First Marathon ... Planning

Forgive me, it’s my first day and I’m a bit excited!  Yeah, I know it’s May, I get that.  

I’ve been reading, studying, thinking, planning, re-planning, reading, thinking, talking, listening, planning, re-planning … get it?

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I want to run my first marathon in the fall or early winter.  The marathon I wanted to run is just three weeks on the heels of a bike ride I’d like to do well in.  The consensus was that it’s probably a little too close to my first marathon, unless I want to put up a bunny of a ride.  Yeah, I could plan on doing that … but I know myself.

I decided on moving the marathon from early December to late January, giving me much more time in between and allowing me to maximize my performance in both.

I planned the bike schedule as I normally would, not stretching it out to allow extra time for rest and also having to worry about doubling up long runs and long rides in one weekend.  Then I worked the weeks for the marathon training schedule (Hal Higdon) backwards, maneuvering different runs to fit around previously scheduled races, both running and riding, as well as leaving room for the tapering before the bike race.

And the timing, on paper, looks great.   I have the next three months to work on a running base, get that 5K goal knocked out (sub-20), and drop some weight.  After that, the bike training starts.   As I’ll get into the 200 mile weeks on the bike my long runs will only be about 12 to 14 miles, which I can handle.  

The weeks leading up the bike race will have one two-a-day per week, on Tuesdays, featuring a recovery run (which I could skip) and a bike ride in the afternoon.  That’s actually less than I have been doing as I usually do two, two-a-days per week.  

The longest run before the bike race on 11/19 is a 15 miler, which occurs in the first week of the taper for the bike ride.  I think that’ll be okay.  After the bike race is done, the next 8 or 9 weeks line up almost perfectly with the Hidgon plan, save the half marathon I’d like to run six weeks before the marathon.

Either way, this plan feels right.  I’m excited about it.  

Now to figure out what my marathon pace will be!

I've Gotta New Drug (Think Huey Lewis)

You know the song.  Well, I think I've found one.

It wasn't long ago that if I had some accumulating stress my mind would wander to beer.  Now, over the past 18 months I've drank on rare occasions and was never much for just getting hammered for the sake of being hammered.  But still, when stresses would build my mind would wander to beer.  I'd typically buy a high quality beer and some snacks, watch some movies or cook on the grill outside. I'd stay up until midnight or so, a few hours of quiet time, and feel much better the next day.

Then yesterday, I was thinking about all of the things going on, all of the stuff on the horizon and I thought, "I'd love go just bury myself in a race." It wasn't the type of thought that was a conclusion or decision, just a random thought that floated through my head.

And yeah, that's exactly what I want to do.  I want to sign up for some races and just tear it up!

That said, I have a half marathon (I mistakenly said half pikermi on FB today!) this Sunday.  It looks quite intimidating, definitely a place where I can just bury myself.

Many things brought this change, like change of life style and such.  But also because of increased endurance, more focus is required to have my heart rate where it should be.  On my long ride Sunday (76 miles I think), I focused on each mile being under 3:00 minutes.  I did that for 35 miles.  What was in my head ... nothing but mile 36. 

Sunday ... on mile 9, what will be on my mind?  Probably how much cactus is in my leg!

I Surprised Myself

For those not familiar with SmartCoach, it's software that uses your latest race time and distance in combination with your average miles run per week to create a training program tailored to you so you can run a specific race well. 

I've been trying to run consistently since last May.  However, injury after injury, then training for a bike race have prevented me from amassing much running experience.  In fact, I've only run more than 20 miles in a week twice, the highest being 23, this week!  The point being, I feel that I'm still very new to running.  I feel I'm just getting my running legs. 

 SmartCoach said that today I should run a long, slow run ... 10 miles (no problem) at 8:22 pace (what!?!?!).  I ran faster than that for my half marathon, but I was rested for that, it was down hill, and it was a race environment, everybody's pumped! 

Yesterday was a terribly stressful day and I woke this morning feeling tired.  My left knee has been a bit cranky (I think from not having my new bike dialed in properly), and my legs were a bit sore from yesterday's run.  There was only the slightest hint of swelling in the knee if it was bent completely backwards.  So, I brushed my teeth, threw on my Five Fingers, tossed a band aid (have a problem toe getting blisters) and a Cliff Shot in my pocket.

