Girl In Motion

My workout today was a beautiful thing, didn’t go the Pfitzinger med-long run route, because I was doing my mile long hill which makes the 20% - 10% not really a viable parameter. As for the hill itself, which I’ve been prefacing recently with “stupid” as in Stupid Mile Hill because things that make me suffer scare me and calling them names makes me feel better, today the hill and I came to an agreement; I wouldn’t bitch and moan and it would be nicer to me than it’s ever been.

Long story short, I did 2.5 trips with the uphills paced at 9:25, 9:29 and 9:47 and the downhills at 8:07, 8:17 and 8:17. How wonderful to be able to fully rehearse my Steamtown pacing (which I imagine will be 8:17-8:20 on the downs) and have it feel good. Of course, after a zillion of those strung together I know it’ll be less than happy-making, but I can start to imagine the real deal now.

After I was done with the hill, like magic (or as running god Arthur Lydiard might have predicted) the final miles home were strangely faster than they felt. I seriously felt I was going along at 9:15 or so but thanks to that fast downhill running, I was actually averaging 8:39. Final tally today: 14.5 miles, average pace: 8:59.

The other big news of the run was I have finally found a gel I LIKE! Not “can stand” “can stomach” or “is palatable” but one where I thought the taste was juuuust right: Gu Just Plain. Wow, not at all cloyingly sweet while at the same time without any of the tartness I find in Hammer or Carbboom. Simply a truly light taste that, mixed in a flask, will improve the Vanilla and Apple Carbbooms I just got, or taste great straight. Seriously, it was so strange to finish a gel off without a single grimace.

On to real running news, I cried last night when 38 year-old Constantina Tomescu won the marathon. What an edge of the seat race that was! Of course, so heartbreaking for Deena and Paula but so thrilling to see a 38 year-old conquer that race! And with such a daring break, just shocking. So here’s to Constantina Tomescu and Dara Torres, another amazing athlete at 41 years old. Cheers to these mature athletic powerhouses, you make the world a more hopeful place.

Moving sideways away from running, I had quite a laugh yesterday while grocery shopping with Nick. We were standing in the produce section of ShopRite, a huge grocery store chain, when I realize the Muzak coming over the loudspeakers was “Love To Love You, Baby”, complete with lyrics. I turned to Nick and said, “check out the music”, we had a chuckle and squeezed some peaches. Then a few minutes later, I recognize the next song is “Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi”. Granted, both were fab disco hits in their day, but I find it hilarous that the background music for grocery shopping is now Fuck Me songs. How lovely for the little children, lol.

But enough gabbing from me today, go find some fruit to play with and hum a nasty tune to yourself. It’ll either have you wanting to go grocery shopping or make wild crazy love next to some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

21 for me today, woohoo, yay and all that jazz.

My original plan was to do exactly what I did last week, an easy 20 around my usual loop, but yesterday I realized that there was a huge Tri called SheRox happening on that route and would have meant I’d be circumventing huge clusters of people, so I went to Plan B, the trail.

The trail is 5.5 miles from my house, so half my trip was on road, half on the trail, the trail being a lot more challenging due to the gravel/rocky floor and constant ups and downs. Also, I realized on my 19 there a couple weeks ago that even though there’s a fountain at around my 9.5 mile mark, I’d still need to take two handhelds because while I can get there on one bottle, I end up drinking twice as much on the way back, and the next fountain is 7 miles away. It worked out fine though, I was grumbling a bit at the beginning for having to cart both, but stopped noticing them early on.

I was still planning on making it a 20 and in mile 9, I actually said to myself, “Flo…keep it at 20, you have nothing to prove, the fact that you’re doing this on the trail and keeping pace is enough”. But then I was on this new part of trail that I’d never been and there were all these other runners, so it was fun to explore and besides, then I could come home and type that I’d just run 21. You can’t see, but my head’s all puffed up now and it isn’t from salt supplements, just ego.

My avg for the run was 9:28, but once I was out of the trail and back on the sidewalk, my final splits were 8:50, 8:41, 8:47, 8:36 and 9:00 for my uphill mile home. I drank about 110 oz. total, stopping the clock for refills because I figure I deserved to since I was carrying that extra weight. Btw, today’s temps were pretty nice: 77-79, but less humid than usual.

