Cav's Place

In the early moments of August 11, before starting to work on dinner, I washed the cast iron pot and, since it was slightly burned, made some use of the harder scrubber as well, which obviously caused a little damage to the enamel, and it wasn’t cleaned perfectly either, so it will only get worse, but I just washed it again today after some small burn marks had been left on it last night and it cleaned up well, and I have learned to use it much better and kept it in much better shape than I initially thought anyway. But, to get back to the early hours of August 11, after ending up going to the toilet before going to bed, I got in bed at 5:35 AM… And at 9:55 AM I woke up to pee and decided to stay up and watch the rest of the women’s marathon, getting back in bed at 11:30 AM, so even though I only got up several minutes after 3 PM, I still didn’t sleep enough, and that had been the case all week.

In spite of that, and of the fact that it was going to be very hot, I decided to run on August 12, but exchanging a few words with dad and arranging some things that he either intentionally left for me to sort out or accidentally knocked over led to eating dinner, which involved putting peanut butter on all of the bread, between 3:15 AM and 3:45 AM. But I was going to run in the evening, so I only set the alarm to ring at 3:30 PM, just to be on the safe side, in case I will somehow end up sleeping until then, yet after getting up to pee both a little before 11 AM and at 12:45 PM but getting back to sleep right away both times, when I woke up again and felt much more rested I was thinking that if it’ll be past 2:30 PM, I’ll get up. However, when I saw that it was 2:21 PM, I went to pee one more time and then tried to get back to sleep… Only for the other pressing need to suddenly appear, and while I tried to ignore it and ended up in that state that’s between being asleep and awake for quite a while, I couldn’t actually fall asleep again, not even after that sensation faded, so I eventually turned off the alarm a couple of minutes after 3 PM and got up. Then I had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing being two more of those nicer but expired biscuits, with added honey, drank most of the tea, and left at 6:10 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband. The reported temperature was about 35°C, and about 33°C when I finished.
The time was 1:20:20, with sector times of 4:28, 5:08, 6:01, 4:34, 5:09, 6:05, 4:32, 5:14, 6:16, 4:47, 5:23, 6:18, 4:47, 5:26 and 6:12, making for lap times of 15:37, 15:48, 16:02, 16:28 and 16:25. I started by just aiming to stay under 1:22, considering the heat, the fact that I had been sleeping poorly for a week, and that I still felt the effects of all the wandering around and carrying from three days earlier, and the first lap might have been just a little faster than expected, though going over six minutes on sector three right away was a concern. Then I wondered whether I could stay under 16 minutes on lap two as well, managing it by a safe margin, though sector three was once again a concern. And then, if after lap one I was just wondering whether I’ll keep the average for the first three laps under 16 minutes, as I covered lap three I was hoping more and more to stay under 16 minutes on it as well, fully expecting it after two sectors… Only to fail because of an even worse sector three. But by then it looked like I might squeeze under 1:21, so that became the target, and while that bad sector three of lap three was a sign of things to come and I slowed noticeably, after lap four I was pretty certain that I was going to stay under 1:21. But I wanted to make sure, so I pushed… And after sector one of lap five I started wondering about squeezing under 1:20:30, so I pushed even harder on sector two, and yet harder on sector three, managing it by a safe margin. But, of course, over 1:20 is a bad time in itself, and even under those conditions I should have at least been able to squeeze under 1:20.
While there were some people and the number increased from lap three, they didn’t cause notable problems, and in fact a guy might have helped on sector one and a part of sector two of lap three, until he ended up being too far ahead, since he was slightly faster, gradually closed in, then ran more or less alongside me, then gradually pulled ahead, likely making me push harder during that entire period. On the other hand, I felt something of a pressing need from the start of lap two, but then it went away until sector two of lap three, and while it faded again after that, it didn’t go away anymore, there were moments when it was more noticeable once again, and it became quite a problem on sector three of lap five, when I was pushing so hard, so it’s a good thing that I was close to the end. And there were warnings from my right knee from the start of lap three and they got a little worse towards the end, and on lap five there might have been a few faint ones from that ankle as well. And my hands started going numb on sector three of lap four, but while I expected my arms and legs to follow, they didn’t.