Mile 1, 8:18:  Felt okay, just easing my way into the run.  It's down hill and super easy.  Legs are sore, but nothing I could deal with.   

Mile 2, 8:17:  There's a crazy steep hill, but fortunately it's very short this direction, dropping farther on the other side than this side climbs up.  I slammed up the hill trying to maintain my pace.  This got my heart rate up quite a bit.

Mile 3, 8:28, Mile 4, 8:26, Mile 5, 8:25:   I've done this route before.  This is a very tough stretch, all up hill, with a few short climbs and one significant, long climb.  I was happy to be under 8:30 here while not killing myself.  Average heart rate still around 145 or so.  During my 5 my legs hurt, my feet hurt, my hips hurt...I was getting tired.

Mile 6, 8:18, Mile 7, 8:20, Mile 8, 8:20:  What I goes up, must come down.  These are gradually down hill miles.  I took my cliff shot shortly after beginning mile 7.  During mile 8 I really started to fatigue. 

Mile 9,  8:50:  HUGE hill.  Did I mention there was a HUGE HILL on this mile?  If not, I'm sorry.  I had a few signs of cramping before the hill, but none ever developed, thankfully.  When I got up to the top of the hill my glutes were SCREAMING at me. 

Mile 10, 8:14:  I think my Garmin screwed me here.  It said my mile wasn't done until I was a good 100 yards past where I normally stop.  But regardless, this is a tough mile, climbing about 250 feet steadily the whole way.  It takes a lot of concentration for me to maintain a steady pace on this mile, but it's where I feel I should be pushing.  And the last mile being the best one, that's what I'm talking about!

Here's the Garmin Report of the run.

Now to move some furniture and then iron some clothes! 

Events for 2012, None after 12/21/12

In 2011 I got my feet wet with a few races.  In 2012 I'm looking forward to participating in more races, performing better because I'll have prepared for the races, as well as participating in a few races just because they're fun atmospheres!

I'd like to throw in two or three more 10K's as well as at least one more half marathon.  There are a few that are the same weekends as major bicycle races (which are quite fewer), so I'll keep my eyes open for future races.  

I've targeted races that I think I'll be really serious about, others I'll just show up and run.  The races in blue font are races I'll take seriously, but not train for specifically.  Those in red are things I'll train for specifically and make a real shot at accomplishing one of my time goals for the year, or a PR.

1. 1/7 Sabino Canyon 5K
2. 1/14 Great Expectations Academy 5K
3. 1/29 Old Tucson Trail run 4 Miler
4. 2/18 Duathalon 2 mile run, 17 mile ride, 2 mile run 
5. 2/25 Rangar Del Sol Relay
6. 3/4 10K with no name, SAR
7. 3/? Lucky Clover 5K
8. 4/28 Tour of the Tucson Mountains (bicycle)
9. 5/12 Nogales Bicycle Classic
10. 6/2 Tucson Downtown Night 5K
11. 6/9 Colossal Cave 5K
12. 7/8 Run with the Roosters 5 Miler
13. 7/21 Breeze Through the Trees 5K
14. 8/4 AZ Dirt Hog 5K XC
15. 8/12 Tombstone 10K
16. 9/22 Catalina Park 10.35 miler
17. 10/14 Great Pumpkin 5K
18. 10/21 Everybody Runs Half Marathon
19. 11/17 El Tour de Tucson
20. 11/22 Thanksgiving 5K
21. 12/9 Tucson Marathon
22. 12/15 Vail Jingle Trail 5K

Now I really like to just wake up and know what I'm doing that day, without thinking.  I don't like schedules, don't like to remember what's going to happen next Thursday. 

That's one more thing to get over, one more change in my new lifestyle!  Especially since I'm doing two sports, being organized is paramount.  So, as I've shared before, I'm developing an excel spreadsheet to manage everything.  It's a bit ugly, but it works.  Not only do I make sure I get planned down time, alternate intensities appropriately, but when I'm actively training for an event, I can click on the distance in the main book and it takes me to a brief description of the workout for that day.

Here it is.

 
Now of course, since the last day of the existence of this planet is 12/21/2012, I've not planned anything after 12/15!  That gives me a week of eating pork rinds and mainlining Oreo ice cream cakes.  

