All the help I can get

Long runs can be tough. Especially for a long run that's a week after one marathon and a week before another one. Especially, especially when I'm tuckered out from some fast-paced mid-week runs. I knew ahead of time that this one wouldn't be pretty. It just had to get done.

To accomplish today's Lester Long Run, I did some of the usual long-run preparation. Yesterday, I drank a lot of fluids, avoided eating too much bad stuff, and pre-packed everything I would need. I also solicited help from my running friends, who showed up for the early as well as the middle miles, thank goodness. Finally, I used some weird nutritional stuff.

How weird? The Haribo Goldbears (gummies), Caffeinated Propel "Fitness Water", and a can of Red Bull are all things I received at recent races and haven't consumed in decades.

Did they work? I suppose they didn't hurt. But having good running friends helps much more. The run got done. Barely.

2025 Columbus Marathon Race Report

The first raindrops begin to fall at around 6:00 AM. I am walk-jogging to the start, and I'd been hoping that the rain would hold off for at least two more hours. But, how bad could a little rain be?

Debbie and I drove down to Columbus the day before, and we'd visited the Race Expo and joined the No-Kings protest at Capitol Square. That had all worked out well, and our dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse had been nice. 

When I arrive at the starting area, there aren't a whole lot of runners around just yet. The rain is coming down harder, and I spot a nice, warm, dry tent. It looks a bit small for the thousands of runners expected, so perhaps some special access is required. A lovely lady checks my bib and looks me over as I rustle through my messy mylar blanket. She lets me in, and I'm surprised to see bagels and other food, along with coffee, water, and other drinks. I talk with some folks over coffee. When it's time to go to the corrals an hour later, I notice that a) there's no wait at all for the local portable toilets, b) there is someone checking credentials as we leave the area, and c) looking back, the tent area says, VIP area. It appears that it was intended for runners who sponsored one of the children receiving care at Nationwide Hospital.

Now in Corral B, I'm miserable. I'm surrounded by a multitude of runners here in the driving rain, and the start is delayed by 15 minutes, so I'm enduring this for 45 minutes instead of 30. My first couple of miles are slow, but eventually, I settle into a decent pace.

Although my goal had been to break four hours (as usual), I try hard not to worry about that. Yes, I'm behind the required pace, but I've got a long way to go. A lot can happen.

A lot does happen. The rain never quits, although it's heavier at times. The wind is challenging as well. I finally catch up with where I should be by about halfway. My time is two hours on the nose. The third quarter of the race gets tougher, though. At mile 17, we're going by Ohio Stadium, and the rain gets harder and the wind becomes stronger. I'm running through water on the road that is sometimes ankle deep. 

This, and a pit stop a mile and a half later, slow me down. My mile 20 time is 3:05:28. That's a couple of minutes to the slow side. But here's the thing. By my watch, the official mile markers are a quarter-mile off now. Knowing that that can equate to a couple of minutes, I'm becoming hot and bothered. I am aware that when race courses, especially large ones, are measured, they are invariably long, since they take the shortest possible distance for the course, and even add a fudge factor. But hear me when I say that no one runs tangents better than I do. Yet here I am, behind the eight-ball in terms of time and distance. And I'm not happy about it.

Thus, I need to pick up my pace. And I do—a little. But not enough. By my watch, I hit mile 26.2 in four hours, zero minutes, and ten seconds. But at that point, I have an additional third of a mile to run. My official finish time is 4:02:47 for the 26.51 miles. I later learn that I've won my ancient age group. So that's something.

By some divine miracle, Debbie is able to find me after the finish. We walk the long, wet mile back to the hotel together. Although I didn't get the time I wanted, I'm satisfied that I did the best I could. CBUS did an excellent job, as usual. The volunteers and organization were terrific, especially considering the conditions.

Now, if we could only do something about that course measurement. And the rain.

It's Marathon Week, and...

It's Marathon Week. Columbus is set for Sunday. As usual, I'm obsessing about things like the weather (it may rain) and my tenuous taper tactics. My greatest concern is a weighty one. Tipping the scale now at around 161, I've lost a couple of pounds since my creatine-heavy high (in August and September), but I'm still fatter than I've been for a marathon in quite a while. 

Time for some further analysis.

