Cav's Place

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

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

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

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

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

On the way back, I quickly checked the nearby Mega Image, and even though the recycling machine was working that day, I once again saw quite a few recyclables in the garbage can that’s in front of the entrance, all but one having the deposit symbol, so I took those. On the other hand, my nose was really irritated after the run, though it gradually recovered over the course of the evening. Either way, after getting back I ate a lot of watermelon and lunch, changed, and left again a few minutes before 9:30 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and a small bag of trash, which I dropped down the chute, also picking up another recyclable with the deposit symbol from the garbage room and one more while I hurried on the way to Carrefour, also finding that I had to go around the stadium, since that area was closed. But at least the recycling machine from there accepted everything, then I rushed in the store less than ten minutes before closing time and just got an expiring yogurt and cashed in the vouchers, managing to leave the store before closing time, but after putting the yogurt in the backpack it was past 10 PM when I walked out of that mall.
After washing my hands, it was a few minutes after 10 PM when I entered Kaufland, with the backpack, but the main reason for going there was the cheese that was on sale and none seemed to be left, and I didn’t ask. On the other hand, there were good evening discounts for some vegetables, plus watermelons, so I took the one watermelon with a darker peel that was left, a very small one with the peel looking like it was past its best but which sounded good when I knocked on it, and which did prove to be good, and then I also got potatoes, being spared of having to dig through them by a bag full of pretty good ones that had been left there, so I took almost all of those and just a few others, then cucumbers, even though the price wasn’t that low, since they were large, so dad would have wanted them, then onions, taking my time to dig through them, 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.

After only managing to, finally, finish the last post in what became the series about this summer’s Dream Trek this afternoon and then going out again in the evening, this post was initially just another placeholder, only including the part about the first run, which may be the 300th over this distance if I also exclude the one that I cut short after three laps, because my stopwatch no longer worked, along with the longer one that I always exclude, when I had to go over the bridge and cross the street. Either way, the plan for this post was to include the three regular runs between the Dream Trek and the real start of the preparations for this year’s marathon, the last one of them marking the theoretical start, and I actually managed to edit it and add everything else, starting from the part about the rest of June 27, Sunday evening.

The salad made in the early hours of June 27 only consisted of kohlrabies and a piece of a regular onion, and then I got in bed at 5:20 AM… And I’ll also mention here that I saw several of those grain weevils in the kitchen again that night, and I have been seeing them ever since, but just here and there, and I can’t pinpoint a source, but at least I know that they’re not coming from the popcorn again, since I keep checking it. Either way, I then got up when the alarm rang, at 2:30 PM, and had the usual stuff, while the sweet thing consisted of two somewhat nicer, albeit recently expired, biscuits, with added honey. But it’s a good thing that I meant to go out after 5 PM anyway, since I opened a new bag of baked almonds with Himalayan salt and put all of the expired nicer biscuits of the other kind in the fridge, which required rearranging things, so that took a while, and I also went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, seeing that my chair was still there even then, picking up a glass bottle with the deposit symbol, getting back to drop it off and wash my hands, and ending up actually leaving at 5:45 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband. The reported temperature was about 32°C, and 31°C when I finished. And dad was just entering the building when I was about to exit, so we met at the entrance.
The time was 48:53.51, with sector times of 4:33.23, 5:10.69, 6:04 (6:03.21), 4:34.38, 5:11 (5:10.90), 6:01.22, 4:34 (4:33.60), 5:06.68, 5:56 (5:55.29) and 1:44.31, making for lap times of 15:47.13, 15:46.50 and 15:36 (15:35.57). The heat and the fact that it was just a few days after the Dream Trek made me just aim to stay under 50 minutes at first, but that poor time on the first sector made me push harder, wanting to at least stay under 16 minutes on the first lap and being worried that I’ll even go over 51 minutes in the end, my target lap times after the end of the lap adding up to 51 minutes. But when sector one of lap two was only a second slower than sector one of lap one, I wondered whether I could stay under 16 minutes on lap two as well, in which case I could hope to stay under 50 minutes after all. And at the end of the lap I hoped to stay under 16 minutes on lap three as well and actually get under 49:30, so I pushed harder on lap three, even more so from sector two, and after that sector I found myself wondering whether I could even get under 49 minutes. It seemed like just a passing thought, hardly possible, but I really gave everything on sector three of lap three and at the end of the lap I thought that I might just have a shred of a chance. It required a good final sector when I was already tired, and the heat definitely made it even harder, but I just pushed every step of the way and that surprisingly great time on the final sector meant that I even ended up with several seconds to spare. And each lap was faster than the one before, and so were most sectors, sectors two and three of lap three actually being the only decent ones, so I was quite content, considering the circumstances, though the time is poor in itself.
I was tired when I started, and I also felt the need to snap my back, having felt something wrong there ever since I had gotten in bed in the morning, and the heat was obviously a problem, so I knew that it was going to be hard. But the fatigue became less of a problem after a while, and so did my back, the only physical problems that appeared later being some warnings from my knees, those from the right one eventually being somewhat more notable. On the other hand, I’m not sure what to say about the wind. It might have had a slight cooling effect, but there were spots where I clearly had to push against it, and the humidity created by those new fountains is a problem that the wind only worsens. But at least there weren’t notable problems caused by people except on sector two of lap two, though that sector was frustrating from that point of view, since I had to briefly stop once, when a girl blocked my way by moving to shake the hand of another, calling her “president”, as they were passing each other and I was just about to pass between them, and I also had to slow twice, when I approached roadblocks and had to wait for an opening, and I might have actually slowed a third time, albeit briefly, when I approached a third roadblock, before going very wide in order to go around it. Other than that, I stepped in a hole that was under the lane, possibly on sector two of lap three, but it might have been on that same sector two of lap two, or even sector three of either of those laps, I couldn’t remember by the time I got back, but I know that my ankle really had to take a lot, I was thinking that it had twisted at least to 70°, so it’s a very good thing that it held.

