Experiment

I just got back from a 7 mile run. It was okay. Not good and not bad. I decided that it was time to experiment with food and gels and what works and what does not. I've run this distance plenty of times without any water, much less food, but I wanted to try anyway. I ate peanut butter and jelly on an english muffin about an hour and half before I ran. I also had half of a clif nectar bar. It was cloudy and breezy out but there was a lot of humidity. Atlanta weather is so weird. It was 80 degrees yesterday. Last week, when I ran that 5K, it was 28. At that 5K, they gave out Powerbars and gels and stuff so I decided to take the gel with me and see if it helped. My plan was to eat it around mile 5. Around mile 3.5, I was on this very hilly, windy road. Ironically, I had to walk some of the downhills. I was afraid I would fall. It tired me out a bit but I kept going. I ate the gel around mile 4.5. It was Powerade vanilla flavored. It was a bit sweet but not too terrible. I've heard good things about Gu Chocolate Outrage or something like that. It did seem to help though. The route also got less hilly at this point. It's funny that yesterday, Lauren posted about not being able to run without music because of course, my Ipod died when I had like 2 miles to go. It wasn't so bad though. I think if it had happened in the beginning of the run, it would have been worse. What's weird is that when I run with music, my mind wanders which I enjoy. When I run without music, all I think about it that I'm running. I tried to play the alphabet game. My mom and I used to play that all the time in the car. It's the game where you have to find a sign that begins with the letter A, then B and so on. I got to I. Then I got home. Getting home is better than finishing my game!

Off to a beer festival in a few hours. Got to counteract all that healthy activity.