Cav's Place

I did manage to write the post about the previous two runs last evening, even though I initially posted it with a rough version of its last part, about the rest of August 19, to be able to post all of it before disconnecting, after dad got back, and then I edited that part quite heavily after getting back on-line, at night, but this post, about the long practice run, is initially little more than a placeholder, since I also went out this evening and before midnight I only managed to get as far as the paragraph about the time I lost mainly because of drinking and eating. And it’s another hard post to write anyway, so I posted what I initially did in order to force myself to finish writing it over the coming days. And at least I did manage to edit it in order to add the rest of it Friday evening.

On the evening of August 27, I got back in bed for some two hours, but I was getting up to pee every half an hour even though I hadn’t eaten watermelon that day and hadn’t even drunk all of the tea before then, and I only caught one brief nap before getting up the first time. So I guess that I just rested a little more, before eventually shaving, with cold water, taking out all of my bread from the freezer in order to see just what I still had, keeping one of the two pieces of the best kind for that night and then putting everything else back, and working on the salad, once again ending up being far too slow and eating dinner, with peanut butter on all of the bread, between 3:25 AM and 3:55 AM. But at least I also made a vitamin tea while I was still in the kitchen, which I poured into two reusable bottles after getting up, which was just a few minutes before 4 PM, so it’s a good thing that I had decided to set the alarm to ring at 4 PM instead of 3:30 PM, so I could turn it off after getting up instead of getting woken up by it earlier. Then again, I might have already been awake at 3:30 PM, since I stayed in bed for a while longer before getting up.
Either way, after pouring that tea into the bottles and seeing that it didn’t completely fill the second one, I made the regular tea as well, set aside the second shot and the second bar taken after the Dream Trek, along with the liquid magnesium that was probably from the race kit for this year’s half marathon, so just that second bar was still valid, and ate the Gala apple and the really nice yogurt, with cereals, baked almonds with Himalayan salt and raisins in dark chocolate mixed in, though I didn’t realize that the yogurt had a second protective cover, which had apparently fallen into it, so I put everything on top of it and then had to dig it out, therefore being unable to have a look at the top of the yogurt to see whether any mold started to form or whether anything else seemed off, since it was still valid but I had bought it quite some time before. But it tasted fine, so I ate it, and after going to the toilet I also ate two nicer, but also expired, biscuits, with added honey, took some other supplement, which I had tried two days earlier, since it was too early to start taking the regular ones, and one of those pills against gas, drank a Smecta with some of the new tea, filled the space left in the second bottle with it, and left at 6:50 PM, taking the two bottles and wearing the full running gear, one armband and the running belt, with just the shot in it, since I was mainly taking it in order to put a bottle in there after I’ll empty it, while the bar, the liquid magnesium, the napkins and the slip of paper with the emergency information were in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 28°C, dropping just a little while I ran, since it was 26°C at 11 PM, so it may be said that it pretty much held steady at about 27°C. Since I started before sunset and finished hours after it, that was weird, but that’s what the weather stations reported…
The time was 3:25:45, with lap times of 16:28, 16:53, 17:05, 17:41, 17:54, 19:26, 18:19, 19:07, 20:48, 20:42 and 21:22. So I need to get below 3:10 in order to have any realistic chance of squeezing under four hours at the marathon, have a personal best of 3:18:07 and a second best of 3:23:09, but only managed to be a little faster than the first time I covered this distance, making this only the third out of the four times that count, leaving aside the terrible ones from 2020 and 2023. And squeezing under 3:10 would mean an average lap time of 17:16, so I only covered the first three laps in less than that and after five laps I was about to go over that average, which obviously happened seconds later, considering all of the time lost at the start of lap six. On the other hand, that personal best meant an average lap time that was less than a second over 18 minutes, so I was still over one minute ahead after eight laps, but by that point I already knew that aiming to beat that time was a lost cause, and not just because I lost more than that difference at the start of lap nine, but because I knew that I had no chance of getting anywhere near the times that I managed on the last three laps back then. However, at that point I was still hoping for the second best time, only realizing towards the end of lap ten that I had no chance of managing that either, and over the course of the last lap even being somewhat concerned that I might even fail to beat that first run’s time, since I only remembered that it was 3:26, not the seconds as well, so I had to stay under 3:26 to be certain and I was really struggling… And the fact that I did stay under 3:26 may mean that this wasn’t a complete embarrassment, but it’s clearly a bad time, and a disheartening one…
Since I mentioned the lost time, when I drank at the start of lap four I lost less than 30 seconds, but let’s say that I lost about 30 seconds that lap, since I later realized that I had forgotten the time that I saw at that point and it was too dark to see it properly while still running, and in fact I ended up losing several seconds because of that, since my eyes just wouldn’t focus. Then I lost about a minute at the start of lap five, when I ate that bar, and some two minutes at the start of lap six, most of it because I struggled to close the zipper of the running belt after emptying one bottle of tea and putting it in there. Since I neither ate nor drank at the start of lap seven, I just lost a few seconds, in order to see the time properly, while at the start of laps eight and ten I drank again and lost some 30 seconds because of that. However, at the start of lap nine, when I pulled that shot and the liquid magnesium from the pocket of my tights and drank both of them, I once again lost some two minutes. On the other hand, I didn’t even stop to check the time at the start of lap 11.
Getting back to the beginning, it was clear that 3:10 was out of the question and any attempt would just result in exhausting myself too early, like in 2022, but I looked at the stopwatch a couple of times over the course of the first lap, eventually decided to try to cover it in just under 16:30, and did just that. And then I wanted to stay under 17 minutes on lap two as well, which I also managed without any problem. However, since I tried to pay close attention to how much effort I was making and avoided pushing in pretty much any way, I failed to do the same on lap three. But, despite the lost time, I stayed under 18 minutes not just on lap four, but on lap five as well, and while I did push on lap five in order to manage that and realizing that I had gone over that average lap time that was required for 3:10 at the start of lap six was slightly disheartening despite knowing that I shouldn’t even really think about that, at that point I was still thinking not only of a new personal best, but even of getting under 3:15, which was the best target that I realistically thought of at the beginning.