After jogging back, I finished the tea and made another, ate a sweet pastry, and left again a little after 8:15 PM, with the shoes that dad wanted to throw away, those other things that I take to Kaufland, also some of those things that are to be put in their “turtle” for those other vouchers, and the recyclables with the deposit symbol, minus those that dad had emptied not long before. And, after picking up a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way, the one recycling machine that worked when I got in line also stopped moments later, so I went up, along with another guy, and he asked at the information desk for someone to come and fix the machine, so I then just asked for those other vouchers, which I was going to leave for dad after getting back, receiving them and then dropping off those other things in the “turtle” before going back down, dropping those other things in what should be the appropriate bin, then also the shoes in the one for clothes and shoes and other such things, then getting back in line at the recycling machine and eventually using it, being left just with the two bottles that were least likely to be accepted. So I put those in a cabinet, washed my hands, and finally entered Kaufland exactly one hour after walking out the door.
When I saw two pieces of that bread with cereals that were clearly in the wrong place, the label from that spot being for something else, I took the label that I thought was for that bread and scanned it, seeing that the 50% discount did apply, so I took one of those breads. Then I got some fruits and vegetables that had evening discounts, plus some spoiling white cherries, and I was looking through some non-refrigerated expiring products when I heard an announcement that the checkouts were going to close in ten minutes. It didn’t say that the store had closed, and it should have still been a little before 10 PM, but I didn’t check, just rushing to the self-checkouts, cashing in the voucher received for the recyclables… And then seeing that the bread showed up as having the full price, though that was slightly lower than the full price listed on the label which I had scanned, so I had probably scanned the wrong label after all. Either way, I set that bread aside and left it there, then had to call over an employee when the machine didn’t recognize the green onions as the correct product, so she logged on to override the error… And at the end she had to come again because the machine asked for an employee to complete the transaction, maybe because some old label from a bag had accidentally scanned earlier, the machine telling me at that point to continue with the other products, probably leaving the error to be sorted out at the end.
After retrieving what I had in the cabinet, arranging everything and washing my hands one more time, I continued to that Mega Image, put everything back in a cabinet, saw discounts of 90% and got bread for dad and some buns, then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged everything yet again. I was thinking to perhaps give the buns, if not one of the breads as well, to a homeless person, if I was going to see one on the way back, but I didn’t, so the buns ended up being for myself. And I also grabbed another plastic bottle with the deposit symbol on the way back.
I got back a couple of minutes after 11 PM, ate a banana, left the bread and the buns on the table but put the other purchases in their place, and it was 11:45 PM when I went to wash. After I was done, a few minutes before 12:30 AM, I put the buns in the fridge, and the bread as well for the time being, ate lunch, taking occasional bites between 1:30 AM and 2:25 AM, and then still managed to stick to the dinner schedule, albeit by “cheating” a little in order to be able to say that I started eating before 3 AM. However, I then got in bed at 5:20 AM. And some time after getting up I decided to install and start Phoning Home. And there were no visits recorded on either of those days.

