Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Tag: running Page 48 of 50

Fantasy…

First, read this.  Totally ripped the idea from there…

I loved this post and wanted to share my own.  I often dream about what I’d do if I won the lottery, but it’s fun to just confine it to things that would make me able to live a healthy lifestyle better (some of them are a stretch…but…).  Let the opulence begin with a day in the life!

I wake up whenever my body tells me to – however, since I don’t have any worries or things to do to keep me up at night, I probably naturally arise around 9am.  I reluctantly leave my bed, because it is made to the exact firmness for me (and Zliten’s side for Zliten) and feels pretty much like sleeping on a cloud.  I plod into my perfectly clean bathroom that the maid just tidied up for me yesterday and get ready to start my day.

I head to the kitchen where a chef is waiting for me.  He asks me what I want to eat for breakfast, and I jokingly say a waffle with ice cream, chocolate syrup, and some homefries.  He says that he would oblige, but it’s not on the nutritionist’s list for me and it’s not a splurge day.  Instead, he whips me up some delicious whole grain homemade toast and a fruit salad, as he knows I’ll be doing a long run that day and need something to fuel it.

I eat my breakfast while catching up on the internet/blogs/etc.  After the food settles, I go into my workout clothes closet which are organized by temperature and sport, and select an outfit for 60-70 degrees, running.  Since I have all the time in the world, I get my driver (please, if I ever get rich I will NEVER drive again) to Town Lake for a change of scenery, and run a nice, easy 10 mile jaunt – as I’m gearing up for a half marathon and that’s what my trainer has prescribed today.  When not training for a race, I might have someone come in and teach a different class each week so I can try everything.  After the car takes me home, I stretch out, and the chef has a smoothie waiting for me.  At first I object because I’m feeling fine and not hungry, but after his insistence, I drink it and feel even better.  He lets me know that lunch will be served in about an hour.

I see that Zliten is now up and swimming in the pool.  It’s too cold for the roof to be retracted, but it’s still nice to see the sun shining and get in the perfectly heated water.   I begrudgingly take a cold bath first for my legs, but then jump into the water and splash around with him for a while.  I look longingly at the hot tub, but figure that wouldn’t be the greatest on my just ice-bathed legs, so tomorrow it is.  On another day I’d make use of the diving board and be thankful for the life guard under our employ, but after a long run, I’m just happy to be in the water.  Before we know it, the chef lets us know that lunch is ready.

We dry off and put on our super cushy robes and eat lunch outside.  Today, mine is a gigantic turkey sandwich made on the same delicious homemade toast I had that morning, a salad, and some assorted veggies and pita slices with hummus.  Zliten is munching on the same thing, but a kobe beef burger instead of turkey.

After lunch, since we have some free time, we walk down to the theatre and decide to take in a movie.  The movie runs a little longer than we thought, so we have to call the car to have them pick us up and bring us a change of clothes and a snack (homemade protein bars and fruit) or we’d be late.  It’s time for a yoga class and then after, an hour massage.  It’s such a relaxing afternoon we both fall asleep during our sessions, and pretty much float back to the car.

On the way home, we decide that we want to hang out with our friends, and invite them over for dinner, after checking our schedules (easy workout tomorrow for Zliten, day off for me, check!).  After having a delicious dinner of shrimp cocktail, light caesar salad, petite filet mignon, and assorted veggies, we decide that we must hit the town.  The car takes us out to a new spot we’ve been wanting to try, and after we’ve had enough, it drops our friends off and takes us home.  Almost instantly, we fall into bed after the eventful day and drift off to sleep.

Instead – it’s get up reluctantly after the alarm has been buzzing for about an hour (snooze, snooze, snooze).  Squeeze in half of a workout.  Get ready really, really quickly and grab a promax bar on the way out the door.  Get to work just in time.  Head home for lunch, cook up something easy, finish up the day, come home and finish up my workout, cook/eat dinner, and have about 2 hours to relax/knock off anything on the to-do list, and then it’s time to get ready for bed.

While I crave a little stress and excitement, I think I could surely live with that sort of lifestyle for at least a little while.  How about you?  Tell me about your wildest fitness fantasies?

Super awesome pretty pictures from wallpaperpimper.com.