That didn’t last long, however, only managing to recover a small part of the time lost at the start of lap six despite pushing over the course of it making me realize that none of that was likely anymore, especially since I was starting to tire. And when I went well over 18 minutes on lap seven despite not drinking or eating and the actual running time for lap eight was worse, I realized that the best possible scenario was to average 20 minutes per lap over the last three laps, which would have at least led to a new second best time. So I settled for that, and while all of the time lost at the start of lap nine was a serious problem, the fact that the actual running time was similar to that from lap eight gave me some hope… But lap ten was hard, and when the time was similar to that from lap nine despite losing so much less, it finally became clear that I could only hope for a new third time, and the way I felt even put that in doubt, so I gave everything I had left over the course of the last lap, pushing even harder over the last few hundred meters.
To move on to the problems, there actually isn’t that much to say. I mean, there were some issues caused by people, but since speed wasn’t the primary goal, they didn’t matter that much, and the more significant ones only caused me to slow anyway, as I’m pretty sure that I never actually stopped because of that, and towards the end it was quite clear, the number of people dropping sharply. Of course, having to weave and go the long way around meant covering a longer distance and that definitely mattered, but I couldn’t say how much, and it’s possible that the running lane was the worse problem from that point of view, considering all of the damaged spots, including plenty that created a risk of tripping, and the fact that the long straight of sector two seemed to be the worst part of it, much of it being basically unusable, the risk of tripping approaching certainty, so I did my best to avoid all of those places, obviously even more so after dark.
As for physical issues, my right knee started giving some warnings from sector two of lap two, and by the end of lap three the right ankle and the left knee joined it, but I wouldn’t say that those issues became noticeably worse after that in themselves, and the only other specific physical problem appeared at the start of lap nine, when I noticed that something was wrong with my back after drinking that shot and the liquid magnesium. Actually, at first it felt like the problem was with my neck, but after a while it became quite clear that the feeling was reflected from my back, and it’s not just that I couldn’t snap it or otherwise correct it while I ran, but it actually took a couple of days before it seemed to fix itself. But, of course, the real problems came after hitting the wall, which actually happened relatively late. I mean, I already mentioned that it was on lap six when I started to feel somewhat tired, but I was quite all right until about halfway through lap eight, when my hands started going numb, and I was just about to complete sector two of lap nine when I noticed that the numbness was beginning to also affect my arms and my legs were getting heavy. That was still manageable until the end of that lap, but from the start of lap ten, maybe also because I slowed to a walk in order to finish the tea and then had to start running again, it was a struggle to keep putting one foot in front of the other, so the fact that I just kept running after that, not even stopping to have another good look at the time, likely made all the difference.
I really paid for that, however, and probably for those last few hundred meters in particular, since it was so hard to climb those stairs and then make my way back. I knew that I had to just keep walking, since it was probably the only thing that kept my muscles from seizing completely, so I didn’t even try to do any stretching exercises, but every step was just so hard, I had to keep pushing through the pain, often being unable to walk in a straight line, feeling like I was just about to collapse and hoping that my body would at least recover a little bit by the time I’ll get back here… And then I made the mistake of checking the nearby Mega Image, and as soon as I stepped in my legs did cramp, so I somehow stumbled to the bakery area and then placed one hand on a stack of packs of beer and the other on the glass from that area and tried to wait out the worst of it, after which I took out the sheets of paper where the ingredients for those products are listed, since they were all stacked together, and read some of them, ending up considering coming back to buy something. But I wanted to get back here by 11 PM, hoping to be able to see what the temperature had been at 10 PM, and when I realized that I only had a couple of minutes left I tried to shove those papers back in their place, then ended up leaving them on a shelf when I failed to do so and tried to rush back… Not that I could exactly rush anymore.
Well, I did manage to get back a little before 11 PM, but it was some seconds after that hour when I got to the computer and could check the weather report, and while that site is usually updated a couple of minutes after the hour, at that point I saw that the temperatures for 11 PM were already posted, so I couldn’t see what they had been at 10 PM… Not that it really mattered, considering how little the temperature seemed to have dropped even by 11 PM, so I shrugged that off, put watermelon in a plate and then, after changing my mind about returning to Mega Image, I just went to drop a bag of trash down the chute… Only realizing after I got back that I had forgotten to clean the litter box first. Either way, I then drank what little was left in the bottles and vials and ate watermelon, with some small doughnuts. I considered that I had eaten enough sweet things that day, so I didn’t want any other sweets and thought that those doughnuts were plain, only realizing after the first bite that they were sweetened after all, but I couldn’t exactly put them back at that point.
It was only after that when I finally did a few quick stretching exercises, but they didn’t help my neck, or my back, whatever it was. But then I somehow even managed to do the day’s squats before going to the bathroom, to use the toilet and shower, at 12:30 AM, the big problem being that the water was cold, so it wasn’t just that taking a bath was completely out of the question, but I was so weakened and when I dared to aim the shower at my torso and back it felt like being stabbed by icy daggers. But I eventually did manage to wash myself to some extent, being done a little before 1:20 AM. And then I started working on dinner, which included making pizza, and during that time I also ate the last box of expired walnuts with Himalayan salt, so I got almost 850 calories just from those, drank the rest of the tea and made another. I finally ate dinner between 4:45 AM and 6:05 AM, and I kept feeling so thirsty, so I then drank much, if not most, of the new tea as well, despite the fact that I felt just stuffed.

