Cav's Place

Since I still have some personal “slots” available and I’m still a month behind with the runs, I decided to make this week’s second post about two more, the first being the one that marks the practical start of my preparations for this year’s marathon. But after pushing myself to finish the previous post today, I really couldn’t write more than what’s more or less another placeholder at first, scheduling it to be posted at 11:59 PM. And at least that’s probably the most relevant part, covering that first run, though I added one more sentence right at the end of that part in the early hours of Thursday, when I edited the post in order to also add the part about the rest of July 19 and the paragraph that follows it. As for the part about July 22, I finished writing it Friday afternoon, but only edited the post again in order to add it Saturday morning, before going to bed, when I got on-line.

In the early hours of July 19, I once again ended up being too slow in the kitchen, and when it was clear that I won’t be able to start eating before 3 AM anyway, I decided to also move the peanut butter from the jar that I was going to open that night, which had a pretty soft plastic lid, into two smaller ones with proper lids, ending up eating dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:10 AM, with peanut butter on all of the bread, though I did try to get most of what was left on the inside of that jar while I was still in the kitchen. And I got in bed at 5:25 AM. But at least I slept well, only getting up when it was close to 1 PM and going to pee, and while dad got up soon after that and I didn’t sleep that well anymore, I still caught some naps, both before and after he left, only getting out of bed when it was just past 4 PM. And I still had plenty of time, wanting to leave after 7 PM, so I even washed two pots before having the usual stuff, and the sweet thing consisted of two nicer but expired biscuits, with added honey. And the storm that was supposed to come around 6 PM did come, actually a little earlier, so the plan worked just fine, seeing as I could leave after it, when it was so much cooler. So, after also drinking most of the tea, which resulted in being drenched in sweat even before stepping out, I left at 7:25 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband, with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was about 25°C, though the weather stations outside the city reported as little as 22°C, but I couldn’t check what it was when I finished, though I’m thinking that it probably increased while I ran, seeing as it had dropped by some 10°C because of that storm and the last few drops fell after I left.
The time was 1:20:39, with sector times of 4:36, 5:19, 6:05, 4:37, 5:18, 6:07, 4:43, 5:14, 6:09, 4:46, 5:21, 6:14, 4:42, 5:21 and 6:07, making for lap times of 16:00, 16:02, 16:06, 16:21 and 16:10. After a long walk in bad heat two days earlier, which included carrying a fair amount of weight on the way back, I was definitely tired and thinking that staying under 1:20 was just a dream, and anything better than that definitely impossible, and at first my target times added up to something much worse, so it was quite surprising to see that I ended up two seconds less slow than the previous time I had covered this distance. But that was under quite special circumstances, at a time when I was obviously even more exhausted, so this remains a bad time, even if it was minutes better than I thought it was going to be during the first part of the run.
I mean, when even the first sector went over the target for a 16-minute lap, albeit by just one second, I wondered whether I’ll even manage to stay under 16 minutes on one lap, and despite pushing more on sector three I failed even that, albeit by the slimmest margin, as I recall the exact time for lap one being 16:00.10, and I had gone a little wide at the end, to avoid another person. And I was sure that it was going to get much worse after that, so I was worried that a realistic target was 1:23, though after two sectors of lap two I wondered whether I might just manage to squeeze under 16 minutes on that lap, once again pushing more on sector three, but once again failing. Still, it was enough to make me aim to stay under 1:22, though sector one of lap three was concerning, so I once again pushed more after that, managing the one sector two that was just under the target for a 16-minute lap and a lap that made me wonder about squeezing under 1:21. It seemed unlikely, but my chance was to not go over 16:21 on lap four, to afford 16:30 on lap five, and that was exactly what I managed, so I thought that I was at the very limit and just gave everything from the start of lap five, pushing with whatever I had left and being worried that I’ll miss out just by the time that I ended up losing on that lap. And since it was too dark to properly see the time before the last sector and I didn’t want to stop again for that, I didn’t know what I needed and what my chances were, so I just kept pushing to the end and hoping that it’ll be enough.
