Long run day today for me. I did 10 miles in 1’33″, incorporating in the walk time I inserted while eating my gel and drinking water. I tried strawberry-flavored Honey Stinger today, which tasted all right, but I’m not sure how much it helped. Twenty minutes later, my stomach felt like it usually does when I try to drink while running: sort of crampy and overfull. 
I don’t want to do myself an injury by getting dehydrated or otherwise depleted on lengthening runs, so maybe this is something through which I’ll have to work, but it was discouraging for a start.
And as for the Fuel Belt, it took me a good few miles to get used to it. As soon as I began running, I felt awkward and uncomfortable, but after a while I was able to forget I was wearing it. I didn’t care for the sensation of having something snugly wrapped about my abdomen as I ran, mostly. Could be that Camelbaks, which come in designs more in the form of backpacks, might have been more comfortable for me, but they were prohibitively expensive for the beginning of this experimenting phase. I’ve also heard that they’re much more complicated to clean, and I don’t want to have so much extra hassle.
The run itself was nice. 
Ran downtown again, zipping along the lakefront. I kept passing a guy on a recumbent bicycle who looked exactly like Anthony Bourdain, but I get the feeling that if Anthony Bourdain was riding a recumbent bicycle along the shores of Lake Michigan, he’d be doing it with an entourage of cameras on trucks. 
How were your runs today or this week?
I’m doing this race as my first 50K/ultra in July 2012. I’m so tardy to the party but...
Thursday’s was much better than Tuesday’s! And I put off today’s run until tomorrow in the hopes that my new shoes will arrive today–I’m afraid I have a bit of runner’s knee
I’ve run 16 whole minutes thus far this week.
Plan to add 8 more to that tomorrow. Each 8 minute block, thus far, has equated to something like 1/2 mile of running in each workout for a total of one whole mile so far, with another 1/2 mile tomorrow. 
At least I’m working my way through week 1. The real question will be how week 2 treats me.
I did an easy 4 miles along the river on Sunday, then we went on vacation and I didn’t run again til Thursday night when I did 5.6 miles of trails for my longest run to date. Running uphill on sand is interesting, that’s for sure. Tomorrow morning I’m meeting friends for 6 miles. We’ll see how that goes.
When I was marathon training what I found that worked was to carry a small bottle, take a few sips every mile and to stash bottles for refill along the route. Drinking a small amount frequently means you never get that full sloshing feeling.
I completed my Week 5 of the Couch 2 5K last Friday with my 20 minute run…when I finished, I felt like Rocky Balboa!!!! I even threw my hands up in the air when I was done. I couldn’t believe that I actually made 20 minutes WITHOUT STOPPING!!! Today was a bit of challenge with starting Week 6–but Mondays always are (must be the sitting on my butt activity on Sundays). A friend and I have signed up for our first 5K run (September 13) and am very excited…will let you know of our results. Thank you again for being such a wondermous inspiration!!
Carrying anything at all in my hands is bad news for my form.
I used to try to carry a small cloth to wipe my face, at the advice of another runner, but even that made me start gripping with that hand, then tensing that side of my body…
I know a lot of people do the bottle stashing thing.
I’m jealous of people who live in places they can do that! My aunt’s training route kept going past her own house, which sounds great; if I tried hiding bottles, say, along my downtown long run route, I’d worry that they’d either disappear or be tampered with.
Maybe I was drinking too much because I thought you were supposed to do that when you take a gel? Thought they needed water or something? Now I can’t find where I read that.
Good for you guys! Barb, I remember the day I did that!
“They” do suggest you drink water with your gel/shot blocks/sport beans/what-have-you energy fuel. I don’t believe you need to drink a great deal of water, just to help get the fuel washed down and to keep you hydrated and not just electrolyted.
I schedule my hydration to take in a few ounces every 10 minutes. Not nearly enough to give me an oogy feeling, and not too little as to leave me feeling like I need more. So far, so good.
I have always wanted to run and you are all inspiring me to try the couch to …..thing. I walk and run just little bursts. About two years ago I ran 14 minutes but couldn’t go further, got frustrated and stopped. How do you keep going when knees hurt, breathing is hard. Just time?????
Carrie, I used to work with you at Way Library and am in awe that you are now such an avid runner. Motivate me, please!
I never used gels when training – they were pretty hard to get here – I ended up using some sort of jelly sweet (on the basis that the gel give you a sort term boost to keep you going – which a jelly sweet will give you as well) and to get over the having to take a large hit of gel every few miles and wash it down with water – eat a small jelly every mile or so – I usually carried them in a pocket – there’s a bit of a knack to eating while running without choking mind you – but I found a small and steady supply worked best for me
Wendie!!! Hello!
The key with running, I’ve found, is that you can’t do too much at once. Take it slow, over as long as you need! The C25K program is fantastic in that regard. And those little bursts? Very good. 
A lot of people just try to run as far as they can, then stop and go home when they tire out. Interspersing running with walk breaks is a fantastic way to increase your endurance.
Joanne: I actually saw little jelly sweets with electrolytes at the running store! I thought about them, but I hadn’t seen anybody talk about them, so I figured I’d start with what everybody seemed to like. Maybe they’d work better for me!