The Human Divining Rod

This morning I woke at 1:15, ready for my 4:15 run.  False alarm, someone just sent me a text!  Who texts at 1:15 am?   People that don't:

1. Have jobs
2. Run in the morning

In his defense:  "Respond when you get the chance, but I might be working."  Pretty funny really because there goes #1. 

Anyhow, I greeted 4:15 with excitement.  Between being under the weather, a 111 mile bike race exactly 30 days ago, a half marathon 8 days ago and a tough 5K Saturday, I took two days in a row off!  That's right folks, you heard it here first.  I took two days in a row off from exercise.

Now, Sunday morning my left foot looked like it belonged to a geriatric diabetic and yesterday I delivered my old bike to Tucson (sold it).  I actually felt a twinge of sadness when the guy walked away with it.  I lost the better part of 90 pounds on that bike, rode it almost 5,000 miles! It's okay though because I have a new bike.

Back on track:  I hit the running path by the gym at 4:30 after my usual warm up of 50 pushups, jump rope, lunges and squats.  I felt good really.  My legs were a little sore, spots here and there waking up.  My feet really hurt.  But it felt awesome to run.  As I passed mile one the path ended and I had to travel across about 100 yards of dirt before hitting the road.  Now, mind you, there are no street lights, the moon has set.  It's total darkness.  There was a "spot," about 4 feet by 2 feet, that looked darker than the rest of the ground.  I stepped right in it.

I cannot walk on water!  But I can find water in the desert!

My right foot went completely under, above the ankle.  Left foot went in second, but only the first half of my foot.  I finished the last two miles blister free, laughing at myself.  How silly is that?

Hey, it was 4:40 in the morning at that point. 

The best part was the weird looks I got when I made it back to the gym to do the 20 minutes or so of circuit training I do on short run mornings.  I was muddier than I thought!  But like in the movie Fight Club, everybody stared, nobody asked.

Bad Run, Good Run...We Succeed Because We Fail

Saturday's trail run was terrible.  As I mentioned in my last post I was slow, sore and when I finished I was totally exhausted.  I was exhausted for the entire day, like a zombie on Nyquil.

Sunday I had time to reflect on the run.  I reviewed my training plans.  I was beginning to worry about not being able to do well on the race and that worry devolved into fears of not being able to complete the half marathon.  I want to run 13.1 miles in under 2 hours.  I've not been able to do any training at all because of a hip/hamstring issue.  I completely sucked at a 5 mile trail run...how was this going to work?

I wanted a chance at redemption Monday morning.  I had hoped that my problems were fatigue and heat and maybe just a bad day.  Hoping to do better, I couldn't sleep Sunday night.  I got up at 3:30 am, an hour before my 4:30 alarm.  I needed to do better.  I am better than that performance.

At 4:30 I got out of bed, brushed my teeth and did my pushups, crunches and some new hip exercises I'm trying out.  I was out of the door by a quarter to five for my hilly six mile run.

I kicked butt.  I decided to speed up a bit more than I've allowed myself over the past months.  I pulled down the first two miles in just over 14 minutes.  I hit the hills and then finished the last mile, which climbs about 200 feet, in 8:10.  I wouldn't allow myself to really push hard as my number one priority is still to finish healthy.

I feel encouraged and revitalized.  Redoubling efforts after failure ... yeah, now I feel better.

Finally Healthy, and some costume pics.

I think I'm finally healthy.  My injured hip complains rarely, and only when I first start going down hill.  The hills don't hurt once I'm properly warmed up.  It's been a LONG time, since the end of June.  I'm very happy about my current condition.

I've started my half marathon training, along with training for the Tour de Tucson, which I may not join.  I may not have the money for it.  The idea is that I'll alternate long rides and long runs, one per week.  I have noticed some significant improvements in my riding lately.  What's funny is that, like last time, the jumps in speed and power are seemingly out of nowhere.  All of a sudden instead of struggling to maintain a 14 mph average on these particular hills, I'm cruising at 18 to 19 mph!  If you're wondering about tailwind...nope, done it consistently the past three rides.

With the change in seasons there is less fresh fruit around.  Much of what remains isn't so great.  As a result I've not been eating as well as I was over the summer.  Also, with it getting colder outside, it's been tough to haul my butt out of bed in the mornings and go to the gym.  I've not skipped any runs or rides, but the gym has seen decreasingly less of me since school started.  I need to recommit to going to the gym more frequently and to work on my diet.