Had 3 gels, tried Clif Shots for the first time, Apple flavor. Um, they’re kind of gross, much thicker than any other, but on the other hand, that lets it go down in two gulps, so that’s a positive. I also tried a Fruit Punch Hammer Gel which was downright disgusting, no positives about that. Ended with Carboom double espresso which I don’t care for too much either, but the big hit of caffeine was useful.

Carried music but left it off again as I have for my last few long runs. I’m coming to realize that in the quiet of the morning, I prefer silence and then as the run progresses, the idea of anything extra attached to my sweaty skin, like earbuds, becomes completely unappealing, so I think it’s time to start leaving it at home for the long ones.

Once I got home, I was going to take an ice bath, but at the last minute favored “active recovery” because Nick’s coming home from his week-long bike adventure today, so I just vacuumed the apartment.

I’ve gotta go out now and do an emergency shopping to right the wrong I did to my hair yesterday. I got a box of dye because it’s getting a little too red and light with the sun, so I thought I’d put a little brown back in. But I didn’t really look too carefully at the boxes when I was at the drugstore, just thought, hmmm…Clairol Natural Instincts, I’ve never tried that one before and Hazelnut looks like a pretty shade.

So imagine my surprise when, after I’ve got it on my head, I scan the directions for the first time to find that, instead of keeping it in your hair for 30-35 minutes, it’s very adamant about not doing it longer than 20. Weird, I think.

So while I’m waiting for the time to be up, I log onto my favorite beauty product review site, MakeupAlley.com to read what other women have to say about it and I notice people referring to having put it on damp hair. Huh? Not having read the directions, I didn’t do that. And in all those reviews, the women are saying to count time from the moment you start applying it because it comes out much darker than the box. So I run to the bathroom and rinse it out…too late, my hair looks like an 80 year-old man with his first box of Just For Men. Shoe black.

It turns out this dye is actually semi-permanent, not my usual permanent, thus all the different application directions. OK, semi is good, it means it’ll fade eventually, but I was freaking out yesterday thinking that if it’s semi-permanent, does that mean I’ll have black sweat streaks of dye pouring from my head on today’s run?

So I washed it like a madwoman a few times yesterday and today wore a black visor on the run, to hopefully catch any dark trickles, and luckily everything stayed on the hair. But now I have to go buy some Prell because it’s supposedly like detergent, the better to wash out some of this old-man goth hair I now have. What a dodo I am.

But before I go, I want to give a shout out to one of my resident readers/commenters, Jim E., who is at this very moment, running the San Francisco Marathon and as of the Half, is producing negative splits!! Yay, Jim, I’m so proud of you with such a hilly course, I’m rooting for you. Go, Jim, go. Woohoo, cowbells clang clang clang…

Yesterday was my first 20 and a very nice run at that, though completely uneventful. The route is so familiar (my usual museum loop with a little tacked on and then going back the opposite way), that it was very low stress.

I ended up trying 3 different gels from 3 companies in my quest to find a favorite taste, so didn’t take the flask, though I did finally take some smart advice to snip into the tabs of the gels before I left so they’d tear off easier - much easier!

I think I’ve finally settled on Carboom Apple and GU Vanilla, though I had some wicked farting when I got home and since this happened on one other gel-eating occasion, I’d like to whittle the offending one down to Carboom, Hammer or Gu before I order a whole box of anything.

Btw, remember I thought I was going to be all about the Hammer gels? Couple things happened to change my mind:

1. The fact that without electrolytes, I’ll be tied to taking some kind of supplement or drink, which I don’t want to do, preferring to have it in the gel and 2. Their customer service did something really annoying which I didn’t report at the time but since I report the good, I should also report the bad. Here’s what happened:

If you recall, I ordered a variety pack of Hammer gels a few weeks ago and it was a nice package, they were very generous about sending samples of all their other products, so I was in Hammer love. It wasn’t till a day later when I sorted out the gels that I realized there was no Plain flavor, one I was particularly wanting to try since I’d heard it was supposedly a more subtle flavor. I thought I made a mistake about it because it was written on the invoice and packing slip that it had been included, but it simply wasn’t there, so I wasn’t going crazy, it really was missing.

So I email Hammer saying I was missing a gel. Several days go by and no reply, so I call. I talk to a guy who admits the Plains were out of stock when they sent the package. He said he’d send me one. Great (though I was left wondering why they didn’t make mention of it or send me two of another flavor).

