Lucky Run Half Marathon Race Recap!

After running for the Surf City Half Marathon in early February as a training run, I searched for a reasonably priced, fun looking half marathon to run a little later so I'd have more time to train.

Enter....THE LUCKY RUN!!  

source

It was in Davis, CA, which was not too inconvenient because Anthony's family lives nearby and he works close by during the week.  It's also at 8 AM which is awesomely late for a half marathon and has day-of packet pickup!  Even better, I found out that Page was registered.  I randomly emailed RoseRunner as well to see if she wanted to come out and run a few miles with me, and...she decided she would come out and run!  Awesome.

My training has been going decently, but I haven't really raced since July (not counting the crappy California International Marathon race), and I haven't been feeling confident at all.  The night before the race I was fantasizing about shutting down the blog, never racing again, etc etc.   Granted, I usually get really nervous / morose before races in general, but it's been worse than usual lately.  I also have been seriously questioning whether it makes sense for me to devote so much time to a hobby.   But, I figured there was no way I could duck out of the race the night before, with Page and Caitlin coming out.

The morning of, I woke up and drove out in Anthony's giant SUV out to Davis.  It was perfect weather for a race:  Sunny and Cool.  

The race is pretty small, so parking was easy.  Caitlin texted me and said she was 20 minutes away and I got my packet.  Before I knew it, I saw Caitlin and she yelled something like "Bunny!".  Honestly it was a funny experience because I'd imagined her to be like six feet tall...and she is totally not!   Normal height!   I told her I really wasn't feeling racing and was hoping we could just run 7:30s.  We lined up and then ran into Page!  (She actually is really tall!  Also surprising!).  It's always so funny to meet blog friends for the first time because I always feel like hugging and acting like we've known each other forever is totally appropriate.  I was really excited to meet Page because she was one of the first running blogs I ever read and very excited to meet Caitlin because come on...it's RoseRunner...

And we were off!  Surprisingly, I felt pretty good.

Mile 1:  7:25

Mile 2: 7:20

Mile 3: 7:19

For the first three miles, Page and RR were chatting like they were running 9 minute miles.  It was amazing!

Mile 4: 7:16

At this point, I started feeling a little mentally defeated.  I considered asking the girls if we could just run 8:30s.  Then I decided to suck it up.

Mile 5: 7:26

Mile 6: 7:21

Heyyoooo...halfway done!

Mile 7 : 7:18

Mile 8 : 7:17

At this point, Caitlin and Page stopped to use the bathroom.  I didn't wait up, figuring that both of those girls are so fast, they could catch up to me no problem.  And they did!

Mile 9: 7:20

Mile 10: 7:29

I hear the girls yelling at me from like 20 yards back.  I turn around and felt so relieved to see them!  I was really excited that they would be there to finish with me and we could push each other to the finish.   (ok...they would push me, not vice versa!).

Mile 11: 7:11

Roserunner starts putting the pace into high gear.  She says that none of us are getting 5 yards from her.  I try to keep up.

Mile 12: 7:10

Page says "Where the eff is the mile 12 marker??".  I grunt in agreement.  Words weren't really an option at this point for me.

Mile 13: 7:18

Page sprints ahead, and Roserunner loops back to finish with me.  Almost there!

Extra Point 1 - no idea.  My mile splits were pretty far from the mile markers and I forgot to stop my garmin anyways!

Final Time / Place:    1:36:47.  11th Female, 2nd in 30-34 age group.  
(of course I was really the 12th female because RR let me ahead of her by like .2 of a second).  
7:23 pace. 

After we caught our breath, we walked around together, pet Page's cute dog, drank small beer samples (Like 2 ounces, WHY SO SMALL???), and ate free powerbars.

And of course...took pictures:  (credit Page)

And more pictures...

(Roserunner and Page share the 3rd place in 25-29 AG prize!)

Final thoughts:  

Ok.  I know this is no PR.  BUT I am really happy with this race.  It was ridiculously fun and honestly kind of a privilege to run with such fast girls.  They were so encouraging and I thought it was hilarious that they were able to hold a conversation almost the whole race.  I know that I finished faster because they ran with me.  

I also felt like I might have had something left at the end and have felt pretty good post-race which isn't exactly a good thing when you race but it makes me hopeful for my future ability.  As I mentioned before, I have felt so down on running this year, and even one mile at my half marathon pace sounds fast to me.  So it felt good to run a respectable time (for me) and I now have hope that I might have a PR in my future if I work hard or get really.....lucky.  

Eugene Marathon Recap (for real)

I'm ready to end my pity party in the last post and recap like an adult.  Thanks for reading the last post and for your comments. 

Pre-Race

I got to Eugene on Friday night after driving down from Portland with Anthony. We met up with SarahOual and Emily for some food and drinks.

Super Flattering Photo Courtesy of OUAL

I was immediately struck by how gosh darn cute Eugene is.  Full of flowers, green hills, and damn good breweries.  I can see why people love it.

The next day, we met up with Mason (of nuun) and his gorgeous family at Off The Waffle. I am not someone who is usually struck by breakfast food (it all kind of tastes the same to me), but HOLY CRAP y'all.  These waffles are no joke. I got one with cheese, pears, and walnuts on it, but Anthony won this round.  He got the waffle with egg, bacon, cheese, and extra special love because it was amazing.  I've honestly been wondering how we can get back to Eugene just to eat more of them.

Another stolen photo from Emily Sweats!

We picked up SR at the  airport, picked up our packets, and somehow managed to get free tie dye t-shirts at the Expo AND see Lauren Fleshman.  Good stuff.  We cooked a "running fam" pasta dinner, watched "Without Limits" and I nearly peed my pants in nervousness when I thought about running the marathon the next day. 

Also from OUAL.  I'm sorry guys, I sucked at pictures this weekend.

A few sleepless hours later, it was go time.

Race Day

We woke up, got ready to some sort of pump me up music and Anthony drove us to the start.   He kissed me goodbye and before I knew it, it was time to go.

SR had a plan to basically write up all the splits herself, and I would run without a Garmin. Actually, I was supposed to run without a watch at all. The plan was to try for a 3:25 and hope for better.  In retrospect, this was probably too ambitious given that my legs were still noticeably sore from Ragnar 2 days before Eugene.  But hindsight is 20 20, I suppose.   This didn't really register with me at the time. 