Pick Myself Up, Dust Myself Off

What is it about weekends?  You are a perfect little saint all week, and then Friday hits and BAM! it’s on like donkey kong.  It was like the sin trifecta – Staying up too late, eating and drinking too much, and not exercising come together to form the voltron of not sticking to my plan of awesome.

Thursday, there were a few drinks (but I totally budgeted for them so it barely counts).  Friday, we stayed up until 5am playing Uncharted 2 and watching How I Met Your Mother season 4 and about 2am started mowing down on pistachios and jerky because I was HUNGRY (to be fair, it HAD been about 6 hours since I ate dinner so it made sense).  Saturday was a WAY OVERBOARD drinking night and I think I might had tripped and fell face first into a handful or 2 of chips.  Sunday, we went out to Italian and let’s just say I didn’t order the pasta with red sauce.

There were some successes this weekend though.  Each choice, I actually evaluated in my head.  Is it worth eating/drinking this if it might possibly negate some of the work I put in this week?  Each instance, it was yes.  Pistachios and jerky might have sent me a little over 1500 calories that day, but they were actually a pretty healthy snack.  Saturday was a freaking blast and we found a great new hangout, and though I may have had a few chips, I turned down the 2am fast food run even though I was in the car and stayed up ’til almost sunrise again.  Sunday, I hadn’t had Italian in a loooooong time and I split the meal between lunch and half of dinner.  Spinach and chicken cannelloni in white sauce may not have been the best choice, but it was actually a pretty small portion.   Also, I may not have formally worked out, but we spent most of the weekend shopping, so I was up and about.

So, nothing to do but move forward.  No guilt, no regret.  I had fun this weekend, and I’m starting the week at 157.4, which is better than last week.  Onward and downward.

Today, I start the Shred.  After thinking about it, I think I’m going to try and do it daily (perhaps give myself one day off per week if I need).   I’m looking forward to it – I desperately need to try something different and ass kicking.  I’m going to take measurements and photos tonight too since a lot of people lose inches doing that and not lbs.  The full week plan is:

Monday: under 1400 calories, Shred Lvl 1, 30 mins DDR

Tuesday: under 1400 calories, Shred Lvl 1, 5k run

Wednesday: under 1400 calories, Shred Level 1, 30 mins DDR

Thursday: under 1400 calories, Shred Level 1, 5 mile run (need to start getting used to medium distances again if I’m going to run it on Thanksgiving)

Friday: under 1500 calories, Shred Level 1

Saturday: healthy eating until the Halloween party, Shred Level 1

Sunday: under 1500 calories, rest

If shredding proves to be enough of an ass-kicking, I may omit some of the DDR, but I need to get at least 2 runs in.   Saturday night is a huge Halloween party which will have lots of yummy food and drink, so I’m going to just try to eat healthy up until then and be reasonable there.  I think as long as I can follow the rest of my plan this week some indulgence there won’t kill me.  I’ll let you know how it’s going next Monday (I think writing the wrap up on Friday made me feel somehow DONE with the week and then the weekend kinda went off into the weeds).

Shopping:

Sooo, I am loveloveloving the boots/tights/skirt or dress look this fall.  Like this.  I would so steal that entire outfit, I’m a sucker for plaid.  So, I went out in search of some new things to apply to the bottom half of my body (I do need to get some new cold weather tops too, but I also need to clean out my closet and see what is too big first).  I picked up two really cute dresses that are office appropriate and a good handful of skirts that are the same.  I’m pretty set on basic tights now and I have some fun patterned ones, but if that’s really going to be my fall/winter “look”, I’m going to need some fun colors – a red and a blue at least would provide me some non-nude/black options if patterned tights aren’t an option.

As for the boots – I have a great pair of brown ones that should last this season, but my three pairs of black boots aren’t really cutting it.  One I just need to throw out as the sole is split (but they are just so damn cute I haven’t yet), one are falling apart and need some shoe glue love (and I’m not sure if that will even save them), and my third pair is totally cute and WAY comfortable, but they are lace ups and take way too long to put on in the morning.  So, to that end, I ended up traipsing through a bunch of different stores and after trying on all sorts, I ended up with something like this, except mine has a fold over at the top and was only 25 bucks *grin*.

