Double Trouble with Prim and Harrier - Poker, Sports, Cooking, Gardening, Mixed Drinks and more

I said that I paid extra in advance for a medal with my name and time engraved. Well, I did get a medal after running over the finish line:

The big question: Did I have a valid time? I decided to just go to the engraver's tent, standing in yet another long queue, of course. For my own reference, I used my wristwatch's stopwatch function as I started the race, which, in the end, showed me a time of 56:25 minutes for whatever distance I ran... most likely, it was a little less than 10K (who knows, maybe it was even more...), but it should also be noted that this included my discussions with the people at the supply station that I mentioned above, which must have lasted for several minutes (two minutes would be my estimate).

The young woman at the tent looked at my time in the system, she had one of about 1 hour and 3 minutes. I told her my story and pointed out that this time was nonsensical, also showing her the time on my stopwatch. She said that she could clear the time in the system and just engrave the time I took myself, but I didn't like that idea either, since I likely ran a different distance than 10K, so we can't just accept that time. Also, there was the aforementioned delay with the discussions, so I considered neither my "official" time nor then one I took with my stopwatch to be valid.

As expected, no refunds were possible. The woman offered me to just engrave my name instead. I considered added something like "Trolololol" or indeed "For the Cat" in lieu of my time. Instead, I asked if I could just "donate" my engraving to the girl waiting next to me in line, who didn't order in advance and was ready to pay in cash. That was possible, and the girl graciously accepted, offering me at least a €10 bill for my troubles (the engraving costs €12), which I also gratefully accepted.

So yeah, long story short - I got trolled. Massively. €36 entry fee - "for the cat". Four weeks of grueling training - "for the cat". Running more or less 10km that day during a bad heat wave - "for the cat". One night stay at a four-star hotel including breakfast - okay, I split the bill with my mother there, since she was also coming along for that extended family meetup, but that was essentially "for the cat" too.

Regarding that last point, I was at least able to enjoy a Moscow Mule at the hotel bar the night after the race, and the breakfast buffet alone was worth the trouble. I tend to think that I don't ever need any breakfast beyond a cup of coffee in the morning, but I realize that when there is a good selection of items and plenty of time for it all, I do enjoy it very much.

And what to do about the 10K run after getting trolled that badly? I would still like to know what my real time in such a race would be, so the obvious answer would be: Do it all over again. I'll see what I can do about it...

Oh, and Prim is back - wouldn't we love to hear about her vacation?

Back from vacation ...

...and I´m sorry to hear that, Harrier! At least you did something for your health! We arrived yesterday back home (at 6 p.m. to be exact) and found out that a massive heat wave is going on here in Southern Germany! I am not happy about that, but our garden is! The corn is growing, the tomatoes are flowering, the cucmber is growing, I could already harvest the first zucchinis, harvested chard and some berries! One more week of that heat and the cherry plums will be ripe and sweet! And this year, I have planted water melons, so shouldn´t be too upset about that heat wave. :f_biggrin::f_ugly: As you guys know, I´m not a big fan of hot temperatures normally, but on the other hand, I like to harvest green beans, water melons, cucmbers, tomatoes, etc. I love a BIG summer veggie harvest! So .... I guess I shouldn´t complain too much. :f_biggrin::f_wink:

So you ran off the track and they calculated your time to be 7 minutes too slow? 🤣 Im not sure what to think of this. I wouldnt go to European Court. Well played!

Originally posted by taavi1337
So you ran off the track and they calculated your time to be 7 minutes too slow?

I'm not sure how it works with the chip in the bib, but I assume that if we include the extra time since the end of the countdown that I spent first standing in line for the bathroom, then using the bathroom, then finding people to talk to who could point me to the start (I assumed that the different races could have different starting points), and then slowly making my way through the crowd of runners piling up for the next race, it could roughly amount to the 6-7 minutes difference between the time I manually took and the "official" time they told me. At least it's the only explanation I could find.

