Cav's Place

It took me a while to get to sleep on the morning of September 6, but at least I did get right back to sleep after getting up to pee at one point, and then after deciding to pee again after getting woken up when dad went to the bathroom. And my cousin had said that he was going to come at 10:30 AM, so I started getting woken up again by noise made by dad around what was probably 9:30 AM or so, and after actually managing to catch a few more very brief naps at first, at 9:55 AM I decided to get up, meaning to also grab a quick breakfast… Only to end up having to arrange things and wash what had appeared in the kitchen until after 10:30 AM. But since my cousin was late again, I did manage to take some grapes and a sweet pastry to my room, getting on the computer a few minutes before 11 AM and even finishing that breakfast before he finally arrived, which was at 11:30 AM. But at least my cousin left at 4:15 PM, and after talking to me a little dad did as well, so while they had left so many things to wash in the kitchen that I couldn’t even figure out how they had managed to use them all, the fact that the race was red flagged for quite some time meant that I could wash most of them, clean up a little and have lunch before it was over, and then I spent some more time on the computer and at 7:05 PM I went out, leaving the pile of recyclables with the deposit symbol which they had emptied and just taking “mine” and those other things that I take to Kaufland.
Since I had dad’s card, I took the metro to Obor and then put the recyclables, which included some more picked up on the way, in a machine from Kaufland which had a voucher for a single one left in it, so I took that as well. Then I washed my hands and entered the store a little after 7:50 PM, seeing that many bakery products had been deeply discounted even earlier, since they were gone by then. But I made use of great evening discounts for radishes and green onions and a good one for some tomatoes, and also took a handful of apricots, even if the discount was low, since they looked good and were listed as Romanian. And I thought that cabbage also had an evening discount and was so sure that it was cheaper than at Carrefour that I didn’t check the list I had on my phone, taking two, since they were small and seemed good. Then, when the self-checkout didn’t accept the radishes as the correct product and the employee went to help other customers after I raised my hand, I took one of the bundles off the scales and saw that it worked that way, so I just continued, using the voucher received for “my” recyclables to cover almost the entire amount and holding on to that found one.
After arranging the purchases, the closing announcement coming as I did so, I put them in a cabinet when I reached Carrefour, entered the store when it was almost 8:40 PM, and saw that the bakery discounts were already made, so I took two of those nicer baguettes, even if one was torn, plus a bread and two apple circles, and then added two expiring products, also at half price. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged everything properly… And it was only while I was waiting for the metro that I checked the list on my phone again and saw that the cabbage had been 20% more expensive at Kaufland than it should have been at Carrefour, but I hadn’t even “registered” that when I checked the list while I was there, and hadn’t looked at cabbages. And after getting back I checked and saw that the discount from Kaufland had just been the regular one. Either way, I grabbed some more recyclables on the way back.
I initially got back right at 10 PM, but after just putting those two other products from Carrefour in the fridge and eating watermelon and a bag of corn puffs with powdered milk, I dashed to the nearby Mega Image as well, hoping to see bakery discounts, since it was just after 10:30 PM by then. But there were none, so I just grabbed another recyclable and came back just before 10:40 PM… And then I took a long time to select the handful of usable radish leaves before cleaning the litter box and going to drop a bag of trash down the chute, so I could have gone to Mega Image at that point, in case the discounts would have been made later, but I didn’t feel like going again after having already checked it once, especially after a cashier had been outside and had quite clearly seen me grab that recyclable from the bin. Either way, it was just after 11:35 PM when I went to the bathroom, basically wasting time on the toilet and then showering with water that was still well below skin temperature, and a little after 12:20 AM when I was done, after which I also did the day’s squats, to warm up a little… And while I did them I realized that I had forgotten to buy some of that vitamin tea, since I had stupidly not added it on the list, thinking that I’ll definitely remember, so I had to do without it. But at least I had a pretty normal night after that.

I also slept well, finally, obviously also thanks to being alone. I did get up to pee a number of times, but I always got right back to sleep, so I got eight hours before the last time that happened, at 2:10 PM. And in fact I got right back to sleep at that point as well, but I wasn’t so utterly exhausted anymore and I started alternating between being asleep and awake, so I just added some brief naps before starting to feel a need to pee again and deciding to get up, though I took it slowly, so I was awake for a while before finally getting up, at 4:22 PM… And minutes later there was some drilling, so it worked out well, and it’s so great that they waited until that hour. And late in the evening I slept for at least another hour, maybe a little more.