The big problem, however, was the heat, mainly on the first three laps, so while I had to pay attention to the damaged parts of the lane as well, I was looking for any bit of shade and probably picking my route mainly according to that. One notable moment took place while I ran through the sunny area from the ship’s dock, on sector two of lap two, when I felt the sweat just evaporating within seconds and barely being replaced, and there was less and less of it after that. At least that day I did feel a cooling effect generated around what for me is the starting area by the fountains from the lake, and from lap four the temperature did seem to drop and the Sun’s angle was different, leading to much more shade, which helped a lot. But, even so, on lap five I was at the very limit, getting lightheaded multiple times, beginning from the start of the lap, and on sector two it seemed like my heart gave a few warnings as well.

I kept getting lightheaded on the way back as well, but I got back here, ate some walnuts with Himalayan salt, getting almost 850 calories just from those, and a lot of watermelon, changed, and left again at 9:20 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, except those which won’t be accepted, and I picked up one more after checking the garbage room on my way out. But when I tried to use the recycling machine from Carrefour, it just accepted that last one, since it was the only glass bottle, while for the plastic bottles and the cans it was saying that it had no container. So I entered the store with all of the others and just cashed in that voucher for that one bottle.
At least the recycling machine from Kaufland worked and accepted everything that I had, plus a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol that I found around it, the last one after I had initially stepped away, so I ended up with two vouchers. Then I washed my hands and entered the store a little after 10 PM, checked the bakery area and got a bread and a pastry that had the 50% evening discount, made use of good evening discounts for a few peaches, some potatoes and quite a lot of Bianca peppers, and also took two beets. The beets just had a regular discount and a little later they were cheaper at both Carrefour and Penny, but I couldn’t have known that at the time, the regular price was much higher, and I wanted to make sure that I’ll have some before the long practice run. Either way, I also grabbed two chocolates, since a 30% discount applied to the entire product category those days and one of them also had a regular discount at the time. That obviously meant that I had to check whether the additional discount would apply, so at the one functional self-checkout that accepted cash I first scanned just that chocolate and the store card, continuing with the other products after confirming that it did apply… And realizing that I had forgotten to weigh those Bianca peppers, so I used the scales from there and therefore held up the next customer a little longer, and I was still using the machine when the closing announcement came.
Since I also wanted to check that Mega Image and it was getting late, I rushed there after just putting everything except the bread and the pastry, which were in the bag that hangs from my neck, into another bag, which I put in a cabinet when I got there, entering with the one that hangs from my neck. However, it seemed like I was already too late if I was to also look for some refrigerated expiring products, since they were cleaning the bottom shelves of the refrigerators, having removed all of the products and piled them up into carts. But they hadn’t reached the meat yet, and I found some bio (organic) chicken breast discounted by 90%, grabbing it even if it was imported from Italy. And I also took a sweet pastry that had the 50% discount… And then I had to dash back in before retrieving that bag from the cabinet, because I had left the key somewhere in the store, so I told the guard, found it, and then he let me back out though the entrance gate, after which I retrieved that bag and just added the purchases in it before walking out. And I found another recyclable with the deposit symbol close to the store, so I initially meant to just put it in the recycling machine from Kaufland, since it was still on, but it was in use and after waiting for a little while I gave up… And then I found three more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way back anyway.
I got back at 11:30 PM, though I then cleaned the litter box and dropped a bag of trash down the chute. Then I rushed to take a quick shower, though after spending some time in my room I went to rinse my head one more time, since it didn’t feel like I had done it properly the first time. Either way, I then got back in the kitchen, ate the pastry from Kaufland, with added jam, washed what was to wash, finished the tea and made another, drinking it by the time I got in bed, put the purchases in their place, ate lunch, taking occasional bites between 2:40 AM and 3:30 AM, and then I ate dinner between 4:05 AM and 4:40 AM, and got in bed at 5:50 AM. And there were once again no visits recorded that day.

As expected after making such an effort, it was hard to sleep, so I kept waking up and needing a long time to get back to sleep, and by the time I decided to get up, a little after noon, after dad left, I had gotten a total of at most four hours of sleep, possibly not even that, and I napped for maybe another hour or so in the evening. And just before getting in bed the next morning, there was a blackout, but it only lasted a little over two and a half minutes, so it wasn’t a problem. And then, on August 14, I finally did clean my room, and also changed the sheets and turned the mattress, albeit only around instead of over, since I found that it was already on the “summer” side, which surprised me, since I really don’t think that I had turned it earlier this year and I’m still quite sure that, without counting the fact that I just very quickly vacuumed a couple of spots a week earlier, the last time I actually cleaned my room was back in February, which would have been too early to turn it on that side… But maybe I hadn’t turned it at all at that point, thinking that it was too late for the “winter” side, so it’s been on this side for a long time… Either way, that night I also made mamaliga, and then got in bed at 5:20 AM, wearing the new pajamas.

