Cav's Place

To add to the reasons for being depressed, last evening I just found out that Carrefour’s campaign that offers fruits and vegetables in exchange for PET bottles was extended this year to also include glass bottles and aluminum cans, so I’d have probably had several hundred stored, considering that large box of cans, but it was at Orhideea right at the beginning, only for five days instead of a week and those days were between September 22 and 26, so exactly when I did that series of three runs in five days and I didn’t check. I had been checking since August, but when I knew that I won’t be able to go I set that aside for a while, and they apparently made the announcement on pretty short notice and the two sources that I was relying on to pick it up haven’t mentioned it either, not even by now. And it’d have been so nice to have a lot of nice vegetables and also some nicer apples before the marathon, plus that Carrefour Orhideea is next to a metro station and therefore dad could have brought some as well, at least on some of the days, so we could have made use of more of the recyclables. As it is, it will also be at Vulcan again, but between October 29 and November 2, so again only for five days and dad definitely won’t go there, so on top of having stored all of the bottles and cans used by him, fighting with him over it at times, and not being able to get the benefits when I actually needed them, I’ll also be limited to a total of 100, assuming I’ll go every day… Though the first question is whether I will be able to use what I have at all, since this year it says that they’re using machines, which won’t take flattened bottles or cans, and I obviously flatten them in order to be able to store so many, so I can only hope that they’ll change things and also allow them to be received by their employees, as it always was before, by then.
Otherwise, my provider just removed Eurosport 2 from the channels on the analog list, so I can’t watch it normally anymore, in my room or in the kitchen, and getting the new TV tuner is starting to look like even more of a mistake, since still being able to watch TV on the computer when I’ll finally get a new one is more and more questionable. And even though I haven’t been using that tuner at all after the initial tests, I just noticed that DOSBox doesn’t register the right Shift anymore and after glancing at some discussions about the problem I’m thinking that the drivers which were installed for its remote are the cause.
Unrelated to any of these, I’m getting worried about dad, noticing signs of health problems that he won’t admit to, or may well make a point of not believing, following his idea about the power of the mind. He always had problems with one ear, but now I’m wondering whether he’s losing his hearing in general or what’s going is his ability to comprehend, which would be a sign of worse things. And also a sign of worse things would be his memory, which was always poor but seems to be getting quite noticeably worse… Even if he is very involved in those theater groups and seems to be able to learn and play his parts well enough despite most likely rehearsing less than he should, which makes me wonder whether it’s not still more about not paying attention, in which case the question becomes whether he just doesn’t care to or he’s no longer able to. And since, unlike everything else, he actually admitted to being bothered by one eye and actually scheduled an appointment to have it checked out, I wonder how bad that actually is as well.

But this post was supposed to be about runs, and it won’t even get to those three that I mentioned above, being limited to the two that came before them, the main one obviously being the 35.2 km one, on September 6. I should probably start with September 5, however, and say that it was past midnight, so during that day’s first moments, when I started making pasta, and 3:05 AM when I started to eat a combined lunch and dinner, though that was after licking a few things earlier, while I was still in the kitchen. I finished a little after 3:45 AM.
I was woken up by the SMS received at 8:52 AM, letting me know that the Slow Cooker which I had ordered, after discussing it with dad, was going to be delivered that day, and after that I had a hard time getting back to sleep and was quickly waking up if I did, so I just had a few naps before 12:22 PM, when the delivery guy called. I asked whether I’ll be able to check the package and he said that I will after paying, so when he arrived I paid, then just pulled the box into the hallway and did my best to open it quickly while he stood at the door, having a very quick look and not noticing anything wrong at that moment. Later, when I could take a closer look, I did spot a tiny problem on the bowl, but it’s obviously like that from manufacturing, not a crack, and it’s on the outside, so it seems fine.
Otherwise, I was worried about the left calf muscle, which had been troubling me and seemed to be getting worse at the time, which was definitely not what I wanted before such a run. And I couldn’t get much more sleep that evening either, getting back in bed at one point, napping for no more than an hour, and in fact probably less, then getting up to pee and being unable to get back to sleep despite spending another hour and a half in bed, then turning on the monitor, since there was a match, but getting back in bed yet again and staying there until the end of the first half, so for more than 20 more minutes, just looking at the screen when there were goals. That did mean four times, however.