Maybe the starting area was so roughly defined that my position at the end of the countdown already counted. It's normally supposed to be more sophisticated than that, but yeah, I don't know how it was set up exactly.

All I know is that neither the 1:03:xx time nor the 56:25 time can be considered valid, so I'm still in the dark about how fast I could run such a distance in a race environment. I already had a look at some of the other 10K races in my state, but the selection in the near future is limited - and I shouldn't wait too long, since I have a marathon coming up in late August, which requires specialized training.

Here's what I think I am going to do: I am going to ask the people at the "Trollympics" meetup tomorrow if we can arrange it that someone could time me for 10km on the stadium's running track, maybe some time outside of the regular meetups. This would give me an idea of the time I could have made. And then, some time in Fall, when the marathon is long done, I will do another public 10K race and see how I do in that setting. I see there is a convenient local one on October 11th, for example. Maybe my time in there will be better than it ever could have been this month, after a (hopefully) successful marathon finish and plenty of time for dedicated 10K practice.

I would like to know, though - where did I run yesterday? Having had another look at the map I posted last Friday, I assume that I simply took a wrong turn near the beginning and ran along the path marked in red, turning around at the end, marked with an arrow. That's also where the supply station was and where I had a discussion with the helpers.

If that's correct, then the track I ran even should have been very close to 10K, making it all the more frustrating that the race went how it did. Of course, running it under normal conditions, among other things not constantly suspecting that I was on an invalid run, could have resulted in a completely different race experience in general, which would have been reflected in my time too.

Doesn't matter, in the end. What happened, happened. At least we have a funny story for the yearly review now.

So yes, Prim is back. And so am I... unfortunately, however, still with unfinished business.

You see, I would have loved to finally put at least one major run in the books, to announce that I can now take a bit of a break from sports and focus more on poker. Judging from the estimated track I ran (explained above), it even seems like I would have achieved a 10K time that I would have been quite happy with, had things gone normally. But alas, we're still in the area of "could" and "would have", after all that work.

We don't have to take that. We're Trolls, after all - we can troll back. ♠_grin: Remember what we did when my local Christmas market left a lot to be desired last year? Prim and I just did our own on my balcony. I won't let a poorly communicated race event get in my way either, and I already have some concrete ideas, which I intend to discuss at today's Trollympics meetup.

For better or for worse, it should be yet another pretty sporty week, especially because we plan to see Prim's very own Trollympic debut this week! That's already something to look forward to, and I am also going to stay ready for any other challenges that may arise.

Poker will still hopefully return this week, but with our schedules continuing to be that active, it will remain something to "cram in" when I find time, instead of becoming my new main focus, as I intended. We'll get to it, though, and also to other appropriate kinds of summer-fun. And maybe Primrose will already make a comeback at the tables?

Quiet day at the Trollympic Stadium... I guess it was just too hot for most people. I mostly came to discuss some things myself, but I also had time for an event:

100 Meter Dash (Speed)
Bronze: 17.6 seconds
Silver: 15.9 seconds
Gold: 14.2 seconds

Olympic Record: 9.63 seconds by Usain Bolt (JAM) at the 2012 London Olympics, August 5th, 2012.
World Record: 9.58 seconds by Usain Bolt (JAM) at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin, August 16th, 2009.
Trollympic Record: 13.75 seconds by Harrier88 (PS) at the 2024 Trollympics, September 2nd, 2024.

Harrier's time: 13.54 seconds
NEW TROLLYMPIC RECORD!

Would you look at that, a new TR! I was a little surprised, because I didn't think my start was all that great, but I guess the speed interval training for my seemingly pointless 10K race paid off after all. Four clean Golds for full marks, that's all we need. But of course, I will still keep going.

It will be the last "scheduled" Trollympics Monday meetup in a while anyway, as I will likely be on lifeguard duty next Monday and then the summer holidays will start, putting the meetups on hold for six weeks. A nice way to enter the break, but there should be some extra events, as I mentioned before, which should also involve the lovely grindette.

