Cav's Place

Since the placeholder for the post about the half marathon only grew from one to two paragraphs since I put it up a week ago, posting what’s basically yet another placeholder really is a new low, and the odds of finishing both next week seem slim to none, seeing as I want to rest for this year’s Dream Trek Summer Edition and watch some matches, and I should also go to the dentist, to replace the filling that fell out in the early hours of Monday, while eating dinner, and which I’m pretty sure is the one which had also fallen out in May of last year and was replaced on the 15th of that month, so it barely lasted a year. But this is all I can do at the moment, since all I have so far about the actual runs are a few quick notes, and the same’s true when it comes to the other odds and ends, so the initial form of this post just included this paragraph and the first two that follow it, though I made a first edit and added one more paragraph after midnight. However, after writing nothing else until then, in the early hours of Friday I decided to only cover the first run of the series in this post, changing the title to reflect that at that point and adding the two paragraphs about the issues in the afternoon.

With the plan for June 12 being to start the final part of my preparation for this year’s Dream Trek, so two runs in one day, the previous day I meant to mostly rest, but between the occasional noises from above and my parents getting back, mother being here and having gone to the hospital in the morning, when I woke up after what were at best four hours of sleep, I knew that getting right back in bed would be pointless, so I stayed up for a couple more hours, then did get some more sleep, two hours or so, but mother once again cleaning and breaking things that were just hanging on ensured that I couldn’t get back in bed yet again in the evening, as I had initially planned, and the fact that she moved and changed things really messed me up, I was just whimpering when I looked around, and I couldn’t even take a crap, putting it off until after midnight and then just wasting time on the toilet when I did go, nothing coming out even though I had felt a fair bit there all day. And at night I ended up eating dinner, with peanut butter on all of the bread, between 3:25 AM and 4:10 AM.
At least I could sleep quite well, at least until the second time I got up, just after 12:40 PM, when I went to pee again and then took a while to get back to sleep, since my parents were up and making various small noises. And then I was woken up once more by some noise they made, but I got back to sleep yet again and slept until the alarm rang, at 2 PM, after which I helped them make sure that they weren’t forgetting anything and put what they were taking into bags, since mother was going to the hospital for the treatment that afternoon and then back to grandmother, and I also washed some things in the kitchen, so it took a while before I started getting ready. But I eventually ate a huge and tasty apple which had been brought by dad, and while I’m not sure what kind it was, I’m thinking that it might have been Jonaprince, since it seemed redder and I’d say that it also tasted better than Jonagold. Either way, I also mixed the cereals, the baked almonds with Himalayan salt, and the last of the raisins in dark chocolate, into a bio (organic) yogurt and ate that as well. And after going to the toilet I also ate three of those wheat things, adding honey between them, and went out at 5:30 PM, wearing the full running gear and with some things, including the large expired protein bar that I still had, in the pocket of my tights and the protein shake that was in the race kit for the half marathon in the running belt, since I took that as well. The reported temperature was 26-27°C, and while I couldn’t check after that, the forecast stated that it should have held pretty steady over the course of the first run.
The time was 1:17:51, with sector times of 4:20, 5:02, 5:51, 4:30, 4:59, 5:55, 4:35, 5:09, 6:01, 4:38, 5:16, 6:06, 4:36, 5:09 and 5:44, making for lap times of 15:13, 15:24, 15:45, 16:00 and 15:29. I initially only aimed to stay under 1:20 and controlled my pace quite a lot on the first sector, so that time was better than I expected, and sector two probably surprised me even more, which made me actually mean to push, aiming to finish the lap in less than 15:20, which I managed by a safe margin. That made me want to see whether I could keep the average below 15:20 over the first two laps, which I also managed, sector two of lap two being particularly good. So, after lap two I started wondering whether I could finally squeeze under 1:18 once again, and while sector one of lap three wasn’t exactly a good sign and going over six minutes on sector three of lap three was even more concerning, the thought was still crossing my mind at the end of the lap. That changed after I went over what would be the sector targets for a 16-minute lap on the first two sectors of lap four, so I was just hoping to push the moment when I’ll fall behind the target times to lap five. And I did, though I was frustrated when I saw that I covered lap four in exactly 16 minutes, so I hadn’t stayed under that time on each lap, especially since slamming into a guy on sector three had quite clearly made the difference. But I still had one second to spare, at least compared to the 15:36 that’s the target lap time for 1:18, and I didn’t want the failure to be for lack of trying, so I pushed and, even if sector one of lap five was several seconds off the required pace and I lost a couple more seconds on sector two, I really gave everything on sector three, managed a great time, and made it by a very safe margin, making this the first time I got under 1:18 since October.
I briefly stopped on the first sector’s long straight because, just as I was catching up to a family, the mother stepped aside and the kid, on a tricycle, went towards her, cutting across the lane and getting right in my way. And on lap two, at the end of that same straight, that same family caused me to hesitate, the kid seeming about to cut me off yet again. And I actually saw them in that area on the following laps as well, but the parents were sitting on a bench and the kid was in front of them, not cutting across the path anymore. But now that I think of it, I wonder if the family who cut across the path just as I was finishing the run was the same one, since that time around it was the father who was cutting me off, the kid being behind him and the mother still on the other side, and I was pushing as hard as possible and didn’t get a good look, just shouting at them and going on the right, hoping, and just managing, to get past them before getting cut off, so I finished on that side even though I normally stay on the left.
On the other hand, those warnings from my right knee only appeared on sector one of lap four, and more parts of my legs joined in on sector three of that lap… When I also slammed into a guy. A cyclist was coming from the opposite direction and the two of us ended up doing the silly dance from quite a distance, with that guy caught between us and obviously focusing on the cyclist, who must have seemed to be weaving erratically from his perspective, so he was understandably startled when he finally heard me right behind him, freezing in a pretty amusing position, with his arms and legs sort of twisted around, as if trying to go in both directions at once, and apologizing in a high-pitched voice. I really don’t know how the cyclist managed to avoid him, but the fact that we didn’t all end up in a tangle obviously means that he did, yet I had no idea which way to go and no time to stop, and that caused me to lose that time that meant that I couldn’t cover all laps in less than 16 minutes. Either way, a roadblock made me go off the path on the long straight of sector one of lap five, but that was behind the stage, so I stayed on a paved area, while on the following sector’s long straight I just managed to avoid a crash that could have been really bad, since I was about to get back on the lane after going around other people just when a guy in a competition wheelchair appeared from behind others. And I think it was on that same sector when it briefly felt that my legs were burning, though the feeling passed.