We set off the first few miles around a 7:50 pace.  And it actually felt pretty good.  SR was telling me things like "run the tangents" and getting me water or gatorade from the aid stations.  It was actually pretty cute (and wonderful) how serious she was taking her job as a pacer. 

At some point, we ran by Lauren Fleshman and SR yells "Lauren, I want to have your babies!" or something to that effect.  Funniest part of the race, for sure! 

Around mile 10, I was starting to feel not as good.  And what felt even worse is that in a marathon, if you're starting to feel tired at mile 10, this doesn't bode well for the rest of the day.   We went through the half around 1:42:40, which was right on pace.  But I was already feeling hot and not relaxed.  I told Sarah we were going to need to readjust goals.  That today wasn't my day, and we should aim for a 3:30.   I'm not sure if this was a mental defeat at this point, but I don't think so.  I really don't think my body wasn't ready to book 20 miles at 7:50 and then race.

As the miles clicked on, I tried to take things one mile at a time.  By around mile 17, Sarah was saying things like "Just 2 laps to make it to next mile marker.  You're a great track runner, that's nothing."  I was probably the worst running partner in the world because at that point, I was just grunting in response. 

By around mile 21, I was getting really hot.  It's weird...I really love racing in 40 degree weather, and anything hotter than that is tough for me.   I also started looking at my watch.  Sarah continued talking me up.  "You put in the time training, now this is where you show it!".   By around mile 22, I figured I could pull a 3:32, but almost definitely would not break 3:30.  I just wanted it to be over.

Finally we saw the mile 26 marker.  It was probably the most beautiful thing I've seen in a while. 

As we rounded the corner into Hayward Field, I told myself to run this 200m like I was...well...racing the 200m.   I sprinted in with all that I had, and as I crossed my legs collapsed underneath me.  Dramatic flourish as always. 

3:32:40

Sarah held me up, walked me to the finish area and got us some snacks.   Some blog readers recognized her (as others did along the whole course!) and we talked with them for a moment.  We then met up with Anthony (who had brought a picnic basket of booze for the girls, no joke) and then saw Emily, who ran a damn 3:08 (wow!) and SarahOual who ran a massive PR at 3:37. 

Another blatantly stolen photo

Post Race Thoughts

The Bad:  As I mentioned before, I didn't run anywhere near where I wanted to at this race. That said, marathons are weird (maybe that's what makes them kind of magical?) and I ran Ragnar Ultra the week before.  I also didn't see great results during my training cycle.  
This race was not a lot of fun for me.  It was beautiful, and flat, but I just couldn't enjoy it.  Burn out, I suppose.  Nothing against Eugene, for sure.  It's a beautiful town.

The Good: I did the best I could.  I had an AWESOME and encouraging pacer/friend running with me the whole time. 
I had great friends here and Anthony as well.  This time was still a small PR and that's better than nothing. 

What's Next :  I am going to spend the next couple weeks taking it very easy.  I'd love to run some shorter races and do a sprint tri this summer.  I'd also like to take the time to recharge and get excited about running again.  It might take a little bit of time, but I hope to come back strong and ready to go.

Hill (hot) Chocolate 15k Race Recap

Today, I ran the Hot Chocolate 15k in San Diego with this girl, this girl, this girl, this girl, this girl, this girl and this dude.

I was nervous for several reasons:
1) I haven't raced since January.
2) I've increased my mileage a lot and ran a dang 20 miler Thursday.  (it's starting to get where running isn't fun, but that's another post).
3) I knew this was a very hilly course.  And while I pride myself at being decent at hills, I knew it would be a challenge.
3) I suck at logistics and the odds of me getting lost and ending up in Tijuana were at least 20%.

I woke up at the god awful time of 4:30 AM and drove down to San Diego to meet up with OUAL and Sweaty Emily who had my race packet.  They ran 11 miles before the race.  I am currently talking to a psychiatrist to find out if we need to get them committed.  Luckily I met up with them without a hitch and there were only about 2 minutes when I wondered if I'd driven to the wrong city.  I met up with the other girls in the corral where we snapped a few quick pics.

Emily, Nicole, ChaCha and Me
source - skinnyrunner

I figured that if I could keep the pace a bit over 7 minute miles, it would be ok, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I had dreams of running sub-7 pace.

It was time to go, and we ominously started on a straight uphill.  My first mile split was a 7:05, and this was already demoralizing.  Usually I don't feel like I am already struggling at mile 1. The next two splits clicked off, and I ran through the 5k a bit under 22 minutes.  However, I was already feeling defeated.  This sounds ridiculous, but by mile 4, after I ran a 7:28 split, I was almost about to quit.  The constant uphill hurt and I looked down at my Garmin and was seeing 8:30 paces.  I was also getting passed by a number of girls.  

I told myself that maybe I could drop back and run with some of the girls I knew who were also running.  I also started getting irrationally angry and dramatic, as I often do in races.:

"WHY AM I WEARING COMPRESSION SOCKS?!?!? I AM NEVER WEARING COMPRESSION SOCKS AGAIN!!".  

"WHY DO I DO THIS?? I HATE RUNNING $^&@#$!!!!"

Luckily at the point when I was starting to lose all hope and faith in my running ability, a long downhill portion of the course appeared, and things seemed manageable again.  I passed a number of volunteers who cheered for my bunny ears (sorry if I didn't respond if you're reading this!!).  I passed the 10k and PR'd at something like 44:20, so that was cool.  

Around mile 8, there was a switchback where I saw SkinnyRunner.  We yelled loud and cheered each other on and even managed to high five!  It was hilarious because I was wearing the bunny ears and she was full-on in a tootsie roll costume.  I am sure the people around us on the course were like "Figures...the two crazy people in the race know each other."  After seeing her I knew I could kick it in, and even though I continued to get passed by people, my last mile was decent enough.  Here are the (very uneven) splits:

Official Time and Place:  1:06:15 (7:06 pace), 18th woman


And here is the elevation chart, with just a little bit of embellishment:

After I finished, I met up with the rest of the girls.  I was honestly confused at my time, because I haven't run this distance in 11 years and had no idea whether it was good or bad, or even what total pace I'd run.  We got our chocolate and fondue at the end, which honestly isn't exactly my cup of tea (after eating GU's and energy bars, the last thing I want is more sugar), but other people seem to like it.

