Cav's Place

After having posts about Eurovision every year since 2006, so while I was making occasional posts on some platforms, before actually starting this blog, even making two posts in 2020, when the competition didn’t actually take place, and also posting my ratings for all of the songs from the final ever since 2011, this year I won’t be doing that, joining the boycott caused by the fact that Israel wasn’t thrown out. And it seems that their entry was even voted into the final, which makes things even worse… Though it should have been expected, those who support them being likely to make a point of voting while many of those who have a problem with them are unlikely to even watch, much less vote.

Admittedly, it’s particularly easy for me to not watch Eurovision live this year, since Romania isn’t participating, the competition isn’t on TV here, and watching live on-line when I should be getting ready for tomorrow’s half marathon wouldn’t have been feasible either way. But I would have at least watched the complete recording, given the ratings and written the usual post or posts, possibly even watching just the songs tonight in order to be able to quickly post just the ratings before going to bed. So the fact that I won’t be doing that, and that I’m not even including the links that I’d have otherwise included in this post, is what my boycott consists of.

On the other hand, an alternative event, FalastinVision, is taking place at the same time and, while the fact that it’s not feasible to watch something on-line this evening remains true, I’ll probably replace what should have been my usual post about Eurovision with one about that, though I might not be able to write it tomorrow and, seeing as I gather that, while a live event does exist, the “competing” acts won’t actually be part of it, that post most probably won’t include ratings. And most of the songs are more or less what you’d expect from such a “protest” event, but I just gave them a quick listen and a few do stand out, at least to some extent, so you could try to at least listen, if not even watch.

I’ll say from the beginning that this was initially just a placeholder, ending after this first section and the first two paragraphs of the next one, with the rest of the actual post about walking the route of the half marathon coming later, as I edited this in order to add those parts. Not that using a personal “slot” just for one day that’s not the date of a major run or another particularly significant event wouldn’t have been quite a waste even if I would have managed to write it all at once. But, after getting in bed at 6:30 AM, after also talking to dad a little and finding out that he had gotten back around 5:20 AM and I hadn’t heard a thing, despite not even listening to anything, today I woke up as he was getting ready to leave, around 10:50 AM, but I didn’t rush out of my room, so he had just left by the time I did… And I saw Liza once again in the litter box, and she keeps going time and time again and only leaving very little pieces there, or sometimes maybe nothing at all, and I had also noticed that her butt was very dirty and she can’t clean herself, which is nothing new but under these circumstances I had asked dad to catch her a couple of days ago, to allow me to try to clean her a little, but when I asked him to do it again yesterday, before leaving, he refused, so after she was done I put on the kitchen gloves and tried to wipe her butt on my own… Which obviously didn’t work, and she found a spot between the gloves and the shirt’s sleeves and scratched me, after which I clearly couldn’t catch her again to make another attempt.
I couldn’t get back in bed after that, so I stayed on the computer, finishing yesterday’s post but not being able to get myself to also start writing this one. And then I did take a nap, in the evening, but it was obviously far from enough to even add up to a normal number of hours for the day, much less to also help me recover after yesterday’s effort. And when dad got back and I pressed him about Liza, what he said made how little he actually cares shockingly clear, despite what he usually says and how he acts when she’s fine and just stays around him. So I said that in that case I’ll stop bothering, because I was saying that I basically didn’t care about her… Not that I can really do that when something’s obviously wrong with her and she’s a living being that’s in good part under my watch, even if I never actually accepted any responsibility for her and often can’t stand her, or at least that’s what I believe. And that showed even moments later, after she went to the litter box a couple more times and then, after once again struggling to clean herself and being unable to reach, she was sort of dragging her butt on the carpet, and I pointed that out to dad and he did catch her and I could wipe her a little, seeing that things didn’t look as bad as that first time. But she just keeps going to the litter box and leaving just a little piece each time, if even that, and the question is whether the constipation is the problem or a symptom of something else. Maybe we’ll find out next week, if dad actually will at least take her to the vet after these Easter days, like he said, but it remains to be seen…

To get to what this post should really be about, after eating dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:20 AM, the digestive problems that may be caused by these supplements that I’m taking led to going to the toilet one more time, even if not much actually came out, and therefore going to bed at 5:40 AM. At least my body seems to be adjusting, so I didn’t have to manage any pressing need over the course of the day, but I only got three hours or so of good sleep, until I got up to pee a little after 9 AM. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t get back to sleep after that, in fact I was probably asleep for a similar or probably slightly longer amount of time after that moment, if you add it all together, but after that point I kept waking up and having weird dreams, and sometimes it took me a while to get back to sleep, so I got those three or so, maybe up to three and a half, hours of sleep over the course of the next five, since I got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM. Then I ate an apple, yogurt with cereals and the caramelized walnuts that I still had, so I once again got almost 700 calories and over 50 grams of sugar just from those, and they were also expired, as was the yogurt.
I left at 4:20 PM, and while I initially wanted to go to some stores, seeing as they closed early that day, I wasn’t sure that I’ll come back after that, so in my jacket I had an expired protein bar and in the backpack the opened bag of expired bagels and the candle that I was going to use to get “light” on my way back, after offering to do so, knowing that dad wanted that and that he worked that night. And that candle, being new, might have been a problem if somebody’d have checked the backpack, so when I continued to Penny, after walking this part of the route, until it turns, I put the backpack, as well as the bag with the bottle with the deposit paid which I had picked up on the way, in a cabinet. And I ended up buying a cabbage, seeing a 25% discount, but I really shouldn’t have done that. On the one hand, since the store closed at 6 PM, I bought it a little before 5 PM, and that 25% was listed as an evening discount, even though only certain, specific vegetables normally get those discounts at Penny and cabbage isn’t among them, I was wondering whether the discount would have increased minutes later. On the other, on top of the weight that I was charged for once again being a little higher than the real one, albeit only slightly, the cashier also gave me slightly less change. She probably realized it, since she hesitated for a moment and glanced at the screen, but she then just handed me what she had taken out, so I muttered that she had given me 0.10 RON in coins instead of 0.20 RON, but also said that it didn’t matter, just mentally adding the difference between what I ended up paying and what I should have paid, considering the real weight of the cabbage, to the amount that I had to recover from Penny at a later time. And there was one more reason why I shouldn’t have bought cabbage from Penny at all, but I couldn’t have known that then.
After retrieving what I had in the cabinet and putting the cabbage in a bag, I got back on the route, walking to the entrance of the area that’s around the stadium before stepping off it again and making my way to Kaufland. Then I put my things in a cabinet, washed my hands, and entered the store a little after 5:20 PM, grabbing two things from the bakery area that I ended up using instead of bread and then making use of other evening discounts and getting germinated wheat, bananas, lemons… And another cabbage, which was better and cheaper than the one from Penny, on top of the fact that I weighed it myself and therefore couldn’t be cheated, like it happened there. So, again, I really shouldn’t have bought that one, but I couldn’t have known. Either way, I also made up for that tiny discount which I had missed out on because of that employee the previous week by stealing one of the bananas, not that they weren’t left with quite a pile of them at closing time anyway. On the other hand, I also wanted to check the price of cat food, knowing that a 30% discount was going to apply to the entire category Monday and Tuesday, but I forgot to do so even if I still had a little time, since I got in line at the self-checkouts before the announcement that the store had closed.
An awkward moment appeared after I arranged the purchases a little, as I was on my way to retrieve what I had in the cabinet, when a man tried to give me some money. I didn’t take a particularly good look at the bill, but at the time I was pretty sure that it was a 20 EUR bill, which was strange in itself and also made me wonder whether it might have been fake. I’m editing this much later to say that I eventually realized that a 20 RON bill also exists, even if it’s very rare, but at the time that didn’t even cross my mind. Either way, when, after my initial refusal, he reached in front of me and tried to shove it right in my pocket, the way I pushed his arm away and said that I didn’t need it might have been rather harsh, which was probably why he apologized, which made things even more awkward, to have someone apologize for trying to give you money. But I asked him to please give them to someone who truly needs them and then scurried away, retrieving what I had in the cabinet and then arranging everything a little more.
Since that Mega Image closed at 7 PM, I then went there as well, putting the other bags in a cabinet, entering with the one that hangs from my neck and the backpack, and waiting for the employee to place the 90% discount sticker on the one expiring bread that I wanted to get for dad, taking it after she did so. That meant being unable to check the other expiring products that were also just getting that 90% discount, since I had seen another employee placing those stickers and by the time the one who was dealing with the bread was done he came and told her that almost everything had been taken right away, only a few products being left, which I confirmed when I eventually had a look as well. But it’s not like we needed anything else, in fact the problem being that we have way too much food these days, considering what dad is also bringing and the fact that in a few days I’ll make my own food and eat that, as I always do before a race. So I just bought that bread, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and continued to Carrefour, which also closed at 7 PM, once again putting the other bags in a cabinet and mainly looking for more green garlic… And when I didn’t find any left, and also didn’t see any interesting expiring products, I completely forgot that I had also meant to look for a certain tea, so I just walked out and retrieved my things.
After getting back to the spot where I had stepped off the route, I made my way back, picking up another recyclable with the deposit paid and getting back here at 7:10 PM, to pee and drop off the purchases, putting the germinated wheat in the fridge but leaving everything else lying around. The optimistic plan, or more exactly the optimistic version of the one that included getting back here, was to actually leave again around 7 PM, but I knew that I could afford to delay until 7:40 PM or so, and I wasn’t far from that, since I also ate some of those bagels, then put them back in the backpack and left again at 7:30 PM… And, even though I hadn’t taken them off, I wasn’t even out of the building yet when I suddenly felt something in my right shoe, so I stopped on a bench to get it out.