A day later, I finally get a reply to my email from a woman there who apparently never talked to the guy I spoke to, because she said, “We’re sorry, and don’t worry, we’ll make a note that we owe you a gel and we’ll include it with your next order.” Huh? I immediately wrote back that “Why in the world should I have to re-order to receive it? I already paid for it!” Then I mentioned my previous conversation with the guy. She sends back a very apologetic email and a few days later, I receive my Plain gel.

Now, at the same time I made the Hammer order, I’d also ordered some different gels from Zombie Runner. Oddly enough, one of the gels in that order got messed up in shipping, but unlike Hammer, Zombie Runner gave absolutely exquisite customer service, instead of giving me the runaround, the day after I contacted them, I get an email saying they’ve sent the whole variety pack again, when all I requested was the one replacement gel. Talk about over and above!

So all this boils down to me being a bit pissed at Hammer and from here on in, my gel ordering will be from Zombie Runner. Great company, great customer service.

Back to running. Another nice thing about yesterday’s run was, even though I’d downloaded a bunch of new songs, I started the run with my headphones tucked away and never pulled them out. A few months ago I wondered how I was going to run a marathon without music, but that worry is totally out the window now.

After the run, I did something new and different, I used a recovery drink - the sample of Hammer’s Recoverite. I’ve never taken anything specifically for recovery, usually just stuff some protein thing in my mouth, but the drink wasn’t bad, like a light creamsicle flavor. And I felt fine and dandy afterwards, legwise, so I might just get a tub of it, customer service be damned. On the other hand, Slimfast or chocolate milk sound even better, so maybe I’ll do that. Or maybe I’ll do what I’ve been doing, stuffing some protein thing in my mouth. All this food technology can really cloud a person’s perception of what is truly necessary.

Nutritional meanderings aside, let’s get to today’s run. First I went with Nick to the Museum steps to see him off on a big 6-day bike trip, 300 miles into the mountains ending in a beer festival in Cooperstown, NY. The ride is being led by our friends Jeff and Lara, the same Lara you’ve read about as my sometimes racing pal.

After some picture taking, good-luck hugs, and a “Go Team Yeast!” as the group rode off on their beer-guzzling adventure, I did my 7 recovery with 8×100m strides. I wasn’t sure how my legs would feel about the strides, having done the 20 the day before, but it went just fine.

It’s interesting to note that with all the heavy, yet pace-controlled runs in Pfitzinger’s plan coupled with the fact that it’s summer training (so a supposed pace deficit due to heat), I’m unable to really gauge how my speed is improving, though I assume it is. I haven’t been adjusting my paces for the heat, which doesn’t mean I’m faster on the whole, just that I’m pig-headed. What I am able to tell is that I’ve gained strength, I simply feel stronger and ready for the miles. I don’t fret about “oooh, I’m doing a 20″, it’s just a logical progression in the scheme of things. Now if only I could be so cavalier about the speed question…

What a dumb morning! I messed up my clock when I was setting it, so it went off at 6 (or so it showed), but it was really only 5am. I got up anyway; another night with 4 hours and change. I have a voiceover job at 10am so I had to fit in a 10 miler, a shower and some time to veg before leaving the house.

Because of the lack of sleep, I expected today’s run to be bordering on miserable…it was anything but! It was just 73 degrees when I left the house, so that was a help.

I averaged 8:57 miles (my normal pace when it’s 60 degrees) so this is a happy thing. It was also, unintentionally, a progression run. I might have to owe it to my latest taste-testing treat, Powergel Strawberry/Banana (very sweet, but ok…I could do that one again), which I took 54 minutes in. I swear it made a difference and I’m not talking mental!

I was starting to lag before the half-way point, took the gel and voila…last few miles are 8:40s. Powergels have electrolytes so I wouldn’t have to deal with S-caps, which is cool. I’m happy to find my stomach is not as sensitive as I thought from my gel-cramping experience last year. As long as I drink enough water with it, I’m thinking I can probably deal with any of them.

As an addition to a comment from dear Pokey in the last post, I was thinking about the “need” to do at least one 22 mile run before the big day. It’s not a need, per se, but would be great for confidence, and besides, it’s only 2 more miles than a 20, so I’ve got one planned.

What cracks me up though, is that in Europe where they use Kilometers, most plans have the long run peak at 30K, which is only 18.5 miles! I always thought peaking anywhere less than 20 would be like rolling the dice, but them crazy foreigners do it all the time. Which tells you how much of this stuff is in our heads.