In 2002, I wrote an article for Marathon & Beyond entitled, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). The subtitle is, The Quest to Determine the Most Relevant Training Elements Begins with Examination of One Runner’s Data. Therein, I analyzed several different training elements to try to determine which ones correlate most closely with marathon performance. Spoiler alert: Overall training mileage and mile-repeat pace mattered the most. I republished the article in this here blog, so you can read the entire thing here. 

Other factors I studied were the number of previous races within the training period, age, and weight. There were a few surprises, but one of them was not the strong correlation between weight and marathon performance. The more I weighed, the slower I ran. 

I decided to recreate the chart with more current data. I studied the marathons I've run from 2015 through May, 2025. These are marathon numbers 101 through 131 on my all-time list. I added data for my weight and age, and performed the correlation analysis. 

Here are the results. First, the good news: Age.

Surprisingly, the percentage of variation is extremely low: 0.47%. This appears to show that there is no difference in my marathon performances over the ten years of data. The percentage is lower than it was for my previous analysis. It should go without saying that I am quite pleased about this.

Now, let's see about weight.

Here, the correlation is slightly higher: 5.72%. Just like before, the fatter I am, the slower I am. But wait a moment. That's not all that awful. Last time, it was 33%. I'm slightly encouraged.

I am not sure why both of these factors have decreased since last time. It may be that I'm working with a set of data that has less variation, or that the data here covers a shorter overall time span. I don't know, but I'll continue my examination, looking at some of the other factors.

There is (a little) hope.

Northeast Ohio 24-Hour (NEO24) VOLUNTEER Report

Everyone loves Larry Orwin. He's just that kind of huggable guy. This was the case before he began race directing the Northeast Ohio 24-Hour Run (NEO24) last year, and even more so now. This year's event was similar to last year's: an unqualified masterpiece. Larry did a superb job of ensuring this success. The runners were well taken care of, and they appreciated it immensely. I think Larry has a job for life.

There were some great and inspiring performances. Even though it was unseasonably hot once again this year, many of the runners did just fine despite that. There were several course records and numerous 100-mile finishers. Each runner had a story, and they were all worth hearing and knowing. One runner traveled from Mongolia just to participate.

I was happy to help. It wasn't too much during the year - only a few odds and ends to help Larry out. Two days before the race, Larry and I shopped for food items at Costco. On the day before the race, I helped load the truck. I worked at the Volunteer table most of the day on race day and night. I did get a short break to visit family at home and later for a 2 1/2 hour nighttime nap. Cleaning up, loading, and unloading the truck after the race was tough after the dearth of sleep. Luckily, we did have some help for that.

As much as I enjoyed helping out, watching the inspiring performances, and kibitzing with running friends, I asked Larry to not count on me for next year. Losing that sleep and all the lifting is tough for an old guy like me. Not only that, but we may have travel plans for this time of year in 2026. Next year's event is in good hands with Larry and (the rest of) his crew.

Troy Orwin (Larry's son), Dan, and Larry

To tell more of the NEO24 story, here is the email Larry sent to the runners:

​

Don't cry  because it's over, smile because it happened 

Hello NEO 24/12 peeps,

We hope you are recovering well from our fun filled weekend together!

We've thanked all our fabulous volunteers and sponsors, so this email is aimed squarely at you and your crew. It's rather lengthy, so make yourself comfortable:

Thank you all for supporting our event in its second year! 

Our race committee worked super hard, incorporated feedback from last year and tried to put on a world class 24 and 12 hour event. 

The goal was to help you all go as far as you possibly could. Our apologies for the weather, as it is the one thing we cannot control. 

We thought moving the event out two weeks and into October would bring cooler temps than 2025, but that wasn't in the cards. 

The heat obviously affects running performance. Despite the heat we witnessed many astounding performances and you ALL SHOULD BE VERY PROUD of your accomplishments!

We hope you had fun, accomplished your goal(s), saw old friends, and maybe made some new friends.

