My new running buddy.....

I can still remember the first time I tried a gel supplement.. I was getting set to run a 10k with my old roommate and good friend Ruth. She had convinced me to come down to Salt Lake to run her first 10k with her (it didn't take too much convincing, it was a great excuse for a weekend getaway!). One of her friends had made her a good luck poster complete with pre and post race treats, and while the snickers bars looked pretty tasty, we decided to try the gel before the race. Ruth tried it first and almost instantly looked as though she wanted to throw up, so why I tried it too, I don't know. It was awful. It was thick and sticky and nearly impossible to get down. I'm sure it didn't help our running ability at all as we each managed to get down just a little of it - but we did finish the race. I'm not sure if it was the gel or the idea of a couple of mommies running with strollers beating us that pushed us on to the finish (I forget know Ruth did we beat them? Sad to think that that is even a possibility). I also remember telling myself over and over again during that race that I never wanted to run farther than a 10k.... EVER. So why just a few weeks after I returned home I committed myself to running a half marathon I do not know. So what does all this rambling have to do with anything? Well, as I started to train for the half marathon, the grueling 13.1 miles, I was routinely running well over an hour at a time and decided I needed to have something to refuel my while I was running. So I turned to gels. What I found was most of them were absolutely disgusting. They were thick and it took at least half my water bottle to get them down without gagging. I tried Cliff shots (since I like Luna bars) AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL, possibly the thickest worst one; I tried Gu - yeah, it tastes like Gu, who wants to eat Gu? Then I tried Power bar gels. Which were by far my favorites (try Tangerine and Raspberry) but still not great. Then this summer, while visiting a running shop, they had this box of gels that were free samples. So I grabbed one as did Adam (for me of course) but never tried them.... until now.

Here is my delicious new running friend!

This hummer is so good! I've tried chocolate in other brands and they were nasty, but this one really taste like chocolate... almost like chocolate syrup. And its not thick at all. It goes down so easy. I just finished a 7 miler and it was so yummy. I'm definitely going to have to go stock up!