when I recognized him. Then I used the voucher I had, after getting that chocolate for dad, and of course the receipt was again taken away.
There was no more rain on the way back, and I was here at 9:45 PM, after stopping at this nearby shop and getting another cabbage, since it still had that price and I managed to find one that still looked good. Then I washed some of what dad had left and put the purchases in their place, and after he left I went to the bathroom, just finishing a newspaper while sitting on the toilet, nothing coming out even though I kept feeling a certain pressing need. Then, after showering, I made mamaliga, having a sweet pastry bought two days earlier, with added honey, before the water started boiling. I finally got in bed at 5:20 AM.

In the early hours of August 19, I made too much salad, started eating dinner at 3:20 AM and finished at 4:15 AM. That was after getting to the kitchen at 1:35 AM, after spending a good 45 minutes trying to unclog the toilet, though that time included washing and disinfecting my hands and face after giving up. It had gotten clogged again after I used it and while the water was draining quite quickly over the course of the day, everything else remained there, and then it got clogged completely, not even the water draining away anymore, after dad tried to work on it a little before leaving for work. So I made a first attempt after he left and then put more effort into it at night, also finding and trying to use the snake that he mentioned we had, but I didn’t have any success either.
Either way, the plan for August 19 was to run in the evening, so I didn’t set an alarm, and when I woke up a little before 2:10 PM I just went to pee and then got back in bed. But I’m not even sure that I got another very brief nap before starting to think that I had to use the small toilet again, and about how bloated I felt, and that I had to gather the sheets and blanket and my few clothes from the balcony because dad clearly won’t take care to avoid touching them if he’ll need to go there while working on the toilet, which he said he was going to do in the evening. So I got up just after 3 PM, gathered those things from the balcony, and had the usual stuff plus almonds, with the sweet thing being the last of those expired “digestive” biscuits, with added honey. I also drank most of the tea and left a little before 6:50 PM, wearing the full running gear, with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 32-33°C, supposed to drop by a few degrees by the time I’ll finish.
I was particularly depressed at that point, however, because I had allowed myself to get a little excited that I’d have a new and apparently interesting person to talk to, on OKCupid, only for her to block me in response to the message I sent while eating that day. Sure, I send very few messages, but she was the first one to reply in a long time, so I made the mistake of allowing myself to hope that I’ll at least have an interesting conversation partner, and preferably a new friend. But after she mentioned a guy who had sent her repeated messages that got increasingly violent over the span of about two hours and said that some people don’t know how bad they are and are self sabotaging, at the end of my reply I said that I had to ask whether that last part was also a hint, and she replied to say that it wasn’t but that it’s worrying that I asked, since it makes it seem that I think that everything’s about me or try to find fault and that’s toxic, so she’ll save me time and block me because that seems to be what I want. And things seemed to have started well, and I was eating and getting ready for the run when I saw that I had another reply, quite excitedly clicked it… And saw that, in the e-mail, since I could no longer see the conversation or her profile on OKCupid.
Either way, the time was 1:20:57, with sector times of 4:28, 5:16, 6:07, 4:37, 5:11, 6:06, 4:42, 5:21, 6:11, 4:45, 5:23, 6:19, 4:51, 5:25 and 6:15, making for lap times of 15:51, 15:54, 16:14, 16:27 and 16:31. I started by thinking that if I’ll stay under 1:20 it’ll mean that I’m recovering, albeit gradually, while going over 1:22 would be a serious cause for alarm, and the first lap made it quite clear that staying under 1:20 was out of the question, but the second made me think that staying under 1:21 was possible, if the average for the first three laps will be under 16 minutes. And I managed that, but just barely and after pushing on lap three, so I knew that it was going to be hard, and that remained the case after lap four, again pushing on sector three in order to obtain a time that was just enough to give me a chance. But I was going to cling to that chance, so I gave it everything on lap five, saw that I still had that small chance after the first sector and just kept pushing, but after struggling and maybe slowing a little in order to see the time after that first sector, since it was getting dark, I didn’t look again after the second, so I didn’t know what time I needed on sector three. Not that it mattered, since I couldn’t have done any better. But what I did was just enough to at least stay under 1:21, as bad as that is, in itself.