I seem to be doing the same thing with the post about the half marathon as I did with the second part of the one about last year’s marathon, just putting up a placeholder in order to allow myself to write about the following runs and then doing so while leaving that post in that form, or close enough to it, since today I added a second paragraph, for who knows how long. But that post’s yet to be written, even if my notes are much more thorough than those about the marathon had been, while on the other hand I already have everything about the following four runs, so I’ll start with the early hours of May 15, when I ended up eating dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:10 AM. Then, even though there was noise from the neighbors and I did wake up a few times, I slept surprisingly well overall until the alarm rang, at 2:30 PM, and I got up. But it was windy and the forecast stated that it was only going to die down around 7 PM, and while I couldn’t wait that long, the situation was supposed to start improving after 6 PM, so I took things slowly, having the usual stuff, with the sweet thing being a slice of cozonac, adding honey from a jar that I just opened at that point, but also catching up on some news, and finally going out at 6:10 PM, wearing the full running gear, returning to the old shoes and the t-shirt from last year’s half marathon. The reported temperature was 24°C, holding steady or maybe dropping just marginally by the time I finished.
The time was 48:20.47, with sector times of 4:31.35, 5:11.22, 6:01.16, 4:32.10, 5:06 (5:05.36), 5:53.67, 4:28 (4:27.94), 5:06.12, 5:48 (5:47.49) and 1:44.06, making for lap times of 15:43.73, 15:31.13 and 15:22 (15:21.55). I seem to have miscalculated sector one of lap two while running, always thinking that it was 4:33.10, but I’m more certain that I correctly remembered the time at the end of lap one, so I don’t think there’s a good enough reason for a question mark there. On the other hand, after thinking from the beginning that I’ll have to settle for just staying under 50 minutes, having that slow first sector seem to confirm that, and then going over the 15:40 that’d be the target lap time for 49 minutes on the first lap, the idea was so fixed in my mind that I thought that I was going to have a minute more than I actually did at the end. And I obviously noticed that I was getting faster from sector two of lap two, but when I pushed harder after that, I still thought that I had to in order to just make sure that I’ll stay under 50 minutes. Not that it couldn’t have been the case if I’d have slowed down on lap three, but I didn’t, yet when I saw that I was managing some relatively decent times I just thought that I was gaining half a minute compared to that target, really going for it on sector three of lap three in order to give myself a shred of a chance of squeezing under what I thought would be 49:30 and then giving absolutely everything I had left on the final sector for that same reason. And that great time on the final sector showed that what I had left was way more than I thought. But, either way, it’s still well over 48 minutes, so still a poor time, even if the least poor one since the last one that was pretty good, a full three months earlier.
The wind was an issue at first, but the forecast was correct and it lessened as time passed, on lap three just that area from the start of sector three remaining windy. On the other hand, the running lane had been resurfaced, with some harder compound, which I’d say shows that they finally gave up on the idea of having a running lane there and just poured something that’d likely last longer. But they hadn’t quite finished that day, an area at the end of sector one and start of sector two being just scraped, and mostly full of water, so I generally had to stay off it and that meant slowing and hesitating on each lap, seeing as it was quite crowded. But the biggest issue caused by people was on sector two of lap two, when I stopped for a couple of seconds when I just about ran into an older man who was holding the hand of a little kid who was slowly moving in a circle around him, since I thought that they were just turning and would move in that direction, realizing what was actually happening when it was almost too late. And later on that same sector a dog seemed to be coming for my legs and I hesitated a little, while on sector two of lap two I slowed when a girl on roller skates came from the opposite direction on the lane when the rest of the path was blocked. And on the final sector two men rather blocked my way as I went up the stairs, so I rather had to push away the arm of one of them and squeeze past, and then I had to stay on the side that I didn’t want to be on because a woman was slowly climbing on the other, while right at the end I slowed a little to be sure that I’ll press the button. But at least there were no particular physical issues to speak of, just that I couldn’t go faster…

Then I ate a banana and a large doughnut with added cocoa cream, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute and pay the maintenance bill, brought back the receipt, went back to the garbage room to grab a bunch of bottles with the deposit symbol which I had seen there when I dropped off that bag of trash, and finally went out at 8:55 PM, grabbing a few recyclables on the way to Kaufland. Then I put those in a cabinet, washed my hands in the room for disabled people, and entered the store a little after 9:20 PM, grabbing a regular lettuce, one with root and three more bundles of green onions, all being discounted by 90%, plus two of those cheap yogurts. Then I took my place in the line at the self-checkouts several minutes before closing time, but it was pretty long and I only got my turn after the closing announcement. Either way, I then arranged the purchases, retrieved those recyclables and walked out several minutes after 10 PM. And on the way back I picked up a few more recyclables and also went to the non-stop Mega Image, putting everything in a cabinet that didn’t have a key, to at least give the impression that it was locked, since I didn’t have a 0.50 RON coin, and then retrieving everything after getting some biscuits that were three for the price of two… And since those were similar to the ones which I had been buying from Kaufland the previous days but ended up being quite a bit cheaper, I shouldn’t have bought those, but so be it.
I got back at 10:55 PM, then put the yogurt in the fridge and the biscuits in my room, washed what was in the kitchen, ate lunch, with some old salty pretzels, expired since November, instead of bread, did the day’s squats, and it was almost 1 AM when I went to wash. I was done just after 1:40 AM, then washed a few more things in the kitchen, used the worse lettuce leaves and some green onion tops for the salad, putting the rest in their place, and ate dinner between 3:50 AM and 4:25 AM. Then I got in bed at the usual time, but it was a while before I actually went to sleep, and just after 8 AM I woke up and there were various noises from the upstairs neighbor, so I eventually decided to start reading Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra, doing that for about an hour… And dad got up just when I meant to get back to sleep, and while I did manage to catch a brief nap while he got ready to leave, when I woke up again and the noise from that neighbor was getting worse, I decided to get on the computer for a while, only getting back in bed a little before 11 AM and catching a number of brief and agitated naps through the continuing noise. It was 1:30 PM when I checked the time again and the noise did seem to be lessening, and I caught a better nap after that, but I have no idea how long it lasted, since I stayed in bed for a long time after waking up again, since the noise shouldn’t have been a notable problem anymore and I was hoping to get some more sleep, but despite only getting up when it was past 4:30 PM, I couldn’t fall asleep again.