Here is some of the data from the event, that we thought you might be interested in:

12 Hour Data (wasn't held in 2025)

• Number of runners: 26
• New Male course record: 69.72 mi - Isaac Barnes
• New Female course record: 51.79 mi - Alicia Belmont
• Oldest runner: 74 - Nica Shields
• Youngest runner: 35 - Jordan Houghton
• Average age: 52.5
• Total miles run by all runners: 1,051.8
• Average miles per runner = 40.4 mi
• Number of people who achieved 50 miles = 9

24 Hour Data

• Number of runners: 58
• New Male course record: 139.4 - Alec Cline
• New Female course record: 112.5 - Laurie Dymond
• Oldest runner: 83 - Michael Haviland
• Youngest runner: 26 - Joseph Brett
• Average age: 50.6
• Total miles run by all runners: 3,547.2
• Average miles per runner = 61.2 mi
• Number of people who achieved 50 miles = 41
• Number of people who achieved 100 miles = 11 
• Percent of runners who acquired 100 mile buckle = 19% 

There were so many cool stories behind each of our runners, but Batbold Ichinkhorloo from Mongolia really stands out. 

He had never been to America before, he and his wife travelled 6,300 miles to run our race and returned to Mongolia on Monday with his only

purpose to travel that far was to run the NEO24! Neither he nor his wife spoke any English. They would facetime with their daughter in Germany 

to translate since she speaks English as well as Mongolian. He texted me after the event, and using Google translate we could communicate.

He said "Great tournament, great country, great people". Read that over three times!

Maybe our world could be a little more united if we all ran together for 12 or 24 hours!

Batbold Ichinkhorloo and his wife with the Mongolian flag

We have most of our bills paid or at least accounted for and I'm really happy to share with you that we generated over $7500 of "profit" that will 

be dispersed as follows:

• 90% to Run to Share
• 10% to Friends of Breakthrough Schools
• $300 to Medina County Park system (for use of the beautiful park)

We thank you for leaving the park cleaner than when we found it and for cleaning up your campsites!

I started a Google photo album with all the photos I took and it can be viewed as well as added to here:2025NEO24 photos. Also, our fabulous race photographer: Stuart Siegfried will have

his official race photos posted on Facebook within the next week or so...keep an eye out for these beauties!

Our FB site has been active for all to see so I would encourage everyone to continue to post your pictures, race reports and comments. 

There were a few of you who weren't around to pick up your Awards - I will send out a separate email with instructions on how to do that later today.

Nothing is perfect, so we would love your feedback as that is the only way we can make the event even better in 2026. Please feel free to respond to this email if you

have actionable feedback for us.

Mark your calendars for October 3-4 , 2026 so that we can see you and maybe some of your running friends who haven't run our event before can experience everything that the NEO24 has to offer.

Thank you again, and recover well!

Sincerely,

Larry Orwin

I do. I did. I'm done.

My wife and I are involved with someone going through a divorce, to the extent that we're hosting the divorce party. We were looking for appropriate (read: cheeky) gifts, but it was too late to get hold of them in time. Instead, we labeled existing bottles of wine with some of the slogans we saw and I printed out. One of the cleaner ones was, "I do. I did. I'm done."

I do. I did. I'm done is the way I felt after today's 21-miler. This long run was similar to others that I've done in recent months. I had company for a good part of it (Katherine Kinsey and Shannon Barnes, my usual partners in crime), but (also as usual) I did the final part alone. I averaged under ten minutes per mile (only just), and I finished strong.

That's all good, but it would have been nice to run just a couple of miles more. But I was tired. It wasn't gonna happen. I do. I did. I'm done sums it up.

Run a lot

My book, Run a lot, has been published. It is now available on Amazon. 

Here is the description:

Like the Mile, the Marathon is a race with a name. Dan Horvath has been fascinated and intimidated ever since he first became aware of it. The event has transcended its original athletic meaning to become a broader cultural symbol. The concept of a marathon implies dedication, perseverance, and the willingness to push through obstacles until the finish line is reached.

This book will first describe how we all got here, and how and why the Marathon came to be an event at all. Secondly, it will examine how Dan got where he is today (such as it is). This will include a few tales of his personal journey. Finally, this book will attempt to answer, How will you get there? Dan will provide his take on training and preparation, drawing on references to books and articles (including some of his own), and will offer experience-based recommendations.

Ya so today my t-shirt was stolen

A shirt theft occurred at the track today. After everyone else left, I completed my run, and my Green Jewell shirt was gone. Missing. Filched. Pilfered. Purloined. In its place was a Lighthouse run shirt. 

