Tallahassee Ultra Distance Classic 50 Mile Race Report

Where: Wakulla Springs State Park (20ish mins south of Tallahassee)
When: December 14, 2019
What: 50 miles
Finish Time: 9:45:08
Place: 10/12, 2/3F**
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2933114456


Pre-Race:

This is a race I would have never, ever had signed up for if it wasn’t for Tom. Tom was looking for a good 50 mile race that played to his strengths. He likes road running, prefers the weather a bit cooler, and he doesn’t mind loops. TUDC 50m fit the bill well. The course utilizes 3 miles of road at Wakulla Springs State Park and is a large event for the Gulf Winds Track Club each year. Most of the people doing the race were signed up for the 50k and the marathon, but about 30 silly gooses were signed up for the 50m.

I had originally signed up for the 50k, but decided to bump it up to the 50m once I realized that it was perfectly timed with a 50m race in my Long Haul training plan. Since the course is basically out and backs to make a 10k “loop” repeated 8 times, it would be ideal training for the potential monotony (and ability to drop) that I’d experience with the 10 out and back repeats of Long Haul. I changed my registration and got nervous considering I’d have to beat my previous 50 mile time by almost 10 minutes just to finish under the cut off. I knew I’d be using almost every minute of the 10 hour time limit.

After a very chill day in a hotel near the race, we woke up the next morning bright and early to scarf some breakfast and head over to Wakulla Springs State Park. People doing the race typically set up their own small aid station/drop bag areas near the race start or in the parking lot leading up the start/finish/timing mat. We didn’t know exactly where to set up, so we put our cooler and chair just past the main aid station (which was a great setup, I liked it better there than where other people had their supplies set).

The 50k and marathon people start at the actual start line and the 50 milers start about a quarter mile or so from the start. Five minutes before the race start, our group was hustling over to make sure we got to our own start line. We barely made and it and the person escorting us was saying, "Do not start yet, we aren't there." It was pretty amusing, but we got there and the race started.


Loops 1-4

One neat thing about this race is that participants are allowed to have pacers in the form of buddies running with them or someone on a bike. I saw several marathon folk running totally hands free since they had a cyclist pacer to hand them water and nutrition. The only downside was one cyclist was so tuned into their runner that they were encroaching on other runners going to the opposite direction.

There isn't really much to post about the first four loops. I was feeling good due to the cool weather, but kept my pace comfortable. There was supposed to be a portapotty on course, but it was nowhere to be found; there were full restrooms at the start/finish so that was good with me. I ran with a few other 50 miler folk for a few miles, but pretty much the whole thing was by myself. I usually refuse to listen to music or podcasts until I'm well over halfway through the race, but by the 3rd loop I knew I definitely needed it earlier than usual. I told myself to get through the 4th loop and I'd be allowed to grab my headphones and get some podcasts going.

Just an observation, not a judgment - For about 20ish miles I ran near a woman that had absolutely zero shame in peeing out in the open. She had a skirt sport with the "pee flap" and so many times during the race she would barely step off of the course and start relieving herself. At one point she was literally one foot off the course and I made sure that when I came back through that way to avoid the tiny puddle she left behind. I've never seen somebody so driven and focused that she would let loose in front of so many strangers. I'm cool with nudity, but I still have a lot more hangups about that sort of thing.


Loops 5-8

Around loop five is when the course started to empty out. Most of the marathon and 50k folks were done and going through the start/finish area was a bummer because all of these people had their medals, were drinking adult beverages, and enjoying that post-race glow. At no point did I consider dropping down or quitting, and I'm really proud of that. I had one moment during the 7th loop where I felt a bit sorry for myself, but it literally lasted all of 30 seconds before I got over it. My head was really in the game for this one. Just keep running!

I also got to see Tom a lot during the race and it was cool that we could basically check in on each other every hour and a halfish because of the way the loop was. Oh, and speaking of the loops, this is a great race to run with just a handheld. There were three aid stations, one of which was water only, and they were well stocked. At one point the on course aid station had black olives and I scarfed a few of those, they also had some nutella sandwiches and they were perfection at 30 miles into the race. I ate aid station food as well as several of my gels and a picky bar; fueling went really well for this race.