OK, gotta go and make some moolah. It’s a Comcast radio spot, I do those somewhat regularly lately. Have a fab day, folks and some great runs!!

Today was a 17-miler. I took it easier than last week’s trail run, keeping it closer to home by doing the 8.5 mile loop around the Art Museum twice. It wasn’t bad temp-wise, around 73, but the humidity was 87-80% for the duration, so extremely…moist.

Keeping it close to home meant that I only needed to take one handheld since there are fountains at 1, 2.5 and 6.5 miles. The big quandary today again concerned my favorite subject these days: gel consumption. I was going to need two, which presented a hitch concerning the gel flask.

Because I’d ordered a variety pack from two different manufacturers, I had 15 flavors with varying degrees of caffeine to choose from. I’d have to mix two together if I used the flask, which would cloud the fun of taste testing and potential caffeine boosts. So I set aside the flask and went old school - taking two gels in my clip-on pocket. I figured it would be as good a time as any to attack my fear of gel packets and full-strength gooey stuff.

The plan was to take a banana Hammer gel first, one without caffeine and then take the espresso Carbboom second, loaded with 100mg of caffeine, the better to make a difference in my final few miles.

Before I left the house, I actually washed the silly packets so for once I wouldn’t have that icky “how many people have touched this packet?” feeling while sucking down the final remains. I was happy about my clean packets.

I left my music at home, the better to let the sounds of the park be my soundtrack. But as usual, when leaving my music, I ended up singing a song in my head the whole way anyway. Go figure. Also, like last weekend, I didn’t eat beforehand, so it was last night’s meal/snacks and the gels for fuel, the handheld just had water.

So the banana gel was ok - not my favorite taste, but I knew it wouldn’t be since I never pick banana flavored anything, but it was fun to try it. It wasn’t too sweet, almost a little tangy. About 45 minutes later, I took an S-cap since the Hammer gel lacks electrolytes. I actually took it because I was feeling a small diaphragm cramp that I’m sure had more to do with speeding up to pass a guy and his jog stroller than with gels or electrolytes, but it seemed like a sound thing to do anyway since I was soaking wet with sweat.

About 20 minutes later, the cramp had abated and I took the espresso Carbboom, which also was not very sweet. It kind of reminded me of chocolate-covered espresso beans. Funny, because both these brands are known for not being cloyingly sweet which is a major reason I’m trying them, but I wished both flavors today to be a little sweeter. No biggie though, there are still many flavors yet to try.

As far as effects from the gels, I had a steady output through the first one, no noticeable anything, but no lagging. I did, however, like the effect from the caffeinated Carbboom gel. I didn’t feel a “burst” of energy, but I did end the run feeling stronger than I can remember for a long one. Plus, I slept about 4.5 hours again last night so I can definitively say that after ingesting 100mg of caffeine I felt more awake and alert.

The only potential downside to that last gel is I’m blaming it for the nastiest, toxic fart I ever emitted. I just wish I’d have done it while still outside instead of right before stepping into my ice bath. Such are the sacrifices of a runner’s life, I guess.

It was a banner week for online supplies.

Tuesday I received my Hammer Gel variety pack and how cool to find all this free stuff included with my order - it sure took the sting out of the shipping costs (basically nullified it). They sent me samples of all their flagship products; Perpetuem, Heed, Endurolytes, Recoverite and a Hammer Bar, plus a book on nutrition and some other paper stuff. Very generous!

Yesterday I got my order from Zombie Runner; a clip-on gel flask, 6-pack variety of Carbboom gels plus a Strawberry-Banana Powergel.

From reviews and user accounts all over the web, Carbboom is very popular for not being too sweet and pretty thin, as well as not needing water (people say the same about Hammer as well). Powergel, on the other hand, has a lot of haters so I wouldn’t have ordered any but the flavor I got seems to be very popular and supposedly “tastes like yogurt”, so what the hell? Plus, powergels have more electrolytes than other gels, so that would save me taking an electrolyte supplement.

Given all these goodies, I decided to take my flask out for a spin today with a new taste sensation, Orange/Vanilla Carbboom. It has some caffeine but not a whole lot, which is good because I didn’t know how I’d react. I’ve avoided using the port-o-pottys on my route all this time and I’d like to keep that record alive.