I also thought Ram Racing put on a pretty seamless race and has figured out the problems that plagued them in DC.  My guess is that they put the race on such a hilly course for total logistical reasons and decided a hard course was worth it to have a lot of parking less trafficked roads.   So props to that Race Director dude I met a few weeks back.

Thoughts on my performance?  It was decent.  I think I'm slowly becoming a better runner.  I'd like to become a little more mentally strong and confident so that I'm not considering quitting a race at mile 4.5, but maybe that will come with time.

Overall, I had a fun time, it was good to get out there and race, and it was especially cool to have so many friends racing with me.

As I've mentioned before in previous posts, being able to get out there on a beautiful day and give a course what I've got makes me feel very thankful and lucky.  

Downtown on Dwellable

Rage Against The 5k (Race Recap)

(nods to OUAL's rage against the electrician).   
Alternative title:  the longest short race ever. 

Ah yes...the 5k.  The race I love to hate...to love....
I've made no secret of wanting to break 20 in the 5k.  It would be a dream some true.  However, in full disclosure, my recent workouts told me I wasn't quite there.  I figured I'd sign up for a 5k before Eugene training started to see if I could knock time off my PR.  Here's the one I did:

Race Day
I woke up at 5:30AM and cursed out the alarm.  I ate some mango chunks and had coffee with almond milk.  Almond milk has been the best HLB discovery simply because I can't drink normal milk (I drink a ton of milk usually) before I run (I get pukeworthy sick) and now I can drink this stuff before instead...

Drove up to Playa Del Rey and was surprisingly early.  Usually I am the world's latest person for races but there was no traffic so I ended up just hanging out for a while.  I warmed up and realized that I felt pretty terrible.  I had a bit of a headache, felt tired, and my legs felt heavy.  And just like Shakira's hips don't lie, my race legs don't lie.

I went up to the start, and only one other girl was there.  She was in an old school track outfit and giant Nike shoes.  Girl was running striders for like 30 minutes.  But she ended up finishing ahead of me, so clearly she's doing something right.

Finally, it was time to go.  The course wasn't chip timed, which was sort of disappointing, but it's not like 1-2 seconds are keeping me out of an Olympic Trials qualifier, so I guess it's ok.   I asked some guy next to me what he was aiming for and he said a 19:45.  I told him I wanted to sub-20 but it had never happened before, so the odds of it happening today were pretty low.  (Yup...my confidence was pretty low ;-). )

I try to break up my races into chunks in my head because it helps me to get through them, mentally.  I planned it as follows:  First Half Mile:  Settle In.  Miles .5-1.5:  Fast but controlled.  Miles 1.5-2.5:  Focus like a mad woman.  Keep stride fast.  Miles 2.5-3.1:  Run like your life depends on it.

Here's how it turned out in reality:

Sorry, no pics, but this is the jist ;-). 

Mile 1: 6:17
Thoughts:  Keep it right around 6:30...wow, that was 6:17?  Maybe you will sub-20!  Thank god I passed that woman pushing the stroller.

Mile 2: 6:46
Thoughts:  WHY ARE YOU SLOWING DOWN, Slowass????  My lungs are burning!
I was running alone most of the race from mile two.  It was mentally tough. 

Mile 3: 6:35
Thoughts:  Gut it out, Gut it out, Gut it out.  Lung still burning.
Some lady and her family were about to cross the path right in front of me and I yelled "track".  Guess the impatient track runner in me will never die.   =)

Total Race Time:  20:26, 4th Woman. 

Thoughts:  This was a 13 second PR, and it's hard to pick apart a PR.  It's good to be south of 20:30 and I'm proud of myself for running a decent race when I didn't feel "on".  It's frustrating, because I think on a good day, I could have done better, but on Saturday (judging by how tired I was the rest of the day), I'm pretty sure that was my best.  And sometimes your best just ain't good enough for your lofty expectations!

Guess I'll just have to run some more of these godforsaken 5ks!  
Love,
Margot "Sub-20 One Day" FasterBunny

Lucky. (Holiday Half Marathon Recap)

Just like this girl, this girl, this girl, this girl, and this girl, I ran the Holiday Half Marathon  on Sunday.

I drove up in my poor excuse for a car with Monica and Sarah.  Monica took pictures of me driving and Sarah played her 10th grade dance tunes.

We got to beautiful Pomona with an hour to spare and Danica showed us where bathrooms were without lines!  Well...ok...she showed Sarah and Monica where they were because I was frantically trying to find my race number.  My middle name is "prepared."   I also met Julie which was pretty sweet.


When it was about time to run, I literally jumped the fence to get in my "corral" and we got goin'.   


My fairly arbitrary goal was to keep up 7:20 miles for the race.  But...short of Fontana Days (most downhill course ever), I've never done this.   My expectations for keeping up a 7:20 on hillmageddon were slim to none.  


I tried to hold back in the first few miles.  I told myself that if miles 1-5 aren't easy, you're not running the race right.

Miles 1-5 weren't too bad.  I felt like I was trying, but not dying.  Miles 6-10 were...the time that I needed to concentrate and focus.  They were hilly, but I actually think this worked to my advantage.  I am at my worst as a runner when I'm bored, and this up and down, twisty, beautiful course definitely didn't allow for settling into a pace, cruising, and getting comfortable.

I ate a couple honey stingers at mile 6 and a Gu at mile 9.  Around this time, the SRLA kids (who had started about 15 minutes behind me) started passing me.
Holy cow, some of them are FAST!  

For the last bit of the race, I told myself to step lightly and quickly.  This was for two purposes:
1) To not waste energy and keep a quick stride
2) To try to avoid getting a stomach cramp
(It sorta worked - I only cramped up at the very end.)

At mile 12, I was still feeling good, and something amazing happened.  People started yelling at me stuff like "you're in 6th, go get the girl in front of you!".
Granted, they were counting incorrectly because I was in 10th, but, this was so cool.  
I've always wanted to be far up enough in a race so that people cheer you on as a competitor.  A contender.  I know it's silly, but in that moment, I felt like a freaking rock star.

You know what else made me feel like a rock star?
Running a time that I never truly thought I'd be capable of running.  Here are my Garmin splits:

My chip time was 1:35:50.  7:19 pace, 10th woman overall.

I finished, accidentally high-fived some guy who was really trying to high-five the person behind me, and cheered on Monica and Sarah.   We hung out, complained about the hills, and I stole sips off Sarah's delicious beer, because I forgot my dang ID.  (I'm almost 30!).  