I got in bed at 6:35 AM, but it was pointless. I mean, I can’t sleep after such an effort anyway, and I was really stuffed, plus that dad got back soon after I got in bed and made some noise, having apparently brought some things and preparing what he needed in order to cook something after he’ll get up, and Liza kept meowing as well, knowing that he was going to keep feeding her if she did, and since I was still wasting time after he went to bed, it wasn’t even 7:25 AM when I got back on the computer, eventually drinking some more tea, peeing and getting back in bed at 8:30 AM… Only for some workers to start mowing the plants that are behind the building, as in actually in this little garden, not on the other side of the fence, moments later, so I got up again, took a few pictures and got back on the computer. When some cleaners also moved in to gather the mowed plants, I took a few more pictures, noticing that the guy who was mowing did at least leave some of the larger flowers, though only the obvious ones that were actually in flower, since he mowed just about everything else, and even a few of those that did have flowers, though that was likely by accident.
At least he was done rather quickly, at which point I peed again, just in case, and got back in bed, a few minutes after 9 AM… And not long after that might have been the only time when I managed to catch a nap, but even if I did, it was the briefest one and I was definitely awake again moments later and still felt so thirsty. And it also seemed to be awfully hot even though it couldn’t have really been that hot, and my back still didn’t allow me to get in the positions that I wanted to stay in, so a little before 10:30 AM I finished the tea, peed yet again, still just in case, and then tried to get back to sleep one more time… And I was still unsuccessful, so I eventually just gave up, getting up when it wasn’t even 12:10 PM. And while I crawled back in bed for close to an hour and a half in the afternoon, I dozed off just a little, likely falling asleep for mere minutes, though possibly doing so a few times. And at night I managed to finish eating dinner at 3:40 AM despite actually starting to eat at 3:05 AM, though I tried to “cheat” a little and take a first bite before 3 AM, to be able to say that I stuck to the schedule, but realized that I had done so seconds after 3 AM after all. And the light bulb from the kitchen was once again flickering badly. And I ended up getting in bed at 5:20 AM. And after getting up, so on August 30, I started taking the supplement for joints, having decided to take it for 45 days this time around.