To finally get to September 6, I’ll again start with the day’s first moments, when I was eating lunch. Then I shaved and, after getting to the kitchen, did a few things that could have waited, but I can’t really say when I started eating dinner. It was 3:25 AM when I had the first bite in my room, but by then I had gone beyond just licking a few things in the kitchen, while on the other hand it was actually 3:30 AM when I finished bringing everything to my room and sat down to eat here, but I grabbed some more bites during those five minutes as well. And yes, I had peanut butter again, but only on some of the slices. Either way, I finished eating at 4:20 AM and got in bed at 5:20 AM.
I woke up multiple times, sometimes to pee, after that big salad, but not just because of that. It was the need to pee that woke me up the last time, however, since I hadn’t set an alarm, and when I saw that it was 2:07 PM I decided to get up. The problem was that there had been an announcement stating that gas would be off until 1 PM, yet it was still off, so I first went to the toilet, where I only left a small part of what I felt was there, after putting off going the day before until I ended up not going at all. But the gas was still off when I checked again, so I ended up microwaving two mugs of tea, which I drank. Otherwise, ate a nicer apple and a bio (organic) yogurt with muesli, raisins in dark chocolate and almonds, then went to the toilet a second time, managing to get way more out but still feeling like it wasn’t everything. And if the gas finally seemed to have returned after that and I tried to make the tea for the evening, it then seemed to have been turned off again, though something was coming through and it had that smell, so I was thinking that they were testing, using a substance that wasn’t flammable, but it’s possible that the burner had somehow gotten clogged and too little gas was coming through. So I gave up on making that tea and also ate a banana and some of those wheat things, with honey and jam. I had found a different kind in the hypermarkets, also eight in a package, but 56 grams instead of 80, so seven grams each, so I had three instead of two, as a “sandwich”, with the honey and jam between them.
After also backing up the “safe” partition, I decided to take the running belt after all, putting in it the remaining gel from this summer’s Dream Trek, which had also expired back then, in June, this probably explaining how they had managed to afford to give away so many, and also a protein bar, also from then, plus some garlic and napkins. Otherwise, I was wearing the full running gear plus one of those armbands, only putting my ID card and the slip of paper with the emergency information in the pocket of my tights. The napkins and garlic should have gone there as well, and possibly also the gel, to leave the belt free for the first emptied bottle, which was the main reason why I had decided to take it in the first place, but for some reason I didn’t put them there. Either way, after taking a little more time to remove what had gathered at the back of my shoes, I took a bottle of tea, fortunately made the previous day, in each hand, and left at 5:50 PM, when the reported temperature was 23-24°C, dropping to about 17°C when I finished. But something still seemed to be hurting my left heel, so after reaching the park I sat on a bench and took care of that.
The time was 3:23:09, with lap times of 16:02, 16:39, 16:58, 17:26, 18:27, 18:17, 18:32, 18:55, 19:43, 20:36 and 21:34. When I wanted to hit the light button at the start of lap seven, since that was when it became too dark, I accidentally hit the start/stop one, so I added a second to the times that were actually displayed after that, affecting that lap’s time and the total. It’s possible that it took me closer to two seconds to react, but one second seems good enough, plus that I was standing still at that moment. Either way, the ideal target was to stay under 3:15, but I’d have been pretty content with “only” a new personal best, preferably by at least eight seconds, to stay under 3:18 and average less than 18 minutes per lap. And I did push too hard at first, finding myself aiming for 16 minutes on the first lap and just missing that target, and then wanting to stay under 17 minutes on laps two and three and managing to do so, plus that the actual running time was about 17 minutes on laps four and five as well, so after five laps I was 3:56 ahead of the previous time, but then I started losing time. I calculated after seven laps and saw that I had just gone over the time that’d have allowed me to stay under 3:18 with 19-minute laps from then on, already having almost 19 minutes on lap eight confirmed that 3:18 was a lost cause, and lap nine made it quite clear that I won’t even stay under 3:20, so from then on I just tried to get to the end and stay under 3:25, on the last lap actually being worried that I won’t even manage that. It wasn’t quite as bad in the end, but I was 5:02 slower than last year, with 5:35 lost over those last two laps, since after nine laps I was still 33 seconds ahead. In fact, on the last two laps, and also on the eighth, I was even slower than the first time…
While my heels weren’t getting scraped anymore, I felt quite clearly that the left shoe pretty much no longer cushions at all at the front. Otherwise, it was quite crowded, only getting better towards the end, but I wasn’t aiming for speed, so there were few notable issues. I recall having to go off the path and around a couple of benches on lap seven, but cutting a turn in the process, and the one potentially dangerous moment was on the long sector one straight, I think on lap six, though there’s a small chance that it was also on lap seven, when I was weaving and squeezing through, a cyclist coming from the opposite direction was doing the same and we ended up face to face, so he slammed on the brakes, I also managed to stop and we just avoided crashing. Some damaged spots on the lane could have been hazardous in the dark, but I avoided them, though on lap six I again somehow ended up stepping in that hole that’s under the lane. I thought that I had avoided it but obviously didn’t, so it was again my left heel that went in it, which might have caused the sharp pain I felt in my left ankle on lap seven. But that went away after a while, as did the pain which at one point I was feeling in my right knee. My hips and thighs were giving warnings from the start, seemed to get better on lap two but got back to that level on lap three, at which point that right knee also joined them, at first with warnings but then, I’m not sure if almost right away or on lap four, with a pain that was quite worrying before it went away.
I drank at the start of laps four, six, eight and eleven, since at the start of lap ten I decided to wait a little longer and then didn’t want to stop again during the lap, knowing that it’ll be hard to get going again. I know that drinking caused me to lose about 35 seconds on each of the first two occasions, but on the other two I didn’t check. I lost over a minute, and maybe closer to one and a half, at the start of lap five, however, when I ate that bar, struggling a little to open the wrapping and then stopping at a bench to set down the bottles, only recalling after that how to hold them and still have enough free fingers to deal with the bar. I lost much less time when I had the gel, at the start of lap nine, but I didn’t try to actually calculate how much. And, despite not drinking or eating, there were brief stops at the start of laps seven and ten as well, to check the time. But what surprised me was that there was no pressing need at any point. Or maybe a faint feeling appeared some time after eating the bar, but it wasn’t notable and later there really wasn’t anything at all. On the other hand, the feeling that I had to pee, which I had from the beginning, was only starting to ease by the time I drank the first time, and that caused it to return, only finally going away for good some time after that.
But there was so much pain… I knew about halfway through lap eight that I was going to be in trouble, towards the end of lap nine my legs were really hurting and starting to burn, on lap ten that got even worse and my arms were also going numb, and on the last lap my feet seemed to be going numb as well, my hands were so numb that I almost dropped the bottles a few times, and I also had that odd feeling, of partial numbness or something of the sort, in my upper abdomen. Interestingly, I never felt out of breath, but it was so hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I did realize at the end of lap ten that I’ll be able to at least jog, and likely actually run to some extent, all the way to the end, but the last two, or in fact two and a half, laps were really hard.
It obviously wasn’t any easier after I finished either. I was in so much pain and could barely even stay on my feet, so it was so hard to go up those stairs. Still, I stopped at a bench for a little stretching, then struggled to get back here, probably looking really drunk, since I was having such a hard time walking, not to mention going in a straight line. But I got back just before 10 PM and when I mentioned wanting cheese from this nearby store, since I meant to make mamaliga, dad offered to rush there and get some before leaving for work, which he did, so I didn’t have to go out again. But before he went out the door I had already started crying because of the pain, and while I was probably only able to do so because I wasn’t alone at that moment, I then found myself crying harder for a few minutes, while he was away, and that seemed to help a fair bit.
The stove still didn’t seem to work, however, but at that point I decided to try all of the burners and noticed that the problem was just with the front ones, and even those eventually lit, but only partially and with small flames, so I made tea on one from the back, which worked normally. But after eating watermelon and most of a bag of bagels and going to the bathroom at 11:15 PM, to use the toilet and take a pretty quick bath, finishing at 12:10 AM, I decided to have a regular lunch, with the rest of those bagels instead of bread, since it was too late to start making mamaliga, even though I cleaned those burners from the front and they worked well after that. Even so, it was 12:50 AM when I started eating that lunch and 1:15 AM when I finished, then spent 20 more minutes on-line and after that I also put a few more things brought by dad in their place, so the fact that I started eating dinner at 3:05 AM actually meant that I was fast, and it was even better that I still finished at 3:40 AM.