Moving on to July 4, I got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing consisting of the last two of those somewhat nicer biscuits which had expired not long before, with added honey, and I left at 4:30 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband. The reported temperature was 26-27°C, and it pretty much held steady. And, after calling while I was on the toilet to say that he won’t be back before I’ll leave after all, since he had said the previous day that he planned to be back around 4 PM, dad was actually in front of the building when I got there, calling the guy who had blocked his parking spot, so I waited for him to be able to park his car and then we exchanged a few words.
The time was 47:32.95, with sector times of 4:26.02, 5:03.93, 5:55 (5:54.38), 4:25.34, 5:04 (5:03.60), 5:45.00, 4:24.34, 4:56 (4:55.56), 5:47.53 and 1:47.25, making for lap times of 15:24.33, 15:14 (15:13.94) and 15:07.43. It is possible that I pressed the button a little early at the end of sector two of lap one, in which case the seconds were also off by one on that sector and the next, but I’ll leave things as they are, without question marks. Either way, this should have just been the second of the two more leisurely runs that I could afford between the Dream Trek and starting to prepare for the marathon, but with the forecast listing temperatures above 35°C pretty much every day at least for the following two weeks, and possibly until the end of the month or even longer, it was my last chance to have a good run, so I clearly aimed to get back under 48 minutes.
Well, that time on the first sector didn’t look good, so I pushed a little more and the next two sectors were somewhat better, but far from good enough for that 15:20 that’s the target lap time for 48 minutes. And that was on the first lap, so I was wondering whether I’ll even stay under 49 minutes and pushed harder on lap two, but after two sectors that were marginally faster than on the first lap I felt myself tiring, so I dug even deeper on sector three, thinking that I had to in order to at least maintain the pace… Only to be pleasantly surprised by that really good time on that sector, and by the fact that I actually had a chance to stay under 48 minutes after all. But that required maintaining that pace, which didn’t seem likely, yet I just kept pushing, and from sector two of lap three I pretty much gave everything, not worrying about what I’ll have left for the end. And, if after sector two of lap three I was more or less certain that, if there won’t be notable problems, I was going to stay under 48 minutes, at the end of the lap I was frustrated that it didn’t seem likely that I’ll manage to also get under 47:30, which did prove to be the case despite continuing to push on that final sector as well.
I felt the need to snap my back before the run, but it went away once I was actually running, the only physical issues being some warnings from the right knee on lap three, maybe from sector two, if not actually from sector one, and also a faint feeling that I hadn’t left everything in the toilet, which definitely started from sector two of lap three, but it wasn’t a problem. As for the problems caused by people, other than requiring some weaving and going the long way around, on lap one I hesitated next to that stand that’s on sector three, when I was about to pass a few other people, who had left the lane clear, but a man who was coming from the opposite direction and had been hidden from sight by them meant to use the lane to get around them. And on sector three of lap two there were two moments when I hesitated, first when I passed by a group of girls and one rushed at the one that I was passing closest to and pushed her into me, obviously on purpose, so I ended up elbowing that one who got pushed, though I’m pretty sure that I mainly hit her handbag, and then when a cyclist who was coming from the opposite direction had to use the lane, the rest of the path being quite crowded in that area, and while I saw him from a fair distance, he was fast and it startled me. Otherwise, there were the damaged or particularly uneven parts of the lane that I did my best to avoid, and while it had been cloudy just before I left, it was mostly sunny while I ran, only being cloudy again on sector three of lap three.