As I already mentioned, I was tired when I started and expected things to only get worse, and I was also thinking that the temperature was going to increase, but I wouldn’t say that I really noticed that, and I didn’t exactly feel that much more tired either, the only notable physical issues being some warnings from my right leg, possibly more from the ankle than from the knee, starting towards the end of sector two of lap three but not getting worse and possibly even fading as I continued, and maybe a certain pressing need that appeared later, maybe on sector two of lap four, though I’m not certain, and it wasn’t a problem anyway. On the other hand, there were quite a number of damaged spots on the lane, including some that created a risk of tripping, and several tiny patches which had just been repaired, but a single fence was still in place, on sector one, next to the boat dock, while on sector three, at the ship’s dock, there was a spot with bands on it, the other fences and bands having been moved aside, but I wasn’t sure whether they hadn’t been moved by the storm or by random people, so at first I tried to avoid all of those places, though later on I stopped caring. But there were plenty of other places that I was doing my best to avoid, and in fact entire areas where I wanted to pretty much avoid the line altogether, since it was wet. And on sector three of lap one I stepped into a hole that was under the lane, with my right heel, and while it was only jarring, it did make me be more careful after that. And I’d say that the lane caused me to lose some time on sector three of lap four and sector one of lap five, since I couldn’t avoid all the spots that I wanted to avoid, so I stepped carefully in some areas.
Otherwise, it was cooler, but so humid that I basically couldn’t sweat, had no way to cool down, and at the start of sector three those new fountains from the lake created a mist that even made me think of drowning. And the fading light made me slow to a walk for a couple of seconds at the start of sector two of lap three, in order to have a better look at the stopwatch, but then I tried to focus my eyes better and only had to slow down again at the start of sectors one and two of lap five. As for the people, I actually feared that there would be more of them, since it was cooler, but at first there weren’t that many, maybe because it was soon after the storm, and while the number increased later, it wasn’t quite that bad, so the lane likely caused me to weave and go the long way around more than the people, who caused relatively few notable issues. One was on sector three of lap three, just after that spot where there were bands on a repaired patch of the lane, and I was obviously off the lane, a guy was coming from the opposite direction, and I meant to go between the umbrella and the stall that are there, but as I reached that spot I realized that I wasn’t going to fit, and that guy was just reaching that umbrella at the same time, so I sort of jumped to his other side, probably stopping for just an instant as I did so. Another issue was on sector one of lap five, when a domino effect that I believe was started by two people doing the silly dance led to another stepping towards the lane and the runner who came from the opposite direction having to suddenly move to the inside, so I had to step on the grass, cutting the turn a little in the process but clearly slowing. And probably the most notable issue caused by people was on sector two of lap five, where a clear roadblock caused me to briefly stop.
Well, there was something on sector two of lap two as well, but despite sitting down just after the end of the run and jotting down some notes, I couldn’t remember what had happened then, though I seem to recall another moment when I had to step on the grass and I’m quite sure that it didn’t take place later, so that was most likely it. Then again, there might have been something else on sector three of lap four as well, but I can’t understand what I scribbled on that slip of paper, after the note about the lane, and by the time I got back I couldn’t remember it either. I might have meant that I had to quickly avoid someone again, and possibly that it was something similar to something that happened on sector one of lap five, but that’s little more than a guess.

After the run, before even walking out of the park, I stopped on a bench to write down the times and some quick notes about the problems, finding that I had already forgotten what had happened on sector two of lap two, and in fact I wasn’t even absolutely certain that the problem that I knew was missing had been on that sector, so I kept the slip of paper and the pencil in my hand as I walked away and eventually stopped on another bench to make a few corrections, but I still didn’t know what to replace that question mark with.
Either way, I then went to Carrefour, grabbing two recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way and putting them in the recycling machine, where I found quite a lot of those with the small bar codes, plus a few others that also weren’t accepted, so after putting mine in, I grabbed some, but another guy had started doing the same by then and he rushed to grab more than I did, and I let him, seeing as I didn’t have large bags with me anyway. Then I bought a few things, and at the checkout, since there’s still no self-checkout that accepts cash in that location anymore, the cashier pulled on the packaging of one of the bags of bagels, since it was partially covered, so I told her to try to avoid tearing it and she said that she was trying, but they had placed that bar code badly, which was definitely true, and it’s one of their store brands…
After I also used the voucher received for the recyclables, the cashier glanced at the bag where I had those bottles and realized that I just had empty bottles there, saying so out loud, at which point I told her that they weren’t accepted by the machine and she said that she knew about one other brand of water, which in fact has the bar code printed in the same way, but those should be accepted, at least if I rotate them a little after starting to slide them in, and I have since then learned that she was right, but at the time I hadn’t yet managed it and was convinced that those bottles had to be taken elsewhere, so I just walked away and arranged the purchases. And Kaufland’s recycling machine, since I went there next, had no problems with any of those bottles, though it refused one that I picked up from that area, so I put it back, since it seemed somewhat unusual and I thought that it might not be accepted anywhere, plus that I knew that I was going to have problems carrying everything back.