I have no idea who would do such a dastardly deed, but a person of interest has been identified. A shirt exchange may occur at Wednesday's run. I hope that Ella Sunday will bring her human (Chadwick) for the run.

Oh, yes, the run. The Yasso workout went well. I managed to do all ten under my four-minute standard. But only just. I still have a ways to go. 

2025 Akron Half-Marathon Race Report

The Akron Marathon and Half allows relay team runners to double as individual participants as long as they run the first relay leg. The thing is, you hand off to the second leg runner and just keep going. Just when you've had enough and feel like quitting, you keep on keepin' on. That was me. That was I. That was the author of this post.

L to R: Four-fifths of our team before the start - Michelle Wolff, Me, Shannon Barnes, Debbie Hicks

 

That first leg had been seven miles. My official time up to that point was 59:50, or 8:33 pace. I had been hoping for slightly faster. You see, after a bunch of half-marathons in the low one-fifties, I'd finally me my sub-one-fifty goal at Hofbräuhaus with a 1:47 in August. My goal today was to at least break 1:50 again to prove that that other race wasn't a fluke. To accomplish that, I ought to be around ten seconds per mile faster.

But now, I am beginning to think that it was indeed a fluke. I hand off to Katherine Kinsey. As planned, we more or less stay together from this point on. It's still tough, but my pace improves a little. It is so very good to have this companionship. It makes the miles go by much better. Much much better. We talk a bit, but mostly, it's just huffing and puffing. At least for me. I did enjoy hearing Katherine's bib story. She had arrived for her leg with her bib but no pins. Not to worry, though. Resourceful Katherine had a sewing kit! You never know when you'll need one of those. So, she sat in her car and sewed her bib onto her shirt.

We run a few miles, then out and back on the "Y" bridge, and it's finally time for Katherine to hand off to teammate Debbie Hicks. We half-marathoners peel off and head down to the finish. Oh, wait. Did I say, down? Sorry, I meant DOWN! I am sprinting now, but unfortunately, it is too little, too late. 

My finish time is 1:50:51. That's not too awful, but it doesn't quite meet my expectations. My expectations also (nowadays) include finishing at the top of my ancient age group. That doesn't happen either. My arch-nemesis, Michael Juppe, and another seventy-plus person, Randy Barkacs are well ahead of me.

The good news is that our Everybody's doing it team did extremely well. Besides me and Katherine, it included Michelle Wolff, Debbie Hicks, and Captain Extraordinaire Shannon Barnes. Although the results initially indicated that our team had finished when I crossed the line for the Half (for a world record), all was corrected when the computer figured out that everyone else was still going.

The other good news is that I got to see and hobnob with gobs of running friends, new and old. This event is always tons of fun!

I think I need to be skinnier. I gained weight as a result of some of my recent travels, but that usually comes off fairly quickly. It didn't this time because (I think) of the creatine I've been taking. That's it, now. I'm swearing off the stuff, at least for a while. Maybe forever.

After the finish: Solo Marathoner extraordinaire Julie Boggs, Dan, Shannon, and Michelle

P.S. One more thing. Whenever I think about teamwork, I'm reminded of this little scene from The Untouchables. 

Forever 21

21 miles on Lester today. I was even able to run miles 18, 19, and 20 at about marathon pace (sub-9-minute miles). I tell anyone who will listen that this is a good thing to do. It's too hard to run all 20-ish miles at marathon pace (except, hopefully, during the race itself). But if you can at least finish your training run at that pace, then you're on your way.

So, am I on my way, you ask? Not quite. 

Forever 21 is a chain of stores that sell clothing and other fashion accessories. I believe that they target their marketing toward people who are somewhat older than 21, but who would like to stop time to appear younger. And that was me today: stopping time to appear (in my case) faster. You see, I stopped my watch for the places Lester Rail Trail intersects with the road, but also, near the end, after every mile, to catch my breath.

Yes, I am on the upswing, but I still have a way to go. You might say that "I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep."

vertically challenged

Two of my four wounds (the others are my elbow and the other knee). The blood looks awful, but it ain't really that bad.

The term, vertically challenged is regarded as a euphemism for being short in height. But I am here to tell you that it can have an alternative meaning as well. Vertically challenged can just as well mean not very good at remaining vertical. That's me: pretty good at being horizontal, not so great at becoming vertical. Did you know that gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 93 percent of all accidents involving a fall?