After getting back, I rearranged some things in the freezer, to make room for what dad had brought, and ate watermelon, that being the year’s first one, brought by dad on June 29, from the trip he had taken. Then I also ate lunch, did 200 squats, since I had kept putting them off the previous day until I forgot to do them at all, changed, took dad’s recyclables with the deposit symbol, leaving those which I had picked up and brought back the previous time, and left again at 8:45 PM, picking up two more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way to Mega Mall, where I first dropped the can which I had also taken with me in a recycling bin, then went to use the recycling machine, surprised that it took all of those many recyclables, just the two that had a small bar code requiring multiple tries but even those eventually working. Then I found a sweet pastry that I was interested in among the discounted products, under some packaged leafy greens and fruits, and it was the only bakery product that was there, so it had probably been either hidden by someone or forgotten when those fruits and vegetables had been placed there, but it was wrapped in plastic, so I took it, then I cashed in the voucher received for the recyclables before paying for it… And then it fell from my hands as I walked out of the checkout area. But it was still wrapped in plastic, so I picked it up and then put it in a small bag and in the backpack.
After continuing to Kaufland, I washed my hands and entered the store, with the backpack, when it was past 9:35 PM, maybe even closer to 9:40 PM. I was interested in two buns from the bakery area, and while they didn’t have a discount label, I took them after scanning the regular one and finding that the 50% discount did apply. And I also took a sweet pastry. Then I rushed back to the fruits and vegetables, grabbing one more product on the way and then getting a number of things from there that had evening discounts before starting to walk to the self-checkout area at 10 PM, grabbing some cornmeal on the way… And then being surprised that there had been no closing announcement, or in fact even one stating that closing time was approaching, even though I had checked the site before leaving and the closing time for that location was still listed as 10 PM. But a few other locations had switched to 10:30 PM or 11 PM, and nobody was telling me to hurry up either, so I also had a look at the expiring products before actually getting to the self-checkout… Which didn’t accept the green onions as the correct product, and no employees were around, so it took a while before I could call over the one from the information desk… Who left again right after overriding the error, so when the lettuce with root was not accepted either, I once again had to wait for quite a while, and nobody was at the information desk either, but three other employees were chatting next to the recycling bins, so I eventually waved at them and one finally came over… Only to simply pick up the lettuce and set it back down, the machine accepting it at that point even though I had done the same thing multiple times while waiting and it hadn’t worked. Either way, I then arranged the purchases just a little and, after walking out, I saw that the closing time listed at the entrance had indeed changed to 10:30 PM, just that I hadn’t looked there on my way in.
After picking up another bottle with the deposit symbol on the way, I also checked that Mega Image, struggling to put that bottle and at least the large bag in a cabinet but being unable to make them fit. But the guard told me to just leave them next to the cabinets, because he was there and will watch them, so I did so, leaving the other bag there as well, though I still entered with the backpack and the bag that hangs from my neck. Then, after getting some expiring products that were discounted by 90%, including another one of those packs of buns, retrieving my things and walking out, I stopped at a bench and rearranged everything properly. And I once again considered giving those buns to a homeless person, but I still didn’t see any on the way back.
I got back a little after 11:05 PM, but after cleaning the litter box I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. Then I put most of the purchases in their place, which took quite a while, and during that time I also noticed that the buns from that pack seemed to have a strange smell. But I shrugged it off, and in the end they didn’t seem to cause any problems. Either way, I then ate that sweet pastry from Carrefour, going to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, at 12:45 AM. It was almost 1:50 AM when I was done, then I cleaned the grill, which dad had once again used, then washed the other things that were in the kitchen, selected the remaining purchases, setting aside what I was going to use for the salad and putting the rest in their place as well, and finally ate dinner between 4:20 AM and 5 AM. I got in bed at 6 AM… And after some two hours of sleep I woke up, deciding to go to pee, just in case, and then I got on the computer for a while, getting back in bed a few minutes before 9:30 AM, and needing a while to get back to sleep, though I eventually did… And after getting up I noticed more key combinations that can’t be used on the new keyboard…

On the morning of July 6, dad got back very early again, so I talked to him a little and ended up going to bed at 5:25 AM. And after getting up that day I finished If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal, also managing to write the quick review in the evening, though I just put the English version on Goodreads at the time, leaving the translation for later, since I had tried to have The StoryGraph add the edition automatically several days earlier but it wasn’t just that it still hadn’t been added, but there was no notification that it couldn’t be added either, that message only appearing two days later, at which point I added the edition manually and also added that same English review there as well, editing both of those reviews one more day later, so on July 9, in order to also add the translation. But, to get back to July 6, I’ll also mention here that no visits were recorded that day.

In the early moments of July 7, I apparently reached a spot in Phoning Home that my computer can’t deal with, since it constantly crashed with an “out of memory” error in the logs, and since I saw textures being mentioned, I assume that it refers to video memory, though when I’m using integrated graphics, it’s probably still a matter of total system memory. Either way, that kept happening even at absolutely minimum settings, with the resolution at 320×240, and when I also tried installing the game on dad’s computer, since it has a dedicated video card, even if it’s very weak, and also a 64-bit OS, even if it also has only 4 GB of RAM, it wouldn’t even start. Since the errors from the logs were different, the first problem on dad’s computer might have had to do with the old drivers or some missing dependencies, but I didn’t try to troubleshoot it and I wouldn’t have installed or changed other things on it anyway. So it was clear that I couldn’t advance in that game anymore and had to give up, though I still poked around a little over the next few days, making the final save in the early hours of July 10 and uninstalling it after getting up.