After adding all but those first two paragraphs of the above section Monday evening, I only edited this post again in order to add what follows Saturday evening, and this part begins with getting back on the route and continuing all the way to Constitution Square, one problem being the late hour, which made it rather pointless to try to figure out how the sunlit and shaded areas will feel during the race, or sometimes even exactly where they were. And, after reaching Constitution Square and then continuing straight to the start area, without also walking the final straight first, since I was going to walk past that area again later, the second problem caused by the late hour was that it got dark too early. Of course, I’d have been preferable to walk the entire route before it got dark, to see everything better, but the main issue was that I consider the part that starts after the route turns away from Izvor Park and ends when it approaches Victory Square to be a somewhat bad part of the city and I’d have preferred to be done with it by 9 PM or so, yet at that hour I was just reaching the top of that bad climb that’s on Berzei, so I had over a kilometer to go… And I was once again reminded just how much of a problem that climb is, since even walking it is not easy. But at least I was on schedule to reach this church at midnight, so I could continue pretty calmly once I did reach Victory Square, also noticing that the work that’s being done in that area is still ongoing, so it will be something to take into consideration, even if it shouldn’t really affect the run. But being on schedule didn’t mean that I had time to spare, and cleaning crews were also out, unsurprisingly, since it was just before Easter, so even if I should have probably found a large number of recyclables with the deposit symbol while walking such a distance, I only grabbed the few that I happened to spot right away.
On my way back to Victory Square, after turning back where the route does, at the end of Kiseleff, I decided to start looking for a place to wash my hands in order to eat those bagels, and when I passed by what should be some proper public toilets, in the park, and saw light inside, I tried the door, but it was locked, and the automated toilet that’s also in that spot didn’t seem to function. So I continued, and after passing Victory Square once again I started thinking more and more about entering one of the many food places that I was passing by and using the toilet, but I didn’t really want to do that unless I had to, so I only decided to actually go for it after that detour that ends with that short but particularly steep climb, when I passed by two more of those automated toilets and both seemed occupied, or at least that was the message that was displayed. And I was also in that area when, after I had just grabbed another plastic bottle with the deposit symbol, and actually did so from a trash can, a man who had two beer bottles next to him as I was about to pass by him stuffed one in his backpack and then called out to me, asking whether I could help him with something. So I stopped and asked what did he need, but when he asked whether I could help him get some food I frowned and walked stiffly away, thinking that, if he really was hungry, he should have thought of food before beer.
I eventually entered what was pretty much the last place that I could enter on Victoriei, peed and took quite some time to thoroughly wash my hands, and also my face a little and rinse my mouth, then struggled to take the bagels out of the backpack with just my left hand, so the right will remain clean, and started eating… Only to spot a beer can with the deposit symbol just moments later, and picking it up made things difficult, since I definitely didn’t want to put my right hand on anything other than the bagels and I couldn’t untie the bag where I had the few other recyclables that I had picked up and put the can there with just my left, so I was struggling to hold that bag, the can, and the bottom of the bag of bagels with my left hand until I eventually put the can in one of the jacket’s pockets, which at least allowed me to finish eating the bagels that I had meant to eat as I was getting to Constitution Square again. And after being done with them I also ate that protein bar… And I also noticed some work being done on the road at Constitution Square, which once again shouldn’t really be a problem, but should nevertheless be something to keep in mind.
Since there’s no crossing in the spot where the route turns and I didn’t want to just cross that wide road, even if it is possible, especially at that hour, I continued to the next stoplight where there’s a crossing, also finally putting that can in that bag, then returned to the route and rushed, since struggling to eat those bagels like that had caused me to lose time and I had ended up behind schedule. Not that I really had to be even at that church shortly after midnight, seeing as finding someone to light that candle from should have been possible even much later, and dad actually said that they were just locking up when he got back in the morning, but I had told dad that I was going to do it, so I wanted to be sure, and being there later also meant getting back even later, and I was going to get back particularly late even so. Of course, rushing also meant that I paid even less attention to the route, but the way back here from Constitution Square shouldn’t imply anything that I couldn’t have noticed on my way there, except perhaps while going around Alba Iulia Square on the other side, which is an area where you can’t really see the road from the sidewalk anyway.
In the end, I reached this church around 12:10 AM, lighting a candle from someone and, after standing around for a moment, making my way back… And actually forgetting to fully walk this last bit of the route, ending up using the route that I usually take to get back from there and only realizing it after getting back. And, as I stopped to empty another plastic bottle with the deposit symbol which I had picked up and put it in that bag, some women asked another man who had a lit candle to light theirs as well and he couldn’t, all of the candles being shielded in plastic, so I said that I had a small candle, which I had used to light mine, walked up and used it to get the “light” from the man to the women. It did feel a little awkward to do that when I also had a lit candle, but the lid was on mine and there’d have been no way to remove it without burning myself… And then things got even more awkward when one of the women greeted me with the usual Easter greeting, to which I felt forced to mumble the appropriate reply, that scene repeating itself when I entered the building alongside another man.
I got back at 12:25 AM, having picked up only ten recyclables with the deposit symbol, or 12 if you include those from that first trip, when on such a walk, if I’d have had time to look around, and also at another time, not when the cleaning crews were out in force because Easter was coming, I should have found many more, and Kaufland has a campaign the following week. Either way, after getting back I ate a banana and then cleaned the litter box and took a bag of trash to drop down the chute, going to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, several minutes after 1 AM. I was done at 1:55 AM, then I washed what was in the kitchen, finally put the other purchases in their place, and ate lunch, on and off, while doing that and starting to work on the salad, between 3:15 AM and 4:20 AM, with the remaining bagels instead of bread, so I got about 1000 calories just from all of those bagels eaten over the course of the day. I finally ate dinner between 5 AM and 5:45 AM, and also took another pill, just in case. Since I didn’t get on-line, I only saw the next day that no visits were recorded. On the other hand, I saw a strange bug on my desk before going to bed, and there had been another bug which I didn’t recognize on the hallway, in front of the fridge, when I got back the first time.

I’ll begin by mentioning that, after starting to eat dinner at 3:05 AM, but still finishing at 3:40 AM, in that day’s early hours, on the evening of April 24 I shaved my head… And then I ended up going to bed at 5:20 AM. Then, in the early hours of April 26, I ate dinner between 3:15 AM and 3:50 AM, putting peanut butter on most of the slices of bread. And I had bad dreams that caused me to wake up multiple times, but I could always get back to sleep quickly and got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, though I had been once again awake for a few minutes at that point, that time the cause being that Liza had started meowing. Then I had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing consisting of some more of those nicer but recently expired biscuits, with added honey. I left a little after 4:15 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was about 17°C, and about 18°C when I finished.
The time was 1:18:09, with sector times of 4:22.20, 5:06.13, 5:59 (5:58.84), 4:35.60, 5:10.12, 5:56 (5:55.84), 4:30.07, 5:07.15, 5:54 (5:53.85), 4:35.12, 5:12 (5:11.63), 6:04, 4:36, 5:08 and 5:55, making for lap times of 15:27.17, 15:41.56, 15:31.07, 15:51 and 15:39. I memorized the exact times as long as they were displayed, clearly aimed to at least get under 1:18, and wanted to be fast on the first laps, aiming to get under 15:20 at least at first, and that first sector wasn’t promising, but I had also kept my pace in check, and sector two, when I pushed more, was better. But I still needed a very good sector three and I was far from that, so I realized that even staying under 1:19 was going to be hard. And, after a sector one of lap two that made me think that I’ll barely even squeeze under 16 minutes on that lap, I even wondered about staying under 1:20. But at least the average time of the first two laps was below that 15:36 that’s the target for 1:18, and then lap three was better, so staying under 1:19 seemed more or less certain, if no problems would appear, and I wondered whether I’ll manage to stay under 16 minutes on each lap and squeeze under 1:18:30. And, after lap four, staying under 16 minutes on lap five as well was all I needed for that, but I had already gone over six minutes on sector three of lap four and sector one of lap five was a little concerning, so I pushed harder on the last two sectors and actually ended up closer to 1:18, and less slow than the previous two times. But it’s still a poor time, and even more so at a point when I should be a couple of minutes faster… On the other hand, it was a good enough time to make me consider continuing to a half marathon distance, since I might have managed to squeeze under 1:45, but I was far from certain of that and had the next two runs to think of, so I stuck to the plan.
It got cloudy after the first two laps, only being sunny again on sector one of lap four and sector three of lap five, and despite feeling a little chilly on the way to the park, while I ran it felt better when it was cloudy. On the other hand, it was a little windy at first, but I no longer felt it after a while. But there were a fair number of people, and probably the worst problem was on the first sector, when I had to briefly stop and go off the path when the two cyclists who had been pretty much riding alongside me squeezed through on the path and the woman who had her dog on it before that moment pulled it to the other side just when I was about to go around her on that side. Then I slowed in order to squeeze through a roadblock on sector one of lap two, and on sector one of lap three I briefly stopped when a little kid in a stroller threw a toy in front of me just as I was about to squeeze between the stroller and the two runners that I was about to pass. And I hesitated twice because of cyclists on sector two of what I believe was lap four, and there might have been another hesitation on sector two of lap three, while on sector two of what I’m pretty sure was lap five, in that area where there’s no lane, I had to go around a garbage can in order to get around a roadblock, and then, only a few steps later, I also had to weave through children chasing some huge soap bubbles. Otherwise, a certain pressing need appeared on sector three of lap four and got worse from the start of lap five, even causing some cramps at that point, though it faded to some extent after that. And there were still damaged parts of the lane, and much of it was wet, parts of it even soggy, so I avoided what I could.