Final Thoughts On The Race
Hold up y'all, I'm abouts to over-dramatize my hobby.  

This race was one of those magical races when I'm so happy to be a runner.  I ran this race at a pace that I never thought would be possible for me.  But...that's not all....I got to be passed by a bunch of talented high schoolers that hopefully are the future of the sport.  I got to hang out with two awesome girls who I'd never have known if I'd never read running blogs.  And I got to run in freaking Southern California in perfect weather to the backdrop of gorgeous mountains.  I am....ridiculously lucky.

Cracking the 70% Age Grade..(Turkey Trot 5 Miler Recap)

In addition to refusing to get dressed for upwards of 80% of my Thankgiving trip to Virginia, I also ran a 5 mile Turkey Trot.

Yes, just like 80% of the running bloggers out there, I woke up on Thanksgiving and decided to race.

I went into the darned thing with mixed feelings.  It was pretty exciting to run a race in Northern VA, and in my hometown of Alexandria, in particular.  But races, even without high expectations, are stressful for me.

As I outlined over sweaty beers with Emily earlier in the week, under 35 minutes would be a success and over 35 would be failure.  I'd had some pretty embarrassing workouts earlier in the week, in which I wasn't able to hold a 7 mile 7:20 pace tempo for even 5 miles.  Times were tough, times were tough...but...I had two secret weapons....

1) Jenny, the little bird sent me a kickass (although a bit small on me) Halloween tee, so that we could start the sisterhood of the traveling t-shirt.  See exhibit on right.  (I also brought out the bunny ears because...I figured why not be totally off holiday).

2) I bucked up and bought racers.  I've been using light-weight trainers (Mizuno Elixir) for races since August.  I bought the Mizuno Ronin.  Clearly these were going to make me run like my feet were en fuego.

I got to the middle school gym and picked up my packet.  And hung out with Senor Turkey for few minutes...

This race is particularly awesome because there's a stroller race category and a doggy race category.  So there was a festive atmosphere.  After doing some striders, and lining up in the giant line (there were over 4000 people in this Turkey Trot!), we were off.  

I saw a girl ahead of me who seemed to know what she was doing (no idea what made me conclude this), so I decided I'd try to keep her in sight the whole race.  I tried to keep my first mile in check, and the plan was to run it in 7 minutes, but of course, my adrenalined legs were not about to go that pace.   First mile was 6:37. 

The crowds were great, and people kept on shouting "go bunny",  "wrong holiday", and "1st costume".   They were also yelling "1st Stroller" because I was neck in neck with the first stroller.  How the heck this dude was running sub 7s while pushing a giant stroller is beyond me.  

Surprisingly, I kept the whole dang thing around 6:40 something pace and in the last mile, I passed a girl and she passed me back.  I'm not exactly sure what got into me, but with about 200 meters from the finish, I turned the race from a friendly town Turkey Trot to my own Olympics.  I thought "I can get her" and went into a dead-out sprint to pass her right at the finish, much to the amusement of the spectators.  

Yup...not competitive at all....

Race Stats:  5 miles, 33:57, 6:47 pace. 20th woman. 

Here are the splits:

Not exactly an effort worthy of my "sprint to the death" finish, but better than my expectations, and I finally cracked the 70% Age Grade Bracket.  Maybe this training is starting to pay off....

Final Thoughts:

1) I was super careful about what I ate in the morning due to all the cramps I've been getting lately.  And it worked.  I had half a Luna Bar, a few Honey Stingers, and an Orange Gu.  Yeah...definitely not real food, but I think this is the path I need to take to avoid cramps.  

2) Thanksgiving Dinner > Turkey Trots.  But only by a bit....

3) Pretty happy with this effort.  Didn't feel like I sucked!

4)  It's time to pass on the sisterhood of the traveling t-shirt.  No really.  It's good luck!  Who wants it next?!?!?!?!?!  I'll send it to ya. 

HAPPY (late) THANKSGIVING!!!!!

A Tale of Two Sports (San Diego Duathlon Recap)

Today, after 1 billion years of just running, I finally ventured into something new.

Yes yes...the rumors you heard on TMZ are true...I did a Duathlon.

PRERACE
I was nervous as all hell the night before.  I started Googling things like "first duathlon" and found blogs talking about all their brick workouts, their hard core biking, and how much more awesome they were than me (ok...that was not in their blogs).
Basically a lot of stuff I didn't do.  I imagined all worst case scenarios and decided that not getting a flat and not killing myself or others would be....a minor success on it's own.

This morning, I woke up at the hour 4 AM.  Actually, I woke up at 3:30 AM to some drunk kids coming back to my apartment complex.  I thought "wow. that used to be me. Boy am I uncool now.", and rolled over and went back to sleep. Before I left, I took this picture.  I like to capture pre-race looks because a sleepy and terrified picture in the dirty bathroom mirror is worth a thousand words.

Yes, I am aware that my arms are way smaller/skinnier than the rest of my body.  No I don't know why.  I should do push ups or something.

After a 70 mile trip down to San Diego, I picked up my packet and put my bike on one of the racks along with all of my stuff.  One thing I noticed as soon as I got there, is there is none of this running skirt / tulle / costume stuff in du/triathlon-land.  I was wearing a sequined headband and felt somewhat ridiculous even in that.  The du / tri landscape is still dominated by dudes and non-flashy women which honestly was kind of nice for a change.  My bee suit from the LA RNR Half probably would not have been quite as welcome ;-).

After warming up for a bit, we were all herded to the start and then we were off!

RUN - Leg 1.  Quick 'n dirty. 
The first run was just 1.5 miles.  I think I ran them in at 6:50 something pace although the official splits aren't online yet so I'm not sure.  When I finished the loop, I went to the transition area to get my stuff for the bike leg.  Of course, I couldn't find my bike...so I jogged back and finally found it!  Transitions = hard, yo.

BIKE Leg 
As soon as I hopped on the bike, something was wrong.  The pedals were moving like the bike wasn't in gear.  Turned out, somehow the chain had popped off the big gear of the bike.  Murphy's law, right?

I freaked out and spastically asked a volunteer for help.   Poor guy put the chain back on and probably got his hands all disgusting and full of oil at the same time.  So nice of him.

Hey Volunteer Dude:  If for some reason, you ever see this blog entry...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!