Getting back to July 7, I went out at 2:50 PM, after doing the day’s squats. I went to Kaufland and got what I wanted, checking at the self-checkout that the discounts applied properly, then I took some time to arrange everything in my backpack, realizing pretty quickly that it wasn’t a good idea but wanting to at least keep everything there and avoid bothering to use a cabinet when I’ll also go to Tei, intending to move the purchases back in a bag after that. Either way, I then found a bottle with the deposit symbol in the parking lot and turned back to use the recycling machine, keeping the voucher for another time, then went to Tei, entering with the purchases and getting what I wanted… And then I just threw those purchases in a bag and still kept the others in the backpack. Then I grabbed a couple of fruits from a tree on the way to the farmers’ market, spotting many more that looked nice and ripe in another but moving on because some people were there at the time. And checking the farmers’ market turned out to be a waste of time, and that was a problem, since after picking up some more fruits on the way back, mostly off the ground, I realized that I was out of time, so I took off the backpack and jogged the rest of the way, with the backpack in one hand and the bag in the other.
I made it back just in time, a couple of minutes after 5 PM, managing to turn on the TV seconds before the start of the race. And I was relieved to see that nothing had cracked or been cut in my backpack. But one of the fruits which I had picked up off the ground had been crushed, so I discarded the skin but, despite thinking that at that point the pulp would have likely also been dirty or contaminated by something, I still ate some of it, after trying to wash it a little.

On July 8, I was going to run in the evening, when the temperature was at least going to start dropping a little, so I didn’t set an alarm, getting up when it was close to 3:20 PM. Then I ate some watermelon, later followed by a doughnut, with added honey, the yogurt with cereals and baked almonds with Himalayan salt, the yogurt having expired three days earlier but being a “creamy” bio (organic) one with 4.5% fat and 5.5% protein, and a banana. I also drank most of the tea before leaving, at 7:50 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband, and with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was about 34°C, with the forecast listing about 31°C when I was going to finish, though I couldn’t check to know for sure.
The time was 49:22.89, with sector times of 4:27.86, 5:17 (5:16.22), 6:05.84, 4:24.03, 5:16 (5:15.81), 5:56.13, 4:40 (4:39.84), 5:24 (5:23.97), 6:03 (6:02.56) and 1:50.63, making for lap times of 15:49.92, 15:36 (15:35.97) and 16:07 (16:06.37). Considering the heat, and also the fact that I had been out the day before, I was just aiming to stay under 50 minutes and controlled my pace on the first sector, so I was content with that time… And then I saw that work was once again being done in that area that’s on sector two, which at first glance seemed completely closed off. However, after wondering for a moment whether I’ll have to give up, I saw how others were getting through, using a spot where the fence was slightly pushed aside and then picking their way through a muddy patch, between the lake and the path. And everyone had to use that small space, so running through was pretty much out of the question and that loss of time made me seriously question staying under 50 minutes. And going well over six minutes on sector three of lap one and needing just over ten seconds less than 16 minutes to cover the lap made me doubt it even more. So it was clear that I had to stay under 16 minutes on lap two as well, and the first sector’s time was surprisingly good, giving me hope, and after being able to deal slightly better with that area of sector two, getting under six minutes on sector three and being a fair bit faster on the lap as a whole compared to the first one, I even started wondering about getting under 49:30, and about staying under 16 minutes on each lap. Sector one of lap three put that second goal in doubt, and losing even more time than before on sector two made it pretty much impossible, but I could still get under 49:30, which I managed after pushing on sector three and on the final sector. Of course, that’s a bad time in itself, but I was content with it under those circumstances.
There were plenty of people and there were a couple of spots where I hesitated even on lap one, and I remember one, on the long straight of sector two, where a couple were walking next to the lane and the dog that was behind them, without a leash, seemed to mean to come in my direction as I was about to pass between it and them, startling me, so I almost slammed into the guy, though I actually only touched him a little. But on the long straight of sector two of lap two I stopped for an instant when a woman and a boy were cycling on either side of the lane, coming from the opposite direction, and the boy lost balance and tipped towards me just as I was about to run past him. And cyclists coming from the opposite direction made me hesitate twice on sector three of lap two. And on sector one of lap three I was catching up to a guy who was running on the lane and the boy who was on a scooter, next to the lane, on the inside, and they suddenly stopped right in front of me, next to the drinking fountain, so I almost slammed into the boy, having to stop for a moment and touching him probably somewhat roughly as I pushed past. And I seem to remember a brief stop on the long straight of sector two of lap three as well, but not the details, and I’m not entirely certain that I’m not mixing it with the earlier moment involving the boy on the bicycle. But it probably is different, because I seem to remember a roadblock. And there might have also been something on sector three of lap three, but I was pushing and I guess that my mind wasn’t exactly recording anymore, so I couldn’t really say. However, I do remember the little boy who started running in front of me on the final sector’s straight, and I probably gained a little time by having that target, until he had to give up and stopped, after probably about a hundred meters or so.
Otherwise, the heat was just draining me on the way to the park and I definitely felt it on the first lap, but it lessened after that. And there were also the usual uneven or damaged portions of the lane, but the major problem was the one that I already mentioned, the work that was once again being done in that same spot from sector two, and the fact that everybody had to get through that small space where the fence had been partially moved aside and then pick their way through a pretty muddy area that was off the path, next to the lake, so it was always crowded as well. I mostly walked through there on lap one, did better on lap two, but on lap three there really was no room, so I walked for an even longer time than on lap one, and trying to also have a better look at the stopwatch at that point caused me to lose even more time. And that was after slowing to a walk for a couple of seconds while trying to have a better look at the stopwatch on sector two of lap two, realizing moments later that I could have waited until that area where I was going to be slow anyway, but then doing the exact same thing on sector two of lap three, and then looking one more time when I was in that area as well, as I already mentioned. And another moment when I briefly slowed to a walk in order to have a better look at the time was on sector one of lap three.