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

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

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

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

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

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

After feeling quite out of it over the course of the day and also being worried about having been bitten by something, possibly mosquitoes, the day before that, and in a spot where there was trash, just when the West Nile virus was confirmed to exist here, I did manage to get some sleep on the evening of July 29 and gradually started feeling better at night, while working on dinner. On the other hand, boiling carrots and radish leaves, which meant selecting and washing them, also washing two pots in order to make some room, especially since dad meant to cook, and then not finding the piece of bread that I wanted to eat that night and taking most of my bread out of the freezer and then struggling to put it all back when I didn’t remember just how it had been arranged before, led to only eating dinner between 3:55 AM and 4:30 AM, with peanut butter on all of the bread, since the plan for July 30 was to run a half marathon distance. And I got in bed at 5:25 AM.
Despite waking up when dad got back in the morning, and again when Liza started meowing after he went to sleep, and a few more times to pee, I always got right back to sleep and slept quite well until dad got up and started making noise, getting ready to cook, so I stayed in bed a little longer but, since I wasn’t going to get back to sleep, I eventually got up a little before 2:45 PM, turning off the alarm, which I had set to ring at 3 PM, to be safe. Then I did my best to get ready while dad was using the kitchen, accidentally dropping a teabag, which I had to throw away, but having the usual stuff, though the yogurt was a nice one and I also mixed raisins in dark chocolate in it. Then I washed and cleaned to some extent in the kitchen, while dad still cooked, so I’ll have somewhat less to do later, also ate that expired bar taken after the Dream Trek, with added honey, and drank most of the tea. Another reason for concern was that I felt some pain in my abdomen, or upper abdomen, maybe in my chest as well, but it might have been reflected from my back, or a mix between that and gas, and I couldn’t really do much about it at that point, so I left just after 5:45 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband and taking with me the slip of paper with the emergency information and one of the shots taken after the Dream Trek, which had also expired. The reported temperature was 31-32°C when I started, and 28-29°C when I finished.
The time was 1:45:50, with sector times of 4:30, 5:08, 5:57, 4:33, 5:06, 6:04, 4:33, 5:13, 5:56, 4:39, 5:18, 6:17, 4:52, 5:18, 6:08, 4:43, 5:24, 6:17, 1:55, 6:02 and 1:57, making for lap times of 15:35, 15:43, 15:42, 16:14, 16:18 and 16:24, plus 9:54 for the final portion. I didn’t really have a target time at first, fearing that I’ll go over 1:50, and while towards the end I forgot that I was assuming up to 11 minutes on the final portion and was really surprised when I saw that I had ended up being under 1:46 instead of 1:47, the fact that it’s over 1:45, even if by far less than I feared, especially considering the temperature, still makes it a useless time…
During the first lap, I set my mind on at least completing it in less than the 15:45 that’s the target lap time for 1:45, which I managed by some margin. Then I just wanted to keep the average for the first two laps below 15:45, but after two sectors of lap two it seemed that I might just squeeze under 15:45 on that lap as well, which I did, the target then becoming to maintain that average over the first three laps, and when it seemed that it might be rather tight, I pushed harder on sector three of lap three, surprising myself by staying under 15:45 on that lap as well. But I was sure that I’ll get slower after that, so the next target was to keep the average for the first five laps under 16 minutes and stay under 1:48 at the end, and that lap four time seemed pretty much what it should be. However, sector three of lap four was concerning, and I was also going to drink that shot at the start of lap five, which ended up costing me some ten seconds. Still, lap five was less bad than I expected it to be, mainly thanks to its third sector, and if by then I had been sort of thinking of 1:47:30, after that lap I switched to wondering whether staying under 1:47 was possible while still allowing for 11 minutes on the final portion, so I pushed on lap six, even if the times may not exactly show it. And then I just kept pushing, pretty much forgetting about the minutes and just focusing on the seconds, being surprised by that time on the final portion’s second sector, so what’d otherwise be a sector three of a lap, and continuing to push all the way to the end. I might have lost just a little because I didn’t get the steps right at the end and couldn’t do that little jump, but I knew that I had plenty of seconds to spare at that point… Or, as I already mentioned, those seconds plus one minute, compared to what I thought.
I felt that toenail jabbing the toe pretty much from the start, and there was a little blood when I got back, but much less than I thought. Otherwise, I think that it was right from sector two of lap one when I needed to snap my back, and from the next sector when a slight pressing need appeared, and from the start of lap two when my right knee and left calf muscle started giving some warnings, but all of these might have happened a lap later, I’m not certain. Either way, they never went away, just the intensity varying. And by sector three of lap five the pressing need was intensifying, becoming even more noticeable on lap six, when the warnings from various parts of both of my legs worsened as well. And by sector two of the final portion my arms were going numb and my legs were burning. On the other hand, there were some windy areas, but that also brought a cooling effect, which must have been at least part of the reason why the heat didn’t bother me nearly as much as I feared.
As for the problems caused by people, on sector two of lap four I first had to take a tight turn and go all around a group because another guy used the only other way past them right in front of me, and then, at the end of that same sector, under the bridge, I hesitated and slowed because of a girl on a bicycle. Oddly, I was particularly slow on the next sector, not that one, but I have no idea why. Either way, on sector two of the final portion I had to briefly stop when a girl on roller skates went across the lane to throw something in a garbage can and then froze in front of me when she realized that I was coming. But, speaking of the lane, it was damaged in all sorts of ways, including quite a number of spots that created a risk of tripping, so I avoided what I could. And, as I already mentioned, on sector one of lap five I stopped for a few seconds to drink that shot, after trying to unscrew the cap while still running and spilling a fair bit of it on myself as a result, so I then tried to wipe the worst of it off with that armband, losing some more time.