In addition to those things, I'd forgotten what a commitment training really is.  I run before work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I am supposed to go the gym in the mornings on Tuesday and Thursday.  I ride Tuesday and Thursday.  Saturday is a long ride or long run.  It's tough to do all of those things with a full time job, a part time job, meetings after school, totting kids around and so on.  I'm beat!

I did miss my long ride last week.  I decided to tune up my bike before the ride and noticed some fancy cracks in my Bontrager RaceLites.  My trusted bike shop owner warned me of them and told me what to look for.  I purchased a new set of Mavic wheels and am now riding in style.

This past week was Spirit Week at the high school.  I decided to participate.  :D  Here's Tacky Tuesday:

I worked hard to be tacky without being over the top.  A coworker saw me and said hello.  I asked how I pulled off tacky...she stopped and said, "Oh, good.  I wasn't going to say anything because you look awful!"  

She thought I dressed that way out of poor taste, not in the spirit of Tacky Tuesday.  SCORE!

Wednesday was nerd day.  I had to learn to tie a real bow tie.  That sucked.  I learned a lot about those that wear bow ties.  They don't do things by accident.  

Now the last was Western Thursday.  I got a big ole grin to go along with my outfit.

Road Bike

I went on a really fun trail run Friday afternoon with my youngest daughter. It was about a half hour run through a narrow canyon. We saw a tarantula, snake and had a stink bug squishing contest as we ran. It was a lot of fun. My knees though, not so happy with the result.

That run motivated me to buy a road bike. So I picked up a Fuji 24 speed bicycle. I've never ridden a bike for exercise before I purchased the bike. But I'm excited about the prospect of being able to do some work with lower incident of injury while I lose weight. I am going to cut the running to a maximum of 2 days a week for now...may not run at all this week. I need to get my knees some time to heal!

I also need to continue to improve my diet. For the past two weeks my lunches have been carefully designed with calories and nutrition in mind. My breakfasts have been done in a similar fashion. It's dinner that gets me in a bit of trouble, but not too bad. The real killer is liquid carbs...AKA beer. I love beer. However, I'm NOT going to have a beer for the rest of this month! I need to drop some pounds and that's the most obvious thing to cut. Wish me luck!

Cardio

Since I've started posting I've lost about 12 pounds. I'm happy about that. It's steady but in my mind too slow. I know it's not too slow, but I want to lose weight.

Because of the extra weight, sometimes, running kills my knees and lower back. They don't usually complain during the run, but later in the day or the next day they do. I had to skip this morning's scheduled run because of sore, swollen knees. At this point I'm having to remember to be patient, I'm in this for the long run (awesome)!

I started doing some boxing training. Whoa, what a level of intensity and what a complete body workout. Muscles in your neck, feet, core, forearms, not to mention your major muscle groups are all spent after a short amount of time!

I'm interested in buying a street bicycle to ride a few days of week to give me some variation from running.

Also, my daughter's cross country season is over. So, I'll be taking her running a few times a week. Now that the summer is slipping away, running in the afternoons is a possibility! That means that I won't always have to get up at 4:45 am to get a run in!

Nutrition

My biggest challenge early will be maintaining a running schedule without serious injury. I'm overweight and have a surgically repaired back, so I'm a missed step away from being laid up for a few months!

This morning I couldn't run because my back wasn't feeling right. Depending on how it feels this afternoon, I'll run after work.

In the mean time I have purchased some boxing equipment and tried it out yesterday. Wow, what a workout. That'll help bring some pounds off in a low-impact fashion.

The other issue I have is nutrition. I really don't eat bad food, just too much of it. Also, I eat like a body builder...not enough carbs and too much protein. Not atkins diet style, but still. So I'm going to focus in on a more suitable diet, including proper portions. I've been reading that eating good carbs before and after runs helps with recovery and energy and found that to be true. I've never trained for running before and as expected, the energy demands are quiet different than from weight lifting! DUH!

Anyhow, I'm doing well, enjoying running and look forward to getting a good workout when I run. Also, I'm getting faster and faster each run, stretching the run out more at the ends (I mean longer, faster strides) and my recovery time is shortening. All in all, I'm feeling positive and am enjoying running.