Since I had made a second tea before that nap, I drank it while working on dinner, in the early hours of September 8, and after finishing it I made the one that I meant to take with me during the run. And after dinner, when I put peanut butter on all of the slices of bread, I’d have wanted to shaved as well, but I found myself needing to rush to the toilet instead, which was a serious reason for concern in itself, and it left me rather weakened and with some abdominal pain and led to getting in bed at 5:30 AM. But at least I cleared what was in my intestines, and then I slept until the alarm rang, at 3:30 PM, waking up a number of times and peeing on some of those occasions, but the first such moment was the only one when I didn’t get right back to sleep, since I checked something on the computer and then Liza went to the litter box twice, waking me back up just as I was falling asleep again.
After getting up, I put the tea made at night into the plastic reusable bottle and a smaller plastic bottle that I could actually carry in the running belt, made another tea, ate another one of those imported bio (organic) Gala apples and a really nice yogurt with cereals, raw almonds, and raisins in milk chocolate, even if all of these things put in it were expired, and took one of those pills against gas. Then I dug out another batch of those nicer biscuits, also expired but “only” since the end of July, rearranging some of the munchies from my room when I put back what I took out to reach them, and after cleaning the litter box I finally shaved. Then I just finished reading a newspaper while sitting on the toilet, which was less of a concern in itself after having emptied everything before going to bed, but the weird noises in my abdomen showed that something was still going on. So, after also taking a supplement of another kind, albeit also expired, I put a Smecta in some of the new tea and drank it, hoping that it’ll be enough despite the way things once again started to move around in my abdomen as soon as I drank that tea. Either way, I then ate two of those biscuits as well, with quite a lot of added honey, took another pill against gas, and left at 7:25 PM, wearing the full running gear, but with the t-shirt from the marathon of 2023 and the better shoes, plus one armband and the running belt, with the slip of paper with the emergency information, two expired protein bars, and a vial of liquid magnesium, also expired, in the pocket of my tights, a Smecta Go, some garlic, some napkins, and the small bottle of tea in the running belt, and the larger bottle in my hand. The reported temperature was about 26°C, but it dropped to 19°C by the time I finished.
The time was 3:26:51, with lap times of 16:48, 17:39, 18:03, 18:39, 19:09, 18:15, 18:14, 18:57, 19:43, 21:33 and 19:51. I wanted 17 minutes per lap on the first three laps and the first one was all right, but then I thought that I had been a minute faster than I actually was on lap two, so I slowed down on lap three, initially thinking that I had paced myself just right… Only to then realize that I had actually been a minute slower than I thought on both lap two and three! And then I couldn’t recover the time lost at the start of lap four, so on lap five I started calculating and it seemed like I had no chance to even get under 3:30. But it was awfully early, so I forced myself to wait a while longer, and after lap six it seemed that I had done just enough to give myself a chance, which remained the case after lap seven. But I still didn’t think that I could obtain the required times from then on… Until I saw that I actually just made it on lap eight. I hadn’t hit the wall, however, so the question was what I’ll do once that happens, the answers starting to come in the later part of lap nine and being good enough that, at the start of lap ten, it finally seemed like I could at least get under 3:30 after all. And losing a whole lot of time on that lap didn’t change things, because I could afford it, so at the start of lap 11 the target became to get under 3:29 and I just went for it, ending up two minutes faster than that… But still 13 seconds slower than the first time I covered this distance, not to mention 8:44 slower than my personal best, which makes this the worst relevant time, not counting the awful ones from 2020 and 2023. And that last lap is the second best lap 11, nothing like the 18:10 from 2021 but the only other one not just under 20 minutes, but under 21 as well.
