Every Run is a Great Run!

Pass along my birthday wishes as well! Eleven is such a great age. Hope you and Kim recover quickly. It always seems like we come down with something just before the marathon. Getting enough sleep seems to help a lot.

Tom, I was wondering during the marathon how many times you stop for water and gatorade?

Clay for the most part in my past marathons I've stopped at almost every stop except maybe the first one, alternating between gatorade and water and taking GUs with water around miles 7, 14, & 20. This is a probably a safe route to go.

But also I should mention for a while I was way paranoid about getting dehydrated and I probably overdrank since in 1996 (my 2nd marathon) I got way bad dehydrated and ended up passing out and getting hauled to the ER just shy of mile 25.

This year in the 1/2 marathons I've run I've changed my routine to not drink as often. I think at Painter's I only drank once or twice when I took a GU and same at Strider's. Provo River, Hobble and SF were a bit warmer so I drank a little more the last 1/2 of those races.

I hear a lot of elite guys just say they listen to their bodies and drink only when they get thirsty. I've also read some recent stuff that suggests the conventional wisdom that we should drink early and often and before we get thirsty during marathons may not be the most efficient and that it's better to just drink when you feel thirsty and maybe a bit more if it's hot. It appears that perhaps getting somewhat dehydrated during a race is OK and for optimal performance based on studies of elites it may be the way to go.

I'm honestly not sure what I'll do this year. I'll certainly be taking water with my GUs at 7,14, 20 and also gatorade during the last half but during the 1st half when it's cool I don't know if I'll take in a whole lot of fluids unless I feel thirsty.

Thanks for the info, you are always so kind to help:-)

Tom, great job on the miles. Good nice easy pace today. I think the way you have been feeling lately, is the calm before the storm. I think its a good thing. I bet you will get that energetic killer instinct feeling, right before STG. I am really pulling for you, no one has worked harder!