Cav's Place

Since I went out this evening and now I’m watching the Nations’ League final, this is another post that was initially just a placeholder, limited to this first paragraph, but since the previous one ended when the start was given, I can at least mention that advancing to that sector meant for those aiming to finish in less than 1:45, even if I didn’t quite enter it, didn’t just help my start time, which was 48 seconds, but also made the first kilometer seem somewhat less crowded than it usually is, since the entrances were at the front of the sectors, so only a pretty small number of those from that sector and those supposedly aiming to finish in less than 1:20 started ahead of me. So my time on that first kilometer, which was 5:02, could have been even better. But I was quite pleased with 5:05 on the second kilometer, which includes that climb, on which I took it easy. And, just to show how long I held on to that wrapping from that expired energy bar that I ate just before the start, I’m pretty sure that it was after that climb when I finally threw it in a bin, because that was the first time I passed by some that were within easy reach and facing the street… Which, of course, is a problem under normal circumstances, since they should be easy to use for people who walk on the sidewalk, but it was good for me at that point, and I actually saw another runner who was close to me throw something in one as well. Either way, with that climb out of the way, I then tried to push more… Only to end up covering the third kilometer in that same 5:05, which made it clear that even staying under 1:50 was going to be difficult, seeing as that required averaging 5:10 per kilometer all the way to the end. Still, the following two kilometers, until the first refreshment point, were better, 4:54 and 4:57.
While I otherwise pushed on the sixth kilometer, it was still surprising to see that I covered it in 4:54 as well, since it started with a refreshment point and I also angrily threw the banana peel in front of the Russian embassy and flipped them off as I ran past. But, since I got to refreshment points, I’ll mention that I took a cup of that other drink and a banana piece at each of the regular ones, but ignored the only additional one, which was on the eighth kilometer and offered water and, if I remember correctly, Coca Cola, which struck me as a particularly bad idea. And I didn’t see any gels or bars or any other such things at any of the regular points, and there definitely was no additional one managed by the nutrition sponsor. And I’ll also mention here that after one of the refreshment points I meant to throw the empty cup in a bin but wasn’t right next to it and another runner passed me on that side just then, so I ended up hitting him with it and apologized. I think that it happened after the second, but there is also a chance that it was actually the last one, I couldn’t quite remember by the time I got back and wrote some notes. And now I’m thinking that it’s not entirely impossible that it was the third. The second seems the most likely and the third the least, but I only clearly remember that it was on the right side, and only the first one was on the left.