As usual for this run, I had to stop for a few seconds in order to see the time on every lap between the fourth and the tenth, but while on lap three I managed to see it without stopping and on the last lap I didn’t really try, since it was going to still be displayed at the end, going out so late meant that I had to make such a stop at the start of lap two as well. And on lap four I actually stopped twice, needing to look again to believe that I had been so slow after realizing that I had miscalculated the times for laps two and three. And that was added to the 30 seconds or so that I also lost at the start of lap four, when I drank a part of the larger bottle, deciding to split its contents into three, so I lost pretty much the same time on lap six and it was probably similar on lap eight as well, though I didn’t actually check. However, eating a bar at the start of lap five led to losing over a minute, and maybe closer to one and a half. I lost less, maybe under a minute, on lap nine, when I ate the other one, though I’m pretty sure that it was also on lap nine when I made another brief stop, not wanting to risk something else coming out when I released some gas. But the biggest loss of time was on lap ten, when I decided to take the napkins out of the running belt and put them in the pocket of the tights before taking the small bottle out, drinking all of it, and then putting it back, but didn’t also take the liquid magnesium out of the pocket at the same time, so I closed that zipper again and then stopped once more to open it and take out that vial when I decided to drink it, after the long straight of that lap’s sector two, so a total loss of time approaching two minutes wouldn’t surprise me, though I didn’t actually check.
Most of the problems caused by people aren’t really worth mentioning when speed was not the goal, but there were some, mainly on the first four and a half laps, since by the end of lap five the park was clearing. There were still some people, and plenty of runners, all the way to the end, and there were a few lesser issues after that point as well, but the notable ones were earlier, and I clearly remember that I briefly stopped twice right on the first long straight, the first time being when a guy on a bicycle rushed down from another path and almost ran into me, and I believe the second time was when I was cut off twice, by two kids rushing across the path from one side and two adults walking across it from another. And it was early on another lap when I briefly stopped twice more, but I’m not sure whether it was on lap four or five anymore, and the causes are less clear in my mind, though I remember that the first moment was under the bridge. And there was something on the long straight of sector two at one point, possibly because of a kid on a bicycle who turned in front of me, and another moment when a dog seemed to start to rush towards me before being pulled back, but I really can’t recall when those happened, and it is likely that at least one was after lap five. On the other hand, I overtook another runner on the first lap and he stayed behind me for a while, before overtaking me again by the end of the lap and gradually pulling ahead over the first part of lap two, though by the end of the lap I seemed to be slowly catching up to him again, before he suddenly seemed to vanish.
The abdominal pain was still there when I started the run and it continued for quite a number of laps before seeming to fade, though that might have been because I had worse things to deal with by then. And a certain pressing need first appeared on lap two, and while it fortunately turned out to be mainly gas, I struggled to hold everything in for a couple of laps before a few burps led me to dare releasing some more through the other end as well and confirm it, the issue no longer being particularly notable after that. And the occasional pain radiating from my back also remained manageable whenever it appeared. On the other hand, the right shoe once again rubbed that big toe, as it tends to happen with those shoes, and the feeling got worse as time passed, while that knee suddenly went from giving some occasional warnings to feeling like it was basically failing at 21 km, and my left ankle felt the same, at exactly the same time, so I had to push through that, though things seemed to get somewhat better after a while… Until I hit the wall, which was at about 27.5-28 km, though the worse pain came some three kilometers later, and the liquid magnesium, which I drank shortly after that, didn’t really seem to help. Admittedly, I probably drank it too late, and it might have helped in terms of how I felt, because things never got particularly bad, pushing past the wall usually feeling way worse, but considering how much time I lost on lap ten, I’d say that, despite pushing with everything I had left, lap 11 wasn’t better in terms of actual running time, and in fact it might have even been worse. The fact that the wind, which had been basically absent until then, suddenly picked up at the start of that lap might have had a little to do with it, but it couldn’t have had much of an effect, since it died back down after a little while.

After stopping at a bench for a few quick stretching exercises, I grabbed a few recyclables and had a quick look in the nearby Mega Image, initially getting back at 11:30 PM. But I did want something to add to what I meant to make for dinner and nothing suitable was left at the nearby Mega Image, so after washing some blood off those toes from my left foot, changing my shoes, dropping off what I didn’t need and grabbing some money and bags, I left again, just before 11:45 PM, going to the non-stop Mega Image that’s close to the metro station… And at one point catching what felt like a large spiderweb, even if a woman was just a couple of steps away, with her dogs. And since moments later I felt an itch and after getting back I saw a bite in that spot, I assume that the spider came along with it, and was understandably not pleased. Either way, I eventually even jogged a little, since as far as I knew the discounted bakery products only remained like that until midnight. And, while it wasn’t what I was actually looking for, I did find something usable there, so I grabbed it… But when I reached the checkout, the cashier and the guard were rushing to buy some things for themselves, to make use of a discount that ended at midnight, yet when I said that my product also stopped being discounted at midnight, the cashier said that it didn’t… And when she did scan it, she just took 1 RON, handing the 0.50 RON coin back and saying that it wasn’t needed, though the price should have been 1.48 RON, and she didn’t give me a receipt, so I wonder if she had made up for making me wait and possibly actually miss the discount. Either way, she also commented that my hands were freezing and that my blood pressure must be low, so I said that I had just ran 35 km and was just crushed. And on the way back I took it easy and grabbed some recyclables and a carton.