As I stated before, I knew I would be using nearly every minute of the 10 hours, and with about a mile and a half to go, I switched from podcast to music (I should have switched to music earlier, tbh) and cruised into the finish 15 minutes under the cut off. Everyone at the finish line cheered for me and then I realized there was a wedding going on about 200' away from the finish line and the couple were doing their vows. Whoopsie!


The Aftermath

I loved this race, but if I could go back in time I'm not sure if I would have done it. This was the first time I had run more than 26.2 miles on road and my longest road runs in preparation for this race were a couple twenty milers and an 18 miler. I ended up with poroneal tendinitis that had me unable to run for a couple of weeks. The smart thing would have been to do more road training and getting used to the pounding OR be smart like some of the other 50 milers and run close to the edge of the road or in the middle of the road. I didn't even think of it and I'm fairly sure the camber of the road is what did me in (along with the camber of the road at my work's parking lot, which is where I had done several speed workouts in the weeks leading up to the race).

Though the race and the organizers were so, so lovely I can see going back there, but maybe for a 50k instead.

**While there were about 30 people signed up for the 50 mile race, over half of the people dropped down to either the marathon or the 50k during the race.

 

 

Ragnar Trail Florida (Ultra Distance) – Experience Report

Date: December 6-7, 2019
Distance: 32.1 miles over 3 runs
Location: Lithia, Florida (Alafia River State Park)
Place: 2nd Mixed Ultra Team
Strava: Leg 1 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2915601163), Leg 2 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2916115183), Leg 3 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2916841801)


The Crazy Idea:

The day before Thanksgiving I was doing some mindless task at work, listening to a podcast called, “Not Real Runners” and they had some guests on to talk about Ragnar. I’d heard of Ragnar before since a few people I know had done a road Ragnar and another had done a trail one here in Florida last year. Before the segment was over I was looking on my phone to see when the Florida Trail Ragnar was and, following the advice on the podcast, went to the Facebook event page where people post about looking for replacement team members. It just so happened that someone posted just 20 minutes prior that they had a spot on an ultra team.

A standard Trail Ragnar race has 8 people covering about 16 miles each, the ultra is just doing each leg twice. There are two configurations of how the race is done – either the runners do Green, Yellow, Red, and on until everyone has done the legs twice or you double up and do Green+Yellow, Red+Green, Yellow+Red, etc. The team I was joining would be doing the doubled up version, so you’d be running approximately 10 miles at a time. The idea behind the doubled up version is that your teammates have longer resting times between their runs.

By the time podcast was over, I was committed to being on a team of strangers to run in the woods for 30+ miles. I sometimes do things impulsively without thinking them through, and it usually turns out okay, so despite the immediate terror I felt after agreeing to be on a team, I knew all would be well.


Pre-Race & Packing:

I spent the next week reading a couple Ragnar race reports and trying to figure out what I would need. For food, I packed: pringles, 2 cans of lentils, smart food popcorn, clementines, and some kalmata olives. I also had some coconut water, a couple body armors, and a gallon of water. Following the advice of people online, I packed all of my running clothes into gallon sized bags so they would stay dry if it started raining and that they would be sealed away after I wore them. I brought comfy clothes and fleece PJs to wear between my legs.

The drive ended up taking a little longer than I expected, but I had planned to arrive early so it was fine; though it was interesting that when I arrived at 10am there were already people out running. Our start time for our ultra group wasn't until 1:30pm. I found our campsite and met one of my teammates who told me that we would be sharing a site with two other ultra teams.


The Running:

Finally 1:30pm came around and I got my run it. It was nice, easy (green and yellow loops) and would be my only runs in the light. I passed off the bib to the next teammate and changed into comfy clothes. In the evening, there were a ton of food trucks and using my food token, I got a mac&cheese grilled cheese with some tatertots. It was excellent.

My next run wasn't until about 8:30pm, so I got my headlamp and hit the red trail, which I hadn't done before. The red was challenging mountain bike trails with pretty big climbs (for Florida) and it kicked my butt in the best way. I loved the red trail. My teammates told me that I should be glad I would do all of the red trail at night because it's apparently kinda scary in the daylight due to drop offs you can't see at night, lol. After the red was the green and hoo boy, I really started to notice the cold then. It was an open meadow and there were lower ground pockets of air that were so biting.

