gemini://mybtm.smol.pub/run-2023-05-30

a friend came to visit me and we wanted to go on a run together. they are a lot more experienced when it comes to running than i am. i made it clear that we'd stick to my pace for starters on a route that i'm familiar with. they agreed. i planned a 5k route but i could feel that my body was not cooperating after the 2k mark. my legs felt heavier with every step and my breaths were spiraling out of control. i wanted to finish at the 3k mark at least but i misremembered our route and ended up running a shorter path overall. i thought i had hit 3k but when i checked my actual route, i ended up with 2.4k. my friend kept running while i caught my breath. we decided to meet back at my apartment.

maybe it wasn't meant to be today. my favorite genre of videogames are roguelikes so i know how to deal with failures. i wasn't upset or anything. i knew that i will get many more chances to push myself more. i will probably go for another run later this week and shoot for a 3k again, maybe with a 4k as a stretch goal. perhaps aiming for a 5k was too ambitious still. last time i felt like i could still keep running so i will do that when the opportunity presents itself.

my friend is staying over at my place tonight. they (jokingly?) suggested we could have some stereotypical power food that you'd see getting eaten by people aiming for proper gains. i bought plenty of vegs and, most importantly, bulgur to serve as a base for a "fitness-conscious" bowl. i learned to appreciate bulgur not too long ago and it quickly became one of my most favorite cooking ingredients. easy to prepare, decently nutritious, versatile in flavor, plays nice with most other food items. and while the presentation was a bit lackluster, i think the final result was well worth it.

i would've loved to add a tablespoon of sambal oelek to the bulgur for an extra kick, but i know my friend doesn't handle spice very well. or, rather, i handle spice too well. my friends and family don't trust me to add hot ingredients to dishes responsibly because i need way more for them to be noticeable to me. every time i'm at a restaurant, i usually look for some spice scale and then choose one of the spiciest dishes they offer. 95% of the time the spice level is pleasant, but not outrageous. then i let someone else on the table try something off my plate and they usually ask how it's possible for me to enjoy something that's just "pure spice". i, too, started out not being able to handle spice well, but you gotta train it. once it's manageable, it opens up a whole different world of flavors and foods. but it's really hard to communicate what's so good about it without sounding like a masochistic spice addict which, in all fairness, is probably more accurate than i'd like to admit.

2.4k in 13:44