After getting back, I ate a banana and lunch, with an entire large bag of corn puffs instead of bread, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, and left again at 7:55 PM, taking the cat food that I was going to give away. I was thinking to check the farmers’ market, to see whether it was still open at that hour and, if so, whether I’ll find any more cheap but usable apples, but I thought that I didn’t have time and went straight to Tei. Going in a pharmacy without a mask definitely didn’t seem wise, but I quickly got what I wanted, though I then stopped in the entrance area, in front of the cabinets, to put those supplements in my jacket, and noticed a blank sticker on one of them, so I took the time to peel it off, seeing that it covered the part where it said that the box contained 33% extra. I hadn’t noticed that before buying it, but I had looked inside and everything seemed to be in order, and I checked again at that point, so I eventually shrugged it off. Then I went to the metro, having dad’s metro card, and got to that cat cafe at 8:45 PM, just dropping off the cat food. Seeing as it closed at 9 PM, I actually took it easy, and I’d have quite certainly found someone to give the cat food to a little after closing time as well, I would have had time to also make a quick dash to the farmers’ market, but things probably turned out better that way in the end.
Either way, I then decided to check Carrefour Unirii, picking up a bottle with the deposit paid on the way and putting it in the recycling machine from there. Since that location closes at 11 PM and it does make evening discounts for bakery products, I was expecting that to happen at 10 PM, and entering only a couple of minutes after 9 PM made me think that I’ll have a lot of time to waste… Only to reach the bakery area after a few minutes and see that the discounts had already been made, much of it was already cleared, and the employee was cleaning, having moved what was left, so I couldn’t find the price label for the one sweet pastry that I could be interested in, ending up asking her. Then I got the two pieces that were left and, after wandering around a little longer, waiting for 9:30 PM, I used a self-checkout… Only for the machine to say that the voucher received for that bottle had already been used! The employee from the computer just cleared the message remotely, I tried again, when the same error appeared she said, without getting up, that it was already used, and when I went to her to show her that it had only been received half an hour earlier she just repeated that the system said that it was used, telling me to try another day when I asked what to do in that case. But if I did that and the error persisted, I’d have had no real way to make my case, so I paid in full, put the pastries in a bag and then in the backpack, and then asked at the information desk, the employee saying that she didn’t know what was going on but just giving me the 0.50 RON.
After getting back on the metro, I decided to check whether Kaufland had extended the schedule, to close at 11 PM, as they tend to do before holidays, so I meant to get off at Mihai Bravu, but when I saw that the exit that I should have used was closed off, I got right back on the metro, which hadn’t left yet, and got off at Dristor, since that Kaufland is more or less in between. But when I got there I saw that it had still closed at 10 PM, so I then decided to go to Auchan, though I first made a detour to a Mega Image, not bothering to use a cabinet and not getting anything, so it was a waste of time. Then I also checked the one that’s close to Auchan, still not using a cabinet and getting an expiring bread for dad, giving the cashier 0.05 RON less, but he said that it was fine, though he didn’t give me the receipt. The thing is that the closing time for that location is midnight, so it might have been better to leave that bread there and check again after leaving Auchan, to see whether the discount would have increased to 90%, though someone else might have taken all of them by then.
Either way, I entered Auchan with everything, getting more cat food, a bread for dad from there as well, and a piece of a nice sweet pastry, getting to what would have been a self-checkout a few minutes before closing time but having a cashier come to help just as I was about to start scanning, so I just wanted to get away from there and didn’t use the small amount that was on the store card and didn’t even check whether the amount that should have been added to it for that bread was actually added… But there was a 20% discount for that sweet pastry, which I hadn’t taken into consideration when calculating the total. And, after walking away, I did check the receipt and confirmed that 20% of the price of the bread was added on the store card as well.
Even though the store hadn’t closed quite yet and I rushed to the exit with the purchases in my hands, I still had to leave through the emergency exit. Then I took my time to arrange everything once I got outside, and on the way back I picked up three more recyclables with the deposit paid. However, the can was apparently filled with cigarettes and ash, and they were wet, so while none of that came out when I turned it over and poured out what I thought was the little liquid that was left in it, after it fell from my hands when I dug out the key, as I approached the building, and I picked it back up, I felt something falling on my pants and when I saw a wet cigarette I thought that somebody had thrown it from above. However, when I entered the building I shook the can a little more and more came out, so I went to the garbage room and tried to empty it as well as possible.
I got back at 11:45 PM, washed those recyclables which I had picked up, paying particular attention to that can, cleaned the litter box, and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. Then I tried to get the ash stains off my pants, and also wiped my slippers a little with wet hands, since I found them one over the other on the hallway and thought that dad, who had gone to bed by then, might have pushed his shoes into or over them and then just moved the shoes, so I won’t yell at him again. Either way, after that I ate the sweet pastry that I already had and put the few other purchases in their place, leaving the bread out for the time being. I went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, just before 1 AM, being done at 1:55 AM, and then I also put the bread in the freezer and washed what was in the kitchen, so I ate dinner between 3:50 AM and 4:25 AM. And there were no visits recorded that day.

After eating dinner between 3:25 AM and 4 AM, without any peanut butter that time, on April 28 I had set the alarm to ring at 1:30 PM, but I dreamed that it was 1:55 PM and, even though the “image” clearly couldn’t be “real”, I woke up with a start, and when I checked the time, after what was probably a couple of minutes, I saw 1:20 PM, so I decided to turn off the alarm and get up. Then I had the usual stuff, with the last of those particular nicer but expired biscuits, with added honey, as the sweet thing, but I also started taking all of the supplements, so I took one of each before leaving, a little after 3:45 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 22-23°C, holding steady.
The time was 50:46.86, with sector times of 4:26.73, 5:18 (5:17.41), 6:12.13, 4:44.65, 5:24 (5:23.60), 6:16.00, 4:48.15, 5:29 (5:28.35), 6:15.03 and 1:54.81, making for lap times of 15:56.27, 16:24.25 and 16:32 (16:31.53). It was the third slowest time over this distance since being hospitalized, in September of 2021, and the two slower ones were obtained under entirely special circumstances, since those are the first run after having COVID-19 and the second run in one day before last year’s Dream Trek, so when I didn’t just run ten kilometers not long after running 16, but also after wandering around in between, so without any rest. And the only other time when I went over 50 minutes after the hospitalization was after getting Micky back from the vet for the last time, so not just on very little sleep and without following my usual routine, but also after that sort of morning. And I did expect the time to be bad, in good part because it was so crowded, but I was initially thinking that I’ll struggle to stay under 50 minutes and yet hoping to surprise myself and do at least somewhat better, and the first sector wasn’t exactly bad, considering the circumstances. However, the second one made it clear that I’ll struggle to even cover that first lap in less than 16 minutes, and to stay under 51 minutes in the end. And that’s exactly how things went, so there’s little else to say other than the fact that it’s a terribly disheartening result. Yes, I most likely lost at least a minute because of how crowded it was, but that’s hardly an excuse for being some three minutes away from a normal time.
So it was terribly crowded… And that’s pretty much all I can say about it. I mean, what stood out was that the lane seemed mostly clear on sector three of lap one and sector one of lap two, but you couldn’t tell it from my times, and otherwise there were so many problems caused by people, so many times when I had to briefly stop, slow a lot, even to a walk, go off the path, react quickly in order to avoid a crash, or carefully pick my way through a group, that trying to memorize any details quickly became pretty much impossible, so I didn’t even try. It was one of those times when there were moments when I could barely move at all, much less run. But, again, while that did cause me to lose a lot of time, it’s far from enough to cover how slow I was. And, while I did sweat a fair bit, which once again makes me dread the next several months, I can’t say that I noticed any particular physical issues either, so the problem was that I just couldn’t go any faster even when I did have some space. Then again, seeing how slow I was made me so disheartened that I’m not sure that I really tried to push, at least after the first lap. But that’s most likely just another poor excuse.