The flask is pretty cool, quite light, though the plastic clips on the back are straight up hard plastic, unlike my clip-on pocket, which has these rubber grips attached. Jogging in place with the flask, I could tell there would be slight bouncing, so I wrapped the clips in padded medical tape which worked perfectly, keeping it more snug to my shorts and more comfy on my skin.

I added a touch of water to the gel for easy swigging, took a handheld, my music and I was out the door for a 10 miler. I didn’t bother with the S-caps because it’s possible that they increase my water needs and I didn’t have a lot with me today so didn’t want to get stuck. But back to the gel adventure…

I’m such a dork when I have new anything, I can hardly wait to try it, so it took all my inner strength not to sample the gel at mile 4. Around mile 6, I took a swig. Not bad, a little tart almost, not exactly yummy, but not gross either. Cool.

Then I waited for that energy boost I knew was due to me. And waited. And waited. Hmmm… they say these things give a noticeable surge, but that didn’t happen. Shit. I wanted to get high on my run!

Of note: I didn’t eat anything before the run, as usual - 1/2 a cup of coffee is all I can get down at that time of day. I do, however, snack almost till bedtime and high carb crap at that, pretzels and jelly beans usually, so maybe that covers my bases better than I think. Or maybe I would have been more uncomfortable without it, I’m just going to have to keep testing to figure out what my physiological response really is, if any.

Either way, it’s inevitable I deal with this before the marathon and even though that’s not till October, my best case scenario is to have a few gels I can choose from, not just have one or two I can stomach. To that end, the flask is a great little gem, improving the consistency and concentration of any gel I’ll stick in there, so a major thumbs up to the flask. And no sticky fingers!

On non-running news, got a great new voiceover client yesterday, educational stuff for PBS and the like, which is what I enjoy doing the most, so it was a fun session. They liked me a lot, so here’s crossing fingers for more work with them. Also, last week one of my commercials played during Jeopardy! I was in the other room and Nick yells, “come here, come here.” We have DVR so we can rewind the TV, the better to hear myself ad naseum. Actually, I wasn’t too bad, only rewound it 3 times…you would too.

You know that old adage, “Never try anything new on race day”? I’ve reinterpreted it to mean, “Do lots of new stuff on all your training runs.”

Today I:

1. Brought 2 handhelds (40 oz. total)
2. Took S!Caps (electrolyte supplements)
3. Took 2 gels
4. Diluted said gels in one of the bottles
5. Peed standing up on a usually well-populated trail
6. Stopped at a gas station for more water (20 oz.)

To start with, even though I set my alarm for 5:30am (scorcher today), the stupid cat started talking loudly at about 4:30 (damn attention whore), so I got up at 5:00, giving me about 4 hours worth of snooze. This was the only thing lacking in today’s adventure.

Oh, that and the fact that in searching for a bathroom I’d seen on an online trail map, I stopped to ask a guy if he knew about this mystery bathroom but forgot to turn my Garmin back on for a chunk of time, so my planned 16 miler became 17.15 (I was being stubborn…did not want to go back home with less than 16 on the display of my Garmin). Turns out the maps that are actually on the trail show no sign of that bathroom, so the Wissahickon Running Club needs to update their website. Too bad, as it would have been a well-situated place for water bottle refilling.

Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking about gels and how to deal with them, and spurred by my love for the clip-on pocket, I just ordered a clip-on gel flask. I think that’s the perfect answer because I could dilute them to milkshake thickness as opposed to the original snot consistency, avoid sticky fingers (which is an annoyance every time I open one of those suckers), not to mention I won’t have to open them on the run or look for a garbage can when I’m done and who likes sucking foil, anyway?

But a gel flask would have been overkill today because I was already having to deal with 2 handhelds (which worked just fine, btw!). I even avoided using my clip-on pocket by designating one of the handhelds as my gel bottle, dissolving two vanilla gels into it before I left the house. It was surprisingly palatable considering how warm it was by the time I drank it.

I took an S!Cap before I left and one each hour for the next couple hours, then one last one after I hit the gas station for more water, because I downed most of that sucker in just a few minutes. I could have taken more of the caps - it says every 1/2 hour when it’s hot and it was 80 degrees out when I started - but since I was doing all this new stuff at once, I didn’t want to chance anything weird happening, like bloating up.