After I purge the shoe closet soon, I think I’d like to pick up a more casual black boot (unless these end up being super comfy after breaking in), and a pair of non-boot black semi-dressy shoes.  Something like maybe this or this.  That should probably get me through.  Now on the must have cold weather list is a black super warm jacket and I think I’m pretty set.  I am honestly kind of OVER shopping right now since I spent all weekend doing it and STILL have to pick up a halloween costume.  And eventually pick up some cold weather running gear.  It’s a hard life.

So, what’s up in your world?  Starting anything new and exciting like the shred today?  What is your must have clothing items this fall?  What are you going to be for Halloween?  Anyone want to tell me I *should* feel guilty for this weekend?  Ciao, lovelies, and I’ll see you mon-ya-nah.

Oh, and the pics are some pretty scary looking costumes from Costume Shopper.

The First Week Back to Reality

Since I seem to be ahead on posts and this doesn’t get up on the blog until Friday, I’m just going to jot down my progress and what’s going through my head each day.  Overall it’s been sort of a “detox” week.  You never understand how inactivity and eating junk affects you until it’s no longer the norm.  A week and a half was long enough!  Here is my journey out of it…

Monday:

Did – Got up around 8:45, very bleary eyed.  30 mins DDR as planned in the morning and was too hungry to do yoga so I sank into the couch with dinner and didn’t get up instead.  Bad Quix!  Will make it up sometime this week.  Had a very healthy day of eating (ate a promax 20g protien bar for breakfast, a homemade tuna sandwich for lunch, carrots and snap peas with hummus for a snack, chicken masala, rice,half a tortilla, and peas for dinner, and a honeycrisp apple for desert) coming in right under 1500 calories. Weighed in at 159.0.

Felt – I am feeling very bleh.  I think a week and a half of no consistent exercise and not watching what gets in my cakehole has actually made me tired, almost a little depressed (I’m not my bouncy, energetic self), lethargic, and I have this little bit of nose/throat funk – had it for almost a week now but it hasn’t turned into anything.  I’m sure it’s not helping that it’s *greygloomyrainy* outside.  That always makes me in less than a happy mood if it lasts more than a day or 2.  So I am going to ignore the way I am thinking and feeling and dive back into healthy and hope this will all pass.  Looking forward to setting out for a run tomorrow, but just feel too exhausted right now to see how that will be any good.

Is this what I felt all the time before?  I seriously feel like I am slogging through molasses for the last week since the day after the wedding.  I feel like I am broken.  Someone needs to find the circuit that shorted and replace it please.  I can’t remember a time when my body has felt so… useless.   Not even after the half marathon – after one day off I was up and ready to go again.  At first I told myself that it was good to give myself a break before the wedding.  Then, after I just felt like I needed to sleep for days and it’s just not getting any better even though I AM getting plenty of sleep.  Hopefully just returning back to normal habits will right me, because this sucks.  I think this part is worse than the weight gain.

Yes, this too shall pass.  I just need to get through it and learn from it.

Tuesday:

Did – Got up around 8:45, just about as bleary.  5k run and weights at the gym after work.  Ate another promax bar for breakfast (can’t beat 20 g protien for 200 calories even if they aren’t the tastiest), had snap peas and a plum for a snack, some leftover homemade lentil soup and a gigantic salad for lunch, a junior burger for dinner and then I realized I was WAY under my calorie range so I snacked on some raspberries, a 100 calorie bag of popcorn, some turkey pepperoni, a few rice chips, and a sugar free popsicle.  Came in at just under 1400 calories.  Weighed in at 156.8

Felt – Morning – still bleh.  It’s still grey and dreary, I’m still in this state of nose/throat thing being icky but not bad enough to call myself sick.  I feel tired but not tired enough to feel like I need rest, but tired enough to make workouts feel like WORKouts.  I still suspect this is just my body rebelling after taking more time off working out than I have in years WHILE eating junk.  I’m hoping that slogging through another workout or 2 and later in the week when the sun comes out, I’ll be back to my normal self.

Evening – WOW!  What a difference a little sun and a great workout makes.  My nose and throat feel better, my mood is back to happy, and the workout felt GREAT (even during).  This is totally encouraging!