In the early hours of May 21, after going to the kitchen several minutes late and then dealing with the two breads that I was yet to deal with and also noticing that dad had left a pepper on the fridge door until it had pretty much turned into another species and needing to clean all that mold off a couple of things, I ended up eating dinner, with a salad that consisted of more green onions than lettuce, between 3:35 AM and 4:10 AM. Then, after also managing to put that bread in the freezer, I got in bed at 5:25 AM.
Well, just after 9 AM I woke up, hearing some noise from the upstairs neighbor and Liza in the litter box, and when I went to pee I saw that dad was also waking up, so there must have been his alarm as well. But, after cleaning the litter box, I obviously got back to bed, albeit expecting to need some time before getting back to sleep, yet while I must have finally managed to do so at some point, most likely after 10 AM, just after 10:30 AM I was woken up by loud drilling from upstairs and while I considered getting up to at least make the tea, hoping that the drilling would stop and I’ll be able to get some more sleep later, I was just too sleepy and ended up mostly wasting time in bed, at best very briefly dozing off a couple of times, when there were some breaks. But just after 11:30 AM I thought that the break had been longer and hoped that it meant that it was over, so I went to pee again, just in case, moved the alarm to 2:30 PM and got back in bed… Only to hear more drilling minutes later, so just after 11:40 AM I got up to make the tea… Only to find that there was no gas! So I wasted some more time in bed, getting back up at 12:05 PM, eating an apple and getting on the computer for a while, returning to bed at 12:45 PM, when it once again seemed that the drilling had stopped. And that was actually the case, so after a little while I went to pee again, to make sure that I won’t wake up because of that, and tried to get some more sleep, but I have no idea how much I actually got before the alarm rang, since it took a long time to fall asleep again.
At least the gas had returned by the time I got back up, at 2:30 PM, so I could make the tea and then had the rest of the usual stuff, with the sweet thing being another slice of cozonac, with added honey, and after also gathering my clothes from the balcony I went out at 5:15 PM, wearing the full running gear, with the slip of paper with the emergency information in the pocket of my tights, just in case. The reported temperature was 24°C, and 23°C when I finished.
The time was 1:18:47, with sector times of 4:28.70, 5:13 (5:12.46), 6:06.50, 4:34 (4:33.41), 5:08.81, 5:58 (5:57.66), 4:35.12, I think 5:26 (5:25.94), I think 6:01.34, 4:33 (4:32.13), 5:12.25, 6:02, 4:35, 5:03 and 5:53, making for lap times of 15:47.66, 15:40 (15:39.88), 16:02.40, 15:47 and 15:31. So I also memorized the exact times while they were displayed, but after losing some 25 seconds on sector two of lap three because of a shoelace, I pushed hard to try to make up for some of that time and that may be part of the reason why I seem to have gotten somewhat confused about the time, since while running I was sure that I had covered that sector in 5:27.94, and 5:28 if I just looked at the seconds, and the following one in 6:01.34, only realizing that it didn’t add up when I wrote down the times. With the time after sector one of lap three being 36:02, it seems very likely that I mistakenly remembered the seconds from the total time at the end of sector two as the ones from its own time, but I’ll nevertheless leave question marks there, because there may also be a chance, even if it seems unlikely, that I remembered that sector’s time correctly but then misremembered the next sector’s, maybe trying to memorize that I had one second less than six minutes but ending up just remembering the one and assuming that it meant 6:01, or even miscalculated that time in the first place, in case what I now take to be the correct number of seconds for the total time at the end of sector two really were those for that sector’s time, as I thought during the run.
I thought that I was aiming to stay under 1:20 at best and the first lap made even that seem unlikely, but sectors two and three of lap two were better, and so was the lap as a whole, so I started having some hopes… Only to lose those 25 seconds on sector two of lap three and then really go for it to try to recover as much as possible, probably pushing too hard on that sector, but when I just went a little over 16 minutes on that lap despite that lost time, I clearly set my mind on staying under 1:20… And after lap four, and in fact possibly starting on its third sector, I wondered about squeezing under 1:19 and decided that, even if I’ll fail, it shouldn’t be for lack of trying. Of course, I couldn’t really give everything that early, but at least on the last two sectors I really went for it, seeing that I might just have a chance, and after the best sectors two and three and the best lap of the day, I managed that by a very safe margin. But it’s still not a good time, even when taking those 25 seconds or so into account, not to mention that I most probably wouldn’t have done better without that loss, since I wouldn’t have pushed that hard and the only reasonable target would have still been squeezing under 1:19.
It might have been rather hot if it’d have stayed sunny, but it was mostly sunny only on lap one, sector two of lap two and part of sector two of lap three, and possibly also on some parts of lap five, though at that point it was less noticeable. Otherwise, while I normally list notable problems caused by people, other than having to weave or go the long way around, that day they were mainly caused by dogs. Not that it’s not still the humans who are to blame, but on sector two of lap two I went wide in order to avoid a dog with a long leash that initially seemed to be going towards the lake only for it to go to the other side by the time I got there, the leash pretty much blocking the entire path, so I had to take to the grass, while on sector one of lap four I briefly stopped when another dog got right in my way. And it was on that same sector when the warnings from my right knee appeared and either towards the end of the following one or early on sector three of lap four when I felt something of a pressing need, though I had felt some gas before that as well, and either way that feeling soon passed. And before that, on lap three, probably on its later part, I started to feel something bothering me on the inside of my left big toe, that feeling only lessening on lap five. But, of course, the big loss of time was on sector two of lap three, when needing to retie my right shoelace cost me some 25 seconds.