As for peeing standing up, it’s something I tried while hiking on vacation and it’s a quick and easy way to relieve yourself, even if you’re a girl. I also realized today that from that back, you can’t even tell what I’m up to, so how handy is that? Anyway, it was early and there were few people on the trail, so I thought, “why not?” Plus, I was literally soaking in sweat, so I figured if I missed, no one could tell, anyway. Lol.

So I ended up drinking 60 oz liquids on the run, plus 16 more when I got home. I’m happy to have finally gone to that gas station, it’s good to know that stopping like that isn’t a big deal. I’d always avoided it because it’s another street crossing and then having to stop the clock for the purchase is an annoyance (oh god…there goes my training!). Even though a water fountain was only 2 miles away, I’d been so good today about giving my body what it needed that it was a no brainer. Plus I was dying.

I won’t lie, it wasn’t an easy run as hot as it was, and I started faster than Pfitz’s “MP + 20%”, but I still managed to make it a progression run and my pace was good despite carrying both water bottles. More importantly, I didn’t experience any pains, twinges or aches anywhere the entire run. Fabulous!

As far as gels, they definitely helped, though I didn’t feel it as a burst of energy, likely due to me drinking them in 20oz of water - a slow and steady intake. It was a little too easy to drink though, I finished the gel/water bottle around the time I was supposed to take the 2nd gel. Also, I didn’t eat anything before the run, so that would have probably helped, too. Live and learn.

Once I got home, a frigid bath sounded downright luxurious, so I soaked the ole bones in cold water and then afterwards, ate the best hot dog I’ve ever had. It might be time for a nap now, but first…must kill the cat.

As the runs get longer and the heat gets hotter and wetter earlier, I’m finally starting to pay attention to the nutritional side of running. For the most part, I’ve been pro “train your body to go farther with less” (touted by a couple important running gurus), so gels and supplements haven’t shown brightly on my radar.

I practiced using gels a few times on long runs last Fall and learned that you need adequate water with them or you can get the stomach cramp of death. I also learned they can be sickly sweet and that chewy alternatives (beans and bloks) can be more annoying by glomming onto teeth with glue-like tenacity, not to mention the high choke factor. I did eventually find Hammer Gels were palatable without being too sweet and didn’t cause cramping, but since I wasn’t using them on anything less than 16 miles, water and maybe some Gatorade were my mainstays.

For the last few days, I’ve been voraciously reading everything on energy/fuel and now question the “train your body to go without” theory. I mean, why? If I can have a better run with some fuel, why not take advantage of it? The hard part is determining what really works and what works due to the placebo effect.

And then there is the whole electrolyte question, which I’d conveniently ignored until now, because the subject always made my eyes glaze over like a Dunkin’ Donut. No more! I thought lack of electrolytes was just responsible for making you cramp, but before that happens, it will start to zap your energy - especially if you’re a salty sweater, as I am.

Gatorade has electrolytes, but about 1/4 of what you’d need in an hour, plus it’s all acid and sweet and I know one day it will make me want to puke, and besides, who wants to train with whatever drink the race provides when water and a salt pill will do ya? So, after reading shitloads of posts in trail and ultra running forums, I ordered some S! Caps from Succeed. It was between them and Endurolytes from Hammer, but the S! Caps have more sodium per capsule so you don’t have to take as many. Hopefully I’ll get them before my long run this weekend. Experiment #1.

Experiment #2 was today on a sweaty 10 miler, when I finally put to use this handy removable pocket I got last year (super light, didn’t even know I had it on!). I knew I’d be out for an hour and a half which is an appropriate fuel-worthy amount of time. The problem is, I don’t get hungry on runs, sometimes it’s hard to want to eat, so I accounted for both sweet and savory by filling it with pretzels and a gel. I figured between the two, I might find one appealing.

Here I am today, in all my accessorized, sopping glory. This clip-on pocket worked perfectly and unless I find a particularly fetching pair of pocketed shorts, I’ll use it in the marathon.

I ended up chomping a few pretzels, and again, more cheers for the pocket…I didn’t even have to open the flap, just stuck my finger in and pulled out one at a time. Pretzels also happen to be a good high sodium alternative until my S! Caps arrive.

Looking ahead, Saturday is a recovery run, then Sunday I’m doing 16. The challenge there is that I’m opposed to wearing a hydration belt ever again, so it’ll be my first time running with two handhelds! Mark that down as Experiment #3. Watch out people, Mad Doctor in the house!