This adventure probably added a couple minutes to my time, but that's nothing compared to the billions of people getting flats on the loop course.  It rained like mad the night before and so the path was still pretty messy.

The bike was the best part of this race.  The wind rushed by, and I didn't get my butt kicked quite as much as I thought I was going to!  One girl in grey kept on passing me and I'd pass her back.  You're not allowed to draft which is why I think we kept doing this.
Although it got kind of awkward after a while:  "Oh hai again other girl who is riding the same pace as me..."

Here're the Garmin Splits from the bike portion!

I think my average pace on the 12.4 mile bike was somewhere 19.5 mph without the chain issue at the start which I think took 2 minutes.  Probably more like 18.5 mph factoring it in.   I'm (somewhat) ok with this!  Lots of work to do to get over 20 mph comfortably, but I was passing plenty of people, so I think with a little more biking dedication, I can start to not suck!
*edit.  Garmin pace = faster than race.  race recorded like 18.2 mph /19.2 mph. I think it's different because we were all riding on the outside of the loop in order to stay to the right.

Run - Leg 3 - Cramptastic. 
This transition went smoother.  I put my bike on the rack, chugged some Gatorade and started running.
I usually train with Nuun because it is lower cal, just as tasty, and they are nice enough to send it to me (I'm a brand ambassador...see that product plug?  ;-) ), but I thought having a sports drink with sugar in it would be better for the race.
Right?
Wrong.

As soon as I started running, I developed a cramp.  I know...this is becoming a reoccurring issue.  I need to figure out how to stop stomach cramping.  It sucks.  And it makes my times suck.

Also, running off a bike is WAY HARDER than I thought it would be!  My legs felt like they were made of jello.   At the beginning I even saw a current pace beginning with "8", which is not so good when I wanted to keep all the running under 7.  Oy.

The girl in grey passed me back and I told her to go get it.  She did.  I believe she got 14th woman!

My full mile splits were 7:30 and 7:15 on the Garmin.  Half marathon pace, anyone?  I was thrilled to see the finish on the second loop, and booked it in for the last few seconds.
(*edit ...uhhhh....turns out my official pace was like a 7:50 assuming this portion was 2.5 miles.  yikes!  hopefully they marked it long.)

Total Time: 1:14:59.  16th woman.  It was a small race though, so I don't think there were more than 50- 80 women total.
*no splits besides the finish time are up yet so sorry if they aren't 100% accurate. 

I celebrated by drinking the recovery drink of champions:  Oh bubbly aspartame, I love you so. 

I stuck around the awards ceremony (top six got real silver and gold awards! jealous! )
Afterthoughts
Feels pretty cool to have done one of these, and I want to get more into these multi sport races!  I am now going to force all my coworkers to refer to me as "du-ath champ", not "Margot" for the day.


Of course, I've got a ton of learning to do.  Major lessons learned are....
1) Make sure the damn bike is ready to ride.  Like chain on gears.
2) Rack my bike early so that I am in an easy place to find!
3) Practice running off the bike.  Train more (obviously).
4) Figure out what's going on with my abs / stomach.  Come on body!
5) Sign up for as many du's / tri's in 2012 as possible.

My Hood To Coast Experience! Time 'o life.

I've been TOTALLY procrastinating on this write up!  Probably because it was too intense of an experience to write quickly and I don't know what to leave in / leave out.  But...you've got a billion other (better) bloggers to read in HTC recaps, so I'm just gonna try mah best mmmm kay?   =)

Pre-Race
I flew into Seattle Wednesday night to spend some time with Anthony pre-Hood To Coast.  It pretty much consisted of working even though I was on vacation and watching Game Of Thrones (new HBO series!) with him.  Thursday night, Nuun hosted a pre-race dinner. My heart went pitter-patter as I met so many bloggers that I knew only from internet pictures!

I have no idea what the appropriate way to meet new bloggers is.  I usually say "heeyyyy!  You're "X blogger!". And then I feel kinda awkward because clearly I've been stalking them online. But...usually they are nice and sometimes we even quickly hug!  Because...we kinda already know each other, right?

After dinner, we stole helped ourselves to a bunch of Nuun sitting on the shelves! Let's just say I will not be running out any time soon!

Morning



Van 1 of Nuun Platuun planned to roll out of the hotel and go to Mount Hood at 6:00 AM Friday.  We met in the lobby, took some pics, and got going!  My van was Alyssa, Lisa, Kerrie, Tricia, Caitlin (Nuun), and Alex (Nuun driver).  We also had a photographer with us some of the time.

We made our way to Mount Hood and after three hours of driving and getting to know each other better, we pull into this glorious place:




OMG Mt. Hood.  

Tricia was the first up to start the race, and she was definitely nervous!  As soon as the race started though, we tailed her in the van and she was kicking some booty down the mountain!  She finished her leg, and Alyssa took the "baton" (really a slap bracelet).  Unfortunately it was getting hotter and hotter.  After Caitlin and Kerrie finished their legs, it was time for this bunny to start running.


My First Leg
Let's just say it was hot and I was sweat-tay.  But my awesome van tailed me, pouring water on me as I ran by.  I was pretty physically uncomfortable, but the pure thought of running Hood To Coast made this leg awesome, despite the heat and hills.   My performance was nothing to write home about, something like 7:40 pace for 6.1 miles.

I handed the slap bracelet onto Lisa and she brought in Van 1, handing off to Jess in Van 2.  We met up with Van 2 in the Safeway parking lot and I drank copious amounts of milk to try to recover.

It was pretty cool to finally see Van 2 since we had been separated from them since the start.

I chatted with my awesome teammates and made weird arm movements as evident in the picture on the right.

Van 2 took off, and we went for some nice R&R at a pub in suburban Portland.  I had a delicious loaded baked potato.  Before we knew it, it was time to meet up in Portland to get going on our nighttime legs!

NIGHT

The next Van exchange was really in a strange part of Portland.  It appeared to be some sort of park next to a bunch of trains.  We got to hang out with the other teammates and the girls from AfterNuun Delight and also wear some really stylish night gear (head lamp and vest).

Tricia led off our awesome van again, but ended up getting stuck behind a train for like 15 minutes!  She decided to not try to climb over the moving train, but was still awesome.  Alyssa went off on her leg and went ridiculously under her predicted pace.  We were all starting to get tired by now (after having been awake 20 hours), but it was my turn to run again.  I took a caffeine enhanced Gu, and went for it.  