After putting the purchases in a cabinet and washing my hands, I entered the store a few minutes before 10:30 PM, noticing great evening discounts for various vegetables but rushing straight to the bakery area and grabbing two buns, then taking the label for one of them and scanning it, since there was no discount label, but I confirmed that it was also discounted. And then someone else asked what a certain bread was and the employee said that it contained walnuts and it was there for the first time, so I said that I had bought some before, but when the employee repeated that it was there for the first time I said that it might have been from another location, yet it had actually been from the same one, on July 8, and I had even asked that same employee what it was that evening. Either way, since that other customer didn’t take any and the discount was of 70%, though the usual 50% discount seemed to apply to everything else, I took both that were left, after scanning that label to confirm that higher discount. Then, after also taking a pack of deeply discounted tomatoes, since most were just fine, I rushed to get as many things as I could from the vegetables that were discounted by 90%, choosing to believe the labels that stated that they were from Romania. I’d have taken more, at the very least some more onions, but the store was closing, so even though the other customer who was in that area stayed there and there actually was no closing announcement, when closing time came I rushed to the self-checkouts, grabbing an expiring box of those caramelized walnuts on the way, even if the discount was just under 50%. Then I also used the voucher received for the recyclables, retrieved what I had in the cabinet and took my time arranging the purchases, both on the cabinets and in the spot that’s supposedly for that purpose, walking out just before 11:15 PM. And the closing announcement actually came at 11:08 PM, the employee having probably forgotten.
After picking up another bottle with the deposit symbol just after walking out of Kaufland, I struggled to carry everything in the flimsy and rather small bags which I had taken with me, getting back a little after 11:50 PM. Then I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, basically just spread out the purchases, only putting a couple of things in their place, ate watermelon, the caramelized walnuts and boiled corn, also spending some time on the computer while eating those walnuts, and it was past 1:05 AM when I went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash. I was done just after 2 AM, but putting all of the purchases in their place and arranging them in order to fit took quite a while, and I also used the two tomatoes from that pack that were getting moldy and a pepper which had obviously had a worm in it for a long time for the salad, so getting what was still usable from those and cleaning them thoroughly took even more time, and I also moved and mixed something, licking what was left on the cup that I emptied while I was still in the kitchen but otherwise eating a combined lunch and dinner between 4:40 AM and 5:25 AM. And, after dad also got back and I talked to him a little as well, I got in bed at 6:20 AM.

Well, by 9:15 AM I was awake again, maybe because of my dermatitis, since I woke up scratching the left side of my balls, so I went to pee and clean that spot a little more, but I still couldn’t get back to sleep, so instead of wasting even more time in bed, at 9:40 AM I got on computer, only finally getting back in bed at 11:15 AM, after peeing one more time, just in case. And at least I did get some more sleep before getting up for good, several minutes after 2:30 PM. And that night, after dealing with the radish leaves, I started eating dinner at 3:20 AM, but still managed to finish at 3:40 AM, though I then got in bed at 5:20 AM. And there were no visits on July 20, nor on July 21 for that matter.

In the early hours of July 22, after peeling and boiling carrots for a salad that turned out too big as a result, rearranging some things in the fridge, also dealing with one of the breads bought after the previous run, since I had kept them in the fridge and one was still there even after that, having no room in the freezer, and also deciding to take another piece of the bread which I had made four months earlier out of the freezer and use it, which meant spending quite a lot of time slicing it, considering that awfully hard crust, I ended up eating dinner between 3:40 AM and 4:20 AM, though the last several minutes were spent getting what was stuck on the plate. And my dermatitis acted up after I went to bed, the itching between my legs being too bad to be able to sleep, so for the first few hours I was only getting brief and agitated naps, though things eventually settled down and I could get some better sleep before the alarm rang, at 2:30 PM, and I got up. Then I had the usual stuff, with two more of those nicer but expired biscuits, with added honey, as the sweet thing, drank most of the tea, and left at 5:20 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband. The reported temperature was 32°C, and while the various sources averaged about 30°C when I finished, there were differences of quite a few degrees, and the temperature, the effective one in particular, quite certainly varied a fair bit while I ran.