I was back for good just before 12:25 AM, and after cleaning the litter box again and going to drop a bag of trash down the chute, I tried but failed to wash the stain left on the t-shirt by the running belt. And then I ate an expired bag of peanuts, getting some 950 calories just from that, while spending some time on the computer, also drinking some of the remaining tea and a small part of an apple juice kept for a long time just for this day… And at 1:55 AM I went to the bathroom, just leaving a little in the toilet and then showering with water that was basically cold, only slightly less so than what came on the cold water pipe, needing to leave it running for a few seconds to notice a difference when I actually switched to check. Either way, I was done a little after 2:30 AM, and then I also did the day’s squats, heated and drank the remaining tea, and then boiled the rest of that juice, drinking it after it cooled sufficiently, so I finished it just before dinner. But until then I fixed lunch and ate it, on and off, between 3:35 AM and 4:35 AM, washed what I had left in the kitchen, dealt with my remaining bread, and also took one of those expired supplements for immunity. And I ate dinner between 5:30 AM and 6:45 AM, since I also wrote some notes about the day and eventually felt so awfully stuffed that the last part took a really long time. But I couldn’t wait for that to digest, so I got in bed at 7:15 AM, after using cream on my feet, at which point I saw that a blister was forming where the shoe had rubbed me. And it was so frustrating that the water was quite hot at that hour, likely good enough for a bath!

Rather surprisingly, I could even sleep. I did wake up quite a number of times, and also went to pee on a couple of those occasions, though I probably only actually needed to the first time, but I also kept getting back to sleep quickly, except towards the end, and then I was awake for a while before getting up, several minutes after 2 PM… And seeing that my computer wanted to reboot to install an update, which was quite a shock, since it’s not enrolled for extended updates. But the update in question seemed to be the one that likely allows the updates to be extended for another year, and nothing seemed wrong after rebooting, so I did my best to shrug it off. And then I crushed some bread that dad had left until it completely dried and then wouldn’t eat anymore, even if it wasn’t moldy, since I wanted to at least try to give it to some birds, and at 5:50 PM I went out, taking that bread, the recyclables with the deposit symbol, and the plastic and metal, which I dropped in a recycling bin on the way. And when I got to the park I looked for ducks and scattered those breadcrumbs in the water when I saw some, and they did seem to eat them.
I grabbed a few more recyclables and cartons on the way to Supeco and found a plastic bottle there that was just right for a label that I had, so I placed it on it and put it in the machine along with all the others, splitting on two vouchers. Then I put the cartons and the large backpack in a cabinet and, while I didn’t find the shaving foam for dad which had been the main reason to go there, I bought a few things, including a cabbage from there as well, that lower price which had been at Carrefour until the day before still applying there that day. And then I cashed in one voucher received for the recyclables and used the other, arranged the purchases… And noticed that the cabinet wouldn’t open, and I knew I had accidentally hit a key without meaning to when I wanted to put in the code again, after it had failed to lock the first time, and had decided to use a simple code, starting with that one, but the key I had hit might not have been the one I thought. But I just told the guard that the door wouldn’t open and she opened it for me, so I retrieved what I had there.
I had just grabbed one more recyclable by the time I got back to Penny Titan, but then I found three more left in the bin that’s in front of the entrance, and when I looked inside I saw that the machine wasn’t working, so I took those as well and put my things in a cabinet that didn’t lock, just buying an expiring product for dad and letting the next person in line use the store card as well, since he asked. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and slowly made my way to that Mega Image that closes at 10 PM, getting there just after 8:50 PM even so, putting the recyclables in the machine and everything else in a cabinet… And just wasting some time, since there was no sign even of bakery discounts about to be made, and I couldn’t see any products that might have been discounted by 90%, so I eventually just cashed in the voucher received for the recyclables, retrieved what I had in the cabinet, and continued to that Penny, once again putting my things in a cabinet and using a glove to get two cheap buns, with the evening discount from there, before retrieving them. And on the way back I grabbed a few more recyclables and cartons, had a quick look in Carrefour Express, entering with everything, and put the recyclables in the machine from the nearby Mega Image, once again entering with everything and just cashing in the voucher.