Leg 2
This was honestly one of the strangest running experiences of my life.  I was running somewhere in rural Oregon down a highway that was nearly pitch black.  The only things I could see were other runners in the distance (their flashing lights) and trucks along the side of the highway.  Occasionally, a truck would honk to "say hi", which was kind of fun.  I felt like I was on a weird infinite treadmill where I had no idea where I was or how fast I was going.  Good thing, because I wasn't going all that fast.  I think I averaged around 7:40 miles for the 7.1 miles.  This isn't great because the terrain was pretty easy and flat.  I'm gonna forgive myself though.  Extenuating circumstances!
I was both bored and excited at the same time, but before I knew it, I rolled into the next exchange point and handed off to Lisa.

Complete Confusion

I'm not really good with not sleeping.  I can do it, I just start going insane.  This didn't bode well for the nighttime hours of HTC.

We pulled into a sleeping area around 2:30 AM.  I was completely disoriented, and went to go lay on the grass by myself and thought it was a great idea to not tell anyone.  After 45 minutes into my adventure, I decided to start walking around like a zombie.

I ran into Alex, our van driver.  He told me the whole van was looking for me.  I then bit him and we all turned into zombies.

uhhh..just kidding about that last part.

Anyways, we all piled into the van to try to get to the next exchange point.  Traffic was horrible. We were seriously going about 1 mile/hr and runners were passing us on the side.   There actually was a guy walking around outside that looked like a Zombie. All of this would have been fine, though.
Except for the fact, that I had recovered from my run #2 by drinking a ton of milk.  And I had to pee like a racehorse.

For about 30 minutes I tried to hold it, knowing that going in the woods is well...not allowed in HTC.  Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.  At 4:30 AM, I sprinted out of the van into the unknown foggy Oregon countryside.  And behind an old abandoned house, I did what I had to do.  Rules be damned, I tried to hold it and failed.

According to my teammates, my sprinting into the fog with a roll of toilet paper was quite a sight to behold.

Sweet Sleep

We finally pulled up into the lot around 5:00 AM, and poor Alex had been driving for about 24 hours.  We put down a tarp, and got a glorious 60 minutes of sleep.  When I woke up it was light out.  The night before felt like some weird nightmare, and now that it was light, everything was ok again.

Go Time Again.  Beautiful.  

After a little getting ready and trying to be lucid, it was time for Tricia to lead us off again.  She had an adorable Camo dress (skirt shirt combo) and got ready to rumble.  We started driving into the hills in Astoria, Oregon.  Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but there was something breathtaking about the morning.

There was fog everywhere, and it was cool.  The land was green and hilly, and we all just had one more run to go to bring in Hood To Coast.

Even though everyone was doing a great job on their legs, I was very nervous about mine.  My last leg was a straight 3.5 mile climb and I wasn't sure if I'd be ok doing it.  I took plenty of Pepto swigs to try to be ready.

Finally, it was my turn.  And dude..it was GLORIOUS!

Handing Off to Lisa

It is hard for me to describe how beautiful the area was, or how many cheers I got running up that mountain.  The support, the scenery, and knowing I was on my last leg, made this an indescribable experience.

When I got to the top of the mountainn, I knew it was time to let it all go.  2.5 miles down, time to let it all out.  I went up the mountain at 9 minute miles, but I came down at 6:30 pace.
Every leg I ran was beautiful, but leg 29 (my third) is a reason to be the number 5 runner on its own.  Took my breath away.


The Finish
After Van 1 finished, we drove through Oregon to Seaside in a ton of traffic.  We kept getting updates about our teammates.  How Susan ran an amazing final leg.  How XLMIC, our last runner, was getting ready to run.

We made it to the finish in our van, and waited to see XLMIC bring it in.  And she finished the whole HTC under 28 hours, in 27:59.   When she finished, I told her that it is crazy to see how much she gives to each leg.  She said "I don't know any other way to run".  Amazing quote!!

Epilogue. 
I spent my time after the race primarily with Anthony as we drove to Portland.  I was pretty freaking disoriented and had to wake up in the middle of the night to throw up.  I'm telling you this not to gross you out (ok..maybe a little bit), but to say "HOLY CRAP WE PUSHED OURSELVES TO THE LIMIT!"

Now, a couple days later, I feel more recovered.
I know I will never forget this crazy weekend.  It was so cool, beautiful, challenging, and fun.

A special thank you to the companies that made this possible and so much more awesome for us: 
Nuun  (of course!)
And also....
Tommie Copper  (I am wearing your calf sleeves right now) 
Moving Comfort  (wore the Sports Bra earlier today!) 
Road ID
2Toms
Flashbrite (reflective paws)
Buildasign (van magnets)
Gu
TMB
Jackblack
Jamba Juice
Jenny Craig

OC Fair 5k Recap! Runnin' with Clownz.

Orange County 5k Race Recap:  A dream come true for me.  Please forgive the melodrama of this recap!    This PR means a lot to me.  And gosh dangit, I'm fairly proud of myself.

Woke up at 6:20 and saw it was cloudy and cool.   I do terribly in the heat, so I was pumped to race. 

I met up with Pam, who was running the race as well and we stood in a ridiculously long line to get my bib.  I think the race was a ton bigger than last year's so they weren't prepared for the crowds.  

Pam and I hung out in the starting corrals which was awesome because I tend to get a little psycho nervous before races.  Having her there to talk to definitely helped me not having a nervous breakdown.  We agreed that no matter how many races we do, we still get butterflies at the start.  SO true.  I will never stop nearly peeing on myself out of nerves in the corral.  

The race was a bit delayed due to the crappy logistics, but it didn't really bother me.  More time to procrastinate actually racing!  

Finally...we were OFF!

Start:   For the first time in the history of the world I went out at the pace I wanted to.   Possibly due to getting "unwarmedup" from standing the corral so long, but I'll take it.   

Self Talk: "Strong but relaxed...strong but relaxed..."

First Mile: 6:38. 

The course started curving in and out of random exhibits.  It was pretty cool, actually.  I felt like I was in a video game and some crazy clowns would come out of the booths and start chasing me.  

I was keeping pace with a long haired dude running barefoot.  Normally I like hippies, but this guy kept on boxing me out every time there was a curve.  No idea if it was on purpose or not (probably not), but I got frustrated at some point and muttered "seriously dude?" after trying to pass for the 1000x time.  Then I felt bad and rude.  I doubt he was trying to be a jerk, but racing sometimes brings out a weird aggressive side of me.  