It was so hot during the first two laps, the air was just stifling, even in the shade, and there was also some wind and it didn’t seem to have any cooling effect, so it was just another problem. And if the little pain I felt in my left calf when I started quickly went away, I soon felt the need to snap my back and could never quite do it, and my abdomen felt strange as well, bloated and hurting a little, though after a while it started to gradually get better. But at least the people weren’t too much of a problem over those first two laps, usually just causing me to have to weave or go the long way around.
However, if I noticed just as I started lap three that the heat had noticeably lessened, it seems that everyone else did as well, as it almost immediately became more crowded and towards the end of sector one of lap three I almost slammed into an old woman who stopped and turned right in front of me, blocking what should have been the way through what was otherwise a roadblock. And moments later, right at the start of sector two, there was a little silly dance with a cyclist in another crowded place, while at the end of that sector, under the bridge, I slowed in order to squeeze through another roadblock. Then, on sector three, I ended up stepping in a hole that’s under a wet part of the lane. Actually, there were once again plenty of wet parts that felt like a wet sponge and I was avoiding what I could, but I know to stay off the lane in that spot even when it’s dry, yet at that point the rest of the path was blocked, so it’s at least a good thing that my left heel went in that hole, so I didn’t trip and it was jarring for my left leg, not the right, where the knee tends to cause more problems, though at that point it seemed fine as well. And I think that it was also on that sector, though there may be a chance that it was actually on sector three of lap two, when the crowd gathered in front of a stall forced me to go around a bench, cutting a turn but slowing significantly. As for lap four, I was about halfway through it when I noticed that the wind died down, and I didn’t notice it again after that, but on that same sector two of lap four I did start feeling warnings from that right knee, and also from the right hip and left knee, though they were faint and didn’t get worse.
As I was pushing on lap five I realized that I wasn’t “storing” what was happening in memory anymore, and that what had happened on lap four was fading as well, so that period is quite a blur. I know that people continued to cause problems on pretty much every sector, but couldn’t remember the details, though I do recall that I had to stop for a couple of seconds on three occasions and that the first such moment was when another runner came from the opposite direction and went through the only gap in a roadblock. That was probably towards the end of that same sector two of lap four, though sector three isn’t impossible. And it definitely was on sector two, right before the long straight, and I’m pretty sure that it was also on lap four, when I had to slow a lot because a guy started moving across the lane right as I was getting to that spot. As for the other two times when I had to stop for a couple of seconds, I think that the last one was on sector three of lap five, since I was thinking that it might cost me just those few seconds that will put me above 1:21, but I’m not entirely sure and can’t recall exactly what happened, and I remember even less about the other such moment, just that it was somewhere in between the others. And I also obviously lost some time when a guy with a pram stopped and turned in front of me, to wait for the woman who was with him, after I had already committed to get past him on the inside, blocking that space and making me need to quickly avoid him, taking a couple of halting steps. That was on sector three, but I’m not sure whether it was on lap four or five.

And the plan for this post to also include the following week’s run, when I covered a half marathon distance, clearly needs to be abandoned, seeing as I only got this far before midnight and still had to edit the post in order to add the part about the rest of August 19, which I only managed to do Wednesday morning. But including that run seemed unlikely from the beginning, seeing as the post would have needed to be absolutely huge, at least unless I’d have decided to only write about the runs and leave the other sections for another time.

After the run, I put on the mask and went to that Carrefour, and when I used disinfectant from the dispenser at the store’s entrance I noticed how full of dust I was, and therefore how dusty the air had been. Either way, I wanted some chips for dad and got those, along with an expiring bread, also for him, and some yogurt and an expiring hummus for myself, plus a little garlic, since it counted as a fresh vegetable and I got a voucher for 20% of its value. Then I took some time to arrange the purchases in a bag, just leaving the garlic in the one I had taken it in, and continued to the newer Kaufland.