Wednesday:

Did – Got up around 8:45 slightly less begrudgingly.  30 mins DDR in the morning, yoga session at night.  Ate another promax bar, a turkey sandwich for lunch, fish, brown rice and veggies (wedding present fresh fish from Alaska) for dinner, and a honeycrisp apple, snap peas, pita chips, and hummus for a snack.  I did splurge on half a serving of ice cream and a special k bar for desert but I had the calories for it. I came in just over 1400 calories.  Weighed in at 156.2.

Felt – It was still hard to get up this morning (I was hoping to get up a little earlier), but I think it was more because I was kinda sore from my workout and also was having weird dreams.  DDR was tougher that normal, but definitely a marked improvement over Monday.   My nose is still running, but my throat isn’t sore!  My mood is definitely in a better place.  I don’t feel like I’m about the grab the day by the huevos and storm castles, but I don’t feel like curling up into a little ball and hiding away either.  I’ll take it.

Thursday:

Did – Got up around 8:35, more alert than I have all week.  I could have gotten up earlier but I was having a cool dream, and when I did, I kinda sprung out of bed instead of being bleary eyed.  I did a full weights session (one set max reps with the ball), and after work I made up that yoga session I missed as well as ran a 5k!  I was totally workout woman today!  Ate yet another promax bar (I’ll have to change it up a little next week but they’ve been great this week) for breakfast, a cut up black bean burger, some corn/bean/pepper relish, and tortillas for veggie tacos for lunch (this was SUPERB), snap peas and some jerky for a snack, and grilled chicken, taterflowers (half mashed potato half cauliflower) and veggies for dinner.  I also splurged and had a few vodka drinks.  I came in just under 1500 calories.  I forgot to weigh in the morning, and at night after my run I weighed 156.4.

Felt – I am finally feeling emotionally like myself, and workout wise feeling close to normal – though I still have this freaking nose funk on and off.  While I still don’t feel 100% strong, I’m feeling like I can get there.  I’ll have to build my running up a little more next week because that seems to be doing wonders for me in terms of both mood and physical well being.

Today I’m weighing in at 154.8 (yay, under 155!) and feeling pretty darn good heading into the weekend.  If there is anyone out there who’s not on the workout train or off the wagon eating-wise, just climb back on!  Let me give you a proverbial hand.  Get through a week and you’ll feel SO GOOD.  I know I do.

The goal now is to get through the weekend as close to 1500 as possible, and next week… well, we’ll talk about it then.  What have you been up to this week?  Any awesome plans for the weekend to share?

Pictures from graph jam, because graph jam rocks!

Another One Bites The Dust…

Weeks that is.  Time is flying so freaking fast.  I’m surprised it’s not Christmas already.  What’s been going on in my world?

Sweat rings R hawt.

Sweat rings R hawt.

5k race:

I was up at the butt crack of dawn (6 am) before it was light and got ready for the race.  We didn’t get out of the house until 7 and were on our way!  At about 7:30 we realized that the website gave the wrong directions – luckily, we found other people that were lost and they had found a couple going for a walk in the area, who pointed them in the right direction.  We followed them and got to the race around 7:45, and got registered and a number and headed to the start line just in time.  I made my way up close to the front of the line so I didn’t have to wade through the walkers/easy joggers and Zliten stayed at the back.

The course was awesome and rough at the same time.  Awesome – because there was nothing but one slight uphill (which we hit twice because it was a two lap course), and it was in this beautiful park/nature preserve area which always makes for a nice experience.  The rough was that although 1/3 of the course was on sidewalk, 1/3 was in grass/slightly muddy dirt, and 1/3 was on a trail with HUGE STICKS.  That surprised the hell out of me and I probably lost some time the first lap, but the second time around I just ran to the side of it, and it didn’t bother me much.  Also – they had mile 1 marked, but not mile 2 (or mile 3, but that was pretty obvious).  I was wondering why the second mile seemed so long when I got to the finish, tee hee.

I finished with an official time of 26:31, which included the few seconds to get to the start line (since it was not chip timed).  Zliten finished in 35:54 and it’s one of his best 5k times yet!  I got through the finish line and walked back, grabbed him water, found him on the course and then ran with him the rest of the way almost to the finish.  I placed 11th out of 76 females and 72nd out of 177 people overall.  Although I didn’t get my goal time, I did set an official race PR by 48 seconds and am pretty happy with my performance.  The race happens each month on the 3rd Saturday, so we’re going to go back next month and try again!