Chaotic Schedule and running

I haven't posted for a few days, but not because nothing has been happening. This past weekend was the county fair and my kids were showing some animals in the fair. We were there from Thursday afternoon until Sunday evening. They spent the night out there with some friends one night, but otherwise we'd take them home at 7 and have them out there at 7. Not too bad until you realize it's an hour's drive each way!

Anyhow, I ran Wednesday but not Thursday. When I got home on Friday night I went for a two mile run on a new route. I was proud of myself for running even though I was truly beat!

Since then I hadn't run until this morning, Wednesday. I was gone all day Saturday, returning home at 1:30 on Sunday morning (I went to the UA game against then 9th ranked Iowa). Monday morning I planned to take off, knowing I'd be drained. Tuesday morning, when I rolled out of bed my back cramped up.

So today was only my second run since last Wednesday! I feel kind of like a slug! However, I put in a hard run and think my legs benefited from the long rest (well, lack of running). I also bought a heavy punching bag, gloves and jump rope. That stuff provides world class exercise, second to none!

I'm still at it, still working on zeroing in on a sustainable diet and the marathon goal is here to stay.

This morning was a fight.

I didn't run yesterday even though I was scheduled to run. My knee was swollen and my hip was sore. So I took the day off. Mondays (yesterday) and Wednesdays I work from about 6:30 am until 8 pm with a dinner break in the middle. So naturally I'm tired on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This morning I didn't want to get out of bed. I did. I didn't want to warm up. I did. I didn't want to run, but I did. The run was a battle. I kept having to motivate myself to move forward, keep picking up my feet.

After about a half mile or so I forgot I was running and started thinking about stuff. So, I wasn't running hard, but I was running and that's OK. The run took me significantly longer than usual, but I finished it strong and ran really hard the last quarter mile.

Anyhow, here's to fighting!

Day Off, Unscheduled

In the past I've had a number of times where I was going to get back in shape. I usually start off slow and build momentum and right about then, I get injured. I want to avoid that mistake.

Last week I ran 10 miles, which may have been too much too soon. I don't believe I injured anything, but this morning I was still sore and my left knee and hip hurt. They hurt Saturday too, and I ran anyway, they were fine during the run. But today, I decided I'd take the day off. I've got 2 1/2 years to achieve my goal, so pace and patience will be important. Another thing to consider is that I can no longer take ibuprofen which is awesome for minor inflammation and so on. It would definitely help today!

In the meantime, especially until I drop a lot of weight, I need to have an alternate, low impact but high intensity cardio program for days like these. So I'm looking at elliptical machines, exercise bikes, real bicycles, and boxing stuff. This is also a cue to redouble my efforts on fixing my diet.

I have done better with serving size but have a long ways to go. I have done better with eating more frequently, but have a long ways to go. I have cut out sweets. I have chosen more appropriate foods, but have a long way to go. I have cut back on beer, but need to cut it completely.

Anyhow, this will be a tough week because of how it started...not running but thinking. When running, especially right now at the beginning, there are many victories which leave me feeling positive and charged. Today, no run, no victory. Time to get organized!

10 mile week.

I ran 10 miles last week. My knees are swollen but not sore, but my muscles are sore. I'm concerned about doing too much too soon and getting injured. I'm considering buying an exercise bike so that I can get some low impact cardio going to help me lose some weight.

The weight is why my knees are swollen.

Anyhow, I'm still motivated and positive. I'm planning on joining a 5K race this winter. It'll be my first race! I have a long way to go though!

A lazy run.

I'm a little sick. Not enough to stay home from work, but enough to feel crappy all day. This morning I didn't want to get up and run. I was battling myself.

I would say, "Hey, if you were still in the army, you'd be running today."
Then I'd reply to myself, "Yeah, but I was 19 then."

I did get up and run, and took my time! That's pretty cool. I ran about two miles, which a week ago would've been a tough thing. But today, I just took my time. I ran at a slow pace, wasn't tired, and finished the run strong. It felt really good.

Unfortunately, I'm still sick. But hey, the longer I continue to correct bad habits, the easier it'll be to keep them corrected.

6 miles and the Monster

I'm proud of myself so far this week. I've run a total of 6 miles and the longest was today, when I was feeling really beat up! Today I ran what I call, "The Monster." It's a loop around my neighborhood that's about 2 3/4 long or so. The thing is, it's super hilly. The highest point is several hundred feet higher than the lowest point. The direction I ran today has a 1 mile portion that goes from the lowest to the highest point, progressively getting steeper.