Sleeping after that run was quite a problem, however. I guess it was close to 7 AM when I finally managed to fall asleep, but at 7:55 AM I got up to pee again, at which point I also washed what dad had left in the kitchen, and after that I was again unable to get back to sleep, so a little after 8:40 AM I got up, tightened the case screws a little more, since something had been vibrating, and then got on the computer. After having for some reason decided to reinstall it a few days earlier, that morning I completed the tutorial of Fate of the World: Tipping Point, which was the only scenario which I had managed to complete the first time around as well, being easy and not taking long. And then I also finally finished the post about the runs on August 15 and 19 and edited it in order to add those parts, getting back in bed at 9:45 AM.
On the other hand, despite not having such problems that day, nor when I went to the toilet right after the run, the blood that I saw the following day was probably a delayed effect of that run after all. I had only held it for a few minutes and everything seemed fine at first, but it felt like there was a little more, so I tried to push it out and at that point I heard drops, looked in the toilet and saw blood dripping out of me. It’s apparently the first time that happened since November, and so far it didn’t happen again, which is a relief. However, that day I also confirmed that I had lost a filling, though I’m pretty sure that at least parts of it had fallen out quite some time earlier, so I don’t know whether what was left of it also fell out at that point, making it more noticeable, or I was just paying more attention.