At least I jogged back, so I was back in time for the handball match, which was why I had gotten up and left earlier in the first place. Either way, I ate an old banana and a small bag of bagels, did the day’s squats, timing them and seeing a shocking 1:55, changed, and left a little after 6:40 PM, with the recyclables, which I dropped off in a bin on the way, and also those with the deposit paid, the large majority being those used by dad which he hadn’t taken anywhere, but I also had the ones which I had picked up and was yet to put in a recycling machine, and I picked up one more on the way.
Well, when I got to the recycling machine from the nearest Penny, I started with that last one… And the machine “ate” it without counting it and displayed a message that told me to try again. All of the others worked, but I made a mental note that I had another 0.50 RON to recover from Penny, though I didn’t do so that day, when I just got a few things, thinking that I probably had to limit myself to the little money that I actually had, so I put back one of the bags of corn puffs… Only to realize, while I was waiting in line, that I had included some roes for dad when I had calculated the total, yet I had forgotten to take them, so I dashed back and grabbed those as well, getting back in line by the time my turn came. And I was indeed told once again that I had to pay first, after which I was given the money for the voucher, which was more than what I had to pay. And that time I actually told the cashier that it’d be the same thing if he just entered that I had paid, then scanned the voucher and only gave me the difference, but he said that he wasn’t allowed to do that anymore, and in fact even asked me to write my name on the voucher and sign it, which never happened before, anywhere.
After putting the purchases in the backpack, I continued to the farmers’ market, picking up two more recyclables with the deposit paid on the way. However, even though I checked and saw that I did indeed remember correctly, the listed schedule stating that it should be open until 9 PM every day, it was closed, so I then continued to Kaufland, discarding the next plastic bottle with the deposit paid which I spotted on the way, since it had cigarettes, tissues and a questionable liquid inside, but making some effort to grab another one that was difficult to reach… Only for it to cause problems at that recycling machine, which kept refusing it. But the guy who was using the next machine noticed and handed me one of his, which worked on the first try despite being one of those that usually tend to cause problems, so I thanked him and gave him that one in exchange, but I didn’t stay to see whether he managed to get it to work, washing my hands and entering the store, with the backpack, when it was almost 8:10 PM.
While other bakery products were discounted by 50%, bread was only discounted by 30%, so I just got some buns, then kept looking for a while, in part because I meant to penalize myself for the bad times by buying something and then giving it to a homeless person, but I had a set, and at that point very small, amount in mind, determined according to the exact times, and I also had very little money with me, so I kept trying to calculate and decide until the employee asked whether she could help me with anything, at which point I moved a few steps away and eventually gave up on the idea for the moment. So I just continued with the original plan, which was to spend most of what I had on a pack of beer for dad, since beer was discounted by 30% those days, and then check for deep evening discounts for vegetables. And at first I was just considering a bundle of red scallions, but at 8:30 PM several discounts increased sharply, and that included going from 50% to 90% for both the red scallions and the radishes, so I took four bundles of each, after taking some time to select and decide, and then also added a handful of the red scallion tops that were scattered in the crate… Only to see the discount for lettuce also going from 50% to 90% at 8:45 PM. I also saw peppers becoming very cheap at that point, and an employee was placing 90% discount stickers on mushrooms and people were just grabbing them out of his hands, but I had very little money. Or, well, I did have 10 RON more, but they had been set aside by dad and I had grabbed them before leaving but didn’t mean to use them unless I absolutely had to, so I tried to recalculate and decide, but having to rush meant that I was a little off. Either way, I ended up putting one of each of those bundles back and taking a lettuce before grabbing dad’s beer on my way to the self-checkouts.
I took my place in line before the closing announcement, but it was a long line, and that gave me time to try to arrange what I meant to buy to some extent… And to keep thinking that I should have also grabbed a few peppers for dad, if I could have found a way to afford them without using those 10 RON. But at that point I actually thought that the total already exceeded what I had left, not counting those 10 RON, by a tiny amount, so if I wasn’t going to find some coins, I meant to leave one of the buns behind, and I had an empty paper bag to leave it in, having taken it when I was considering getting something to give away. But it was so crowded and that time several employees actually were there and they were rushing the customers through, often scanning the products for them, and that happened to me as well, an employee asking what I had, logging on and entering the products, starting with the lettuce, which I had placed in a bag and with those red scallion tops underneath it, so at first he asked whether I had two in there and I told him what was underneath it, pointing out that I had three of those bundles as well. And when he got to the buns, I told him that I had four but may end up only buying three, explaining that I might not afford the last one, since I had found one coin but my mind definitely wasn’t working anymore, so I didn’t even try to calculate whether it was enough. He pointed out how cheap they were, but I said that I knew how much I had on me, yet he still entered all four, and then asked whether I wasn’t buying the last thing, meaning that he had assumed that I had something in the other paper bag as well, so I said that it was empty and tossed it aside.
That guy being there, needing to talk to him and being rushed in that manner obviously messed me up, but if he’d have at least stepped aside at that point, after also clearing the sale of beer, which he must have done before logging off, I’d have probably managed to push through. However, he then pointed to the prompt about the store card and when I couldn’t immediately react he said that I didn’t have one, wording it as a question but acting on that assumption and skipping the prompt before I could speak again and say that I did actually have one, but since I saw that the discount for the beer had applied and the total was actually slightly lower than what I had calculated, so I could afford everything, I was just relieved that I didn’t have to ask him to take out a bun and said that it didn’t matter, at which point he finally stepped aside to let me pay. But that only meant stepping to my other side and asking whether I had cash or vouchers, so I told him that I had both, also mentioning that I got confused, and at least I managed to use that voucher received for the recyclables and then finish the payment without him doing anything else, though it still felt like he was watching me like a hawk, and he quickly took away the used voucher when I was done. And I was a complete mess at that point, so I awkwardly gathered my purchases and didn’t realize that I had thrown the cleaner bag where I had meant to put the paper bag with the buns under everything else, so I started looking for it, which made the next customer who was starting to use that machine ask whether I was looking for the receipt, at which point I thought that I had lost that bag and dragged myself out of the checkout area.
That was all I could do at that point, however, so I ended up squatting a few steps away, covering my eyes and trying to recollect myself, focusing on just breathing and trying to stop myself from crying, and hoping that nobody would stop to ask whether I was all right, or interact with me in any other way. And nobody did, so I somehow managed to recover just enough to start rearranging the purchases to some extent, also finding that bag in the process… And when I also checked the receipt I saw that, by not scanning the store card, I had missed out on another discount. It was a tiny amount, but that employee had cheated me out of it, and did it when I had already told him that I might not have enough money, so it might have made the difference between being able to afford everything and needing to leave something behind, so I set my mind on recovering that amount at a later time, especially since I was starting to turn the panic into anger. But at that point I just had to get out of there, so I finally walked out when it was almost 9:15 PM.
I got back at 9:45 PM, put some of the purchases in their place and spread out the rest, showered, set the water for mamaliga to boil, ate a sweet pastry that I already had and finished writing what I posted that evening, then made the mamaliga, dealing with the vegetables while doing so and then finally putting them in their place as well.