The sector times were 4:29.92, 5:10 (5:09.13), 6:08.00, 4:33.37, 5:07.03, 6:01.47, 4:34 (4:33.88), 5:12 (5:11.69), 5:57.49 and almost certainly 1:51, making for lap times of 15:47.05, 15:41.87 and 15:43.06 and a total time that was almost certainly 49:02. The problem is that I didn’t really know whether I pressed the button right when I crossed what I consider to be the finish line, probably because I had pushed so hard and was quite out of it by then, so I ended up trying to press it a few more times, definitely restarting the timer and stopping it again at least once more, so the 49:03.74 that was listed the last time I pressed the button is irrelevant and I definitely saw 49:02 when I looked at the stopwatch, after crossing what I consider to be the finish line, but I don’t know whether that was before pressing the button the first time or after I had accidentally restarted the timer, so it’s not impossible for the total time to have actually been 49:01, with 1:50 for the last sector. It seems unlikely, but I’ll leave those times listed with a question mark, because I don’t really know. Either way, it means that I was frustratingly close to squeezing under 49 minutes, and those couple of seconds would have made the time seem a fair bit less bad. But it’d have still been a bad time even so, and this way it’s even worse.
Then again, I didn’t exactly expect anything else either, initially thinking that I was just going to stay under 50 minutes, even beating that 49:22 from two weeks earlier seeming unlikely. So I was thinking that staying under 4:30 on the first sector would be an acceptable start, but I was struggling from the beginning and when I saw that I had just squeezed under that target by mere hundredths, I was worried that I’ll only stay under 16 minutes on the first lap, and that time on its third sector was truly concerning. But I knew that I had to stay under 16 minutes on lap two as well if I wanted to stay under 50 minutes at the end, so I tried to push more from the start of it, and after being relatively content with the first sector and quite pleased with the second, I wondered whether that lap could end up being less slow than the first, so I pushed even more on sector three and managed that, which led to only needing to avoid going over 16 minutes on lap three in order to be certain to stay under 49:30. I wasn’t sure whether I could still manage it, but I just gave everything from the start of the lap, not caring about what I’ll have left by the end, and after the first two sectors it seemed that I was going to beat that 49:22 after all, the target becoming to stay under 49:15… And the thought of squeezing under 49 minutes also entered my mind at that point, but it seemed far too late for such a target, yet I wondered whether I could at least cover one sector three in less than six minutes, once again digging even deeper and actually managing it, which led to a time after three laps that might have given me a chance to stay under 49 minutes if I still had any reserves… But I didn’t, failing by a couple of seconds despite pushing all the way to the end.
It was quite cloudy when I started, which helped, and on sector two of lap two and the early part of sector three of lap two it got cloudier, pretty much overcast, but the wind also picked up. However, after some serious gusts at the start of sector three of lap two, the wind died down, the clouds started clearing and by the end of the lap it was pretty much sunny, staying that way over the course of sector one of lap three before getting quite cloudy again on sector two of lap three, then being sunny again on sector three of lap three and the final sector, which is why I said that the effective temperature must have varied a fair bit. Otherwise, the people didn’t cause any notable problems, though I obviously still had to occasionally weave and go the long way around, but the lane was a mess, with so many damaged spots, including quite a few that created a risk of tripping, and the long straight of sector two was the worst, and I again stepped in a hole that was under the lane, on sector three, I believe on lap three, though there is a chance that it was on lap two. And a pressing need appeared on sector three of lap one, but then it went away, and the right knee started giving warnings on sector one of lap two, but they gradually died down as time passed, the more important physical problem being that I was just too tired from the beginning and couldn’t push any harder.