After picking up some recyclables and a label that also had the deposit symbol on the way back, I saw that my phone was once again saying that it couldn’t register the SIM. I believe that was just the third time that error appeared in the nearly five years since the first one, which regularly gave this error, was replaced, and it had been over a year since the previous occurrence, but after I turned it off and then back on it happened again, and a few days later it happened yet again, at which point I actually removed the SIM and put it back in, which seems to have sorted out the issue for the time being, though it obviously makes me worry that it’s failing. But, to return to that evening, I then ate lunch, but it consisted of something which dad had made and said that I could take, assuring me that he hadn’t eaten straight from it, yet I found a clove of garlic while eating and it definitely hadn’t been used as an ingredient, so I had some serious doubts.
Either way, after changing, I left again at 9:05 PM, jogging to Kaufland and entering the store a little after 9:20 PM. Kohlrabies had a good evening discount, so I got a few, along with a few loose leaves, plus some discounted sausages for dad and one banana, using a one-time discount which I had activated on-line before leaving. That still didn’t make the price one that I’d consider good, but I considered it a small reward for myself… And then I also made up for part of what I had lost the previous time Kaufland’s machine “ate” two recyclables by not paying for one of the kohlrabies at the self-checkout, which I was still using when the closing announcement came. And after arranging the purchases and walking out a little after 10:05 PM, I jogged back as well, though I still picked up some more recyclables.
I got back a little before 10:30 PM, then selected the kohlrabi leaves and ate the banana, after which I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. Then I did the day’s squats, washed what was in the kitchen, except the large things, and ate an expired packaged croissant and some expired nicer bagels, going to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, at 12:10 AM. Since I was done just over an hour later, it wasn’t too late when I got back to the kitchen, but I still ended up eating dinner between 3:35 AM and 4:25 AM. And I got in bed at 5:25 AM.

Since the forecast kept making me question whether I should run on May 29, especially since the plan was to cover a half marathon distance, I ended up eating lunch late, after midnight, and then I also shaved, so it was some time after 1 AM when I got back in the kitchen, and then I also washed a large pot, had to take out much of my bread and then put it back in the freezer after taking out the piece that I wanted to eat that night, which was at the back, needed to really scrub my kettle after seeing that the one carrot that was left was going bad, deciding to boil it after all and not realizing that all the water had evaporated as I was washing the lettuce, so the bottom got badly burned, and also ended up making too much salad, finally eating dinner, with peanut butter on all of the bread, between 3:50 AM and 4:20 AM, and getting in bed at 5:20 AM… And I only slept well until 9:35 AM, when Liza woke me by going to the litter box, and after peeing I cleaned what she had left there and also had another quick look at the forecast. And then, even though only some occasional small noises were coming from the upstairs neighbor, I had a hard time getting back to sleep, so I’m sure that I got less than another hour, possibly much less, by the time I woke up again, a little after 11:15 AM, deciding to pee one more time, just in case. And dad was awake by then, and while he did try to keep quiet, the small noises he made added to those coming from the neighbor and until he left, just before 12:45 PM, I only got a few brief and agitated naps. And then, after peeing one more time, to be sure that I won’t need to wake up again because of that, I still needed a while to fall asleep again, so I once again got less than another hour by the time the alarm rang, at 2 PM, and I got up.
Moments later, I heard something that sounded like thunder, and it was cloudy and there was a fair amount of wind as well, but when I checked the forecast again I saw that all but one site had reduced the risk of showers, and that of storms had basically disappeared, so after reading some news I ate one of those imported bio (organic) apples, the high-protein yogurt received after the half marathon, with cereals, baked almonds with Himalayan salt and raisins in dark chocolate mixed in it, and two of those wheat things, with added honey, drank most of the tea, and otherwise took it easy, leaving at 5:05 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband, with the slip of paper with the emergency information in the pocket of my tights, along with some money, in case I decided to give something to a busker, to “penalize” myself for some of the previous poor times, especially if I’ll do badly yet again. The reported temperature was 24°C, and 22-23°C when I finished.
The time was 1:44:52, with sector times of 4:31, 5:15, 6:01, 4:32, 5:12, 6:06, 4:34, 5:05, 6:09, 4:37, 5:13, 6:06, 4:46, 5:13, 6:08, 4:38, 5:14, 5:58, 1:48, 5:55 and 1:51, making for lap times of 15:47, 15:50, 15:48, 15:56, 16:07 and 15:50, plus 9:34 for that final portion. So I have a new personal best for this final portion, with great times on each of its sectors, and a new tenth fastest time over this distance through the park, which marks the moment when all of the top ten times are below 1:45, and is also the first time I got back under 1:45 in a year.
And to think that I thought that I was just looking at staying under 1:50 and the first two sectors made me question even that. So I pushed a little more on the third, but the lap still wasn’t good enough. Then I tried to stay under 16 minutes on the second lap as well and managed it by a safe margin, but I was somehow under the, obviously wrong, impression that I had to average 16 minutes per lap in order to stay under 1:50, so after sector one of lap three I pushed harder, resulting in that better sector two… And then needing to use sector three of lap three to recover, and going a little over the target for a 16-minute lap on sector one of lap four, though in the end I managed to stay under 16 minutes on that lap as well. At least I had realized my mistake by then, but still didn’t correct properly, thinking that I was aiming to stay under 1:47. Either way, sector one of lap five was quite a concern, but then I did better once again and, even if lap five was the only one over 16 minutes, it wasn’t by much. So on lap six I wondered whether I could squeeze under what I thought was 1:46:30, really pushing on sector three, and at the end of the lap I seemed to have a good chance, so I kept giving everything… Which led to a new fastest final portion, with great times on each of its sectors. And before the final sector I saw that I had a chance to squeeze under what I thought was 1:46, but I didn’t get a proper look at the seconds and wasn’t sure whether I needed 1:58 or 1:52, so I assumed the later and pushed as if I thought I could make it. And I actually did, though it wasn’t needed. And then I really saw the time and finally realized that, even after thinking that I had corrected my calculations, I had still been off by that one minute, but this time around in the good way.
I felt just exhausted at first, but that feeling faded, as did the dull pain from the left hip that I have been feeling lately, even if it was initially rather noticeable. On the other hand, I think it was on lap two, or maybe early on lap three, when I felt some rather sharp pain in the left ankle, though that might not have originated there, since there was some pain shooting through that calf muscle as well. But all of that also went away, while what would be the usual warnings from my right knee were very faint after that, only being more notable towards the end of what I think was lap five, if not even lap six, and even that didn’t last and they then faded back to those faint levels. And while the little gas that I felt as early as lap two got worse at the end of lap three and what seemed like a pressing need that could become a serious problem appeared on sector one of lap four, all of that fortunately proved to have also been just a gas bubble and then the feeling faded. Otherwise, on sector three of lap four I stepped in a hole that I didn’t expect to find now that the lane’s resurfaced with that harder compound, my left ankle having to take quite a lot, but it held. But the one thing that did get worse as I went along was the feeling that a nail was jabbing a toe from my left foot, and there was blood there when I got back.
In terms of problems caused by people, on sector three of lap one I hesitated and had to quickly avoid some kids on bicycles who were coming from the opposite direction with quite a lot of speed, on sector two of lap two I once again hesitated when I was just squeezing through a roadblock and I think a little girl seemed to start stumbling towards me, on sector two of lap three I briefly stopped when a cyclist was coming from the opposite direction and, while we would have managed to squeeze past each other on the lane, the rest of the path being blocked in that spot, a dog just about cut me off, on sector two of lap five I hesitated because of a silly dance with another runner while I was trying to get a bug out of my eye, and on sector two of lap six I briefly stopped because a boy who was kicking what I think was a pine cone around stumbled right in my way.
As for the weather, it was sunny on sectors one and three of lap one, sectors one and two of lap two, at the end of sector two of lap three, and on parts of sector three of lap three and sector two of lap four. Some more serious clouds moved in by the end of that sector, but they came along with some pretty strong gusts, though the wind fortunately died down after that and it just remained cloudy… Only for the wind to really pick up on sector two of the final portion, so I had to fight it on its early part, and there were a couple of gusts later on that sector as well.