Moving on to the next run, which was on September 17, I’ll again start with the day’s the early hours, when I finished eating dinner at 3:45 AM. At that point, despite setting the alarm to ring at 2 PM, I was thinking to try to get up if I’ll wake up when dad will leave, which was supposed to be around 10:30 AM, and won’t be awfully sleepy, since there was a risk of storms later and the sites that I check disagreed on the hours. But I was first woken up at 7:10 AM, by a call, and I even answered, but they hung up, so I switched the phone to silent, went to pee and then got back in bed, seeing later that after a few minutes they tried one more time. Either way, I woke up twice more after that, but managed to get back to sleep quickly, and after waking yet again when dad left I took a little time to determine whether I could try to get up, got on the computer and checked the forecast again, seeing that the sites were closer to agreeing over a risk of rain after 4-5 PM. However, one just listed a window with a lower risk of rain, before those hours, so even though all agreed that the wind was going to cause the most problems exactly during that window, I moved the alarm to noon and got back in bed, again falling asleep quickly and getting up when it rang.
The forecast had again changed by then, the sites stating either that there should be no more rain that day or that it’ll only return in the evening. But, despite having something of a headache, the risks of getting back in bed yet again seemed to outweigh the benefits, so I had the usual stuff plus the last of the old almonds, with some chec, which Wikipedia says is a version of pound cake, with added honey, as the sweet thing, and left at 2:30 PM, wearing the full running gear and one of those armbands, with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 24-25°C, which seemed to have pretty much held steady, even though when I left the forecasts stated that it was going to increase by a couple of degrees by the time I’ll finish. Also, even though it was cloudy, the risk of rain had just about vanished from the forecasts, and that of more troublesome wind had moved a little later.
The time was 48:08.85, with sector times of 4:20.35, 5:06.47, 6:01 (6:00.97), 4:30 (4:29.22), 5:06.10, 5:55.18, 4:26 (4:25.75), 5:03.35, 5:49.34 and 1:52.12, making for lap times of 15:27.79, 15:31 (15:30.50) and 15:18.44. I wanted to be less slow than the previous time but didn’t dare to hope to get back under 48 minutes and felt slow on the first sector. Still, that first sector’s time was pretty much what I expected and the second sector wasn’t bad either, but over six minutes on sector three meant that I was already tiring and the lap time didn’t seem to even give me a chance to stay under 48:30. However, sector two of lap two being fractions of a second faster than sector two of lap one got my attention, and being clearly under six minutes on sector three made it seem that I could at least stay under 48:30 after all, if I’ll really push. So I did, and each sector of lap three was better than expected, so I ended up much closer to 48 minutes, though still too far to have been able to get back under that time.
The lane was wet in a number of places, so I avoided what I could, but in terms of precipitation there were only some drops at the end of sector one of lap one, becoming a light drizzle on sector two but stopping by the end of that sector. There might have been a few more drops on the second half of sector three of lap three, but that was barely noticeable. And I can’t say that I noticed the wind at all, which was a pleasant surprise. But the weather, and likely also the uncertain forecast, probably helped to make the park less crowded than I feared it’d be, so while I did have to weave and go the long way around plenty of times, the notable problems were only on sector three of lap one, when I slowed a lot and maybe stopped for just an instant when a woman who was checking her phone and insulting the child she was with walked in front of me, and on sector one of laps two and three, when I slowed to catch the moment when I could squeeze through roadblocks. However, I probably ruined some wedding photos as I went up the stairs at the start of the final sector just when a couple, so I guess the bride and groom, were walking up slowly with the photographer behind them, taking shots, and after squeezing past them I banged my elbow against the railing, making me think that they had probably cursed me out under their breath.
In terms of physical problems, at the beginning I felt tired, a muscle bothered me a little, though in my notes I wrote that it was the bottom part of the back of my left calf, which seems unlikely, the bottom of the left thigh or the top of the left calf being more likely, and I also had some abdominal pain, but all of these issues lessened in time. And the warnings that came from my left ankle on sector two of lap two also went away after a while, other warnings, that time from my knees, or mainly from the left one, and possibly some faint ones from the right hip as well, only appearing on sector three of lap three. Otherwise, on sector two of lap one and sector three of lap two there was a feeling that I hadn’t left everything in the toilet, but it never got to the level of a pressing need and when it possibly returned, on sector three of lap three, it was even fainter.

I still have the rest of that day to write about, but since I’m going to do the morning run tomorrow I decided to start making the salad some time after dad left, so I worked on that until 11:30 PM or so, then finished the part about the run and now I have something else to do as well, so I’m posting this as it is… And the plan was to edit it in order to add that part after I’ll manage to write it, but I eventually decided to include that in the next post.

2022 is a milestone year, but for us meeting, not for Andra leaving, so the important post was the July 12 one, while now I’ll just quickly throw something together, just to mark the moment and actually manage to post it at 4 AM, without just posting what I have at that time and then editing to add more later, even if that’s pretty much the rule lately, and I also did it last year.

Not that there’s anything new to say… Which also means that, at least on this quick search, I didn’t find anything new, which in turn also means that I didn’t find anything to say that my worst fears have become reality, so there’s still room for that entirely false hope that I need to keep manufacturing and somehow hold on to despite still somehow being sane enough to know that I’m doing that. Then again, while losing that shred of sanity might make getting through each day somewhat more manageable, it’d most likely also mean everything becoming even less clear in my mind and losing even more of the memories and the “reality” of the emotions, if that may be an appropriate term.

What I’m still not entirely sure right now is how I’ll end up spending the day, however. I just finished that series of three runs in five days and the plan for this week would be to walk the route of the marathon, but I also have another thing to do on Wednesday, and while I initially meant to go out today as well, in part in order to get something that I won’t be able to get later and in part because I wasn’t sure that I wanted to stay in on this day, I’m now thinking that I actually don’t want to go out today. Also don’t want to go out on three consecutive days, after those runs and before such long walks, but I just don’t want to go out today in particular. So, unless I change my mind, I guess I’ll just stay here, remembering what I still can of the one time when life seemed to be worth living and the future, at least on a personal level, was something other than this bleak, hopeless, terrifying source of constant anxiety, depression and even actual horror.