After getting back, I ate watermelon and lunch, changed and left again a little after 8:20 PM, with a lot of recyclables with the deposit symbol, all of them dad’s, though I picked up two more on the way to Carrefour, then actually managed to get the recycling machine to accept all of them, including those with the small bar code, splitting them and receiving two vouchers. Then I bought what I wanted, using the voucher with the smaller value and cashing in the other, once again needing to use a regular checkout and once again having the cashier, who was a different one, pull on the packaging of those bagels, since I had bought some more of them, so I also told her to try to not tear it. And when I stepped away I saw a small pink bag hanging from a cart, probably belonging to the little girl from the family who had been ahead of me, and as I hovered around it another woman came to ask whether someone had forgotten it, and after I said that it seemed like it she took the cart, along with the bag, to a guard.
Then I continued to Penny, entering with the purchases when it was close to 9:25 PM and finding something to get, after which I continued to that Kaufland, wondering whether it’d still be open after all, since the site still listed that location as closing at 10 PM. But the closing time listed at the entrance was 10:30 PM, so I was relieved to still have time, put my things in a cabinet, peed and washed my hands, dashing to the toilets for disabled people for soap, and entered the store at or just after 9:55 PM… Only to find no evening discounts for fruits and vegetables and a bakery area that was almost empty, and what little was left wasn’t interesting. But I was looking for cornmeal, which was discounted by 30% those days, and in case of their store brand the discount increased to 40%, since there’s that 10% discount that stacks with anything else if you use the store card, and I was surprised to see that the base price for the better kind had dropped as well, so I just took an entire pack of ten, plus a pack of tomatoes that was deeply discounted even though just one tomato was starting to get moldy, and some expiring walnuts with pepper, which seemed to have that discount applied to a price that was already discounted. Then I struggled to arrange everything, putting the cornmeal in the large backpack, and walked out just after 10:25 PM.
That large backpack meant that I could also get water for dad, and I had seen on-line that it was listed as being back in stock at that Auchan, which still closed at 11 PM at the time, though when I got there I saw signs announcing that starting from August 1 the closing time was going to change to 10 PM. Either way, I entered, with everything, when it was close to 10:40 PM… And going there proved to be a complete waste of time, since I still couldn’t find that water, only the plain one of their store brand seeming available, with the large price label for the carbonated one that dad wants being placed on those packs of plain water as well. So, after having a good look through that entire area, I walked out as closing time approached, telling the guard who stood in front of me when I got to the gate that I’ll show her what I have if I’ll be allowed to walk out, so she told the other employee to open the gate, which she did, and I showed her the tomatoes from one bag, pointing out Kaufland’s discount label, then said that the other products were also store brands, at first saying that they were from Carrefour and gesturing to the corn puffs and the bagels that were on top of the other things, and she seemed satisfied, saying that I shouldn’t pull things out and that it was fine, waving me away. And, on top of the time wasted there and also in that Mega Image from there that closes at midnight, where I put the bags in a cabinet and had a quick look before retrieving them, I had to walk all the way back in the rain, which had started while I was in Auchan.
I got back when it was almost 11:40 PM, with just over 14 kg, but after cleaning the litter box I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. And I saw that dad had placed his shoes over my running shoes… Either way, I then hung the bags to dry, ate the last piece of boiled corn and something sweet and drank one of the shakes taken after the Dream Trek, did the day’s squats, and put the purchases in their place, with the cornmeal in the cabinet from the balcony. However, one of the bags of cornmeal had gotten a little wet, and those are paper bags, and when I realized that I had initially placed the pack with that side pressed against the side of the cabinet I pulled it back out, to turn it around and give that side a chance to dry, which led to that wet area tearing, so I asked dad to bring me some sticky tape while I pressed that spot with my hand, but he initially brought some thin one that I had no use for and rushed to also turn on the light, though I had told him before, when I was putting that pack in there, that I didn’t need it, and while doing so he hit his toe badly, so I meant to turn the pack so the torn side will be on top and go to grab the sticky tape that I had actually asked for, but dad insisted on limping back to the kitchen to bring it, so I could then fix that bag and turn the pack around. Then I went to shower at 1:10 AM, being done a little after 1:40 AM, after which I washed and cleaned a little in the kitchen, also dealt with my remaining bread bought after the previous run, eating a part of it at dinner, and sliced a small bread for dad as well, eating dinner between 4 AM and 4:40 AM, though the last several minutes were once again spent just getting what was stuck on the plate. I got in bed at 6:10 AM.