After checking the nearby Mega Image and picking up a recyclable on the way back, I washed the blood from those toes, finished the tea and made another, ate a bag of chips, getting over 650 calories from that, changed, and left again at 8:55 PM, jogging to Carrefour and just wasting time by going there, not finding anything else to get and seeing that the discount for paper towels which I had only seen in the catalog for Carrefour Market on-line really didn’t also apply to hypermarkets, so I left the two packs which I had grabbed at the self-checkout and walked out. And when I reached Kaufland I forgot to pass by the recycling machine and grab some discarded vouchers that offered a 10% discount on soap those days, so I entered the store a couple of minutes after 9:30 PM and just got a lettuce that had a good evening discount, being in line at the self-checkout when closing was announced and grabbing some of those vouchers after walking out. And then I also went to that Mega Image, with that lettuce in one hand, putting it in a cabinet and getting some bakery products that had the 90% discount, keeping a bun in the bag when I got to the checkout, the price being just the tiny amount that I still had to recover from Mega Image for a long time. I don’t know if the guard had noticed anything, since he stood next to me as I waited for someone else who was at the cabinets to step aside, but he didn’t say anything, so I retrieved that lettuce and after walking out I went to a bench and arranged the purchases. And on the way back I grabbed a few more recyclables and gave one of the bakery products to a homeless person whom I had given things to before as well, and who’s always profusely thankful.
I got back a little after 11:10 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put the purchases in their place, ate a small apple, an expired protein bar and lunch, did the day’s squats, and it was a few minutes past 1 AM when I went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash. It was close to 2:20 AM when I was done, and then I washed the few things that were in the kitchen and also used the worse lettuce leaves for the salad, even though I initially didn’t mean to, so I ate dinner between 4:05 AM and 4:50 AM. And, after also rubbing cream on my feet, for the first time in who knows how long, I got in bed at 6:15 AM.

Since I thought that I didn’t have any whole wheat bread left but wasn’t quite sure of that, in the early hours of June 2 I took all of the bread out of the freezer and did find one last piece. Actually, I found it after taking out less than half of the rest of the bread, but I decided to have a good look, to know what I still had, and then rearrange it all. And then, while looking for something to put on the bread, I also found that a can that was at the back of the fridge had actually expired in March, so I decided to take that and moved the contents into a jar. And then I also made rather too much salad, from lettuce and some green onions, ending up eating dinner between 3:25 AM and 4 AM.
The alarm was set to ring at 2 PM, but just before 9:45 AM I was roughly woken up by Liza’s plate getting knocked about, probably by her, since she was eating off the floor and dad was in the bathroom when I stepped out of my room. But there were noises from the upstairs neighbor as well, and while they might not have woken me on their own, they prevented me from getting back to sleep… And just after dad left, a few minutes after 10:30 AM, the drilling started, and after waiting for a while, hoping that it won’t last long, just before 10:55 AM I decided to get up, having the usual stuff, with the apple being another one of those imported bio (organic) ones, going to the toilet, but moving the alarm to 3 PM and getting back in bed at 1 PM, since the drilling seemed to have stopped. However, I couldn’t get back to sleep, maybe being in that state that’s in between asleep and awake for a while and probably sleeping for mere moments before waking up again, seeing that it was just after 2:20 PM, going to pee again, so I won’t risk having to get up later for that, moving the alarm to 3:30 PM and actually getting a little sleep. Not much, since just after 3:15 PM I was awake again and decided to turn off the alarm and get up, but at least it was a little nap. And then I ate the last of those expired energy bars, with added honey, quickly cut most of my toenails, and left at 4:35 PM, with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 29-30°C, supposed to hold steady, though I couldn’t actually check what it was when I finished the run.
The time was 48:33.31, with sector times of 4:27.66, 5:13.15, 6:05 (6:04.50), 4:36.38, 5:08 (5:07.53), 5:52.16, 4:23.43, 5:03 (5:02.78), 5:56 (5:55.85) and 1:50 (1:49.87), making for lap times of 15:45.31, 15:36.07 and 15:22.06. I was thinking that just staying under 50 minutes would be acceptable, considering the heat and the fact that I felt tired, and I took it rather easy on the first sector, fearing a worse time than what I managed, and then lost a few seconds on sector two, so that wasn’t as bad as I expected either, but sector three was worse than I thought and the lap as a whole was poor, making me wonder whether I’ll even manage to stay under 50 minutes after all. But things got better on sector two of lap two, and even more so on sector three of lap two, so at the end of the lap I realized that I might even manage to stay under 49 minutes and really went for it, getting good times on the first two sectors of lap three and thinking at that point that I was looking at squeezing under 48:45. And at the end of the lap I slashed five more seconds off that target time, being a little frustrated that I had no chance to also get under 48:30, which proved to be the case.
The thing is that the heat bothered me less than I feared, and otherwise there were few notable problems, though there were those few seconds lost on sector two of lap one, when I stopped to tighten a shoelace that I thought was getting loose, though it probably wasn’t. Otherwise, on sector one of lap two I slowed and might have stopped for just an instant when a roadblock formed right in front of me, while on sector three of lap two a bug got right in my eye and I really struggled with it, being unable to get it out, so I had to deal with the situation from then on. And a somewhat pressing need that wasn’t just gas appeared on lap two and continued on lap three, but it never became an actual problem.

