Running Gels

So I am a little over half way through my training program for the half marathon.  Yesterday was my longest run to date - 8 miles.  In anticipation of the 8 miles and to get kind of used to the idea of taking gels during a run, I bought some gels on Friday at a local shoe shop.  I have never used gels before - I've never had the need.  One of the employees at the shop gave me some tips about using the gels and my running buddy did too so I felt pretty good about the idea.
I got up Saturday at 4:15 a.m. (yes, even on a Saturday!), chugged some water, stuffed the gel in my sports  bra (a Vanilla Hammer Gel - see pic at left), put on my headphones and headed out the door.  Putting the gel in my sports bra was my first mistake.  I ended up with little cuts all over my chest from the packaging!  So about mile 5 I decided to try the gel.
The guy at the shoe shop warned me that the gel was really thick and that I should probably cut it with water, but I don't run with water (my second mistake).  The gel was so thick that I gagged the first time I shot any of it into my mouth.  I had to convince myself to swallow and not think about it.  I am very sensitive to the texture of food and it keeps me from eating some foods that are probably really, really good.  Anyway, I got the gel down.  It didn't taste bad at all, it was just the texture that got me.  I actually highly recommend this one.  At the time I took the gel, I happen to be running by a yard that had its sprinklers running and I seriously considered and actually pictured myself running over, sticking my mouth over the stream of water and chugging out of the sprinkler.  I didn't, but I came really, really close.  
The gel really helped too.  It wasn't some instant rush that I got but I could tell that it gave me some more "oomph" to keep going the next three miles.  I am excited to try the other flavors and brands we bought.  My next investment will be some kind of water carrying device - either a water bottle that has a "strap" of sorts that goes over your hand with pockets for gels or a belt with bottles for water.  I have heard the belts are difficult because they slide and slip and generally don't stay in place but the hand held water bottles have their issues too, like not being able to carry as much water as a belt.  Maybe I'll try both.

Barbarian Challenge 2012

So we did it.  We actually finished the Barbarian Challenge in Gadsden on June 23, 2012.  I was a little nervous but confident I could handle it - yeah, that was BEFORE I actually got there and BEFORE I started running the course.  During the race, there were times I just wanted to survive.  Yes, it was that hard. 

We didn't run in the first heat as that was supposed to be for those people who wanted to win it all.  Well, I wanted to win it all but, come on, this was my first one.  So we ran in the second heat at 9 a.m.  While we were waiting to be let loose, the first guy from the first heat came across the finish line.  We all cheered and pumped our fists encouraging him to cross.  He did - in 48 minutes.  I thought, "Yeah, I can do this.  He is not even muddy and he finished at a decent time." 

So with all the confidence in the world, they let us go.  First obstacle - climbing over two lines of rusted cars.  Easy.  Second obstacle - military crawl through a mud pit with electrified wires at your back.  Yep, I got shocked at the very end - I was not at all thrilled about that.  After that, it becomes a blur.  There was a creek we had to go through but they didn't have the end of that stretch marked clearly so about 50 of us (in the front) kept going down the creek.  Well, finally someone yells for us to come back because we went to far.  Cost us probably 6 minutes (there and back) and then we were in the middle to end of the pack. Then came the hills.  There were some water obstacles - I think one of them was a giant dumpster filled with water you had to jump in, go under some buoys and jump out - there were some rocks we had to scale down and a giant slip-n-slide down a giant hill.  I have a nice bruise on my left upper thigh from a nice rock under the tarp they put down.  So at some point there was a rope climb - hand over hand.  I was impressed that I actually got up the rope and rang the bell.  The problem was, I had to wait about 5 minutes for my turn - Hello people, two ropes are not enough for heats of 200 people.  Seriously, think about it.  So that waiting allowed one of my teammates to catch up (seriously, I was about 4 minutes ahead).  Ugh!  The only thing I have on these guys is endurance!  They are way stronger and way taller (i.e. longer strides) than me.  And he didn't complete the rope climb - he tried and slid down and decided to move on.  Oh and the slide down - let's just say I had rope burns in unmentionable places that required me to wear spandex under everything for two days. Yikes!

And then there were the hills.  This is the part I thought I would not survive.  Seriously, "hills" is not a realistic description of these things.  I literally was bear crawling up some of them.  And they just went on and on and on.  I don't know how many of them there were but it seemed like a million. 
I found a running buddy at one point - we kept encouraging each other to just pick 'em up and put 'em down.  It's all you could do at points.  But I finished, and that is what matters.
And I finsihed nicely too (if I do say so myself)!  14 out of 133 for my age group, 192 out of 869 overall.  Our clan came in 7th out of 35 clans (Yay Coach Crystal Fitness Clan)!  Oh and I beat two male members of our clan by a good 8 minutes (yeah, I am the only female in our obstacle course group).  The other male member beat me by 1 second.  He actually waited for me at the finish line before crossing - he said he felt it wasn't fair to beat me since he didn't really do the rope climb.  Eh, I'll take it.



So here are my lessons learned:

1.  Wear spandex under your running shorts or wear running pants (avoid rope burn at all costs!).
2.  I am not as fit as I thought I was.
3.  There is a secret (unknown to me) to finishing this thing or the guy that finished in 48 minutes cheated. 
4.  The human race is naturally encouraging and helpful when thrown into a challenging situation (we all encouraged each other along the way).
5.  I need to challenge myself more with my workouts if I ever hope to finish faster.
6.  Lock the port-o-potty door when you are changing (I forgot and the poor guy that opened the door got a nice view of my very large white behind).
7.  Looks can be decieving - I was very unimpressed with the set up when we first arrived but would definitely do this again and recommend it to others!
8.  Running is better with friends.
9.  Do not eat an "everything" bagel before racing.  The onion flavor does not taste good as you burp it up along the race course.
10. Sometimes the people in front don't know where the hell they are going.  :o)