In the early hours of April 30, I ate dinner between 3:15 AM and 4:10 AM, putting peanut butter on most of the slices of bread, and I got in bed at 5:20 AM. Then I got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, but I really couldn’t say how much I actually slept during the last two hours or so; it might have been closer to half an hour or to an hour and a half, I have absolutely no idea. Either way, I then had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing consisting of another kind of somewhat nicer biscuits, with added honey, took the supplements, and left at 4:50 PM, wearing the full running gear, an undershirt and one armband, and deciding to use the old running shoes again, because the new ones were clearly fine, I didn’t still need to break them in or get used to them, and I didn’t want to “soak” them when it had only stopped raining after 4 PM, and in fact it still drizzled a little when I walked out, and one site listed a chance of some rain returning around 6 PM, plus that I didn’t mean to get right back after the run either, so I also had some things in the pocket of my tights. Either way, the reported temperature was 16-17°C, but it likely increased a little while I ran, especially when the clouds were clearing for a while, since I couldn’t check what it was during that time, but it was still 16-17°C at 7 PM.
The time was 1:18:48, with sector times of 4:24.88, 5:14 (5:13.75), 6:05.22, 4:37 (4:36.28), 5:11.60, 6:05 (6:04.62), 4:40 (4:39.72), 5:07.75, 5:59.03, 4:35.00, 5:07 (5:06.25), 5:59, 4:34, 5:11 and 6:00, making for lap times of 15:43.85, 15:53 (15:52.50), 15:46.50, 15:41 and 15:45. I was thinking that I’ll go over 1:20 and didn’t mean to memorize the exact times at first, but since I noticed them, I decided to do so after all, and then continued until I went past one hour and the hundredths were no longer displayed. But those times, and going over six minutes on sector three of lap one in particular, made me worry that it’ll be the only lap that I’ll cover in less than 16 minutes, and sector one of lap two wasn’t promising. But I did stay under 16 minutes on lap two as well, so I then pushed more, starting to think that I might at least stay under 1:20 after all. The first sector’s time was quite a reason for concern on lap three as well, but the next two sectors were actually more or less decent, and the lap was less slow than the previous one, which didn’t just make me quite certain that I’ll stay under 1:20, but I also wondered whether I’ll manage to keep staying under 16 minutes per lap. So I pushed even more on lap four, even if I thought that I’ll exhaust myself and end up slowing on lap five, and lap four actually ended up being the least slow lap of the day, which made me go from just hoping to ensure that I’ll stay under 1:20 even if I’ll get a fair bit slower to wondering whether I’ll somehow manage to squeeze under 1:19, and on the last sector the target became to stay under that 1:18:57 which at the time I misremembered as the time from four days earlier, though it was actually the one from just over a month before. Either way, I managed that, but it’s still a poor time, and it’s even worse when I’m also taking the supplements and it’s the last longer run before the race.
There were very few people at first, and while the number later increased and I had to weave or go the long way around a number of times, and maybe slow a little on a couple of occasions, I wouldn’t say that people caused any notable problems, except perhaps on sector two of what I’m pretty sure was lap two, when I had to slow a little more because I was off the lane and had to allow the cyclist who was just passing me to do so before I reached some people who were standing still and blocking my way ahead. On the other hand, there were some puddles, at one point I stepped in a hole that was under the lane, though I can’t recall when or where and it was just with my left heel, and much of the lane was soggy, so I mostly avoided it on the first two laps, though after that I started using it more, which allowed me to better optimize my route. Otherwise, on sector two of lap two the clouds started clearing to some extent, and I felt like I had to snap my back and a certain pressing need also started to appear. The back problem seemed to go away on its own pretty quickly, but by the end of the lap I was starting to regret wearing that undershirt. However, around the end of lap three it became overcast again, so that was no longer a problem. As for that pressing need, it seemed to go away on the first two sectors of lap three, but on sector three of lap three it returned, giving the impression that I’ll need to manage it all the way to the end… Yet I wouldn’t say that I really noticed it over the course of the last two laps, and while the fact that I was pushing had plenty to do with that, it also means that it faded at least to some extent. What I did notice towards the end was that my arms started to go numb from the start of sector three of lap four.

The total time for the three runs was 3:27:43, which means that I really have to go back to 2021, before the hospitalization, for a worse series, with 3:31:27. With a time on the second run that wouldn’t have been so awfully embarrassing, I’d have squeezed under last year’s 3:26:36, but even that was a sign of bad things to come, and I didn’t obtain that less embarrassing time anyway, so it’s safe to say that my hopes and my morale are around rock bottom as a result… And I also decided to “penalize” myself for it by setting aside a small amount, determined according to those times, which I’ll eventually spend on deeply discounted things that I’ll then give away to homeless people.

Either way, after the run I continued to the farmers’ market, meaning to see whether the woman whom I had bought those from some three weeks earlier had more of those cheap but tasty apples. And she did have a pile at that price, 1 RON / kg, but as I passed by her stall she called after me, saying that she’ll give me more of those apples at that low price, and then adding that she’ll even offer me that price for the “yellow” ones, referring to the pile of smaller and wrinkled but otherwise still good Golden apples, which were listed at 2 RON / kg. And when I turned around and said that in that case I’ll get some, she showed that she even remembered me, saying that she had given me that kind of apples before, and she even asked whether I still had my own bag… Only to say that the first one that I pulled out wasn’t good, since it didn’t have handles. But I had more, so I gave her one with handles, which she was satisfied with. She also asked whether I liked sports after I said that I was coming from a run, and when I said that I was training for the half marathon the man who was sitting behind her asked when “the marathon” was, so I told him the dates for both the half marathon and the marathon. Either way, the woman said that I could pick the apples myself if I wanted to, but I said that she could put them in the bag, and that if I could get five kilograms for 5 RON, that’s how much I wanted. And she ended up giving me all but one of the apples from that pile, so I should have just asked for all of them, especially since I weighed them after getting back and one scale listed 4.9 kg. But that’s for people and may not be that accurate, especially at such low weights, and the kitchen scale listed 5.05 kg, so she probably gave me the right amount.
After stopping to split the apples into two bags, I eventually made my way out of the farmers’ market and also went to Penny on the way back, seeing that guy that I kept bumping into around this area during a certain period enter the store as I was approaching, so we nodded at each other, then I put the apples in a cabinet and got some pasta and another bag of corn puffs, using the price checker to confirm that they were both still discounted, since it was the last day of that sale and the prices had already been changed back to the regular ones. What was concerning was that a guy who coughed and had sores on his legs was in line and I spent quite some time there, and after the second checkout reopened and the two women whom I had allowed ahead of me moved to it and I followed them, in good part in order to once again avoid being right behind him, I ended up right next to him, so it was pretty much the same thing. On the other hand, the cashier was laughing her butt off at what the old woman who had been helped by the guard, and allowed ahead by me and that other woman, and in fact for whom that second checkout had even been reopened at that time, had said just before hobbling away, and she forgot to give me the receipt, and I was also snorting and didn’t press for it, just retrieving the apples and adding the new purchases into a bag.
I got back at a little after 7:40 PM, initially meaning to leave again, but after eating something sweet and one of the older apples, putting the pasta and corn puffs in their place, and making a couple of attempts to weigh the new apples, though it was only later that I managed to do so properly, on the kitchen scale, I checked and saw that Kaufland Basarabia, which I was considering going to, as well as the one from Pantelimon, which would have been the other option, had switched to closing at 11 PM, and I didn’t exactly care to get back at midnight, plus that I was uncertain whether the bakery discounts would be made at 10 PM or still at 9 PM, and the main reason to go out again was to get bread, so I gave up on the idea, did the day’s squats and went to wash, my left ear feeling clogged while I did so, and the feeling persisting after I was done. Either way, I then had lunch, but taking things way too slowly meant that I only ended up eating dinner between 3:40 AM and 4:25 AM, and I got in bed at 5:30 AM…

Well, at some point after 8 AM I was awake again. I’m not sure exactly when, since some time passed before I got up and went to pee, but while I didn’t hear the computer do the daily backup, it couldn’t have been long after that. And then I kept trying to figure out when to go and buy bread, and also more cat food of the other kind, and when to walk the route of the half marathon, so getting back to sleep was pretty much out of the question and a little after 9:20 AM I got back on the computer, only returning to bed when it was almost 10:30 AM. And, while I eventually got back to sleep, I really have no idea how much I slept before waking up again, since I then spent quite a long time in bed before finally getting up, so the fact that it was around 2:20 PM or so at that point doesn’t mean anything.
Soon after that, as I was eating a piece of cake which had been brought by dad from his sister, things got worse, since that filling that I kept thinking was loose for a long time fell out, picking a really bad time to do so, especially since the dentists that I was going to are on vacation until after Easter, so I still have a hole there. And that ear remained clogged, which made me feel weird, and as the day continued I started feeling worse in general, even worrying that I might start to have a fever, and while I did take a nap late in the evening, at night I was feeling quite out of it and there seemed to be some crap in my chest as well. But I did feel somewhat better after dinner, which I ate between 3:20 AM and 4:05 AM. And I got in bed at 5:25 AM, and by the time I got up I had pretty much recovered, so I was probably just exhausted… But now I’m starting to have the digestive problems that may be associated with the supplements that I’m taking, so I’ll have to see how that will turn out.

I managed to write everything except the part about the rest of April 28, after the run, before going to bed this morning, since that part’s longer and I wanted to finish as many sections as possible before posting. But, with the plan for today being to walk the route, I obviously couldn’t add anything else by the end of the day, and this has to be the week’s first post, so I scheduled it to be posted in that form at 11:59 PM, to mark the fact that it wasn’t finished at that point. But I managed to finish that part as well and add it the next afternoon, before really thinking about the week’s second post.