During the night it was SO COLD, I think it was down in the 40s. I was wearing all of my clothes and wrapped in a blanket. Funnily enough, our team and the two teams we shared a campsite with brought gas stoves to make warm things during the night, but no one ever actually made anything. Talking during the night with everyone was really great. One of the guys on the super fast ultra team is also signed up for Long Haul, so that was a fun coincidence.

My final run started around 4:45am. It was so nice and peaceful out there and I felt better and warmer because I was finally moving around. The sunrise was so incredible and I was so thankful for doing something so impulsive. I got back to camp and realized that even though I was done, there were still 30 more miles to go for our team. I got pretty tired around mid-morning, but solved it by moving around and having some coffee.


The Conclusion: 

I thought it was such a cool community thing. There were so many other teams and it was fun to see all of the silly team names while you're hanging out in "The Lounge" aka, the tent that has tv screens that show when a team's runner is approximately a quarter mile from the trade off tent. While Ragnar is pretty pricey, it is a very nice setup and so efficiently run. I can't imagine doing a road ragnar though, the idea of hanging out in a van for hours on end is no bueno.

In all, I had such a great and amazing training weekend. I got 32 miles in, I gained a LOT of confidence in nighttime running, and got to see how to coped with lack of sleep since I maybe only slept an hour max during the night.

It was exactly what I needed and I am tempted to do it again next year if there aren't any conflict with other events I want to do. AND! We got 2nd place mixed open ultra which netted us really nice belt buckles!

 

Gate2Jacks - A Back-to-Back 50k Challenge

What: Gate2Gate 50k & Jack's Trail Race 50k
When: October 26 & 27, 2019
Where: Alachua & Palm Coast, Florida
Strava Activities -
Gate2Gate: https://www.strava.com/activities/2819040609
Jacks: https://www.strava.com/activities/2822289328

Gate2Jacks is a challenge that a few runners take on every year, and I decided I wanted to be one of those ridiculous people! It consists of two 50k races in one weekend - Gate2Gate Trail Run in Alachua, Florida on Saturday and then Jack’s Trail Race in Palm Coast, Florida on Sunday. I ran Gate2Gate last year as my very first 50k and already wrote up a race report for that, so I won’t go into as much detail as I will for Jack’s.


Training:

I did the Stewart Tunnel 50 miler at the beginning of August, so since then I pretty much maintained with 25-50 mile weeks with long runs ranging from 13 to 23 miles. During my taper I questioned if I had done long enough back-to-backs and if I should have been building mileage rather than maintaining, but it was too late by that point (I wish I had done at least one 20-20 or higher, my longest b2b runs were 18-10 and 13-18).


Weather:

Florida has decided not to participate in Fall this year. We got a day of Fall on the Wednesday before the race and it was glorious. The weather for the weekend would be gloriously hot. G2G weather wasn’t too bad, 70s in the early morning and mid-80s around 10am, I doubt the heat index got too far over the mid 90s. Sunday was a different matter. It was soul crushingly humid and hot from the moment I stepped out of the house before the sun came up. I believe it was a heat index of 97+ at the hottest part of the day, maybe hotter. Yes, we Floridians train in this weather, but it does slow you down and wear you out a lot. Plus the chafing due to the humidity, dear god the chafing. No company makes strong enough lube to last in Florida; if I had the luxury of time and patience I would re-lube certain spots every two miles. I reapply often, but I still always end up with some chafing somewhere. My body is super good at chafing.


Gate2Gate 50k Trail Run

This is my third year doing Gate2Gate, second year doing the 50k. It’s always a good time. The course is made up of two 15.5(ish) mile loops featuring three aid stations on course and aid/drop bag location at the start/finish/turnaround. I love the design of the medals/shirts/glasses and 50k finishers get a sweet hat! I tried to start slow and keep my effort pretty even throughout and not push myself since I knew the second day was going to be more difficult for a multitude of reasons. Even with that, I came in 4 minutes faster than the previous year and my last mile was my fastest mile; not fast by most running standards, I am fine being a back of the pack runner. I finished in 6:52:14, 50/77 overall and 13/24 for women.

One really amusing moment was around the mile 20 aid station, I had just passed a guy that seemed to be struggling a little and while I was filling up my bottles he came up to the aid. The aid station volunteer asked, “How are you doing,” He replied, “Ugh, awful,” and without missing a beat the volunteer asked, “Okay, is this expected or not?” I just loved that response and the troubleshooting that most likely started (which I missed because my water was filled and I was making my way down the trail).