Since the salad that I was going to make in the early hours of August 19 was going to be mostly made of kohlrabi leaves and a pretty bad lettuce, I knew that I should go to the kitchen earlier, and I did select and wash the kohlrabi leaves in the evening, but then I left them there and only got back in the kitchen several minutes after 1 AM, and I eventually also decided to slice dad’s last bread and rearrange some of the bread in the freezer in order to make room to just squeeze it in there as well, so at 3 AM I wasn’t even done with the salad, which made me decide to move something else as well, and I ended up eating dinner, with peanut butter on all of the bread, between 3:40 AM and 4:30 AM. And then I noticed that no visits had been recorded on August 18.
Either way, the plan was to run, but it was going to be another hot day, so I planned to go in the evening and didn’t set an alarm, getting up a few minutes before 3:30 PM and then taking my time, having the usual stuff, and the sweet thing consisting of something that dad had brought, I think made by that friend of my mother’s, with added honey. I left at 6:20 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband, returning to the new shoes, and also taking the slip of paper with the emergency information, just in case. The reported temperature was 34-35°C, and around 32°C when I finished.
The time was 46:35.01, with sector times of 4:12.51, 4:54 (4:53.50), 5:37.00, 4:15.91, 4:51 (4:50.69), 5:44 (5:43.90), 4:20.00, 5:01.00, 5:49.03 and 1:52 (1:51.47), making for lap times of 14:43.01, 14:50.50 and 15:10.03. That was an utterly amazing time, the tenth fastest over this distance, the first under 47 minutes since November, and the best one since November of 2022! It was also in November, during the run that preceded the last time I got under 47 minutes, when I last covered two laps in less than 15 minutes, while the last time I was faster over one lap than I was on this run’s first lap was the run that followed that last one that was faster overall, also in November of 2022. And, in fact, that first lap was my seventh fastest lap, tied with one from 2020 if you just look at the seconds but faster if you consider the exact time. And the last time I covered a lap in less than 15 minutes was in June. And to think that I didn’t even really dare to hope to get back under 48 minutes, considering that heat.
I did push hard from the start, however, and the first sector’s time actually seemed a couple of seconds worse than it should have been, though after sector two it seemed that I was about to cover the lap in less than 15 minutes, so I kept pushing in order to make sure of that, but I definitely didn’t expect to be that fast on sector three, or on the lap as a whole, and I kept thinking that I had exhausted myself completely and wondering whether being some 15 seconds slower on that first lap wouldn’t have resulted in a better time at the end. And when, after also being surprisingly fast on sector one of lap two, I felt completely drained, I was wondering whether I’ll somehow manage to find enough energy to just squeeze under 48 minutes, aiming for 15:30 on lap two and 15:45 on lap three… Only for sector two of lap two to be even faster than that of lap one, making me wonder whether I could squeeze under 15 minutes on that lap as well, and managing it by a clear margin. But I still expected to get much slower, just being relieved that I could afford up to 16 minutes on lap three and still get under 47:30, the best case scenario that I could think of being to somehow squeeze under 47 minutes, yet I didn’t slow nearly as much as I thought and at the end I found myself somewhat frustrated that I hadn’t also squeezed under 46:30.
I did once again notice a cooling effect from those new fountains around the starting area, but the heat was just draining, even though I guess that I was better at ignoring it that day. And there were, of course, all of the damaged spots on the lane, including some that created a risk of tripping, so I avoided what I could, and the people occasionally caused me to weave or go the long way around as well, but on the first two laps there were no notable problems, which definitely helped. And lap three wasn’t bad either, but the number of people did increase and I had to slow in order to squeeze through a roadblock once on sector one and twice on sector two, also stepping on the grass on one of those occasions, since a large group had completely filled the path. And a bug got in my right eye at the start of sector two of lap three and my lower eyelid stung a little after that, so I wondered whether it had stung me, but the feeling soon passed.