After getting back, I ate watermelon and the expired walnuts with pepper that I had, changed and left again a little before 9:20 PM, first going to Carrefour and getting a number of things, including a shrink-wrapped carton of 20 expiring eggs, so I just hoped that they were fine. I’m not sure whether I was still waiting in line at the self-checkout or had started using the machine when the closing announcement came, but I obviously didn’t charge myself for the bag that the spoiling potatoes which I had also bought were in and a third, firmer, announcement came while I was rushing to arrange the purchases.
With that Kaufland closing at 10:30 PM, I then rushed there, putting the purchases in a cabinet, washing my hands, entering the store at 10:10 PM, and just grabbing one more expensive bun from the bakery area, with the 50% discount, since no cheaper ones were left. And the only other thing that caught my interest was the evening discount for watermelons, and while not that many were left in their normal place, there were many, in several large boxes, next to the information desk, so I started knocking on some of them and had more or less settled on one when the information desk employee told me that they were closing soon. But it was only 10:22 PM, so I told her that I still had seven minutes, rounding down, and she confirmed that, so I could calmly take that watermelon and was once again either at the self-checkout or still waiting in line to use it when the closing announcement came. Either way, I helped the person who was ahead of me a little, and as I was about to finish using the machine I even ended up helping an employee, since she asked a coworker how to enter something, was told to hit search and enter a certain code, but couldn’t even find the search button, and that other employee told her a couple of times where to look but wasn’t actually going there, so I just stepped over and hit it… But then I had a problem, the watermelon not fitting in the backpack, so I wondered how to carry it, ending up splitting the purchases from Carrefour between the backpack and a smaller bag after retrieving them from the cabinet, and putting the watermelon in the bag that those purchases had been in.
I still had a little time to also check that Mega Image that closes at 11 PM, so I did, putting the bags into two cabinets but leaving the one with the watermelon unlocked, since I only had one 0.50 RON coin, entering with the backpack and finding chickpeas discounted by 90%, so I took all four bags, two kilograms, and also some cookies that were discounted by 50%, and the cashier asked what was I doing with the chickpeas and whether I was making hummus and I said that I was, the next day, though in fact I intended to use them sort of like beans, and while the plan to cook the next day was true at that point, I ended up changing my mind. Either way, I then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged the purchases a little before stepping out.
Once I got outside, I wanted to arrange the purchases much better… And the carton of eggs tipped over after I took everything else out of that bag. Fortunately, it stayed on that shelf from that florist’s place from there, not falling on the sidewalk, but it still took a bit of a hit, so I was worried. And, while I put more weight in the backpack, carrying that watermelon remained a problem and I struggled on the way back, needing to stop several times. It was better while I carried it in my arms, part of the way, but even after I started doing that I switched back to carrying the bag in one hand for a while, then back to having it in my arms, then back to holding it in one hand for the last part of the way, after picking up two bottles with the deposit symbol and throwing them in that bag, over the watermelon.
I got back at 11:50 PM, with a little over 17 kg, and I only weighed exactly 45 kg. I was just exhausted, couldn’t regain my breath, but after cleaning the litter box I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, then checked the eggs and found just one cracked one and it had clearly been cracked all along, seeming to have mold or rot on the crack, so I threw it away in another little bag… Which dad picked up from the bottom a little later, when he wanted to put some more trash in it, at which point that egg broke completely, and it didn’t actually look bad inside, so maybe it didn’t have to be thrown away after all, but it was too late at that point. Either way, I then drank the last shake taken after the Dream Trek and put most of the purchases in their place… At which point I noticed that one of the bags of bagels from Carrefour was plain, not with caraway, and while I can’t figure out how I failed to notice that in the store, so be it, the price was the same and I’ll make do with it.
I finally went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, a little before 1:20 AM, being done just before 2:05 AM. And then I still had a few more things to put in their place, the notable problem being the new watermelon, which required rearranging plenty of things in the fridge, and I also washed and cleaned some of what was left after dad had cooked, still leaving quite a number of things for another time, moved and mixed something as well, and finally ate a combined lunch and dinner between 4:55 AM and 5:50 AM, though I had licked some of what I had mixed earlier, in the kitchen. And that lunch also contained eggs, which aren’t the best thing to eat right before going to bed, but that was that… And I went to bed at 6:50 AM, without getting on-line, after making another tea… And I was also noticing that the bite from my arm looked really angry, so the stopwatch might have been right on it after all, though I had thought that it had been below it.