The finish line had a nice party atmosphere even though a majority of the people that came to the race were gone by the time I got in. Music was playing, people were hanging out, pizzas had been delivered every hour, and the race had a couple of kegs from the beer sponsor. I had a beer, a slice of pizza, danced around to keep my legs moving, and then started the recovery.


Recovery

In the week leading up to the race, I researched ways people who do stage races recover between the days. My plan was thus: drink a Tailwind Recovery drink within 15 minutes of finishing, have an ice bath as soon as I got home, and get into bed no later than 7:30pm. I liked the recovery drink and even had one later that night because I couldn’t stomach the idea of eating a real dinner. I snacked on some chocolate hummus and animal shaped cookies and that was about all I wanted to eat. I did get an okay amount of sleep, 7 hours according to my fitbit. I had trouble falling asleep and woke up a lot during the night. It was a relief when my alarm finally went off at 4:30am so I could give up the idea of sleeping soundly.


Jack’s 50k Trail Race

A few days before the race, Dawn, the race director, announced that the course had changed from previous years. Rather than doing five 10k loops, it would be four 12k loops and utilize some double diamond mountain bike trails. But wait, four 12k loops is only 48k, does that mean it would be short? Nope! 50k racers had a starter loop that took us right on the beach! It was gorgeous and luckily only about a quarter mile of running through very soft sand before going back onto the trail to a turnaround point back to the start/finish area and then out onto our first real loop.

The race was comprised of a 12k, 24k, and 50k. The 12k started at 8am, 50k at 8:30am, and 10:30am for the 24k. Most of the people running the race did the 12k and the 24k and over 1/3rd of the 50k runners dropped down to the 24k during the day. Before the race I told my significant otter that I knew I was going to be slow and as long as I completed each loop in under 2 hours, then I would make it under the 8 hour time limit (which I believe is a slightly loose limit because the RD is very generous).

The loops each start with crushed limestone and a few boardwalks (about a half mile?) before you enter the mountain bike trail loop. A mile or so into the mountain bike trail, the real fun starts – the Cloud Nine section, the new addition to the race. It is a rough section that sometimes required me to brace my hands on nearby palm trees to ease my way down small drop offs or use small pines to help hoist myself up over rocks – no sustained hills, but lots of small up and downs and roots and rocks to navigate through. It was tough, but it was really cool. There was a water only aid station inside of the loop approximately 4.5 miles in and because the way the trails are I could hear the aid station about a mile before I actually encountered it on the trail.

About halfway through my second loop I heard a squishing sound and realized it was my socks inside of my shoes. They were soaked from a combination of sweat and humidity, so glamorous! Luckily, I always pack a spare pair of socks in my drop bag, so I knew it’d only be a few miles until I would be able to get my feet dry. Having the spare socks saved my day. If I had had squishy shoes and socks for the second half of the race my feet would have been destroyed. I had a couple blisters from the miles with wet feet, but it was nothing compared to what would have happened.

After that I just kept trucking on. No way out but through. I decided this weekend I would run without podcasts or music for as long as I could. I made it to about 22 miles the day before, but grabbed my headphones from my dropbag after my second loop because I was ready for a little bit of distraction from the heat of the day.

Before I headed out for my last loop, I stopped at my dropbag to change my bandana and noticed that a tent with massage tables had set up! I was pumped and hoped they would still be there when I finished (spoiler alert: they weren’t, womp womp). I almost wish I hadn’t seen them set up, haha. The other race amenities were freaking amazing though. The aid station volunteers are experienced folk and so, so helpful. It’s always nice seeing their smiling faces! There was also a photographer that seemed to be everywhere. I saw her at least twice every loop and it felt like having my own personal photographer! I was too tired to think of any cool or interesting poses, so I’m sure all of my photos look like a goofier, more tired, and sweatier version of myself, but I’m good that that!

Many times throughout the day I felt like I was flying and making good time, but then I would look down at my watch and see a pace at least two minutes slower than it felt like I was going. The joy of running on tired legs, haha. At mile 25-26ish I did start to have some negative thoughts and flipped off many of the tough mountain bike features in the Cloud Nine Section of the trail as I passed them. Since I was on my last loop, I knew I wouldn’t have to look at the dang things ever again (unless I go back next year). I got back into a good headspace by the time I got to the aid station though.