In the early hours of April 5, making the salad from lettuce, wild garlic, green onions and a few tiny beets and slicing some of that bread that I made meant eating dinner between 3:45 AM and 4:35 AM. And I also cut myself just as I finished cutting that bread. Actually, the knife had slipped a few more times, but it didn’t go all the way through the skin and there was no blood, but I probably relaxed too much just at the last slice and cut my left thumb. It wasn’t quite bad enough to need a bandage, but it was something to manage. And I got in bed at 5:25 AM.
After waking up just before 12:10 PM, going to pee, just in case, and exchanging a few words with dad, who was about to leave, it was hard to get back to sleep, but I eventually managed it, getting up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM. Then I had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing once again consisting of those nicer biscuits of a different kind, which had just expired by then, with added honey. I left just before 4:40 PM, wearing the full running gear, and actually returning to the old running t-shirt and the new running shoes. The reported temperature was 22°C, holding steady.
The time was 47:53.79, with sector times of 4:23.14, 5:02.75, 5:52 (5:51.65), 4:30.22, 5:02.00, 5:54 (5:53.44), 4:27.56, 5:00.00, 5:55 (5:54.66) and 1:48.37, making for lap times of 15:17.54, 15:26 (15:25.66) and 15:22.22. I was thinking to just keep pushing and see what will happen, hoping to at least get close to 47 minutes, if not even under, but after that first sector that was much slower than it should have been, I thought that even staying under 49 minutes was going to be a problem. But I just pushed, sector two’s time was much better, and I hoped to at least squeeze under that 15:20 that’s the lap target for 48 minutes on the first lap, which I did. But at that point I was thinking that I was looking at 48:30 at best, and that was still the case after the first two sectors of lap two, the only change being that at that point it actually seemed likely, not just the best that I could hope for. However, after the end of the lap I wondered whether I could just squeeze under 48 minutes after all, so I pushed even harder from the start of lap three. It hardly seemed possible, and that was still the case after sector one of lap three, but at least I still seemed to have a shred of a chance, and that good sector two of lap three actually made me believe that it might just happen. And at the end of the lap it was actually possible, so I kept pushing on the final sector, managing a pretty good time and getting under 48 minutes by several seconds. So at least I managed to obtain a normal time again, even if it took everything…
There were a fair number of people, so I was weaving and going the long way around, but the only notable problems were on the long straight of sector one, albeit on each lap. On lap one, I had to squeeze through a roadblock and then slow and briefly step off the path because of a kid who was unsteadily riding something and got in my way as I was about to pass him. On lap two, a family was blocking the lane and the girl, on roller skates, blocked the small space that was next to the lane as well just as I was about to try to squeeze through, so I had to briefly stop. And on lap three I hesitated when a guy stepped off the lane, making room and actually gesturing to the girl who was with him to stay where she was… Only for her to follow him and cut me off. Otherwise, my thigh muscles and hips felt tired at first, but the feeling soon went away, only some faint warnings from my right knee and hip appearing on sector three of lap three. The cut was quite a problem, however, since it was at the tip of my left thumb and made it tricky to press the button on the stopwatch. And, as usual, there were some damaged parts of the lane, which I avoided. But a more serious reason for concern was that, even at that temperature, it actually started feeling a little hot, so I really dread what the summer will bring.

Then I had lunch, did the day’s squats, changed, and left again, I think at 7:45 PM, with a few more recyclables with the deposit paid. Since I was looking for that drilling machine for dad, I went straight to Kaufland, going around Mega Mall instead of through it, using the recycling machine, and spotting three deeply discounted bags of oranges among the spoiling products. The bags were torn and some of the oranges were scattered in the crate, but all but one looked fine, so I ended up weighing all of the others, seeing that they weighed just under two kilograms, splitting them in two and ending up with two deeply discounted bags of pretty good oranges that had very close to one kilogram each. So I did my best to tie those bags, so the oranges won’t keep scattering, and bought them, along with the drilling machine. And I used the voucher received for the recyclables, but I didn’t call an employee to take off the alarm from the drilling machine, so the gate beeped when I walked out, and while the guard didn’t react, at that point I did ask the employee from the information desk to remove the alarm… Only for her to ask the guard to do that, and he took it to one of the regular checkouts and did so. Then I also asked the information desk employee whether anything else had to be done in order to have the warranty, if needed, and she told me to just keep the receipt.
After putting the oranges in a bag, I went to Carrefour, entering with the purchases and grabbing a discounted sweet pastry before looking through the “salty snacks” that were one of the categories that those vouchers were offered for those days, and on top of what I planned to get, I saw great discounts which I hadn’t seen on-line on popcorn and one other thing, so I got two of each, which also meant replacing the popcorn which I had to throw away. And, on top of what was left in the change tray, 0.11 RON seem to have already been in the self-checkout machine that I used. Then I checked the receipt and calculated, to make sure that everything except that sweet pastry had counted towards that voucher, arranged the purchases into bags, and returned to Kaufland.
After putting the bags in a cabinet and washing my hands, I entered the store a second time, at 9:35 PM, rushed to the bakery area, and saw discounts of 50%, but no sweet pastries left, so I just got two buns and one of those breads that had a 33% regular discount those days, which that time did have the evening discount applied as well. Then I checked the expiring products and decided to finally try a skyr, even if it was imported, after which I saw a good evening discount for bananas, dug through and got some, and then I also dug through the grapes, which also had a good evening discount, managing to select a handful before the closing announcement. When that came, I rushed to weigh the grapes and quickly grabbed more cornmeal on my way to the self-checkout. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and took a little time to arrange everything into bags, leaving them in front of the cabinets that are in front of the toilets as I washed my hands again, then picking them back up and walking out just after 10:10 PM.
I also checked that Mega Image, putting everything except the drilling machine into two cabinets, but only locking one, since I only had one 0.50 RON coin. And I regretted picking up that expiring skyr when I found bio (organic) “Greek” yogurt discounted by 90%. It expired the next day, but at that price I just had to get some, and I actually bought two. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinets and tried to arrange everything a little better, but I was getting in the way of others, so after a little while I walked out, went to a bench, and rearranged properly.
I got back at 11:10 PM, with 13.5 kg, and all of the recent effort showed, since when I weighed myself with only the slippers and underwear on, I saw 46.0 kg. Either way, after cleaning the litter box and dropping a bag of trash down the chute, I took all of the munchies from Carrefour to my room, put most of the other purchases in their place, also rearranging some things in order to make the cornmeal fit, ate a banana, the sweet pastry, and an entire large bag of corn puffs, and it was 12:40 AM when I went to wash. I was done just after 1:20 AM, but then I arranged the munchies in my room, also exchanged a few words with dad, put the oranges in their place, moved something into a jar, dealt with my bread, and also saw some cream on one of the buns and wiped it off with some water and then microwaved the bun in order to dry it, though that also hardened it a lot.
On the other hand, just before he went to bed dad said that he was going to have the discussion about his retirement at work and I said that it does seem like a good year for major changes, assuming that the trade offer for the apartment from that neighbor, which he had shocked me with almost a month earlier, was still valid, but he said that things didn’t add up, since his plan was to also get a one-room place for himself that also had to be basically next to that one, and that can’t work out. And when I pointed out that I had said that it couldn’t add up but he had been very sure at that point, he said that he was at first, but then he actually calculated, and it can’t work. And when I said that I was processing it and starting to make plans and he was dashing them, and we won’t get another chance like that, he said that’s how it is, things don’t work out. Either way, I ate dinner between 3:55 AM and 4:40 AM, and got in bed at 5:25 AM.

I had meant to just record it, but when I found myself awake at 8:45 AM, I decided to watch the qualifying for the race after all, getting back in bed after that. On the other hand, the monitor was definitely reacting to the higher temperatures, once again being increasingly hard to turn on and off, which is another reason to dread how things will be during the summer. Either way, that night I started eating dinner at 3:15 AM, but still managed to finish at 3:40 AM. However, I then got in bed at 5:20 AM.