After the run, I continued to that mall, picking up a couple of recyclables and hiding them under the carts from Carrefour before going to wash my hands and face and finally get that bug out of my eye. And then I had a quick look in another store, got what I wanted from Carrefour, plus some thick fruit juice, which also resulted in a voucher on the receipt, retrieved those recyclables, and picked up one more on the way back.
After eating lunch, I arranged all of the recyclables, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, and left again when it was almost 9:10 PM, rushing to Kaufland but still picking up two more recyclables. I was taking the recyclables to Kaufland because they doubled the reward for those used to pay for purchases made those days, in the form of a voucher that appeared later in the app, but there were lines at the machines, only two were working when I got there, and moments later one of those stopped as well, so I gave up, since the last day of the campaign was the next one, and put the recyclables in a cabinet, since even so it was past 9:35 PM when I entered… Not that I should have really bothered, since there were no evening discounts and I just bought an expiring product, and there was a line at the self-checkouts too. But, even if they’re no longer serviced after the store closes, Kaufland’s machines stop at 11 PM, so I heard the closing announcement when I was just about to walk out, but could put the recyclables which I had retrieved from the cabinet, along with some more that I found there, into the machine, the lines having cleared and the machines actually working again. I even found a bottle without a label on which I casually placed the label that I had, still folded, and it was accepted, but there were a couple of recyclables that weren’t accepted no matter what, which I kept, and that small oddly-shaped one that I had was once again “eaten”, so I set my mind on eventually recovering that lost amount as well. And I exchanged a few words with a guy who was also gathering discarded recyclables and trying to make the machine accept them and he let me know that about a month before he had seen 80% bakery discounts at Kaufland, so they apparently still make them sometimes, but very rarely. Either way, I ended up with three vouchers and it was almost 10:25 PM when I finally walked away.
On the way back, I picked up some more recyclables and checked two Mega Image locations, putting just the bag in a cabinet both times, without even locking it in the first case, entering with the backpack, and getting some pretzels that had the 90% discount for mother from the first one and three bio (organic) yogurts that were discounted by 50%, one of them by mistake, since it wasn’t expiring, from the second. The cashier from the second location didn’t give me the small amount which I should have received as change, but I shrugged it off, especially since I could say that not receiving that change makes up for getting that mini croissant for free a few days earlier, plus that I ended up having a good look around and finding enough in coins before walking out anyway.
I got back just after 11:20 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put the few purchases in their place, rushed to take a quick shower, and after spending some time in my room I talked to dad a little, ate an apple and a sweet pastry, washed what was in the kitchen, and managed to stick to the dinner schedule. On the other hand, the kitchen light bulb was flickering quite noticeably again, and it pretty much continues to do so. And if I initially got in bed at 5:25 AM, I had noticed WindowsPackageManagerServer.exe, or WinGet COM Server, among the running processes and wondered what that was, since I hadn’t seen it before, so after a few minutes I got back up, checked again, and since it was still there I disabled the network chipset and rebooted, also taking the opportunity to raise the minimum CPU fan speed to 60%, since the speeds still didn’t change. As a result, it was 5:45 AM when I actually got in bed.

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.