One thing I noticed – does anyone else that races notice this – around mile 1.5-2 I start getting REALLY over it.  There is enough of the race left that I’m not getting the “I’m almost there” boost, and you’re far enough in to have the tireds set in.  I ran at an 8:33/mile pace.  My first mile was 8:18 (that’s the only one I know because of the mile marker issue), and I’m pretty the last mile was pretty close to that.  My second mile had to have been over 9 minutes because I just felt so bleh and tired.  I hope to figure that one out by next month.  If I could stop losing my ooomph in the middle of 5ks, I’d run much better times.

Tee hee, couldnt resist this picture...

Tee hee, couldn't resist this picture...

Project: Unfluffy Bride:

This is starting officially today and ends October 1st.  I’m attempting to eat as close to 1200 calories as I can per day, and modifying my cardio a bit so my appetite doesn’t incapacitate me.  The plan is to do 30 mins cardio 4 days this week (running or DDR), 2 weights sessions, and a bike adventure sometime this weekend.  I’m allowing myself to do less if I need, or a *little*more if I feel like, but that’s the plan.

The last few days weren’t terribly successful, and they averaged out to about 1700 calories per day instead of the 1500 I’d like, but I am starting off at 155.4 today instead of in 157 silly town, so I must have done SOMETHING somewhat right.  Wish me luck with the rest of this week.  My first challenge: lunch with the girls today at Tex Mex…

Wedding stuff:

One week four days until I’m hopping on a jetplane to Vegas to get hitched.   Most of the details are dealt with, but there is still a lot to do.  Right now, the item of the day to figure out is centerpieces – the hotel said decorations were included (which we thought meant centerpieces), but after we pressed them for details, the only thing they actually provide is a black candle holder with a lit candle in it.  Not exactly tropical themed.

Now, we have two options.  The first is to get centerpieces done to match my bouquet (orange, purple, and white).  I am finding out today how expensive this is. The other option is to bring my own centerpieces, and my parents had a great idea of a small circular mirror, some tea lights, and flower petals.  Since we have a bunch of other stuff to decorate the tables with (leis, flower hair clips, tropical confetti, those silly little drink umbrellas, etc), we don’t need something HUGE, but just something at the center would be cool.   Any suggestions/ideas?

The makeup is going well.  I went on a little spree this weekend and am now much better prepared.  I went with the bare minerals starter kit for fair skin, and am incredibly happy with it.  At first I was a little nervous that it was going to be too light – but it looked amazing after it was done.   The rest of the routine involves the pinks look that I did last week, but my awesome maid of honor V gave me some blush and is letting me borrow some bronzer.  Hooray!

The hair progress is going a little slower, but ok.  Got2Be hair luster lotion is amazing.  I hope to never live without this product ever, ever again.  I, right now, am on 3 day hair I’ve slept on twice and have not brushed, and there is nothing sticking up as long as I apply a little of this at my roots every morning.  I went for a curly look (hence, why I haven’t brushed it) and used Fructis Wonder Waves spray.  It makes the hair a little crunchy, which I don’t really want for the wedding, but for daily use, it’s awesome!  Like I said, it’s 3 days from being washed, and I still have nice, defined curls as long as I spray it on every morning.  None of these products take very long to use, so I can see keeping up with it at least some of the time.  I didn’t get a really good picture of this, but I’ll try to take one tonight.  I plan to wash my hair then and try something different.

So… yeah.  Any advice for the centerpieces?  Run any races this weekend?  Wanna tell me what your favorite low calorie super healthy go to meal is?  Hit me up.

Thingity Things of This Week

I don’t have that much to say but figured since Friday is a normal posty day, I should at least ramble about things and goings onses.

Running:

5k tomorrow!  I’m excited and a little nervous to see if I can get my 26 flat time or better, but I think I’m more excited as it’s Zliten’s first race!  Woohoo!  Never did I think I was going to get him to run with me but now he seems to quite like it.  Endorphins FTW!  I feel good and prepared – yesterday I went for a nice, easy run to keep my legs loose and I kept wanting to go fast.  That means the legs are rested.  Check.  This morning, I did a nice long yoga, and the plan tonight is relaxing, and more relaxing.  Checkity check.  Good race prep.