As expected, I took up nearly every minute of the time allotted and crossed the finish line with a time of 7:47:15. My slowest 50k finish, but also my hardest! I was 19/23 overall and 7/11 in women. I believe there were three people other than me doing Gate2Jacks full (plus one other doing 50k+12k and one doing 50k+24k) and I’m so proud of all of us for taking on the challenge! It was a beast!!!

What’s next for me? More training! More fun! More everything! Hopefully finding my lowest lows, highest highs, and accomplishing big scary goals!

 

 

 

Photos of me by Kylie Rhodes (at Jacks)

Stewart Tunnel 50 Mile Race Report

What: Stewart Tunnel 50mi, a part of the Ten Junk Miles Badger Trail Races
Where: Badger State Trail from Belleville, WI to 5mi outside of Monroe, WI and back
When: Aug 4, 2019 with a 6am start time
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2591504498

Goals:
Finish under the 12 hour cutoff ✔
Finish under 11 hours ✔
Have fun ✔✔✔

Results:
Finished in 10:08:58, taking 2nd place female, 8th overall. I think this was the smallest field of all 6 races occurring.


Training:

I've done three 50ks using the plan from Krissy Moehl's book and they worked wonderfully, so I decided to use her 50m plan. I think the mileage may have been a tad bit too high for me. I followed it pretty closely but did end up completely missing one back to back weekend and had a lot lower mileage on a second. One was due to the flu (missed a 20-22 and 9-11 weekend) and the other one I tried a new trail and made the mistake of only bringing a gallon and a half of water on a 105°+ heat index day on a more exposed trail than I expected (should have been a 25-28mi run, but I ran out of water around 16 miles), I missed the next day completely (14 miles). There were also maybe 4 or 5 weekday runs missed due to work or life over the 3ish months.


Travel & Packet Pickup:

My dad came with me to serve as my crew and travel buddy. We flew out of Orlando to Chicago-Midway because it was not hugely expensive like closer airports. Next year I will look for a deal flying into Madison or Rockford or really anywhere but Chicago, because that drive sucked.

After way too many hours of travel, we made it to the adorable town of Belleville. We got there around 4:30 or 5 and waited in line for maybe 15 minutes or so. They were very organized with the pickup including distributing advanced orders from the TJM store. Swag bags included: a trail toes sample, Arteryx koozie, TJM Racing B(L)uff, a tshirt, a pair of Fitsoks, an ornery mule racing pin, and of course a nice drawstring backpack it all came in. I was surprised there was so much stuff in there!

Since I am a TJM superfan, I was super nervous to meet the cast, but I shouldn't have been. They're such nice, genuine people and I was just happy to be there and see the love they put into this race. Holly was also awesome enough to introduce me to so many guests I recognized from the show. It was amazing seeing so many of my "running friends" that I trained with, lol.


Pre-Race Volunteering:

Since I wasn't running until Sunday, I decided to go volunteer at one of the aid stations for a few hours. I was there during the late afternoon and it was really great to cheer on and help out the 100m and 100k folk. Oddly enough, I would see about 10 of those people the next morning during my 10ish miles of running as they were nearing the finish of their race over 12 hours later.


Race day:

Everyone had to check in for a timing anklet since the race would be chipped timed that way (100m and 100k were hand timed). Scotty gave a pre-race briefing about how they wanted to show everyone the really nice trail that was here and WWTD (What Would a Train Do?). Soon after Dusty blew an airhorn and we were off!

Because I had been training through the brutally hot Florida summer, I did not have any temperature issues like many other runners did. The hottest the temperatures got both Saturday and Sunday was essentially what it feels like by 8am at home, but less humidity than I'm used to (I think the high was in the mid-to-upper eighties each day). Because of that, I ran a lot faster than I expected to. Many times I had to purposefully slow myself down because I felt I was going too fast. Pretty early on I noticed my HR was reading incorrectly. I was barely breathing hard and my watch listed my HR as 235+. I fiddled with the strap on and off, but finally gave up and removed it around mile 3 and threw it in the back pocket of my vest.