Otherwise, despite feeling exhausted from the start of sector two of lap two, the times make it obvious that I felt really well physically, the only issues being a pressing need that appeared from the start of the long straight of sector two of lap three and seemed within seconds to become a concern only to just about vanish after that sector, and the fact that on sector three of lap three my hands were starting to go numb. There were also moments, over the course of lap three, when it seemed like I was going to get lightheaded, but I wouldn’t say that I ever actually did. It was, however, hard to climb those stairs at the start of the final sector, so I was slow at that point, and also couldn’t get the steps right at the end and for some reason I was set on actually stepping on what I consider to be the finish line, so I slowed once again and lost a little time. But I was making a mental note of the fact that I had focused quite a lot on breathing properly during this run, which probably helped a fair bit.

On the way back, I quickly checked the nearby Mega Image, and even though the recycling machine was working that day, I once again saw quite a few recyclables in the garbage can that’s in front of the entrance, all but one having the deposit symbol, so I took those. On the other hand, my nose was really irritated after the run, though it gradually recovered over the course of the evening. Either way, after getting back I ate a lot of watermelon and lunch, changed, and left again a few minutes before 9:30 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and a small bag of trash, which I dropped down the chute, also picking up another recyclable with the deposit symbol from the garbage room and one more while I hurried on the way to Carrefour, also finding that I had to go around the stadium, since that area was closed. But at least the recycling machine from there accepted everything, then I rushed in the store less than ten minutes before closing time and just got an expiring yogurt and cashed in the vouchers, managing to leave the store before closing time, but after putting the yogurt in the backpack it was past 10 PM when I walked out of that mall.
After washing my hands, it was a few minutes after 10 PM when I entered Kaufland, with the backpack, but the main reason for going there was the cheese that was on sale and none seemed to be left, and I didn’t ask. On the other hand, there were good evening discounts for some vegetables, plus watermelons, so I took the one watermelon with a darker peel that was left, a very small one with the peel looking like it was past its best but which sounded good when I knocked on it, and which did prove to be good, and then I also got potatoes, being spared of having to dig through them by a bag full of pretty good ones that had been left there, so I took almost all of those and just a few others, then cucumbers, even though the price wasn’t that low, since they were large, so dad would have wanted them, then onions, taking my time to dig through them, as they were at less than half the price they had been at Carrefour, so while we had used a few, so let’s say that those bought three days earlier were needed, I shouldn’t have bought more on the day after that, not that I could have known that. Either way, after all of that, I found myself at the large box with the remaining regular watermelons, which were even cheaper than the one which I had picked up already, with one minute before closing time, so I knocked on them in a hurry, but they sounded bad, soft, so I didn’t take any, being glad that I had at least picked up that small one first. Then, after the closing announcement, I rushed to weigh everything, noticing that the listed price for the potatoes was much higher but thinking that it hadn’t been updated on the scales, even though the others had been.
Well, that wasn’t the case, the problem being that I had picked a different kind of potatoes, and what was fortunate was that it apparently wasn’t a kind that was actually available that day, so instead of charging me that price, the self-checkout the machine stated that the product was not recognized and I then used the scales from the checkout area, finding the correct kind of potatoes there, but ending up with a slightly higher weight, since the bag which I had placed them in had torn and I had dumped them in a larger one, the weight of the bag also being added. At that low price, the difference was tiny, but I just made a mental note of it. And I obviously had to call an employee to clear the transaction at the end, since there had been that error.
After just quickly arranging the purchases in a way that made it manageable to carry them, I rushed to that Mega Image as well, put the bags in a cabinet, entered with the backpack, where I just had the yogurt from Carrefour, and took an expiring bread for dad and some bio (organic) sweetened and flavored yogurt from the expiring products, both discounted by 90%. The yogurt was imported, but so be it. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and after walking out I went to a bench to arrange everything. And I picked up a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way back.
I got back just after 11:35 PM, with 10.5 kg. Then I put almost all of the purchases in their place, just leaving dad’s bread and the cucumbers on the table, washed some of what was in the kitchen, finished the tea and made another, ate the last two of the pancakes which had been brought by dad, putting jam in them, and went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, a little after 1:10 AM. I was done a little before 1:55 AM, then I washed a few more of the things that were in the kitchen, also put the cucumbers in their place, made a large salad, once again eating expired walnuts with Himalayan salt and therefore getting almost 850 calories just from those, and drinking the second tea while doing so, and I finally ate dinner between 4:15 AM and 4:55 AM. I got in bed at 6:05 AM.