The combat scenes may initially be the one source of excitement, but you’ll eventually realize that much more thought and planning went into the world and characters than it first appears, and that you should have paid closer attention than you probably did. While never massive, the battle scenes become even more exciting, but there are also hints of depth in character development, glimpses of worldbuilding on a massive scale and some reasons to care about it all… And there may even be some traces of emotion in some sex scenes, albeit just those of the gay male variety.
All of that comes rather late, however, for much of the book the author seeming to try too hard in various wrong ways, not just oversexualizing everything but being crass and making the characters, with the possible exception of Archeth, particularly difficult to like, with the rare glimpses of depth and connections seeming scattered haphazardly around. And even after those aspects improve to some extent, descriptions continue to be written in ways that seem to string together the sort of “beautiful expressions” that I recall having to keep lists of in early years of school, while at the same time f-words are overused in a manner that seems to betray a lack of creativity, all of these making it harder to get clear mental images. And then there are all the instances of hero’s luck, though that’s pretty much the norm. And yes, there’s plenty of sex and most of it is just plain fucking, and if women are involved then they’re just used for pleasure.

Rating: 3/5

Seems that I find myself writing about tennis again, but I did watch Federer’s retirement match and it feels like the end of an era. Sure, after not playing since losing in the quarter-finals of last year’s Wimbledon, this only makes his retirement official, while on the other hand Nadal, Djokovic and even Murray are still active, and all three were right there next to him, Nadal even playing alongside him. However, Federer always felt like the “frontman” of that generation that dominated men’s tennis for so long. Perhaps even more importantly, he also seemed to be the nicest and the easiest to like, as a person, both on and off the court… Which doesn’t mean that I could forgive the fact that he didn’t just breed, but even ended up having four.
But this is, mostly, about tennis, and while his style wasn’t, in itself, the most spectacular, his raw talent and the ease with which he played, and with which he managed amazing shot after amazing shot, seem unsurpassed among his contemporaries… Which makes it quite sad that he ended his career with a defeat, especially since he and Nadal ended up having a match point in that match tie-break only for him to lose both his serves, providing Sock and Tiafoe with a match point, which they capitalized on. But the ideal retirement would have most likely been winning another Wimbledon title, preferably in a five-set match against Nadal, and since that was not an option, and he didn’t consider himself fit to even play another singles match anymore, the fact that he retired at Laver Cup and Nadal was also there, alongside him instead of on the other side of the net, is likely good enough… Inasmuch as anything can be good enough to end the career of one such as him.