New "Medal Table":
3,000 Meter Run (Stamina): Gold
Standing Long Jump (Strength): Gold
100 Meter Dash (Speed): Gold
25m Freestyle (Speed): Silver
Sling Ball Throw (Coordination): Gold

Current Progress
Stamina: Gold (3,000 Meter Run) - 3 points
Strength: Gold (Standing Long Jump) - 3 points
Speed: Gold (100 Meter Dash) - 3 points
Coordination: Gold (Sling Ball Throw) - 3 points

12 points in total, 11 points are required for Gold.

Still, we can't let that awkward 10K non-race last weekend stand. I got trolled, so it's time to troll back. There are still some minor formalities to clear up, but if all goes as intended, let me already announce the Troll-back 10K Race on Saturday, July 4th, at around 11 AM in the Trollympic Stadium.

I will be there, and so will be one of my colleagues from the Trollympics staff, and I will just run 25 laps around the 400m track while having her keep my time. Simple stuff, no need for any public events or 4-star hotels, all you need is a Troll and a stopwatch.

So we should have a "true" 10K time soon after all - I better resume my training already...

With this nasty heat wave, it often seems as if I'm either working, running or sleeping these days.

Under these conditions, it is noteworthy that I at least found time to late reg Tony's crypto Badugi tournament. I lasted precisely one hand, failing to make a pat Q-Badugi hold, but thanks to a complimentary rebuy, I managed to get back to at least a mincash.

Well, finally some poker after all, how about that...

And yes, the running training is in full swing again, heat wave or not. I am currently repeating the last two weeks of the 10K schedule.

Yeah im not into stocks, i like real money only. But some people prefer stocks, they think it's safer.

Okay, I was teasing before that yesterday would be Primrose's debut at this year's Trollympics. There were a few complications with that, mostly caused by the heat, but also by the fact that the school holidays started that day in my state, resulting in a packed outdoor pool.

In fact, some issues started even before Prim arrived, as several trains were canceled after a cable fire, which may have also been caused by the heat. I had to pick her up by car. She still seemed ready for her timed swims, but not so much anymore when we arrived at the location, felt the intense heat, and saw the traffic at the pool. I was initially disappointed, but when I later asked a lifeguard to at least time one of my own 25m swims, he agreed that this was not the best day for it.

We still did it, I think I had a time of 19.73 seconds, which is slightly behind my previous time of 19.51 this year, and of course my personal best and current Trollympic record of 17.70. At least we put something on the board, and had a little splash at the pool to cool down.

So Prim's big debut will be postponed to our next meetup, probably in mid-July, and we plan to do it at an indoor pool. The rest of our meetup was nice as always, even if it seemed a little underwhelming at first with our low energy in this weather, but things picked up quickly in the evening.

One special mention goes to our spontaneous "Ring of Fire" drinking game, where I drew a :3x:, which means "beer bitch" under our rules, meaning that I had to pour everyone a new drink. I asked how that was supposed to be possible, since we both had full glasses, so Prim explained the rule again while gesticulating wildly, knocking over my glass in the process and spilling amaretto all over my carpet. Okay, now I could pour a new one...

I hope you guys are doing well too, whether you are struggling with heat waves as well, or not. In a rare case of me being reasonable, I at least decided to cancel today's running training, I hope I can be back tomorrow.

For an update on the World Cup prediction contest, it's still not going too well, though I had a few successful picks. Here is my current position, compared to the first few ITM ranks.

Not sure if it can be considered hopeless, but it's at the very least a long shot.

With the current schedule involving so many games per day, a couple of special picks have been introduced, along these lines:

Before that, we also had picks where you were asked to predict the total number of goals of all matches that day combined, or how many yellow cards there would be in the game with the most yellow cards etc.

Well, it's a nice little thing to keep busy while we are both getting ready for poker again. I heard Prim considered some freerolls, at least?

In stark contrast to yesterday's picks for six different games, which went mostly well, today's picks feature only a single game, but with many different predictions to make.