One aspect I enjoyed was seeing other people going the opposite way on the course on the way to the finish line. Some in good spirits, some death marching, some puking. I will be like one or all of those people in the race next year, lol.

The trail was great, just a nice well kept trail that was a joy to run on. The tunnel was amaaaazing. If anything, the RDs undersold the greatness of the tunnel (also, there is graffiti in the tunnel that is super hilarious). The aid station folks were so helpful, I know most of them barely slept all weekend and I so appreciate everything they put into this race.


Food & Aid Stations:

I brought so.much.stuff. Lots of GUs, clif blocks, clif bars, body armors, and a can of pringles. Literally the only thing I had of my own were the pringles and a few swigs of coconut body armor. I have a full list of what I ate, but it amounts to about 4 pb&j sandwiches, 1/2 grilled cheese, a can of ginger ale, 6 bottle refills of tailwind of varying concentration, 2 refills gatorade, 5 pizza rolls, 1/3rd can pringles, 1 shot of fireball, and 1 shot of blackberry brandy. The aid stations had tons of food both hot and not, but I love pb&j during races.

My dad was top notch as a crew person, especially considering it was his first time. If you've crewed someone, you know how frantic things feel when you've been waiting for 2-4 hours, your runner comes in for a very quick stop, and then poof, they're gone and you're back to playing the waiting game. He handled it so well and I hope I was a good runner, lol.


When the Going Got Tough:

I had a great steady run, no walk breaks expect for eating when I left aid stations until about mile 30, which is when I told myself I would start a walk/run pattern. The ratio changed around, sometimes it was 8/2, 6/2, 5/1 and around mile 40 it was 5/1 then turned into 4/1 through mile 45 where I was convinced I would be walking it in because I somehow couldn't run anymore.

After two miles of power walking I asked myself why I thought I couldn't run anymore and couldn't find an actual answer, just that walking was easier to do. So I started some walk/run intervals again and finally decided to listen to something other than my own thoughts. Normally on runs I listen to podcasts or audiobooks, but I wanted to be fully present for this race. I didnt want to wear headphones, so I did the douche move and turned on a playlist through my phone's speakers, I did turn it down as I passed other people on the trail. Ozzy's Crazy Train came on as I was coming into Belleville and it had me damn near sprinting (or whatever sprinting is at mile 49.75, lol). I came into the finish, Adam gave me my medal and told me I was 2nd female. I had several delicious beers (the RD's purchased 3 kegs of New Glaurus' Spotted Cow) and watched many inspirational finishes happen in the last hours of the race. What an absolutely amazing time and race!


Misc Notes:

• Several of the aid stations ran out of tailwind in the afternoon, which was a bummer, but understandable since it was near the end of the long race weekend. - My dad heard a woman complaining about how there were cyclists on the trail and how it upset her. I don't get that at all, it's a public trail and most of the bikers were so encouraging. I loved it.
• I had trouble deciding which shoes to wear, but I settled on my Cliftons. Trail shoes were not needed, my Bondis may have been a good choice, too; I may use those next year if trail conditions are the same.
• My dad and I stayed at the finish line until the very end. There was a large group of people acting as cheering squad and crew for a 50 mile runner and they were extremely negative. They were mad that the cutoff was only 12 hours and that other distances had such large amounts of time and how the RDs better not remove any of the finish line stuff. I really hope they didn't confront the TJM Racing folks about it. From what I can tell from the timing spreadsheets posted online, people came in until about 1 hour after cutoff. This was one of only two negative people out of the 100+ we interacted with during the weekend.
• Part of the trail was closed for an unknown reason, so there was a road section shortly before the Ornery Mule Aid Station in Monroe (miles 20 and 30). Weirdly, I really liked that detour since it changed things up.
• The aid stations were super easy to get to for crew members. I saw some people being crewed/assisted at random road crossings later in the race, so the race is super easy to manage as a crew person.
• Speaking of road crossings, I think there were at least 10(?) throughout the whole race, but I only had to stop for cars at two of them, both times for maybe 10-30 seconds?
• One disappointing, but understandable, thing was how much trash I picked up. 2 energy bar wrappers, 2 gu wrappers, three stickers from a local tavern (required to pick up to prove you made it to the checkpoint), aid station cups .5mi from the garbage, and various candy wrappers. I imagine a lot of them got accidentally dropped overnight while people were struggling