I slept badly on the morning of August 23, dad getting back just when I was falling asleep, then Liza started meowing loudly and he fed her when I was again just about to fall asleep, then finally managing to fall asleep but waking up at 8 AM, when the computer did the daily backup. After going to pee, I got back in bed, but it took me a while to fall asleep again and at 9:21 AM I was once again woken up, that time by the SMS announcing the delivery of that TV tuner which I had ordered, even though there had been no e-mail to let me know that it had been sent to the delivery service. But I had written in the comments that I wanted it delivered after 2 PM, so I just set the phone to silent, peed again, just in case, and went back to bed. After again taking a while to fall asleep, I woke up again around 11:45 AM, that time because I had dreamed that the delivery guy was here. So I peed one more time, and had probably just managed to finally fall asleep again when I noticed that the silent setting apparently only applies to calls, being woken up, at 12:26 PM, by an SMS stating that they had tried to make the delivery. When I checked, I saw that the delivery guy had called at 12:10 PM. And I’m not even sure that I managed to get back to sleep after that. Seeing as hardly any time seemed to have passed and yet it was 1:27 PM when I checked the time again, I probably did, but if so then I slept poorly. Either way, I considered getting up at that point, decided against it… And then got up anyway, just before 1:45 PM, since dad woke up, Liza started meowing again, and the alarm was set to ring at 2 PM, so I was just wasting time.
Minutes after getting up, I asked dad for his phone, called the delivery guy, said that I had mentioned that I wanted the delivery after 2 PM and asked if he could still deliver that day, but he said no, so it was left for the following day. However, when I said that I still wanted it after 2 PM, he said that after 2 PM they’re in another area, so it’ll have to again be around or just before noon. On the other hand, when I later checked the link from the SMS, I saw that the delivery was still listed for that day, between 12:15 PM and 3:15 PM, so the interval actually started after the moment when the guy initially called, and included 2 PM without problems. And when I checked again, just after 3 PM, and tried to reschedule for the following day in that manner as well, selecting that I won’t be home on that day, since the only other available option was that I had no cash to pay, there was a message stating that the delivery can’t be rescheduled anymore and telling me to call for details. But I had already done that, and was still shaking because of it, so I tried to put it out of my mind and continue to get ready for that day’s planned half marathon run, leaving at 4:35 PM, wearing the full running gear and one of those armbands, with some things in the pocket of my tights. That was after having an apple, mixing both almonds and raisins in dark chocolate with the yogurt and muesli, and also having a slice of that old cozonac, with added honey. I also considered taking the running belt, but decided against it. As for the reported temperature, it was about 31°C, supposed to either hold steady or maybe drop by 1-2°C by the time I’ll finish, depending on which site I checked.
The time was 1:47:28, with sector times of 4:21, 5:03, 6:00, 4:34, 5:14, 6:06, 4:39, 5:13, 6:07, 4:44, 5:24, 6:15, 4:52, 5:31, 6:23, 4:55, 5:39, 6:18, 1:57, 6:19 and 1:54, making for lap times of 15:24, 15:54, 15:59, 16:23, 16:46 and 16:52, plus 10:10 for the final portion. Of course, a time that I could have used, that I’d have been content with, was under 1:45, but after having estimated 1:49 if I’d have continued the previous run to a half marathon distance, I aimed to at least stay under 1:48, and when I saw how the first lap was going I hoped to complete it in less than 15:30, and also to finally have less than six minutes on a sector three again. And, while it was exactly 6:00 if I just take the seconds, the exact time for sector three of lap one was about a tenth under six minutes, and the lap time was under 15:30, so I calculated target times adding up to 1:48 from there. However, at some point I made a mistake, so after a while I ended up thinking that I had a chance to stay under 1:47, though the target times actually added up to 1:47:30. Either way, I pushed to stay under 16 minutes on lap three and just made it, then allowed myself to relax a little, the target becoming 16:30. After lap four, I was hoping to gain ten more seconds before the end, for that 1:47:30, but lap five went badly, I was trying to push but just couldn’t go any faster and lost almost everything I had gained until then, so I thought that I had to push to just stay under 1:48. But the target for lap six was 17 minutes and I only got a little slower, recovering half of that loss, and then I really pushed on the final portion and was 20 seconds faster than the target time. At the start of the final sector I still thought that I won’t manage to stay under 1:47:30, since I needed 1:55, but in the end I just did.
On the first lap it was sunny and quite hot, and since cyclists were coming past me and two joggers were ahead and I was trying to calculate where and how to fit though, I again stepped in that hole that’s under the lane, on sector three, the lane being wet in that area as well, though at least it was once again with the left heel, so it was just somewhat jarring. It got gradually less sunny on lap two, but on the first sector I might have had to slow for an opening in a roadblock, since I seem to recall meaning to keep something in mind but obviously didn’t actually memorize the details. On the other hand, on lap three it was cloudy, which helped, but also much more windy, which didn’t, not that there hadn’t been plenty of windy areas on the first two laps as well. The wind lessened to some extent on the first part of lap four, when it was once again mostly sunny, but when I was on the long straight of sector two it got cloudy again, and on sector three the wind once again picked up. On lap five it got partly sunny again, and on its first sector I had to slow and maybe even stop for an instant in order to wait for a way through a roadblock, while towards the end of sector two a dog went for my legs and I had to avoid it.
Well, seconds after I avoided that dog, it suddenly started raining, the rain getting quite heavy almost immediately, so I was thinking that it’ll be quite a problem if it’ll continue like that all the way to the end, but I fortunately only had to cover about a kilometer under those conditions, the rain stopping before the end of the lap. It was more than enough to make the lane even soggier, however, not that there hadn’t been wet areas all along. Oddly enough, it remained partly sunny while it rained, but then became less so over the course of lap six, and the wind was dying down as well. On sector three of lap six I was noticing that it was actually starting to get somewhat dark, the Sun probably being too low to make it through the clouds anymore. A few drops returned when I was about halfway through sector two of the final portion, so what would be the last sector three of a lap, gradually increasing to a light rain by the time I finished.
What my mind refuses to recall is just when and where the most dangerous moment took place. I know that another runner was coming from the opposite direction, on the lane, and a cyclist who had been stationary tried to get moving, going across the path and being about to cut me off as I went to the right of the lane, so I initially meant to go farther to the right, in order to get around her as well, but someone yelled at her to stop and she did, so the space that I meant to use wasn’t created and the only way through was to get between her and the runner. However, when I quickly changed direction in order to do so, I found myself face to face with what I assume was the reason why she had been told to stop, in the form of a guy on what I guess was a large scooter. Both of us opened our eyes wide and he clearly had no way to avoid me, but I somehow just managed to jump aside in time. I have no idea how or even in which direction, but I somehow did. My mind seems to want to say that this took place on the earlier part of sector two of lap five, but at the same time maybe it didn’t, sector two of lap six also being possible. Sector three of lap five isn’t exactly impossible either, but I don’t think that what I can recall about the location fits with sector three, plus that it’d mean that it was raining then, which I don’t think was the case.
In terms of physical problems, I needed to pee even before starting, but the feeling gradually lessened, as expected, being gone by the time I finished sector two of lap two, and no other pressing need appeared. There were small warnings from my left thigh at the beginning, but they quickly went away. Other warnings came from my right knee and hip and left ankle and knee, but those appeared relatively late and didn’t get worse. However, on sector three of lap six my legs started feeling heavy and by the end of it even burning, things only getting worse over the course of the final portion.