I chose one of my all-time favorite falling areas today: Lake Medina. We run there early every Wednesday morning. There's a lower paved trail and an upper unpaved one along the lake. The thing is, that lovely, smooth paved trail ain't so smooth. The roots from nearby trees cause ridges across the asphalt as well as small volcano-like mounds. They're all difficult to see in the darkness. 

Smart people choose not to join these runs. After today's fall (my third one here), I may finally be getting smarter, too. In fact, my wounds are smarting even now.

165

That's my weight as of this morning, and I'm not at all happy about it. After keeping the number mostly under 160 for a couple of years, it crept up on me after our June/July Alaska trip this year. But the kicker was the creatine. It caused some further weight gain and bloating. I'm still going to give it more time, but I can't help worrying that my formerly lithe, girlish figure may be gone for good.

What does it do to my running, you ask? I must say that although I'm bigger, I may also be a little bit stronger. At least, I feel that way. To be a little more specific, Sunday's Hinckley Hustle was my best in a while, and today's Yasso workout worked out.

So, all is not lost. Especially in terms of weight.

The Shadow knows

"The Shadow knows" is a famous catchphrase from the old-time radio drama The Shadow, posing the question, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?". The saying also refers to the Jungian psychological concept of the "shadow," which represents the hidden, often denied aspects of one's personality.

L to R: Shadows of Theresa Wright, Julie Boggs, Dan Horvath (Julie smiled for the photo)

You may be wondering what this has to do with running. It was a cool, clear mid-September Sunday morning. That means Hinckley, and it means an intrepid bunch of Hinckley Harriers were on hand to handle the hilly 9-mile loop. By the time we finished, the sun was beginning to rise, and it was time to run a 3-mile circuit of the un-lake. (It's an un-lake because it's currently under construction and is, at the moment, more of a river.)

Also by this time, we were more than a little bit tired. Julie Boggs indicated that even her shadow looked tired. Theresa Wright and I agreed that ours weren't doing so great, either. Watching our long, tired-looking shadows kept us entertained as we made it around and back.

Jogging through Georgia (and Armenia)

We visited Armenia and Georgia, and I did a tiny bit of running. I tried to get out for at least one jog in every location. The key word here is, ‘jog’.

Yerevan, Armenia

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia, and we were smack dab in the middle of it. My jog was around some squares and pedestrian walking areas. It wasn’t bad.

Goris, Armenia

Goris is in the Southern part of Armenia. I ran down into this quaint town, then back up. I managed to not get too very lost.

Dilijan, Armenia

Dilijan is a quaint mountain resort village. It was very vertical, so this was my slowest jog yet. I went down, then up on the busy road. Then up and down some more on much quieter mountain roads. A bunch of small puppies followed me until they got tired. Mom didn’t seem to mind.

Tbilisi, Georgia (Part 1)

It was a rainy night as the lights went out, and Georgia was on my mind, when the Devil went down there. Bustling Tbilisi is the largest city. It was tough to get across several busy streets to get to the riverside walking trail, but I managed. The Kura River flows through the middle of town, and although traffic was rushing by, the trail was good for running. I went across the famous Pedestrian Peace Bridge, past the statue of Ronald Reagan, and then North on one side and back South on the other. There were dozens of ladies sweeping and raking the sidewalks of fallen leaves and other debris. They were wearing orange reflective vests just like mine. Maybe they thought I was one of them. It turned out to be a nice 5-miler, the best outdoor run yet on this trip.

Kura River in Tbilisi

Another Tbilisi trot wasn’t quite so spectacular. I went South along the river this time, but wandered away from that trail a little to continue through a small park. That’s where the German Shepherd decided to adopt me. He followed me all around town, until I returned to the hotel. Normally, this would upset me, but it’s normal life around here. Yes, Dan abides.

Tevali, Georgia

There are not as many loose dogs here. But there are enough. I did five on the hotel dreadmill, then a couple more on the medieval roads in this small town. I found a soccer field to run around a little; that part was nice.

Tbilisi, Georgia (Part 2)

We returned to Tbilisi for a couple more days, and I finally got a decent run done. Ten miles along the river, at a decent pace. That completed my overseas running in a nice way, although both the mileage and intensity have been much less than usual. When I return, look out!