In the early hours of April 8, I ended up eating dinner between 3:20 AM and 4 AM, putting peanut butter on all of the slices of bread. Then I got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, and had the usual stuff, but the yogurt was one of those bio (organic) “Greek” ones, with 10% fat and 4.5% protein, even if by then it was expired, and I also added raisins in milk chocolate into it, along with the baked almonds with Himalayan salt and the cereals. And, as another sweet thing, I added honey on, or more exactly between, some of those wheat things. I also drank most of the tea, and left at 4:30 PM, wearing the full running gear, obviously with the new shoes and the old t-shirt, plus one armband and some things in the pocket of my tights, adding the Kaufland card in there just before leaving, since dad got back just then and gave it to me, saying that he hadn’t managed to get there, so I decided to go after the run, to get what he wanted, even if my initial plan had been to at most check Carrefour and maybe the farmers’ market. Either way, the reported temperature was about 23°C, and while I couldn’t check after the run, I’ll just assume that it basically held steady.
The time was 1:46:16, with sector times of 4:28, 5:07, 5:56, 4:35, 5:07, 6:02, 4:34, 5:13, 6:08, 4:43, 5:21, 6:14, 4:46, 5:20, 6:13, 4:48, 5:22, 6:16, 1:55, 6:12 and 1:56, making for lap times of 15:31, 15:44, 15:55, 16:18, 16:19 and 16:26, plus 10:03 for that final portion. Sure, I hoped to get under 1:45 again, but it seemed that the realistic goal was just to be less slow than the previous time, and maybe get under 1:48. And I felt slow at first, and also lost time on the first sector, so covering it in less than 4:30 was fine, and after a second sector that was good enough, I just wanted to stay under six minutes on the third, which I managed. The target for lap two was just to stay under 16 minutes, but sector two was good enough to make me slightly disappointed to go over six minutes on sector three. Then I wondered whether I could stay under 16 minutes on lap three as well, managing not only that, but also to just squeeze under the targets for a 16-minute lap on each sector. But that was the easy part, so from then on I just meant to compare the lap times to those from that previous time, thinking that lap four might well be the last one that will be faster than then, so I assumed that I’d otherwise get noticeably slower on lap five and pushed a little more, being a little surprised at how close the times ended up being. That made me realize that I might just be able to squeeze under 1:47 and, despite my body starting to give signs that it was nearing the limit, each sector of lap six made it clearer that I was going to manage that, so after sector two I started wondering about 1:46:30, and after the first sector of that final portion I was pretty confident that I’ll manage that as well, which proved to be the case, by quite some margin. But a year ago I had 1:42:54 and then ended up with an official time that was even over 1:50…
My right knee gave some warnings from the start, which soon went away but returned later, when I started feeling more warnings from other parts of that leg as well, though I can’t recall whether that was as early as sector three of lap four or later. A certain pressing need appeared from the start of lap two, and while I think that it went away after a while, it soon returned and, while it was never bad, it was something to manage from then on. And my hands started going numb from sector three of lap four and I started feeling a little out of it from the start of lap six, and while I otherwise recovered quickly, my feet started to burn on the long straight of sector two of lap six, though things didn’t get worse after that. Otherwise, there were the damaged parts of the lane that I did my best to avoid, and a portion of the long straight of sector two was surprisingly uneven, so trying to sprint on it was pretty much out of the question. And on sector three of lap one I stepped in a hole that was under the lane and almost tripped, and then I actually stepped in it one more time, probably on lap six, if not actually on lap five, but it was much less of a problem then. And on sector one of lap two I stepped in another hole that was under the lane, my ankle twisting a fair bit. And some sprinklers were spraying the path on a small portion of sector three, so on lap two I went very wide, all the way on the outside of a turn, while on the other laps I went through the spray. And it was windy in some areas, and I actually felt like I did have to fight at least a few gusts. And, while I thought that the little dirt which I had removed before leaving was what was bothering me at the back of the right shoe, something continued to bother me in that spot throughout the run.
And there were plenty of people, causing me to weave pretty tightly and squeeze through right from the start, and just before the first sector’s long straight I had to briefly stop because two women with strollers were on either side of the lane and one moved to hand something to the other right in front of me. Then, on sector three of lap one, I had to slow and go off the path in order to make it past another woman with a stroller. Two other moments were pretty much in the same spot of sector two, I believe the one when I had to briefly stop because I was trying to squeeze around a large roadblock but a dog came out of it and got right in my way being on lap two and the one when I had to quickly avoid a little girl who appeared from behind other people, riding something straight towards me, being on lap four, but I’m not completely certain. But more issues that caused me to briefly stop continued to appear on sector one, as on lap six a cyclist came right towards me, though she didn’t really have anywhere else to go, and on lap five a kid was walking on the lane and suddenly decided to run to the right just as I was about to pass on that side. I actually turned to shout about what’d have happened if we’d have crashed, and then muttered at the kid’s father when, in the same spot, on lap six, that same kid was just about to once again dash right in front of me, the father just barely holding on that time. And another moment was when I briefly stopped because of a silly dance with a guy, on sector one of what I believe was lap four, while the one when I was almost blocked and just had to weave hard was probably on lap three. Other issues, in other places, weren’t that bad, but they existed, though by lap four I was noticing that they were slipping my mind, so I didn’t even really try to memorize them anymore.

After doing just a little stretching, I stopped on a bench and took off the right shoe, but I didn’t find anything in there, and both feet hurt quite badly in that spot as I continued walking, so it was obvious that the problem was caused by the shoes themselves, which was a serious reason for concern, even if I mainly felt it just as I started walking, or after a pause, the pain lessening as I continued. So I made my way to Carrefour and just got an expiring product, and at the one self-checkout that accepted cash there was a foreign woman who was being helped by an employee, but then the employee, struggling with the English, told her that they’ll have to start over if she continued, maybe because she had too many products for those checkouts, if I understood correctly, and then just walked away, so that woman asked whether I could help her pay and I did, then told her that she had to scan her receipt to exit. That confused her, so I told her that there was a scanner at the exit and she thanked me and walked away, but then I saw her show the receipt to the employee and I’m not quite sure what happened next because I then focused on what I was doing and by the time I paid for my product she had walked out of the checkout area.
Then I went to the farmers’ market and bought all of the cheap apples that one person had, since they seemed noticeably better than what the others had at that low price, and on top of only a few having problems that went past the surface, they actually turned out to be particularly tasty as well. Either way, I then put the purchases in a cabinet, without locking, while I quickly checked that Mega Image, and then, even if I was weary of going to a pharmacy without a mask, I went to Tei, putting the purchases in a cabinet and just getting one thing. I should have just left the purchases there while I also checked that Mega Image, but instead I moved them to one of the cabinets from there and then retrieved them once again.
On my way to Kaufland, I picked up a plastic bottle with the deposit paid… Only to see that the recycling machine from Kaufland didn’t work… And neither did the toilets! So I put my things in a cabinet, then remembered that I wanted to check the weight of the apples, so I took them out and used the scales that are next to the recycling bins, then put them back in the cabinet and entered the store. I obviously hadn’t been able to wash my hands, but at least that allowed me to have a look through the fruits and vegetables, including the spoiling ones, right away, finding a few pretty nice things to get that had deep discounts despite only a little of the quantity being bad. And that included some garlic, which we were out of and which otherwise got really expensive. It was, however, unpleasant that dirt fell on these running shoes when I had a look through the potatoes, which already had an evening discount, and poured those from one crate into another.
After the evening discounts of 50% for bakery products were announced, after 9 PM, I went to the bakery area, put on a glove, and waited for the employee to place the discount labels, getting two regular breads for dad and then basically hovering around the sweet pastries that I wanted, finally asking the employee about them after I heard her asking about the similar ones, probably talking to herself, and telling her that I didn’t think that any of those were left. And she said that she was actually looking for those as well, among the discount labels, but after she finished placing them she said that there didn’t seem to be one for them, actually telling me to do so after I said that I’ll scan the label. However, that only confirmed that those weren’t discounted, so I told her that when she asked, when I put back that label, at which point she said that in that case she’ll discount them after 9:30 PM and I took another sweet pastry, to at least have something… And then I took a second piece when I returned to the bakery area, some time after 9:30 PM, since there were no new discount labels and when I once again scanned the label of what I’d have actually wanted, along with two others, I saw that there had been no changes.
In between, I got what dad wanted, which meant carefully looking through the refrigerated processed meat products twice over when I just had the t-shirt on, since he had told me how much was in a pack and a rough price, not knowing something more specific. And I also took a lettuce, and since they had been moved from where they had been placed earlier but the price label had been left there I also took it and threw it on them. On the other hand, while the discount for the potatoes had increased further and I had meant to have another look through them, I forgot to do so… Not that I could have carried more than a few, considering the bags which I had taken with me. Even so, struggling to carry everything after being done with the self-checkout meant that scanning the receipt in order to open the gate was proving to be a problem, so another customer asked whether I needed help and then scanned her receipt and told me to follow her out. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and took my time to arrange everything, being about to finish when the closing announcement came.
On the way back, I also quickly checked the Mega Image from Dristor, the guard telling me to put my things on the bench when I was looking at the cabinets and wondering how to fit everything in. So I did that, then picked everything back up on my way out. The recycling machine didn’t seem to work in that location either, and while it did work at the nearby Mega Image, which I also quickly checked, putting my things into two cabinets, without locking, I didn’t bother to use it just for that bottle when I didn’t find anything to buy either.
I got back around 10:40 PM, but I didn’t check the time just then, so that’s an estimate. Either way, after eating a banana and putting most of the purchases in their place, I went to wash, then I did something else that I had to do, after which I also put the garlic in its place, ate one of the sweet pastries, took a pill, just in case, and started eating lunch a few minutes after 1 AM, in my room, while checking some things on-line. I also started eating a bag of peanuts while waiting for lunch to cool a little, and I continued eating from it while washing what was in the kitchen, dealing with dad’s breads and working on dinner, putting the last ones in the salad, so I once again got 950 calories just from those. I also put the remaining sweet pastry in the fridge, but I left dealing with the apples for later, just putting them on the balcony for the time being, even so only managing to eat dinner between 4:05 AM and 5 AM, and getting in bed at 5:55 AM.
Well, I had a hard time falling asleep, which tends to be the rule after making that kind of effort, and while I eventually managed it, a little before 8 AM I was awake again, and after I heard the computer doing the daily backup I got up and got back on it, spending an hour writing proper notes about the day, before peeing and getting back in bed. But I still couldn’t sleep, a few minutes before 10 AM dad also received a delivery, and after wasting some more time in bed I gave up, went to the toilet for the other thing, and then got back on the computer, getting back in bed one more time a few minutes before noon, after peeing one more time. And I eventually did get some more sleep, but just a couple of hours or so, and while I also took a nap in the evening, that only meant another hour and a half at most.