On May 10, after waking up in the afternoon, I finally finished The Dark Defiles, then tried to sleep some more, but despite staying in bed until a few minutes before 5:30 PM and being in that state that’s in between asleep and awake for most of those more than two hours, I really doubt that I caught any more actual sleep, or if I did then it couldn’t have been for more than mere seconds. Either way, later I had a lunch that probably wasn’t as big as in previous years, wrote the quick review, and at 10:50 PM I started working on dinner, also making the tea for the morning during that time. I ate dinner between 12:50 AM and 1:30 AM, with peanut butter on all of the bread but without beets in the salad, since I hadn’t found discounted ones and hadn’t bothered to buy any at full price. And during that time I also saw that no visits had been recorded on May 10. Either way, I then went to the toilet one more time and then got everything ready for the morning, also taking one of those pills against gas. I had initially meant to get in bed at 3:30 AM and it was close to that time when everything else was done, and I had said that if I won’t have time then I won’t shave, but in the end I decided to do that as well, after removing that part of the brush that was coming off, since I hadn’t gotten around to try to glue it back after finally finding that glue that I knew we still had. But at least I shaved really quickly, if admittedly not too well… And then I realized that I couldn’t remember what emergency contact number I had written on the back of the bib, and when I checked I saw that I had written mine instead of dad’s. But at least I could correct that without taking the bib off the t-shirt, and I finally got in bed at 3:55 AM.
Despite the earlier hour and the various noises coming from the upstairs neighbor, I managed to fall asleep after a while, but a couple of minutes before 5 AM I was awake again and rather needed to pee, so I did that and then managed to get back to sleep quickly. And when I woke up again I saw that it was 6:11 AM, and with the alarm being set to ring at 6:15 AM, I just turned it off and got up, then ate an imported bio (organic) apple, mixed one of those cheap yogurts, since I hadn’t bothered to buy anything better, with the cereals, raisins in dark chocolate and baked almonds with Himalayan salt which I had already placed in the bowl, and ate that as well, took all of the supplements, except the second pills of the iron, which I took with me, and that one for joints, which I left for later, basically wasted some time on the toilet, which I didn’t consider much of a problem after having gone after dinner, put a flimsy bag and the napkins, garlic, liquid magnesium, Smecta Go and expired bar and gel in the pocket of my tights, also ate two of those wheat things, with bio (organic) honey both between and on them, took a regular Smecta with some of the tea and one more of those pills against gas, and left just before 8 AM, wearing the full running gear and one armband, dad driving me to the metro station and giving me his metro card. The temperature was supposed to be about 12°C at 9 AM, which was the start time of the half marathon, and about 15°C at 11 AM.
I realized in the car that I still had a bag in the jacket’s pocket and meant to leave it with dad, but I forgot to do so and that ended up being a great thing later. Either way, I then took the metro, got off at Izvor, and reached Constitution Square just before 8:30 AM, having a quick look around the area but not seeing anything being given away that I could get, so after just doing a few stretching moves on my own, it wasn’t even 8:40 AM when I stuffed the jacket and phone in the bag and went to drop it off at the wardrobe, the line moving quickly and the volunteer seeing that I had pinned a piece of paper with my number on the bag, giving me a thumbs up and passing it on right away, without having to write the number on one of those labels that they were sticking to the straps. And then, after taking the last iron pill, I went to the toilets and picked what looked to be one of the shorter lines… Only for someone to spend a long time in the toilet that it was for, so the wait ended up being longer than it’d have been if I’d have picked pretty much any other line and making me have to rush to the starting area… And on the way I also saw that hardly anyone was waiting at the toilets that were closer to it, though the start time was approaching and I obviously can’t know how it’d have been if I’d have gone straight there.
Though the assigned sector still wasn’t printed on the bibs, the starting area was split into sectors and I had initially decided to take my correct place, in the one for times between 1:45:00 and 1:59:59, knowing that I was in no shape to get below 1:45. But I also knew that I needed every help I could get to even stay under 1:50 and a good start time might make all the difference, so when I actually got there I changed my mind and kept going, walking to the entrance to the sector meant for times between 1:20:00 and 1:44:59. And that’s actually the first time I saw such a sector, so far the sector for times below 1:45 coming right after the small one for the elite athletes, so it can still be said that I didn’t push my way into the first sector that amateurs can access… And I actually didn’t push my way into that sector either before the start, since a number of people were crowded at the entrance, with no room to actually enter, so I rushed to eat that expired energy bar while standing among them, just managing to finish it before the start, though I then held on to the wrapping for quite some time.

I’d normally consider stopping here, using a post to write only about what happened until the start, as a complete waste of a personal “slot”, but this time it’s different, because this post is more of a way to announce that, earlier this evening, close to eight months after the fact, almost five after posting what was initially just a placeholder, and four after making the previous additions, I finally, finally finished the second post about last year’s marathon, getting to the point when I crossed the finish line. Of course, after so long and with so few notes to go on, the result is relatively poor in specific details, and that’s even more frustrating when that’s my most important run and likely to be the best performance I’ll ever achieve in any “official” way. But at least it’s finally there, in some form, and if I’ll remember anything else or somehow find that I wrote or said something back then that I somehow failed to find again so far, I can always make more edits.