I got back a little before 10 PM, and after cleaning the litter box and going to drop a bag of trash down the chute I had a pretty normal evening and night, so I’ll just mention that, while that hot water which I had noticed during the day was gone, it was nevertheless not that much below skin temperature when I took a shower, between 11:30 PM and 11:50 PM. But I still did the day’s squats after that. And, while I was obviously tired, I felt surprisingly all right, and in fact that had even been the case the previous night, compared to how I felt after the previous such long runs, which likely means that I didn’t push as hard as I should have.

When I got up to pee, at 7:25 AM, the water was hot again… But apparently not for long, since I got woken up again a little after 9:15 AM, when dad fed Liza, and the temperature seemed to have sharply dropped again. Either way, I stayed on the computer until some time after dad left, getting back in bed at 10:10 AM, and while it took me a while to get back to sleep, I eventually did, waking up again around 1:30 PM or so, since some time passed before I checked, seeing 1:38 PM, and decided to pee again. And then I had another nap, but I don’t know how long it was and after that there was a period of drifting in and out before remaining awake for some time, so it was close to 4:15 PM when I got up for good, but I couldn’t really say how much more sleep I got. On the other hand, in the morning I ended up taking it too easy and getting in bed at 5:20 AM.

It does seem that there’s a point in the morning when the water is hot, because I got up to pee just before 7:20 AM and it burned! It didn’t last, however, and just over two hours later, when I went again, it was quite cold again. Either way, I got woken up again when dad fed Liza, just after 10:20 AM, at which point I changed, though I then noticed that Liza had just peed a little. On the other hand, after talking to dad about it I decided against trying to take his headphones to be serviced that afternoon, since I had to put them in something but he had thrown away their packaging and we didn’t really have a box of that size around, yet he said that he could bring one or two from grandmother’s, since he was going back there. So I just got on the computer, only changing back and getting back in bed at noon… But I couldn’t get back to sleep, wasting almost an hour before finally deciding to read some more, and it was several minutes after 2 PM when I once again tried to get back to sleep, finally managing it after a while. However, a little after 3:30 PM I woke up once more, and while I got back in bed after peeing again, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to try to get some more sleep or not… Which only ensured that I didn’t, yet I only managed to make myself get up for good at 4:40 PM. And I only went to the kitchen at 6 PM, at which point I found pretty good water again, albeit nothing like in the morning, so I wanted to wash, but it was past 7 PM when I finally went to the bathroom, and I used the toilet first, and by the time I was done the water was barely lukewarm… And even that was just what was left in the pipe, so I ended up taking another quick shower with water that was only marginally less cold than what came from the cold water pipe.

Today I got woken up at 7:45 AM by the computer fans spinning up again, and when I checked I saw higher temperatures and power use, the only likely culprit being several MilkyWay@home tasks which had just started minutes earlier, so it may be a matter of higher use at certain points, maybe early during processing. Either way, I then went to pee, finding that the water was still cold, and at 8 AM I got back in bed, the reason for the next time I woke up being the dermatitis acting up again, so when I went to pee I also washed that area a little at the sink, the water that initially seemed at least good enough for a shower just being what was left on the pipe, because the temperature dropped sharply within seconds. I think that it was a little after 9:30 AM when that happened, but I’m not quite sure. What’s clear is that I got a good chunk of sleep after that, only waking up again around 1:10 PM or so, since I stayed in bed a little longer before checking and seeing 1:16 PM. And after peeing once more I got another hour of sleep, split in two, and since the second nap was brief and I felt that they were only going to get shorter after that, if I could even still sleep at all, I then decided to get up, though it was over half an hour until I actually did so, when it was past 3:15 PM. And then I did the backups and meant to start taking the supplements, so I’ll take them for 30 days… But when I checked, I found that I didn’t have any of the iron left, and only five pills of the one with magnesium and potassium, the one for joints being the only one that I have more than enough of. So I just started taking what I have, meaning that I’ll have to get more of the one with magnesium and potassium quickly, and take the iron for less time, starting after I’ll get some.