Self talk:  "Relaxed...keep pushing!  No slowing down from that first mile!"

Mile 1.5:  Water station.  I take water, throw it on myself and then throw the cup on the ground.  Then I see a trash can.  For the second time in a couple minutes, I felt rude.

Mile 2: 13:20  (6:42 second mile)

Self Talk:  "You're never going to PR...I can feel you slowing down...just admit you suck at running" 

Then:  "Stop doing this to yourself, just focus...".  

Mile 2.5:  

Self Talk:  "Only about 4 more minutes to go.  You can run for 4 minutes.  That's less than 1000 meters.  You CAN run 1000 meters, can't you?"

I ridiculously started quoting Pre in my head:  "To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift, to give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift..."

Mile 3:  20:03.  "Go Go GO!!"

How I felt. 

Final Time: 20:39, 4th woman.  

So happy!  

Pam also kicked some booty coming in just a hair after me and PRing as 5th woman.  We didn't run the race together, but it was awesome having her there!  She is ridiculously nice and supportive!    

Post race, I decided to see if I won any sort of age group prize.  

After asking a couple volunteers about prizes who gave me confused looks and asked "You got a race t-shirt, right?", I figured it was a lost cause.  :). 

Last Thoughts: I don't want to over dramatize this race, because I fully realize that running a mid-20s 5k, is not really that impressive.  I didn't set any records or save any lives.  At the same time, I've been running for 14 years and have never broken 21.  And it's always bugged me.  And I finally did it.  

So this race feels almost as good as a BQ to me.    

I celebrated by getting a mini donut from Starbucks and trying on everything in the store at the local Lululemon.   It was awesome.   

5k! Surf City, baby!

Remember when Skinny Runner ran two marathons in a weekend? 

Remember when Emily Sweat Once A Day did an Olympic Triathlon the day after her 100 mile bike ride and her 10 mile run?  

Remember when EMZ did her 24 hour treadmill run?  

 Yeah...my weekend was equally impressive.  Raced two 5ks.  ;).   THAT'S 6.2 MILES for you English System users out there!!!!

5k #2 was a freaking ton of fun.   Well organized, had a 4th of July parade right afterwards so super festive atmosphere.  Parking was a B, but hey, it's Southern California.

The race was a pretty much a non-story.  I warmed up and did some striders.  I knew Pam was doing the race but didn't see her.  The race started and as always, I shot out a little too fast at 6:30 for mile 1.  Not unreasonable but too fast for what I could do today.

I noticed a woman in front of me with a cute stride (Pam really runs cute.  Sorry Pam, it's true.) and with a giant red white and blue poof on her head.  IT'S PAM!!!

I passed her, and then that speedy B passed me right back around mile 2.5.  I should know better than to underestimate her speed!

Anyways, she finished at 20:56 and I finished at 21:10.  Both 3rd in our age groups, 17th and 19th women respectively!
Here's a pic.  Cute or Crazy?  We report, you decide.  

Lady Liberty and Ms. America Poms 

I did PR this weekend...by 8 seconds.  Even this super lame PR makes me a bit happy.  It drives me nutso that I haven't broken 21 yet.   Honestly breaking 20 is a dream but I don't know if it'll ever happen.
But...it was a fun race.   And I think with a little more work and a little more rested legs, I can hope to continue improving.

On another note, I'm pleasantly surprised with Orange County's rockin' 4th celebrations.  I feel that So Cal has so much going on that people tend to be pretty apathetic towards stuff like holidays.   But that is definitely not the case for the 4th.  As I drove home from Long Beach after watching fireworks, I went over a bridge where I could see about 6 separate fireworks celebrations from above.  Really really freaking magical.  The millions of decked out bikes, parades, and firework stands  makes me want to belt out "God Bless The USA" by Lee Greenwood.   





Should I?
           
       Should I?  

Ok if you insist....

Cuz there ain't no doubt I love this landddd.....

            God bless the USAAAAAAAA

Boardwalk Fallen Empire 5k. (Find yo way-five k)

I'm sitting here watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians.  Kim is x-raying her butt to show that it's real on this episode.  Anyone can take off the butt pads for an x-ray, man.  I still think she's wearing padded bike shorts!  

This provides a good distraction from my mornin' race.  

Bad news:  I didn't PR.  I got kinda lost.

Good news:  I won the "race".  And gave $30 to charity.  

Confusing news:  I'm not sure it was actually a race...or a 5k.  Also, I definitely spent $30 to run down the crowded Santa Monica pedestrian path and almost get hit by several bikes.

That'll teach me to get sassy on this blog and say stuff like  "Hey screw all the peds and 90% likelihood that this race is gonna suck, I'm awesome and def PRing'.    

Here is my story, yo....

Got up at 5:45.  Mentally cursed at my alarming I-phone. Drove an hour up to SM, parked and walked to "Perrys" which is on the Santa Monica Beach path.  

I was a bit alarmed to see that no one was there.   There was one semi disheveled man standing nearby.  I thought "This must be the race director!".  

Then he started rooting through the trash dumpster.  Homeless race director?

I looked down the beach path a bit and noticed there was an identical looking building down the road a bit with a few people milling around.  Ahhh...Perry's!

I jogged over there and a lady with a clipboard introduced herself as the race director.  She checked off my name, and I asked the same questions that I had asked in an unanswered email mid week:  "Are there mile markers"? . "No." 

And most importantly  "How will I know where to turn around?"  

Race director lady showed me a picture of the "turnaround point".  There would be a playground and a man in a green shirt at the turnaround point.  

Have ya ever been to the Santa Monica boardwalk?  uh yeah dude.  There're a lot of playgrounds and people in green shirts there.  

Race director said "ready...go" to me and the 20 other random people, half of which are teenagers in basketball shoes.  I quickly went to the front.  

This is as close to an "adventure race" as I've gotten.   Obstacle course time!  I almost got hit by a couple bikes, dodged tons of walkers and tourists.   About 8 minutes in, I saw a small playground and a dude with a dog in a green shirt.  

It wasn't this bad but you get the idea

"This must be the turnaround point!"

In retrospect, this was stupid.  I knew that the turnaround place was halfway of the race distance.  And unless I was on pace for a 16 minute 5k, there's no way that was the turnaround point.  But...I can't think when I run.  And possibly can't think when I don't run as well. 

