Cav's Place

On May 18, I got in bed at 5:20 AM and the alarm was set to ring at 2 PM, but when I woke up because I heard dad leaving I jumped, thinking that the alarm somehow didn’t ring, since he had said that he was going to leave after 3 PM. It was only 1:20 PM, however, so I went to pee and initially got back in bed, but I pretty much decided right away to get up, though I took it easy, coming out of my room again at 1:40 PM. Then I had the usual stuff, 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 22-23°C, supposed to hold steady, though I didn’t check after coming back.
The time was 1:17:46, with sector times of 4:27, 5:10, 5:58, 4:29, 5:09, 5:56, 4:31, 5:07, 5:59, 4:31, 5:10, 5:56, 4:24, 5:07 and 5:52, making for lap times of 15:35, 15:34, 15:37, 15:37 and 15:23. I didn’t want the first run after the half marathon to also be disappointing and knew that I won’t manage a good enough time on ten kilometers, so I went for 16, just hoping to at least stay under 1:20. And, with a first lap that was barely on the pace for 1:18, it seemed clear that I was going to struggle. But sector one of lap two being only two seconds slower than sector one of lap one caught my attention, and when I even recovered one of those seconds on sector two I aimed to stay on that pace, actually ending up with a sector three that was two seconds faster and a lap that was one second faster than the first. And the two seconds lost on sector one of lap three compared to lap two were recovered on sector two, so I again aimed to stay on that pace. I failed to do so by one second, but it was good enough. I still thought that I’ll lose much more on lap four, but I tried to push and when I saw the same sector one time as on the previous lap I finally started to actually think that staying under 1:18 was possible. And, with three seconds lost on sector two but recovered on sector three, the lap time was the same, meaning that I needed to be right on pace, so one second faster, on lap five. So I really pushed, pretty much from the start, and it showed. It meant pushing hard for what’d be a normal time, and exactly the same as three weeks earlier, but I’ll take it. And all times were extraordinarily steady on the first four laps, and then I had enough left to be faster on the fifth. The fact that I’d have stayed under 1:45 if I’d have continued to a half marathon distance did cross my mind, but I didn’t do so.
There were some people, but they caused few notable issues. I did have to squeeze through and maybe slow a couple of times, but probably the only moments really worth mentioning were both on sector two of lap four. The first was when a delivery guy on a bicycle was alongside me and two older women walked across the path, with their eyes on their phones, and I didn’t really have anywhere to go until the cyclist found the space to move away from me and go around them, so I could also pass between the women. And then, in that paved area where I watch where I step, a guy who was on a bench got a call and just jumped and dashed to that bar right when I reached him, so I had to stop in order to avoid running into him. Otherwise, it drizzled on sectors two and three of lap three and parts of the lane were soggy anyway, and some repairs had also been done, three tiny spots being fenced off and a few others looking like they had just poured the “sandy” part of the compound, albeit already painted red, so I avoided what I could. But someone else stepped in such a spot, and the footprint and skid mark that appeared between one lap and the next proved that I was right to avoid those spots. And it was also windy. Less so on sector two, maybe just a little at the start of it, except on lap three, when that dark cloud brought wind while I was on that sector as well, but there were always windy places on sectors one and three, the worst moment being towards the end of what I think was lap one, when I really had to fight the wind. It might have been lap two, but I think it was lap one. Either way, a few bugs got right in my eyes, but otherwise I didn’t really notice actual physical problems. A faint pressing need might have appeared at some point, but it passed, and I actually seemed to feel less tired as I kept running.