Well, as it pretty much always happens after making such effort, I couldn’t sleep. This time around, I actually did catch a very brief nap at first, but I quickly woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, and at 8:25 AM I got back on the computer. It was past 9:45 AM when I got back in bed, after going to pee one more time… But dad also got up at that point, and while I probably wouldn’t have managed to get back to sleep anyway, that settled it, so I just stayed in bed until a little after he left, but then, a little after 10:50 AM, I got up again. And early in the afternoon I finished Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition, and then I got back in bed and finally fell asleep… Only to be woken up almost immediately by an SMS from my provider. But then I did manage to get back to sleep and got close to two hours, and another short nap in the evening.

I was obviously hoping to recover some of that lost sleep the following day, but I woke up a few minutes after 8 AM and went to pee, though it might have actually been noise that woke me, since I wasn’t even back in my room when some particularly loud drilling started. It didn’t last long, and I ended up falling asleep again, but more noise woke me mere moments later, at which point I pretty much decided to get up and go out, since it was dad’s birthday and I wanted to get him some black beer. I couldn’t quite manage it and think that I fell asleep yet again, but once again for mere moments, and when noise woke me one more time, I did get up. It was 8:40 AM at that time.
At 9:40 AM I went out, first checking this Mega Image and this nearby store, just in case that beer or a similar one would be cheaper than at Penny. And I also wanted to look at the cabbage from this nearby store, since I had seen four days earlier that it was cheaper than in the stores that I usually go to, but the price had doubled! Either way, I then picked up two cans with the deposit symbol on the way to the nearest Penny, but one had a wrapping from something, I think a chocolate bar, and a lot of cigarette butts in it, so I pulled out the wrapping and then spent some time shaking out almost all of the cigarette butts into a garbage can. And the recycling machine from Penny wasn’t working, and while an employee was trying to fix it, he didn’t seem to be able to figure out what the problem was, so I had a look through the garbage bins from there and picked up two more recyclables with the deposit symbol… And it seems that I was once again bitten by something on my hand while I did so, though it was on the hand in which I was holding those two cans which I had picked up earlier, so I’m not sure what that was, whether one of the flies that were buzzing around or something else.
After giving up on the idea of using the recycling machine, I put the recyclables in a cabinet, without locking, and got that beer for dad and some tofu for myself, getting the total above the 30 RON required to use that voucher which I had received a few days earlier, when I had participated in their coins campaign, which was active once again… But it didn’t work, and the cashier asked two coworkers about it and was told that it won’t work with alcohol, even though the small print states that it doesn’t apply to spirits, specifically, not all alcoholic drinks. But the fact remained that it wasn’t working and the other cashier said that it won’t work with alcohol at all, so I just paid in full, then thought that I hadn’t been given back the voucher and turned around to ask for it, but the cashier said that I had taken it and put it in a pocket, so I checked and found that he was correct, just that I had placed it in another pocket without realizing it. And I’m yet to try to use it again, so I hope that the problem really was the fact that I was buying that beer and not that it won’t work at all, especially since things didn’t exactly go smoothly when I received it. But, to return to that day, I then put the purchases in the backpack, saw that the recycling machine from there still wasn’t working, picked up another recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way back, put all of them in the recycling machine from the nearby Mega Image, and cashed in the voucher.
I got back at 10:55 AM, and it was quiet and it remained so after that, so I managed to catch another two hours or so of sleep in the afternoon. But I continued to feel just exhausted, obviously, and my throat also started feeling somewhat sore and it felt like there was something in my chest, which was a reason for concern, and another was the slight burning sensation that I felt in the hand where I had been bitten, and which later started going up the arm as well. But all of the local symptoms caused by the bites eventually went away, and so did that slightly sore throat, though the feeling that there’s something in my chest keeps returning on plenty of days. But, to once again return to that day, or more exactly advance to that night, that was when I did the squats as well… And I’ll also mention here that there were no visits that day.