I can’t write about other runs until I somehow manage to write about this year’s half marathon, so I’ll just mention that on Thursday I ran a half marathon distance with a surprisingly good time, then jogged another kilometer and a half or so in the evening and got in bed at 6:15 AM in the morning… And a little after 11:50 AM I got up, after some brief drilling from upstairs. But I had actually woken up earlier, I’m not sure whether because of another brief moment of drilling or because dad had gotten up and was getting ready to leave, and I also don’t know what time it was when that happened and when, or even if, I got back to sleep after that. But just before 12:20 PM I did get back in bed, since there was no more drilling and the forecast listed rain and storms, and moments later it actually did start raining heavily, so I delayed the decision about what to do that day. But when I woke up again, just after 2:05 PM, I decided to have lunch, with part of a large bag of salty bagels instead of bread, and start getting ready to go to Bookfest if it won’t keep raining heavily even later, even if it likely meant being there until closing time and then being unable to go anywhere else… Only to see quite a storm around 4 PM and forecasts changing to list rain continuing for the next couple of hours, which made me pretty much give up on the idea of going… Only to change my mind again when I saw that, around 4:40 PM, only a light rain was left. And then dad also got back just as I was getting ready to leave, so I could take the metro card, leaving at 5:30 PM, with two bakery products that I was thinking of giving away and a small bag of trash that I dropped down the chute.
After picking up a couple of recyclables, I took the metro to Aviatorilor… And then got confused, which keeps happening, so I yet again ended up going in wrong directions and back and forth, and going back to the metro station and checking both exits didn’t help in any way because I couldn’t find any map. But at least I saw another rainbow during that time. And, after walking back out from the same exit a full half an hour after the first time I had done that, I finally figured things out and jogged part of the way, finally walking in a few minutes before 7 PM, so pretty much exactly one hour after walking off the metro.
After peeing and washing my hands, I took a map of the place and wandered around, pretty much avoiding the large publishers and doing my best to check all of the places that I could have any sort of interest in… Which were fewer than in previous years, especially when it comes to books in English, which were only sold in a few places and none had anything that I was interested in. Admittedly, I didn’t mean to buy anything from there this year anyway, but I was unpleasantly surprised when I found that some of those that I had made purchases from before didn’t even attend and I kept thinking that I must have missed something, and that the fact that I didn’t spot names that I remembered in the list that was on the back of the map might have been caused by the fact that I had forgotten them and didn’t know what to look for, so I wished I’d have thought to take a pen with me, to cross out all of the areas that I had checked and see whether anything was left. But I eventually went to an area that was meant for children and used a marker that was left on one of the tables to cross out where I was sure that I had been, after which I went back to what was left… Only to realize that I had checked those places as well, but had simply forgotten the names. So the only thing I grabbed were two nice candies from the handful that were left on a table that was in the corner of one of the areas, and I walked out just after 8:50 PM, leaving that map at one of the information desks and only later realizing that it couldn’t have been given to someone else after I had used that marker on it.
I took it easy on the way back, also taking the time to pick up recyclables, but while I did mean to get back to Aviatorilor, it’s probably not surprising that I once again got confused… But that didn’t really bother me, so I realized pretty much right away that something was wrong but just kept going, and when it was clear that I was actually on my way to Victory Square it was pretty much a relief. And I actually reached that metro station 50 minutes after walking out of the fair, so it took me about ten minutes less than it had taken me to get there from Aviatorilor. And one thing that worked out well was that I was looking for some paper towels that are apparently only discounted in Carrefour Market, not the hypermarket as well, at least unless the fact that they’re listed in that catalog is an error, it wasn’t 10 PM yet, and I thought that there is one at Victory Square, but it’s on the other side, so I didn’t see it and forgot about that at that point, heading straight for the metro station… And now I realize that I was misremembering and that’s actually a Carrefour Express, so I’d have likely just wasted even more time if I’d have gone all around that area to get to it.
Either way, I then took the metro to Unirii and before reaching that Carrefour I gave one of the bakery products to a man who was begging in that area… And he asked whether I had 1 RON, so I frowned and walked away, but at least I did my part, giving something. And then I put my things in a cabinet, went to wash my hands, and just got a nice chocolate and two buns that had the 50% evening discount, the second one appearing there when I went back to the bakery area, since there had certainly been just one the first time around. And the discounted bakery products were bagged and labeled individually, just like at Obor, even though they hadn’t been doing that in that location before. On the other hand, while two sweet pastries that I’d have been interested in were also left, those weren’t bagged, and I asked the employee and she said that they weren’t discounted. And I didn’t find what I had mainly gone there for either, for my mother. But at least that chocolate meant that I could use the remaining voucher received for previous purchases at the self-checkout, and it resulted in receiving another one… And one of the employees came and looked in my bag while I was scanning. Either way, then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, arranged everything and went back to the metro station.
After getting off at Dristor, picking up some more recyclables and peeling the label off what was just the upper half of another, I also went to that non-stop Mega Image, putting my things in two cabinets and finding that some bakery products were discounted by 90% in that location as well, so the fact that those sweet pastries weren’t discounted at Carrefour worked out for the better. Admittedly, only a few products with that discount were left at that Mega Image, but I could get two of them… Or, more exactly, two bags, since one contained a sweet pastry, but the other contained three mini croissants… Yet it only had two labels on it, and the cashier scanned it like that, so I got one for free. Or got them with a 93% discount, if you prefer. However, I didn’t get a receipt, since the cashier seemed to have problems with the printer and I didn’t wait, just retrieving my things, arranging once again and making my way back, having a bag that was pretty much full of recyclables by the time I got here.
I got back at 12:05 AM, then ate an apple, the “proper” sweet pastry from Mega Image and the rest of that bag of bagels, washed what was in the kitchen, put the purchases in their place, and it was almost 1:40 AM when I went to wash and 2:10 AM when I was done. But then I spent some time in my room, only going back to the kitchen at 2:30 AM and eating dinner between 4:25 AM and 5:05 AM. And then, after cleaning up after Liza vomited, which was unsurprising since dad had brought her fresh grass, and rubbing cream on both my feet and my hands, I got in bed at 6:25 AM. I was so exhausted, and a stranger thing was that I kept feeling as if something was moving on me…

Considering that exhaustion, I didn’t want to get up to watch the Formula E race, scheduling it to be recorded instead, but I happened to wake up to pee before it finished, so after doing that I had a look and saw that it was lap 28 of 29, yet the recording was set to continue for another half an hour, so I wanted to stop it after the end of the race, even though the TV tuner’s software makes it tricky to stop scheduled recordings early and I made it even worse by closing it again, since I didn’t want to see the end of the race when I meant to watch the full recording later and it didn’t cross my mind to just look away, the result being that when I opened it again it asked whether I wanted to resume or restart watching the recording, so I tried both, closing it and opening it again after picking something, and not quite knowing how to stop the recording, until I messed everything up by just closing that prompt, which caused the program to hang and I forced it to close, then finally canceled the scheduled recording after I opened it again, but the result was that the recording was corrupted… And that also made me wonder whether anything else might have gotten messed up, so after checking the logs and seeing another one of those warnings about the display driver, which makes it likely that the TV tuner’s software had caused those previous ones as well, if I actually was at the computer at that point, I rebooted.
Well, when I checked things after it booted back up, I saw that the fan speeds were staying at 50%, or more exactly 49.8%, even though the CPU temperature was above 50°C, so they should have increased. And it’s possible that I had noticed that before, but since it was pretty cold before and the CPU temperature wasn’t an issue, I checked very rarely and didn’t really pay attention, but at that point I tried starting a couple of games, which took the temperature even close to 60°C, and nothing changed. And while at that point I decided that I had lost enough time and got back to sleep, in the afternoon I also turned the computer off and then back on, which tended to fix the issue on the old one, and also checked that the curves were still correct in BIOS, but the situation remained unchanged, or just about unchanged, since after that the fans were reported as being at 50.2%. Admittedly, whether shutting down actually means shutting down when it’s Windows 10 we’re talking about is a question, and I didn’t actually turn off power, but when this happens on both computers despite the very different hardware and even the different operating system version, I wonder if it’s not something caused by PowerChute, since that is a common thing between the two, it’s likely to interfere with power settings, and I only installed that on this computer in January, so when it was colder and, as far as I know, I had switched fully to MilkyWay@home, which doesn’t push temperatures up the way Asteroids@home does, so the issue might not have been obvious so far even if it had appeared back then. Plus that on the old computer it seemed to appear pretty randomly after reboots, even if Windows updates, while those still existed for Windows 7, did seem to make it way more likely. Either way, I haven’t done anything else about it so far, but with temperatures supposed to go well over 30°C next week, I’ll probably need to look into it more.
On the other hand, to get back to what this really started from, since today’s Formula E race was initially brought forward by two hours and then delayed, apparently at first by one and then by one and a half, and I definitely wasn’t going to risk anything again, I set the alarm to ring at 8 AM and found that what was on TV at the time was a recording of yesterday’s race, which at that point was on lap 10, so I got to watch just about two thirds of it after all. And then, seeing that further delay, I set the alarm to ring at 9:30 AM and got back in bed, actually managing to catch another little nap, then watching that race, and then getting back to sleep yet again.