After the run, I went straight to Carrefour, finding a 1 RON bill on the way, buying a few things, and needing to use a regular checkout, because that single self-checkout from that location that used to accept cash had been replaced with another one that didn’t. Then I continued to Kaufland, that location closing at 11 PM, so I washed my hands, entered with the purchases, and spotted a new kind of bread in the bakery area, where the evening discounts were once again of 51%. And that new bread looked like it might be good, so I asked the employee what it was and she said that it was written on the discount label that was in front of it, which I had ignored because it mentioned a “baguette” and that looked like a regular bread. And that discount label didn’t list the ingredients, and I couldn’t find the regular label, so I initially only got two regular breads for dad. Some of that bread with sunflower seeds was also left, but it didn’t have a discount label, and when the employee left I took the regular label and scanned it, confirming that there was no discount, at which point I also tried to check the ingredients for that new bread, ending up struggling with that obviously malfunctioning touchscreen for a while, before finally moving to another price checker and finding those ingredients, which were listed in English but actually did look quite good. And when I got back to the bakery area I did spot the regular label for that bread as well, and it also listed the ingredients, still in English. So I grabbed that bread as well, then I also got a watermelon and wandered around for a while before eventually making my way to the self-checkout and also using that voucher received for that recyclable the day before. Then I arranged the purchases and walked away just before 10:55 PM, and I found two recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way back.
I got back a little before 11:30 PM, but after cleaning the litter box I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. Then I put the few other purchases in their place, leaving the bread on the table, washed just a couple of the things that were in the kitchen, did the day’s squats and ate lunch. And, after putting the t-shirt which I had been wearing inside those days in the laundry basked, I realized that the others were in there as well, so I ended up taking an undershirt and going to shower when it was past 1:05 AM. I was done just before 1:40 AM, and then I washed the other things that were in the kitchen, including a large pot that dad wanted to use after getting up, also dealt with my bread, though I just put dad’s in the drawer for the time being, drank the lemonade taken during the Dream Trek, which had just expired, and only finally ate dinner between 4:15 AM and 5 AM, with a part of that new bread, which contains walnuts and which at the time I thought was more like something that I’d want to eat before runs, but which I have since decided to keep in order to eat just like that, after runs, or at least after some of them. Either way, I got in bed at 6:15 AM… And at 10:45 AM I got up to pee and it was hard to sleep after that, if I was falling asleep it was only briefly and then I was waking up again, so I stayed in bed until around 1:15 PM, but likely slept less than half of that remaining time, possibly much less, and that sleep consisted only of brief naps.

I’ll also mention here that on the morning of July 10 I got in bed at 5:25 AM, after cleaning up after Liza vomited and exchanging a few more words with dad, who got back very early once again. And after I got up there were two brief power failures, and then I installed and started Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition, being surprised that it worked even though it’s listed as not supporting Intel graphics. And on July 11 I started The Bone Season, which I finished on July 17, when I also wrote the quick review.