After the race, we are going to see my parents for a belated birthday lunch of BBQ.  Alliterations FTW!  Then, some shopping to procure makeup/hair/other stuff… it’s gonna be a busy and long day.  I may demand a nap!

Day 1 of project: unfluffy bride:

Well, my plan was to hit the top of my range today and that I did (going over by 10 calories).  My lunch was bigger than I would have liked, but I had a pretty light dinner to compensate and only ate my 2 pieces of fruit for snax rather than digging into the nuts or seeds or whatnot.

I’m seeing 2 problem areas.  One I rocked last night, one I didn’t.  My first “shoving things in my cakehole when I shouldn’t” time was right after I got home from work.  To put things in perspective – I had a 200 calorie breakfast, about a 650 calorie lunch, and about 100 calories in snacks, so I wasn’t starving in the least.  I then realized it had become a habit to eat out of the pantry when I got home.  I had the same issue after the run and before dinner.  The conversation with myself went something like:

Munchy self: “Mmm, I’m a bit peckish.  Let’s have a snack.  These baked cheese doodles look rather tasty.”

Self that wants to be unfluffy: “No!  Dinner is coming soon.  You just had fruit.  You are not going to faint dead if you don’t stuff your face.”

MS:  “But how about some veggies and hummus *cough*andpitachips*cough*.  That’s heatlhy, right?”

STWTBU: “NOT ON THE CALORIE PLAN!  STOP IT!”

MS: “Ok, then fine.  How about we go for the stir fry veggies leftover.   It’s veggies.  You can’t say no to veggies, right?”

STWTBU: “NO!  It’s the principal of things.  Today it’s veggies, tomorrow I’m back to the cheese doodles dipped in cheese spread (yes, I did it, and I won’t apologize, it was FUCKING YUMMY).”

MS: “We can eats it with our fingerses!  If you don’t use plates and utensils it has no calories…”

STWTBU: (almost believes it and has the tupperware open and then slams it shut) “Wait, NO!  That isn’t right.  I’m leaving the kitchen now…”

MS: *grumblegrumble* “Fine, we’ll discuss this later.”

I won the first round but lost the second.  We had a good friend over, and we happened to have his birthday cheesecake sitting in our fridge from another friend.  After a lovely, light, and healthy dinner, I cut them big slices and me a little slice.  Then it just looked too sad and little so I added another sliver (but it was still about half their size).  My Zliten went ahead and left half his cheesecake and when I took it in, MS won as I mowed down the rest of it.  Le sigh.

Regardless, I’m back on it and ready to fight another battle today.  The stats from yesterday:

1560 calories.  Only “notsogood” things eaten were a few tortilla chips at lunch and the cheesecake incident.  Everything else was totally on plan.

Did a slightly less than 3 mile run and full body weights.  My guesstimate is about 600 calories burnt.

Weighing in at 156.4 this morning.  Not great, but closer to being under my freak out weight than yesterday.

Hair and Makeup Adventures:

Well, I took the night off.  My face was feeling kinda dry and my hair kinda dirty and frizzy, and figure it wasn’t worth it.  I was going to try to do a look with more browns/coppers, but I actually don’t have a lipstick that goes with those tones, and while eyeshadow under chapstick works in a pinch, it wasn’t worth it.  I’m going to try again after I get my list o new stuff to play with.  I’m pretty confident with my makeup after this week, and I have two weeks to figure out the hair stuff and I’ve had LOTS of great advice!  Thanks so much!

I’m going out tomorrow with the intent of picking up the Got2B Smooth Operator Smoothing Luster Lotion, some bare minerals foundation/powder/concealer, and maybe some other fun and exciting stuff like mousse/gel/etc for volume.  Anyone have any opinions on diffusers vs just using a low setting on my dryer and cupping the hair in my hands?  I hate to spend the money on it because I rarely do my hair curly, but if it’s the one and only thing that’s going to make this work, I’ll spring for it.

Have a great weekend!  Wish me luck at the race and then with figuring out the ‘do.  Honestly, more nervous about the ‘do as there will be other races, but only ONE WEDDING.  Geez, I sound like such a girly girl there.  Ah, well.  I’ll be back Monday with results on both.  If you’d like to know more immediately, follow me on twitter or friend me on facebook (name is Leah Ruben, and I’m the one with the vintage gymnastics profile pic).

And I just have to end it on this…

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