Okay, I get it. You want to learn more about our trip to Armenia and Georgia. If so, check out our travel blog post.

Peer Pressure

"C'mon," I'll say. "Everybody's doing it." That's about as sophisticated as it gets when I'm applying peer pressure to my running friends. Sometimes, it works. But I did not like it when Julie Boggs turned the tables the other day and applied peer pressure back at me. "You said you wanted to do two Hinckley loops, so are you gonna do it Sunday?" She asked. She may as well have added (with a Dirty-Harry accent), "Well, are you, punk?" "Wait," I said. "I'm the peer-pressure-er. I'm never the peer pressure-ee!" But my protest went nowhere. I was hooked. 

Now, it's time to get going on the adventure. Theresa Wright is starting with Julie and me, but is only doing one loop. It's warm and humid as always. We chat for a while until the first hill takes its terrible toll. It gets quiet as we transition from running to walking. Eventually, we can run again. Our pace matches the constantly rolling terrain.

Traffic is heavier than usual. A Jeep goes by a little too fast. A quarter-mile later, we see the vehicle off the road and into a ditch with some weeds. We ask if the driver is okay, and they say they are. They are on the phone, asking for help. As we resume running, we see a police cruiser heading over, presumably to help the driver.

That was tough. We finish that first nine-mile loop covered with sweat. It's time for Theresa to go home, and also for Julie and me to begin loop number two. It hurts. What hurts, you ask? Everything. I'm still feeling Friday's long run on Lester. That had gone well, about the same as last week's long, loping Lester run. Today, not so much. Maybe I need more than one day between long runs? Hmm. I'll have to think about that.

Julie, Dan, and Theresa between loops

Traffic is worse now. The sun is higher and hotter. Julie and I are both tired. But at least we're moving forward. Surprisingly, the car had already been removed from the ditch and was gone. We're both feeling sort of gone ourselves. We finally get past Effie and over to the downhill section of Kellogg Road and Route 606. We're gonna make it!

Second surprise: Loop 2 was nearly the same pace as Loop 1. I'm grateful that Julie peer-pressured me into this. But I'd never admit that to her.

Long on Lester, August 2025 Edition

It's quite probable that two of the most common words in the post titles are "Lester" and "long." It therefore makes sense that they would be used together for many a post. This is one of them.

It's Friday, and my friends and I had decided that today would be the day of a long run for this weekend. Works for me. Oh, it may be tough to run 18 miles after sitting in the car for six hours (driving home from Chicago), but it may work out. Or, it may not.

After ingesting plenty of caffeine, I am able to keep up with the early (5:00 AM) group. A few folks join and leave, but the pace actually gets even faster as the run goes on. My Clif Bloks and hydration drink appear to help, but it's mostly the good company that makes the run successful. 

Yes, successful. We complete the run in less than three hours, although there were a few stops. I'm always happy when I am able to keep up with everyone, and today, I can.

Selfies by the shore in Chi-town

We were in Chicago to visit our daughter Valerie, so of course I had to run along the lakeshore. It was as cool as ever, even on this warm morning. The sun was rising, and thousands of runners, bikers, and swimmers were about. But mostly runners. You know, my people.

Anticipating a pretty sunrise, I brought my phone. I wound up taking photos of the sunrise itself, the stunning city scenery, other runners, and, of course, myself in the way of selfies. I decided to include only one of the latter ones here. That's enough for anybody. But you will see a few of the others as well. What a great place to run.

Creatine

According to my AI overview, creatine supplementation can enhance athletic performance, particularly in activities requiring short bursts of high-intensity power, like sprinting and weightlifting. It works by increasing the amount of phosphocreatine in muscles, which helps in the rapid regeneration of ATP, the primary energy currency of cells. This leads to improved strength, power, and work capacity during exercise, as well as faster recovery between intense bouts of activity. Even though my activity does not require short bursts of high-intensity power, this article informs me that there may be benefits for distance runners. I thought I'd give it a try. What could go wrong?

One side-effect is bloating and/or water-weight gain. Now that I've been taking the stuff for a week, I can testify that I've been hit with this one. I have been feeling like crap, and this could have been a factor in Saturday's less-than-stellar race. 

I'm hoping that the bloating will subside after a few more days. If not, I'll have to quit the experiment.