After the run, I went to that Carrefour, or more exactly first went to pee and wash my hands, arms and face, only putting on the mask after that, then went to Carrefour and got what I wanted. After that, I had a quick look through that farmers’ market and asked one of the few sellers who hadn’t yet left about the price of some peppers, since dad had asked me to look for some. There was a sign on that pile, but it was for eggplants, and when I pointed that out she said that she thought that it was for the peppers, then told me that the price was the same as for the red ones that were next to them. That kind is usually more expensive, however, and they were also nicer and larger, so I walked away and checked first that Mega Image and then Supeco, just going in with the purchases both times. And in Supeco I found the kind of peppers that I was looking for at a lower price than what I had seen while checking other stores on-line, before leaving, so I bought them from there. I was likely going to find bags of spoiling peppers of that kind for an even lower price at some Mega Image locations, and they were going to be used for cooking, but I decided to pick nice ones from there and not risk to need to keep looking and possibly end up not finding any after all. I only had 100 RON bills, however, having spent all of the smaller ones at Carrefour, and when I told that to the cashier and handed him one he said that he unfortunately didn’t have change either, so we stared at each other for a moment, then I asked whether that meant that I couldn’t make the purchase and after pausing for a moment longer he finally gave me the change, which at least happened to be exactly 95 RON.
I did put the purchases in a cabinet when I got to Tei, then I got what I wanted from there as well… And on the way to the checkout happened to see what seemed to be a lower price for those gels, so I grabbed two… And only realized after getting back that they were the regular kind instead of the Pro, which is what I’ve been getting so far. But I did buy three of those back in April, so I still have the two which I’ll likely use during the marathon and these two expire in 2024, so I have time to find some use for them. Either way, I then added those purchases in the cabinet, quickly checked that Mega Image as well… And while I was there it started to rain heavily, so after retrieving my things from the cabinet I took my time to figure out how to at least protect the medicines to some extent.
By the time I finally walked away, it wasn’t raining quite as heavily either, so I continued to that location of that other pharmacy, but they didn’t have that supplement for joints. I had seen it on their site, so I hadn’t looked for it at Tei, but I was told that the site lists what’s available for on-line orders and there’s no way to see the stock of their physical locations and therefore they couldn’t even tell me whether it may be available elsewhere, so I got the other things and also added a tea. Then, after just glancing from the door at the bakery area of that Mega Image, I decided to also go to the other location of that pharmacy, and since the route took me close to the larger Mega Image from the area I had a look there as well, putting the purchases in a cabinet… And finding bags of spoiling peppers of that kind. But it was too late, so I retrieved my things from the cabinet and continued on my way to that pharmacy. A single pharmacist seemed to be working when I got there, and he was outside, talking to people, so he ended up following me inside… Only to say that they didn’t have that supplement there either.
So I went the other way again, getting to Kaufland and stuffing everything in a cabinet just when the 75% discount for bakery products was announced. After washing my hands and walking in right at 10 PM, however, I found that not much was left in the bakery area, so I just got one thing that I could put something sweet on, or in, even though I checked using a self-checkout and saw that it didn’t even have an evening discount, being one of the products that had a regular discount those days. Either way, I then got some bread for dad, saw some evening discount for beets and got two large ones, one for dad and one for myself, wandered around for quite a while, decided to also grab an expiring mix of dried plums, apricots and walnuts, then got those snacks that dad wants, since they were on sale, and looked for salt but had to get an imported pack of their store brand, since we were out and I couldn’t find the one that we usually get. And while I was at the self-checkout an old man was telling the employee that he had been to the Pantelimon location and it closed at 10 PM and she told him that he must have been at Carrefour, since only Kaufland closes at 11 PM, but I spoke up to say that I had also bumped into that problem, that location indeed closing at 10 PM. Then, after needing to try several times before the cabinet door finally unlocked, I took quite some time to somehow arrange everything in the flimsy bags which I had taken with me, walked out right at 11 PM… And once again saw heavy rain, probably the heaviest of the day, so at the end of the covered area I stopped again, arranged some things a little more, and when it seemed to start to lessen I braved it, the good thing being that pretty soon after that it lessened a lot.
I was finally back at 11:40 PM, and I know that it was 6:40 PM when I finished the run, so I had wandered around for exactly five hours. Then I put a few things in their place and left others for dad to take, ate that mix, went to the toilet and to shower when it was almost 12:45 AM, and was done at 1:25 AM. I had quite a lot to wash in the kitchen, however, and other things to do as well, so after a lunch consisting of the rest of the large bag of corn puffs which I had started two days earlier, which I was just finishing at 3 AM, and a slice of pizza brought by dad, eaten while slicing bread, I started eating dinner at 3:45 AM and finished at 4:35 AM. And my stomach wasn’t happy, so I then rushed to the toilet again. And I was also noticing pain under the nails of all of the middle three toes from my left foot, and while it didn’t happen right away, in time I saw faint bruises appearing under the top parts of the other two as well, along with what was left of the one from the Dream Trek. Either way, after sending an e-mail to that pharmacy, to ask whether someone could tell me whether that supplement was actually available in any of their locations, which I actually never got a reply to, I finally got in bed at 5:45 AM, though my stomach was still unhappy.