Anyhow, legs are sore, knees a bit swollen, feet and back hurt and I'm beat. And...I have to go to work. Today is both jobs, the high school and then the community college in the evening.

So, here's t0 6 miles so far this week. The most I've run in a decade by far!

Small Victories

My alarm didn't go off this morning, so I woke up half an hour late. It wasn't a scheduled run day, but I had wanted to do a short, about 1 1/2 miles, run. I got up fast and went out the door. I completed the run. The first half is down hill, the second half is up hill...not a fair combination for someone just starting out.

But, I did it and it went well.

Yesterday, Labor Day, I went on a two mile run with my 12 year old daughter, who is in cross country. She is of course faster than me. She'd run ahead until she hit the mile marker, turn around and run back to me and so on until I finished the first mile. On the second mile I decided to run her pace. It was pretty tough for me, but I did it. Man, I used to be able to hardly break a sweat averaging 6:15 miles for a few miles. Oh well. Maybe I'll regain that speed, but if not, no biggie.

Tomorrow, depending on knee conditions (after two consecutive run days), I'm going to try what I call "the monster." It's only 2.5 miles or so, but STEEP. Did I mention it was STEEP?

Introduction

I'm a 37 year old man that likes to drink beer and watch football. I like to eat hamburgers and play guitar and ride motorcycles and play video games with my kids. I like to take my wife out to dinner and eat awesome food. I like teaching math because I like the feeling of helping people accomplish something, that is, overcome a hurdle in their lives.

Here is a picture of my on Labor Day weekend, 2010. I'm sitting on the couch with a beer in my hand (what I do best). This, mind you, is after working out for five weeks, five days a week. I'm the one waving to the camera.
I'm very overweight. I have been for about a decade. A handful of times I'll decide to do something about the weight and cut back the beer, start working out and drop a few pounds. On a good run it'll last for three months. But, eventually, since I never had a goal other than to "be healthier" it fizzles out when something new comes along.

So of course, my question is, will this time be different? If history is any indication of the future, no. I'll stick with this until November and be back to my old self again.

The thing is, I wasn't a fat ass my entire life. Not until I was 28 or so. Before that, physical prowess had been a big part of my identity. I had won a strong man competition in high school, was a member of the 1000 pound club (weight lifting), had run a mile in under 5 minutes, but really stood apart from others when it came to distance running.

I'm 5' 10" and in the army I weighted 210. Not exactly a runner's build. But I never got tired running. I couldn't keep up with one or two people that could run 2 miles in the 10 minute range (although I smoked heavily then), but otherwise, I was so much faster than everybody else that it was what I was known for.

When I got out of the military I was married, had a family, quit smoking, went from a laborious job to a desk job and gained a lot of weight. I got back in shape and when I had a severe back injury. The doctor said I had a 90% chance of being permanently partially paralyzed in my right leg.

SCREW THAT!

So, I used that as an excuse, well the fear of it repeating, for a long time and did nothing. All the while life became more complicated and I settled into progressively worse habits. Now I'm 37 and about 280 pounds. I'm thinking that in 3 years I'll be 40 and will have likely lived half of my life.

My dad had told me about people that always relive their past through stories, but have nothing to be proud of in the present. By-gones is what I call them. People like me who can brag about past accomplishments but now ... well, I can drink more beer than most people. See what I mean. It's a sad commentary.

So here it is. In my 40th year, I want to run a marathon. At least, now that I'm in my 37th year, I think I'll want to in my 40th. I'll have lived half of my life if I make it to 40 and want to run a marathon to prove that I still have the desire and drive that I used to have.

You may wonder, as I have, "Why a marathon, why not just try and get to some former level of fitness?"

The answer is, "That's not how I work." If I set an easy goal, I'll lose interest. When I went to college, I picked the hardest subject I knew, math. That's what I majored in. I want a big goal because I want a big accomplishment. I don't want to brag about it, I just want to accomplish it!

This is something that I've been thinking of for several weeks. I'll post updates here to keep those that are interested informed of how things are going. In the mean time, I plan to do a lot of "road work," pickin' em up and puttin' em down. We'll see how it goes.