In the early hours of August 5, I ended up eating dinner between 3:25 AM and 4 AM, and getting in bed at 5:25 AM. But the alarm was set to ring at 3 PM, just to be safe, and while I kept waking up, the intervals becoming ever shorter after noon, I always got back to sleep almost right away and meant to only get up after the alarm rang… Only for dad to call just after 2:50 PM, so I got up then, had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing consisting of two nicer but expired biscuits, with added honey, looked some things up on-line, and eventually left just before 5:55 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 29-30°C, basically holding steady, since it was 29°C when I finished. But it was cloudy, which helped.
The time was 48:23.95, with sector times of 4:20.45, 5:06.25, 5:54 (5:53.93), I think 4:28.07, then 5:10 (I think 5:09.90), 5:59 (5:58.97), 4:31.25, 5:06 (5:05.94), 5:57 (5:56.34) and 1:52.85, making for lap times of 15:20.63, 15:37 (15:36.94) and 15:34 (15:33.53). I realized after sector two of lap two that I couldn’t recall the exact time after the previous sector, but I believe that it was because the hundredths were the same as at the end of lap one and my brain mixed up the times, so I’ll go with that, and either way the seconds are definitely correct.
I once again hoped to get back under 48 minutes but didn’t believe that it was possible, and having that time on the first sector despite really pushing from the start made it quite clear that it wasn’t, but I still hoped to squeeze under that 15:20 that’s the target lap time for 48 minutes on the first lap… Yet I failed even that, albeit by less than two thirds of a second. So I then started wondering whether I’ll at least manage to stay under 48:30 and kept pushing, being relatively pleased with the time on sector one of lap two, but the next two sectors weren’t quite at the required level and at the end of the lap even that goal seemed unlikely, since I had to be faster on lap three. But I went for it, pushing harder from the start of the lap, and even more after the first sector, still thinking that I was going to fail, especially after stopping for probably two seconds, to see the time properly, but wanting to at least know that I did my best. And after sector two of lap three it seemed like I might just have a chance after all, while at the end of the lap it was quite clear that I was going to make it, which I did, by a safe margin. But that’s still a poor time.
Other than occasionally having to weave or go the long way around, the notable problems caused by people were on sector one of lap two, when the runner who was ahead of me suddenly stopped to pick up a toy dropped by a baby from a stroller and I had to step on the grass to get around him, cutting a turn but slowing a lot in the process, then on sector one of lap three, when I slowed to wait for an opening in a roadblock, and on sector three of lap three, when I hesitated and had to quickly avoid a kid on a scooter who was turning in front of me, both of us aiming for what was pretty much the only opening between the people who were filling the rest of the path and another runner who was coming from the opposite direction, on the lane. But the biggest loss of time was when I stopped for those two seconds or so, on sector two of lap three, in order to see the time properly, and I might have lost a little more time before that, while I was struggling to see the time without stopping. Otherwise, much of the lane was once again wet, and there was obviously a lot of damage, including some places that created a risk of tripping, so I avoided what I could. As for physical issues, the one specific thing that I can mention may be the usual pressing need that appeared from sector two of lap two, when I was pushing, but it wasn’t particularly notable, so the main problem was that I just couldn’t go faster, because I definitely tried…