After about 20 seconds of running back, I realized my error, turned back around, backtracked and ran a couple more minutes.  

When I passed the dude with the dog again I yelled to him "are you the turn around point?".  

"No".   

This dude probably thought it was totally normal someone was yelling at him nonsensically.  The beaches of So Cal be full of crazies.   

I figured, "eh...at this point, who cares where the little green man from mars is".  

and then I saw him...A MORE AUTHORITATIVE LOOKING DUDE IN A GREEN SHIRT!

Sweet.  I turned around.  11 minutes at the halfway point.  A 22 minute 5k was not exactly what I had in mind going into this.  

This woulda been nice

I took a random curvy beach path back most of the way accidentally instead of the straight path, and finished the race.  Total time was something like 21:30 on my watch.  

The two teenage dudes who finished after me asked the race director if they were supposed to take the straight road or the curvy path back.  She said "well...it doesn't matter...I mean they are about the same, right?".  

This woman clearly is not a runner!  

Bottom line, I was way too desperate to find a 5k this morning.  Who knows if this route was even a 5k. All I know is that these peeps need some chalk and cones.  

So...now I'm going to run the Huntington Beach 5k on Monday!  The Pam-ster is doing it too!  

That's right, I'm stealin' her from Skinny Runner.  :)

And yeah, I know that when my biggest problems are that a beautiful run on the beach isn't marked, things ain't so bad :). 

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On another note, check out Monika's blog.  She's cool.  

A couple questions for ya:
1) What's the most logistically bad or good race you've been in?
2) Is it cool if I ride 30 miles tomorrow on the bike (I'm not in great biking shape) and race Monday?  Or should I take the day off...

Fontana 13.1: I'm a Logistical Fool / My Vendetta Against Lululemon

Hey!  I've been delaying writing this report because I can't put my finger on the disappointment I feel in myself.
You're gonna kill me for saying that because I ran a 1:33:15*.  

BIG ASTERISK!  I just spent 2 minutes trying to figure out how to spell "asterisk"!  Who knew?  =)


Before you bring me the olive wreath of victory, remember this race had a 2000 ft drop.  I had no idea how powerful that was...but believe me it's huge.  It's like I was golfing and got a 6 minute handicap.  


Whew.  Now that we've gotten that out of the way I'll do the recap.  It'll be funny, I swear.  

4 AM happiness and beauty

My alarm went off at 4:00 AM and I looked at my phone alarm with pure anger.  I remember waking up at like 3:30 AM and thinking I'd get some water to drink (I'm kind of an insomniac) and realizing with horror my wakeup time was a half hour from then!

Anyways.

I put the race address into my phone, was pleasantly surprised that Fontana wasn't as far as I thought it was, and took off.  I got to my exit off I-10 and had a few extra minutes so I went to use the bathroom in McDonald's right by the race to avoid any race crowds.  As I got back into my car I thought...wait a second...something isn't right....where is everyone....


I look back in my phone and realize that I've driven to the wrong town.  I accidentally drove to Upland...the iphone directed me to a similar address.  Fontana is 16 miles down the road.  I had like 10 minutes left in packet pickup.

Fun fact.  These towns are close to Chino.  Where Ryan from the O.C. was from.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, please ignore and don't 'un-friend'.  







I got to packet pickup a few minutes late - 6:05 and ran into ChaCha and Sarah -OUAL as they were in line for the bus.  I said the world's quickest hello and then begged the ladies at the packet pickup to give me my number.  I didn't get a race t-shirt, but I didn't want to push my luck by asking.

I got on the big yellow school bus and met two really cool ladies.  Mimi and I can't remember the second lady's name.  Mimi wanted to break 2 hours and I stalked her time later and saw that she ran a 1:55.  woo hoo!

As the race started I saw these two ridiculous ladies in front of me.  They were wearing matching lululemon tight booty shorts and sports bras.  For many unreasonable and cranky reasons, I wanted to smack them for wearing such ridiculous outfits.  I passed them with pleasure  (these two characters show up in the story later...dum dum dum...).   I also passed another skinny blonde girl in a $200 lululemon outfit as well.  Let me explain myself.  I love lululemon...their stuff is awesome.  I just want to beat everyone who wears it in races.  I'm probably just jealous :).

Mile 1:  6:36.  Whaattttt?  Totally downhill but I still must be insane.

Mile 3:  20:30ish

Mile 6.2....some sort of fake 10k PR....

Mile 10:  69:00.  I was running with the same group of people and trying to hang with them.
This is getting ridiculous.  I don't think I'm slow, but I know I'm not capable of clicking off 10 sub 7 miles with ease on a real course.  Unfortunately, reality set in relatively soon.

At mile 11, I got a side cramp.  Probably from the extreme jostling and cherry sports beans I'd been chomping on.  And from the ridiculous pace I started at.

I tried every technique in the book to get rid of the cramp.  Standing straighter, breathing deeper, even waving my hands over my head in the air.  It must have been a sight.

A good 8 women must have passed me.  The dude who I was talking to at the start passed me.  THE LULULEMON TWINS PASSED ME!!!!  NOoooooooo!  I was majorly demoralized.

I passed the race photographer around mile 12 and made a peace sign to him...posing.  I realized later, my race number on my sports bra was covered by my shirt and made it look like I was banditing.  Photo-man must have thought I was a nut.  

Anyways, the last two miles I ran were more like 8 minutes and I finished.  1:33:15.  Still a major PR but like I said, this was the fastest easiest course ever.

As I walked to the snack stand, a dude who I recognized from the race came up to me.  He said in a hilarious accent "Heeeyyy...what happened....you were with us the whole way and then it was like you stopped movvvinnngggg."  I know I know.  He finished in like 1:29.  

I saw Once Upon A Lime and ChaCha after the race too and they had both PR'd!  Congrats!

As I went to my car, I realized, I had no real idea where I had parked it.  I spent my last moments in Fontana searching the streets...wondering where I left my car...and my brain that morning.

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Appendix:

I hope you don't think I'm overly crabby from this post - I had a wonderful time in Fontana.
1) I am SO happy to have run this time - even on a cheat course like this.  
2) This race was run so well for a small half.  I'd recommend it to anyone!
3)  I've now got NYC qualifying which was my goal. 
3)  Those lululemon girls are probably really nice.  Maybe....