After taking the purchases out of the bags and putting them in a cabinet and washing my hands, I walked in just before 10 PM, went straight to the bakery area and initially grabbed the one bread of that other kind that I saw, even though a small piece of plastic, maybe from a glove, was on it. But then I saw three of those that I usually get from there, in another spot because they were also on a regular sale, and the listed price was half of the sale price, so I got all of those and put that first one back. And, while no sweet pastries that I’d care to get were left, I saw five buns that I was interested in, and while they were also on a regular sale and had no additional discount label, when a 75% discount for bakery products was announced I went to a self-checkout, checked and saw a very low price, well over 75% less than the regular sale price, so I went back and got all of them… And saw a woman taking pictures of the price labels and then checking at a price checker, so I made a mental note to try that when I’ll have my phone with me, though the one attempt I made so far seemed to indicate that its camera isn’t good enough for that. Either way, I also spotted some more of those caramelized walnuts among the expiring products, but the 30% discount was too low, so I moved on, grabbed a bag of spoiling beets, even if the actual weight was a little below the listed one, and then looked for other evening discounts, grabbing radishes, green onions, some cucumbers and the one red cabbage that seemed acceptable. White cabbage also had a good discount, but it didn’t look good and I didn’t try that hard to find an acceptable one, since I had purchased enough from this nearby shop, at a somewhat higher price but definitely good.
Since I didn’t find anything interesting among the expiring refrigerated products, I also grabbed a beer for dad from the brand that was discounted and went to the self-checkout… Only for that beer to scan at the full price. Maybe such a discount, for an entire brand, applied at the end, but I called an employee over and she said that maybe it required the store card, or maybe it was for 2 liters, not for 2.5. So I said that the label didn’t say that the discount required the card and pointed to where those beers were, since it was close to the self-checkout area… And when she didn’t give any sign of going to check, I rushed back there, grabbed the price label and brought it to her, proving that the discount was listed as being for that product and not requiring the card. Even so, after agreeing with me about the label, when she logged on, actually scanned the label itself and still saw that full price, she said that she still thought that it required the card, and I hadn’t taken it with me, so I asked her to delete that beer. Then I scanned the other products, retrieved the other purchases from the cabinet and took quite some time to figure out how to arrange everything, since I just had a few bags and most were small and flimsy. And the guard who had seemed to be watching me with some interest, or perhaps amusement, as I did so meant to block the door just after it was announced that the store would soon close, which was just when I was about to walk out, so the door started to open and then stopped, causing me to almost walk into it. At least she quickly unblocked it to let me out, but it was 10:53 PM and that location closed at 11 PM, and the announcement had, after all, stated that the store would soon close, not that it had closed.
It was hard to walk back when I had to carry everything just in my hands, I had too few bags to separate the items properly, my arms were still tired after washing the stove top two days earlier, and I just felt tired in general. And at one point I also felt something in my shoe, jabbing my right heel badly, so I had to stop and get rid of it… But I had to stop by that point anyway, and a number of times after that as well, to switch hands, which seemed to help my arms a little even though there was little difference between the bag that was a little heavier and the others that were a little more unwieldy.
I hadn’t found anything sweet, however, so I checked that Mega Image on the way back, putting my things in two cabinets, and saw that some of their biscuits were on sale and the ingredients weren’t bad. But I didn’t buy them from there, since I was certainly going to find them at this nearby location as well, so I just retrieved my things and continued on my way, glad to have been able to rest my arms a little, then once again put everything in two cabinets when I reached this location, even though you can’t lock them here, and just bought one of those packs of biscuits. Just as my turn was coming at the checkout I realized that a couple of the biscuits from that pack were crumbled, however, so I rushed back and grabbed another. And the cashier was complaining of the cold, being given a jacket by a coworker, so I commented that the air conditioning must mess them up, the guard at that other location having also complained as I was leaving, and indeed the temperature in Mega Image stores is always awfully low in summer. It feels like hitting a wall of frost when you walk in from outside when it’s hot, and you’ll be shivering if you stay inside for more than a moment.
After retrieving my things, I was at the building’s door right at midnight. I had only carried ten kilograms, but I was so tired, gasping for breath when I got back here. But I put a few of the purchases in their place, talked a little to dad, who had managed to unclog the toilet, ate that pack of biscuits, and eventually went to shower when it was already past 12:45 AM, being worried that my urine was just orange at that point, after having barely been a little orange before leaving, when the large beet that I had put in the salad made the previous night should have made it dark red. Either way, I was out of the bathroom a little after 1:10 AM, put the rest of the purchases in their place, washed what dad had left, took a pill, just in case, had two apricots and some goat milk, and it was 2:25 AM when I finally started working on the salad and 3:35 AM when I started eating a combined lunch and dinner, albeit with just a slice of pizza brought by dad counting as lunch. I finished eating an hour later and got in bed at 5:45 AM, after placing the blanket back on the bed and going to the toilet again, not managing to hold it in after deciding against going before showering.

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