Yet another run where I can hardly stay in Zone 2. I talked to my trainer, ChatGPT, about it, and apparently it might just be accumulated fatigue from training. It recommended taking a week off from pushing myself too hard. That might actually make sense, so I’ll report back on whether it helped.
I love wearing my Apple Watch. Not only does it tell me that I apparently lost the ability to stay in Zone 2 while running, it also tracks everything else, lets me quickly set timers, pause my podcast without fishing my iPhone out of my pocket, and gives me glanceable information about my life.
Unfortunately, it looks like shit. That’s why I invested quite some money (€40) and bought this very pretty Casio watch. I love it! It’s shiny and has much more of a visual opinion than the Apple Watch, which has looked basically the same for the last decade.
I love that technology can still excite me. I haven’t been this hyped for an Apple product in years, but the iPhone Duo looks so good, and the interfaces feel so well thought out. October can’t come soon enough!
Sorry, Pablo, I didn't really think you were weak. ONLY THAT YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. HOW DARE YOU NOT RUN WITH ME?
Anyway! Anna felt better that night, and instead of celebrating her birthday with all her friends at the party that had been planned for that day but was rescheduled because of her illness, we went to a nice restaurant and had a cozy little evening.
Sunday is long-run day. I love a good yap and run. Later that day, we were invited to Basti’s birthday party in the park. I didn’t know anyone except Anna and still had a fantastic time. Basti and all of his friends were great, and I really enjoyed what might have been the last picnic of the summer.
When Anna and I first met, she told me that her friends Simone and Pastu love cats and would very much like to see as many pictures and videos of mine as possible. Back then, I already invited them to come visit and say hi to Gigabyte and Millimeter.
That finally happened on this day, and at least Gigabyte showed herself from her best side. Milli is a bit shy, but she came around after a while.
Let me know when I start sounding like a broken record, but I love that my adult life looks like this. We’re having fun!
This was one of my favorite evenings from the last couple of weeks. I was somewhere in the city center, buying a new bag, and I knew Anna was out on the Alster, paddling around on her SUP. So I stalked her on Find My, got off the subway early, and ran to catch up with her. She picked me up and paddled me all the way back to my apartment.
The hardest days are the ones when my run is the only usable material for my comic journal. It feels like there are only so many ways I can draw on it (pun intended) without repeating myself. This one was a close call, and I was glad I found a way to tie it to the sweltering heat that shaped the rest of the day.
Every time a long train ride is part of the itinerary, I pack my Switch 2. Every time, I pull it out for maybe ten minutes, if that, before it ends up shoved back into my backpack. You’d think I’d have learned by now and just leave it at home. But I’ll do exactly the same thing next time.
Marcel from four years ago would never have been able to go for a run after a day of travel. For one thing, I wasn’t running back then. For another, travel used to take so much out of me that I’d be completely spent.
But over the last couple of years, I’ve worked on my relationship with travel, and this run felt like one of the clearest signs of progress.
In Germany we have the saying “Was muss, das muss,” which roughly translates to “What has to be done must be done” and I think that’s beautiful.
It’s sometimes hard to cope with the fact that all my friends improve so much at running in such a short time, even though I train three times a week.
My reading can sometimes be a little too intense for Anna.
Days like this are the best.
I love drawing in this journal, but I’d love even more for AI to handle the scanning and editing for me.
I love winning battles against that inner voice telling me not to do hard things. It feels great.
Sometimes quality time together means doing things separately, but side by side.
My journal entry from two years ago (just a classic text-based journal) ended with me promising myself I wouldn’t spend my birthday alone the following year. And I didn’t.
Last year, I invited my friends over on the evening of my birthday, and it was wonderful. Now many of them have babies, so this year I invited them over on Sunday afternoon for coffee and cake instead. It was great.
I went to bed blissful and full of gratitude.
Running intervals offers an interesting contrast. I never want to do them, even less than a classic run. But once I get going, they’re so much more fun. There’s something deeply life-affirming about sprinting through a forest. It feels almost primal.
I mentioned the quality of beds in the UK to a few friends, and many agreed that modern sleep technology doesn’t seem to have made it across the Channel.
Running alone and running with friends is like day and night. It’s so much more fun to yap while running for 12 kilometres.
I actually had to take a nap later on. We even tried to stay in Zone 2, but it was harder than usual.
I haven't watched a single episode of Naruto in my life.
Millimeter sometimes misjudges her strength. She just wanted to tell me to stop petting her, and I didn’t recognize the signs. My bad.
That weird red splotch is from me not noticing my nosebleed quickly enough.
Give me a run, an exhibition and good company and I'm having a good day.
Running became fun again once I stopped winging it and went back to following a plan.
I actually had to go back to the popcorn person and switch mine, because they accidentally gave me salty popcorn too.
Who needs meteorology when my head forecasts the weather?
Can't run 10K without clothing, can I?
Coding became a lot easier once I didn’t have to do it myself anymore.