In the early hours of April 16, I ended up eating dinner between 3:45 AM and 4:20 AM, and got in bed at 5:20 AM. But, after what I’d say was just under three hours of sleep, I kept waking up, there were weird dreams, and I also had a pretty bad taste in my mouth. And when I woke up yet again just after 1:40 PM, I really had to pee one more time, and deciding to just get back in bed without doing so meant that I pretty much had no chance to fall asleep again… But I was in that state that’s in between being asleep and awake when, at 1:55 PM, dad opened the balcony door fully, after having left it tilted overnight, and it wasn’t just my door that rattled, but even my bed, so I turned off the alarm and got up at that point. Then I had the usual stuff, but replaced the yogurt with skyr, since I still had some and it still seemed all right, even if it had expired eight days earlier. And the sweet thing consisted of two of those nicer, but also recently expired, biscuits, with added honey. I left at 4:15 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was about 28°C at that point, and about 1°C more when I finished.
The time was 47:41.10, with sector times of 4:20.16, 5:00.41, 5:53 (5:52.44), 4:27.40, 5:00.19, 5:54 (5:53.41), 4:24.21, 4:58 (4:57.91), 5:54.69 and 1:51 (1:50.28), making for lap times of 15:13.01, 15:21.00 and 15:16.81. The heat made me fear that I’ll end up going towards 50 minutes, and staying under 48 minutes seemed pretty much impossible, but after the first sector I wondered whether I couldn’t somehow at least stay under that 15:20 that’s the lap target for 48 minutes on the first lap, and pushing on sector two resulted in a surprisingly good time on that sector. And then it got cloudy, which made all the difference, though I still thought that I was going to get significantly slower on the next two laps and therefore only stay under 49 minutes at best. But sector one of lap two wasn’t bad either, and sector two was once again surprisingly fast, so the target became to still be on the pace for 48 minutes after two laps. And I didn’t just manage that, but only missed actually staying on that pace on lap two as well by one second. So I then decided to actually aim to stay under 48 minutes, pushing from the start of lap three despite thinking that I won’t be able to keep that up. But I was, sector two being even faster than on the previous two laps, and while I still worried that I was exhausting myself and might yet miss that target, at the end of the lap I was clearly safe, so I then aimed to also get under 47:45, which I managed. It was still just a normal time that I gave everything for, and it definitely wouldn’t have been possible if it’d have stayed sunny, but being able to maintain that pace when I was so sure that I won’t might help my confidence a little.
It was sunny and hot at first, but from sector three of lap one it became cloudy, as I already mentioned, and that helped a lot, because those first two sectors were enough to make me struggle with the heat. The wind remained an issue, however, and there were moments when I had to fight it, though I noticed it less on lap three. But I wasn’t noticing that much on that lap anymore, since I was pushing so hard, my arms actually starting to go numb on its first sector. And on the next sector something got in both of my eyes, but I dealt with the situation pretty quickly. Otherwise, there was some weaving and going the long way around, but probably more because of the damaged parts of the lane than because of people, who caused no notable problems. A group did cause me to go off the path right in the last turn of lap three, but that meant cutting that turn. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure that before that run I figured out what was really making the new shoes bother me at the back, having to do with how I was putting them on, since they’ve been pretty much perfectly comfortable since then.

After getting back, I ate a banana, some salty pretzels and three small slices of pizza that dad had brought some days before, to count as lunch, changed, and left again at 7:25 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit paid which I had picked up on the way and hadn’t been able to put in any machine two days earlier. And the recycling machine from Penny Titan, which was my first stop, was getting serviced when I got there, so I initially put those recyclables in a cabinet, but then I found one expiring product that I wanted and eggs with a good and unannounced discount even though they weren’t expiring, so I took two cartons, replaced a few eggs that I had doubts about, then hid them and that other product, retrieved the recyclables and used the machine, needing to try several times until it accepted three of the bottles. Then I went back, retrieved what I had hidden and added some other things, all of the prices being correct at the checkout even though the price label for something that was discounted until that day, so including that day, had apparently already been changed, and the price checker didn’t work. And a woman was trying to get the recycling machine to accept one of those bottles that I had also struggled with just when I walked out, so I mentioned in passing that it’s hard to get those to work, but they eventually will.
Seeing as I also wanted to go to Supeco, which closes at 9 PM, I had spent too much time at Penny, so I was rushing, but after initially throwing the purchases into the bag where the recyclables had been, which I consider dirty and which also has holes that are large enough for some things to fall out, I eventually stopped at a bench and moved everything into another bag, which I put in a cabinet when I got to Supeco, even though it didn’t lock. It was 8:35 PM at that point, and less than 20 minutes later I was walking away, after just buying the tofu that I had gone there for and then adding it into that bag, after retrieving it from the cabinet.
On the way to Kaufland, I grabbed two more plastic bottles with the deposit paid, but the recycling machine stopped when the couple who was using it when I got there walked away, so I just grabbed some more of the discount vouchers for soap that were scattered around there, realizing that I had forgotten the ones which I had grabbed two days earlier, when I had forgotten to get soap and therefore hadn’t used them. Then I put my things in a cabinet, washed my hands, and entered the store a couple of minutes after 9:30 PM, when nothing interesting and discounted was left in the bakery area, the bread that I could have taken not being discounted, which I confirmed after scanning the label. But I grabbed a few other things, then made my way to the self-checkout after the closing announcement… Only to realize, after scanning those other products and even confirming that the discounts applied properly, that I had once again forgotten about the soap! And it was the last day when those vouchers were valid, so I left those other products on the machine and the transaction open and I dashed back and grabbed some cheap soap as fast as I possibly could, a guard spotting me and telling me to hurry up because they had closed. Then I returned and scanned the soap as well, but the machine obviously didn’t register the fact that I had placed those vouchers on the scales after scanning them, and placing coins on the scales didn’t work either, so I had to call an employee and wait a little before one came over and entered them. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, quickly arranged the new purchases in a way that allowed me to carry them out, needing to use the emergency exit, and then I took my time to arrange everything properly, on one of those tables, before finally walking away at 10:15 PM.
I then continued to Auchan, which I reached at 10:30 PM, entering with everything, without even looking for the recycling machine, and just getting a couple of things for dad, then looking around for a while, a guard telling me to hurry up when there were ten minutes left before closing time. And, when I got to the checkouts, just two that accepted cash were still open, and both were manned, so I had to use one of those, then walked out quickly, once again needing to use the emergency exit even though the store hadn’t actually closed quite yet, and stopped to arrange the new purchases into a bag once I was outside.
I also checked the non-stop Mega Image on the way back, but that recycling machine seemed to have just stopped as well, so I couldn’t use it for those two bottles either, adding them along with the other bags in a cabinet, entering with the backpack, and just getting the one bio (organic) egg that I found among those sold by piece. Or, more exactly, the one that I knew was bio (organic), since there were a total of three and I couldn’t make out what was written on the other two. Either way, I then retrieved my things and walked away.
I got back at 11:55 PM, with about 12.5 kg, but after cleaning the litter box I went to throw a bag of trash down the chute and picked up two more bottles with the deposit paid from the garbage room, which I then washed a little, along with the two which I hadn’t been able to put in a machine. Then I put the purchases in their place and ate the caramelized walnuts that I already had, so I got almost 700 calories and over 50 grams of sugar just from those. I also gathered my clothes from the balcony, and it was past 1:15 AM when I went to wash, and almost 1:55 AM when I was done. Then I washed what was in the kitchen, also dealt with the one bread that I still hadn’t dealt with, moved something into a jar, and finally ate dinner between 4:15 AM and 5 AM, getting in bed at 5:35 AM.
At 7:40 AM, dad woke me by cleaning the litter box as well, before he went to bed, because it was supposedly stinking, so he needlessly threw away sand, or more exactly bentonite, because that smell, even at levels that I’d barely notice, is apparently the only one that bothers him and he reacts immediately, but he doesn’t give a fuck about any of the stenches that he creates and would tend to tell me to just deal with it if I complain. And then it was clear that I won’t be getting back to sleep quickly, also because I was angry, so just after 8 AM I got back on the computer, only getting back in bed an hour and a half later and eventually getting a couple more hours of sleep, though even that was broken up. And at night I started eating dinner at 3:10 AM, but still managed to finish at 3:40 AM, though I then got in bed at 5:20 AM.

The announcement that Voyager 1 is once again returning usable data is a piece of good news that comes from pretty much as far as any news could possibly come from. It took some tricky reprogramming, but after the cause of the problem was identified, the team worked things out and, while more work is needed before science data will also be returned once again and I wonder whether anything will need to be sacrificed because of the corrupted part of the memory, the chances of humanity’s most distant functional spacecraft making more discoveries are now looking much better. And the fact that Voyager 1 is now 22.5 light hours away makes me think of the moment when it’ll reach a distance of one light day, which should happen in 2027… Which is also when it’ll turn 50, so that year will mark huge milestones, and I’m sure that the team will make every effort to give it every chance to still be operational at that point, even if power constraints will most probably require at least one more science instrument to be turned off by then.
Of course, this doesn’t change anything about the fact that there are no replacements and what that says about humanity’s focus and ambitions… But I keep mentioning this whenever I write about space exploration, and sometimes not only then, so I’ll leave it at that for now, so this post will just be about the good news, and about something to look forward to.