I'm a little surprised at the odds, I would normally definitely go for South Africa under these circumstances. In all of their World Cup games that I have seen so far, however, they have played very poorly, in my opinion, so I will be going with the host country.

Originally posted by Harrier88

I'm heading into the city to visit my brother and we'll watch this together.
Go Canada Go!

We watched the Canada/Switzerland game. Even a tie would have been lovely, but not to be.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by Harrier88

I'm heading into the city to visit my brother and we'll watch this together.
Go Canada Go!

Well played guys!
I only managed to get there in time to watch the second half, but it was well worth the trip!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Well played guys!
I only managed to get there in time to watch the second half, but it was well worth the trip!

I missed much of the earlier parts of the second half, but from what I saw, especially in the first half, the game was less than impressive. A fair amount of attacks, but they rarely amounted to anything.

Still glad Canada advanced, and even the predictions went well, with 6 out of 8 being spot on, putting me into this devilish position on the overall leaderboard:

Tomorrow's picks already showed up, so I made my predictions tonight. I didn't plan to be all unpatriotic this year, but honestly, the German team's performance has been quite underwhelming so far. Sure, there wasn't anything at stake in the Ecuador game anymore, but I also saw the Ivory Coast game after that 10K race where I got trolled so badly - Germany did not play well, they got pretty lucky. Even the game against Curaçao was, for large parts, not as one-sided as the result suggested.

So yes, I will be going for Paraguay here, at those odds. I won't mind too much if I'm wrong, but it's my prediction, along with these:

South Africa was my favorite, I have good friend there... but ofc their skills wasnt enough against the Westerns new efforts 🤨

Originally posted by taavi1337
South Africa was my favorite, I have good friend there... but ofc their skills wasnt enough against the Westerns new efforts

I didn't see their game against South Korea, which they won, but in all the games I have seen, I think South Africa has played pretty poorly overall.

I did watch the penalty shootout of the Germany vs Paraguay game. What a miracle comeback by the German team... only to blast the very next shot right over the bar. But terrific performance by the Paraguay keeper throughout the whole shootout!

Unfortunately, it doesn't count as me winning the bet, as the score was tied after full time. It does at least give me the bet about Germany scoring exactly once, but the Paraguay win would have paid more than twice as much. They still gave us a very good run for our "money", and so did Japan, who were the first to take the lead in their game. So it seems like I did identify some good picks, even if they didn't pay out in the end.

As for Germany being out... meh, I don't care all that much, honestly. They didn't play well, I don't think they would have deserved to get much farther anyway.

In other news, at least the terrible heat wave has come to an end over here. I still have a bunch of loose ends to tie up this week, but after that, it should be a good moment to finally return to the tables for real. Prim and I also had an idea for another new series, but I figure we should try to bring poker back first before introducing more "bonus" stuff. I have posted today's attempt at making an omelette in the I don't care thread, though. We have even had a decent discussion there already.

Originally posted by Harrier88

Originally posted by taavi1337
South Africa was my favorite, I have good friend there... but ofc their skills wasnt enough against the Westerns new efforts

I didn't see their game against South Korea, which they won, but in all the games I have seen, I think South Africa has played pretty poorly overall.

Yea I was overall against the EU triumphs as people really promote how one should become an EU politician. Hoping Norway loses to Brazil but not making a bet as I stick to BRM.

Originally posted by taavi1337
Yea I was overall against the EU triumphs as people really promote how one should become an EU politician. Hoping Norway loses to Brazil but not making a bet as I stick to BRM.

I much prefer to keep politics and sports separated. In fact, I don't think I encountered any political messages from any of the players or teams this year, in contrast to the last few World Cups, which is good.

I dislike the Canadian government too, but I can root for their soccer team, because I feel that with Canada being one of the hosts, it would be a good time to finally put some World Cup success on the board. I would have liked to see some German success too, as things have been getting worse over here in recent years and a morale boost would have been welcome. And the German government is also terrible.

Most importantly, I like seeing teams who play well get rewarded for their efforts. In that light, the recent German exit was actually well deserved, after their performance.

Oh well...