The next run was on the evening of August 29, so after having a small apple after getting up, I decided to actually cook something and then have some of it as lunch, finishing a little after 6:15 PM, though I then moved what was left in a smaller pot and scraped the little amount left on the bottom of the other one and also the breadcrumbs from the plate at 6:30 PM. Then I put on the full running gear and one of those armbands, plus some things in the pocket of my tights, had another slice of that old cozonac, with added honey, drank most of the tea and left a little after 8:05 PM, when the reported temperature was about 30°C, supposed to drop by a couple of degrees by the time I’ll finish. Sunset was at 7:58 PM, so I ran in the dark.
The time was 48:52.10, with sector times of 4:30.34, 5:12 (5:11.86), 6:01, 4:36, 5:12, 5:56, 4:33, 5:11, 5:53 and 1:48 (1:47.56), making for lap times of 15:43, 15:44 and 15:37. I did try to see the exact times at first, but by the end of the first lap it was completely dark and my eyes wouldn’t focus before the stopwatch‘s light went out, would have had to stop and didn’t, so after several attempts over the course of sector one of lap two I just gave up on that. As for the target time, I hoped to get back under 48 minutes, but only really aimed to stay under 50 minutes, and when I saw that poor time for the first sector despite having felt that I had been fast, it seemed that I was in big trouble. And sector two wasn’t good either, the first lap’s time made me worry that I’ll fail even that, and sector one of lap two only worsened my concerns, though all the attempts to see the exact time had probably slowed me a little. But sector three of lap two marked an improvement, and having pretty much the same time on lap two as on lap one made me change the target to 49:30 and push on lap three, first giving a passing thought to staying under 49 minutes after sector one and thinking that I might just have a small but real chance to do so after sector two. So, even though my body was complaining from the end of sector two, I pushed even more on sector three and continued to do so on the final sector, not even checking the time at the end of the lap, so I didn’t know what I needed or what my chances were, but in the end I made it by a safe margin… Not that almost 49 minutes isn’t still an awful time.
As expected, the park was crowded, and some cyclists without lights were a danger to others and even riding on the running lane. But many people were on the lane, though I mostly managed to just weave my way around them, albeit often going the long way around or squeezing through. The most notable problem was on sector two of lap two, when three dogs on leashes, one going in the same direction, one in the opposite one and one coming from the side, met and wanted to go to each other, so after avoiding one I got in the path of the second, after avoiding the second I got in the path of the third… And after avoiding that one as well I almost slammed into a woman who had just passed through that spot before the dogs got there and then stopped to arrange her hair, so I had to quickly avoid her too. And at the end of that sector, under the bridge, I slowed a lot because of a triple roadblock. I might have just managed to squeeze through, next to the wall, but another runner coming from the opposite direction who had apparently just stopped and was checking the time noticed me and blocked that spot by moving off the lane, probably out of reflex, so I had to just squeeze through somehow.
Otherwise, I also lost time because of the dark, since there are areas where you can see next to nothing and I had to be more careful. As for physical problems, there was a little warning from that spot at the back of my left thigh at the start, but it went away… And what I wrote down at the time is that both thighs started giving warnings on sector two of lap two, towards the end of that sector my chest also started burning a little, and towards the end of the lap I started feeling a little out of breath, but it seems more likely that these actually took place on lap three, especially considering what I mentioned above, about the moment when my body started complaining. Either way, it was definitely towards the end of the final sector when I felt even more out of breath, not quite managing to sustain that sprint all the way to the end. But I managed a good time on that sector anyway.

Then I jogged to Carrefour, once again first washing my hands and face and only putting on the mask after that. I didn’t find anything to get, however, and I was rushing, so I removed the mask again after I got back outside and held it in my hand as I mostly actually ran to Penny, getting there a little before 9:40 PM, so only ten minutes after walking out of that mall. Then I put the mask back on, just got a bag of bagels and continued to that Kaufland, washing my hands again, not bothering to put those bagels in a cabinet, since they were Penny’s store brand, walking in the store at 10 PM, going straight to the bakery area and grabbing a sweet pastry and a bun, the discount for bakery products soon increasing to 65%. I saw plenty of other evening discounts as well and grabbed another cabbage and more plums, and then also grapes for my mother. And I kept seeing some bagels that seem to be a kind that I used to get in the past among the expiring products in that location, though now they’re apparently sold by weight, with those apparently expiring ones being packaged by Kaufland in plastic boxes, but if I had previously only seen a few such boxes at a time, that evening there were dozens, so I grabbed one of those as well, then went to the self-checkout, walking to the last machine… And finding that it was in German. I pointed that out to the employee and she told me to wait for another to become available, but I said that I’ll manage and did so, the fact that the product names were still in Romanian making it easy enough.
I walked out a few minutes before 11 PM, when that location closed, but then spent several minutes arranging the purchases, only actually walking away after the announcement that the store had closed. And it seemed that I caught several spiderwebs on the way back, though none of them was as thick as the one I had caught the previous evening. Either way, I got back a little after 11:40 PM, put some of the purchases in their place, ate watermelon, the sweet pastry and those bagels, finally went to shower at 1:05 AM, got back in the kitchen at 1:30 AM, sliced the two breads that I was yet to slice for dad, out of the four purchased the previous evening, started eating dinner just after 3:05 AM and finished at 3:50 AM. However, after having decided to not do so before showering, I found myself needing to go to the toilet before going to bed.