One Year Gu-iversary

On Saturday, I had my first 20 mile training run of this marathon season.  I'll be doing 2 more, so finishing 1 isn't a whole lot to get excited about.  BUT, I did enjoy the run, and based on a suggestion from Katie, my route was new and very exciting.  Here's a map of where I went:

It was a fairly simple route that had me head west to the Greenway, then hop on the marathon course once I got to Lake Calhoun.  I then went down the west side of Calhoun, the east side of Harriet, then I hopped on Minnehaha Parkway.  I skipped the loop around Lake Nokomis, then went north up the river until I got to Marshall, then went back home.  It ended up being about 20.2 miles.

What made this run very manageable, though, is that it was divided up into an 8 mile run followed by a 12 mile run.  The people at Twin Cities in Motion (aka, The Marathon People) set up a tent at Lake Calhoun (8 miles into my run) where they had free water, Powerade, and Gu from 7am to 10am.  It's tough to fit more than 2 Gu packets in my fuel belt, so this was a very welcome thing.  I arrived at Calhoun just after 7am (yes, I left early), and ran into Hannah, who I had only known "from the internet" (through blogging and Dailymile).  We chatted about upcoming races and training, and then I grabbed a Tri-Berry Gu from the available options.

I ripped the top off the Gu, downed it quickly, grabbed some water, chatted some more, then I was off running again.  Only now do I realize how strange that was, mainly because it was one day shy of being one year since I had my first Gu—and that was at a Twin Cities in Motion water stop too.  In fact, I even wrote about it:

I have also concluded that energy gels are weird. The texture is rather unexpected, and the taste isn't that great. The flavors they had were chocolate, espresso, strawberry banana, and vanilla bean. Vanilla bean looked like the least objectionable, so that's what I tried. I picked up some other flavors from the store today, so I can see if any of them turn out to be better. All in all, I did notice a boost in my energy, even if it was short-lived.

From what I remember about the day I first tried Gu, I pondered all the flavors they had for a good 5 minutes.  After selecting vanilla bean, I read the directions, looked at the nutrition facts, and tried to figure out what other people were doing with their Gu.  I massaged the packet for a while (it's supposed to make it easier to eat consume), then I ripped the top off.  I cautiously started to drink consume the Gu, gagged a bit, and drank a lot of water to wash it down.  All told, it took me 10-15 minutes to eat one Gu.

This Saturday, I nonchalantly grabbed a Gu, then I ate drank consumed it quickly and was off.  My, how far I have come.  Instead of hesitating over food a substance that may be its own state of matter, I just accept it.

Happy one year Gu-iversary to me!