After getting back, I ate a lot of watermelon and a large doughnut, with added jam, changed, checked some more things on-line, and left again at 9 PM, taking the recyclables with the deposit symbol and picking up one more on the way to Carrefour, where I put all of those that were accepted in the recycling machine. And then I saw some more which had been left there, managing to put one of them in and taking two that weren’t accepted by that machine but which I thought were going to be accepted elsewhere. There were more, but the bar codes were slightly damaged and I left them there, even if one might have been fixable and the others might have been accepted at this nearby store or, as I later learned, even at the information desk from Carrefour, though I didn’t know that at the time. Either way, after putting the remaining recyclables in a cabinet that didn’t lock, I just cashed in the vouchers, then had a very quick look in a bookstore. I thought that I still had a little time when I walked in, but the guard told me right away that the registers were going to close in a few minutes, and when I repeatedly, and rather pointedly, glanced at the time in surprise, she said that they’ll close at 9:50 PM, though the store’s closing time is 10 PM, so I said that I was mainly looking, but moments later I just walked back out.
After retrieving those recyclables, I ended up putting them in another cabinet that didn’t lock when I got to Kaufland, since the recycling machine from there was out of order. Then I washed my hands and entered the store a little before 10 PM, finding that the cheap buns had no discount labels, so I took the price labels to a price checker and found that the better ones did actually have the 50% evening discount. So I took some, and also two breads of another kind, even if they’re mostly white, and just after I had done that the employee came to place more discount labels, including the ones for those buns, so it’s possible that the discount for those only started to apply right at 10 PM. Either way, I then also took some plums that had an evening discount, retrieved those recyclables and continued to that Mega Image, putting the recyclables and the plums in a cabinet, entering with the bag that hangs from my neck, with the bread and the buns, but not finding anything to get, so I then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and made my way back, picking up another recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way.
I didn’t check the time when I got back, but it must have been around 11:20 PM, maybe a little earlier, and after cleaning the litter box I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute and grabbed two more recyclables with the deposit symbol from the garbage room. Then I put the plums and the buns in their place, talked to dad a little, washed a few of the things that were in the sink, ate lunch, and went to shower a little before 1:20 AM, being done a couple of minutes before 2 AM. Then I talked to dad a little more, washed the other things that were in the sink, dealt with my bread, moved something into a jar, and ate dinner between 4:15 AM and 4:50 AM. I got in bed at 5:45 AM. And there were no visits that day either.

The original plan for this post also included the following run, but since I managed to finish the part that’s actually about the run from August 5 before midnight and then, less than an hour later, before going to the kitchen, I edited the post in order to add the part about the rest of that day, I decided to stop here, changing the post’s title as a result.

With sizable protests making it clear that the issue is of great importance and may even prove decisive in the election, I was wondering what was going to be said about Palestine in Biden’s and Harris’ speeches. And some lip service was paid to the issue, Biden saying “we’re working around the clock — my secretary of state — to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now, to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war” and then actually adding “those protesters out in the street, they have a point“, while Harris said “what has happened in Gaza over the past ten months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination“.
However, the double standard continued to be strikingly obvious even when it came to who was allowed to speak, the parents of one of the hostages being among the speakers, but all requests for a Palestinian American to be allowed to do the same being firmly denied. And even the briefest look at the actual actions makes it perfectly clear that those few sentences were little more than an attempt to fool people into thinking that they may actually care in any way, the level of support offered to Israel remaining the same in practice and empowering them to continue to act with impunity.
Seriously, if you want to foster hate, radicalize a nation, a people, turn them all into fighters, one way or another, and also turn an entire part of the world against you and offer your enemies arguments on a silver platter in any discussions about justification, morality or “being on the right side of history”, then do what Israel’s been doing and react to it the way “the West” has been reacting to it, pushing tirelessly for a complete defeat not of Hamas, without whose existence it’d be even harder to even try to find justifications, but of Palestinians as a whole and of the very idea of a Palestinian state. But, to once again quote Babylon 5: “No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by the force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power governments, and tyrants, and armies cannot stand.” So, unless all of that changes completely, with Israel being put back in its place and the security of the entire area likely being maintained by an international peacekeeping force until a fair and proper two-state solution will be implemented and proven to work in the long term, that endless powder keg will just keep exploding, causing untold suffering locally and casting negative effects globally.

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

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

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

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

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

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