I jogged back, had lunch, changed and left again just before 7:40 PM, with a bag of trash, which I dropped down the chute, and the little plastic and metal which had gathered. And since I didn’t use a route that’d have taken me to any of the recycling bins that I normally use, when I spotted one I made a small detour and dropped off those things… Only for that small detour to turn into a somewhat longer one when I tried to continue in that direction and found that there was no way through, so I ended up going around, in two places. And I was rushing, hoping to still find some of that cheap bread for dad in Auchan. Either way, I picked up another one of those bottles going towards that voucher from Penny on the way, and had a quick look in another store, just from the door.
I washed my hands when I reached Auchan, but found no more of that bread, so I just got two of another kind for dad. However, I found that some small chocolate bars that he was telling me to look for were on sale, so I got a large number, taking a while to select and calculate… Only for him to only eat one of them so far, while buying himself quite a few other things since then, and in fact many of those that I bought then are still in my room. Either way, I also got two bottles of water for him, then took a while to squeeze everything into the backpack, seeing 9:15 PM when I was done, so there was no more time to also go to Penny, meaning that there was little point in going in that direction and I therefore went to the other Kaufland.
After putting my things in a cabinet and washing my hands again, I went in at 9:30 PM and saw people gathering at the bakery area. The discounts that were listed at the time were of 50%, but discounts of 75% were soon announced, so it was probably a bad thing that I grabbed a pretzel for my mother right away, but it was the last one. Either way, after the announcement I also grabbed the last two pieces of a certain sweet pastry, also for her, and three things for myself. I wanted to scan some labels, but the employee came and she was asking whether we’re edgy about buying before knowing the prices, saying that everything except bread and doughnuts was discounted by 75%, just leaving the sheets of paper with the new prices there and saying that the prices are awfully low, so there’s no reason to not get everything… As if people can’t be careful with their money even when the prices are reduced. But that made me feel that it’d be too awkward to scan the labels, so I didn’t even scan the one for that pretzel, even if I only saw one kind of pretzels listed on those sheets of paper, and it wasn’t that one. And, after grabbing a few other things, at the self-checkout I saw that the discount for that pretzel was still only 50%, making me wonder if that was because I had grabbed it before the announcement. But I bought it anyway, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged.
I also went to that Mega Image that closes at 11 PM, putting the bags in a cabinet, entering with the backpack, and getting myself a bread that had the evening discount. There were three left and I’d have considered getting more, but I finally found it on those papers with information about bakery products that evening and saw that it’s from Bulgaria, so I just bought that one, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet, added the bread in the bag that hangs from my neck and arranged what I had in it again. Then I considered entering the Mega Image that’s next to Tei as well, but after just having a look from that entrance area, I turned around.
I got back a few minutes after 11 PM, put some of the purchases in their place, ate the expired caramelized walnuts that I still had while spending some time at the computer, and it was almost 12:45 AM when I went to take a bath and just after 1:30 AM when I got back in the kitchen. And I had quite a lot to do, greasy things to wash, the remaining purchases to put in their place, some things to rearrange and my bread to deal with, and I also fed Liza some pieces of a snack, so she’ll actually eat them, so it was 2:50 AM when I even started working on the salad, and then I microwaved the slices of bread, with what I put on them, in three batches. As I was preparing another batch, I heard a clink, as if some plates had fallen or cracked, but there were none in the microwave at that moment, nothing seemed to have fallen anywhere, and I also checked Liza and it didn’t seem like she could have knocked anything over, so I still have no idea what that was. Either way, I ate dinner between 4 AM and 4:45 AM and got in bed at 5:20 AM. And I’ll also add here that the following night I took it too easy and also moved and mixed something, so I started eating dinner at 3:15 AM, though I had licked something in the kitchen by then. I actually managed to finish a couple of minutes before 3:40 AM, however… Only to then once again get in bed at 5:20 AM.

The original plan for this post was to cover the remaining three runs from May, but I just managed to write about this first one before midnight, so I posted it as it is, with no plans to add more. It’s a complete waste of a personal “slot”, but I’m too exhausted for anything else, and with the odds and ends from the first two thirds of May already covered in other posts, at least it means that I can skip to May 22 whenever I’ll somehow manage to cover the last third of March and then April. And I didn’t even mean to include this explanation at first, but I forgot to reschedule that post that’s set to be published at 11:59 PM on Sunday, in case something happens, so it was only at 3:50 AM when I noticed that it was there, at which point I wanted to at least mention the fact that it only showed up because I forgot to reschedule it and not because what it says may actually be true, and I took the opportunity to add this paragraph and explain this post as well.