Food? I don't need your stinking food!

I think running kills brain cells. At least that's what I think after my run in the Vermont City Marathon last weekend. Somehow, I completely, 100% spaced on a critical element of race strategy this year -- food. I simply didn't have enough to get me through.

The story of this race really starts at last year's Vermont City. I forget what I titled my post for that race, but it had to be along the lines of the Pot-o-Potty Express. I had major GI issues that year, and hit 4 Pot-o-lets and one gas station bathroom along the 26.2 mile course. I remember the dilemma of having to continue drinking Gatorade and eating shot blocks, even though they were upsetting my stomach. It was a nasty cycle.

Unfortunately, the memory of that race doomed me for this one. Because I didn't want to repeat my issues from last year, I chose not to drink Gatorade at the rest stops (mistake #1), and was stingy with the shot blocks (mistake #2). The net result was that I completely ran out of juice at mile 17. I rallied a bit here and there before hitting a big-time low around mile 23, and although I managed to run the last 1.2 miles to the finish, the fact is that I was barely able to finish at all. Between miles 20 and 24 I stopped a bunch, walked a bunch, knelt down, and even sat on my butt on the side of the bike path. My calves were cramping so bad at one stretch that when I lifted my leg, my toe pointed down as the calf contracted. My body felt weird, which is to say it was beyond a normal "bonk" pain and into a definite nutrition depletion mode.

The shame of it is that AG and I followed a great plan, pace-wise. As he mentioned, we diligently stuck with the 9:00 minute mile pace guy for the first half of the race, even when we felt we could've gone faster. I managed to stick with him through probably 16.5 miles before the wheels quickly and completely fell off. The weather was also good for running -- overcast to start, not too hot, and no rain. In terms of conditioning, you can always do more, but I felt good about adding to a solid base by getting in two 20's and an 18 in the six weeks leading up to race day.

In the end, counting on water, 5 shot blocks and one Gatorade at mile 23 (which immediately relieved my calf cramp) just wasn't enough to get me through. It's easy to write that now, but in reality, I only realized it after the race was over. I was lying down (it felt so good to lie down!), when a guy I know came over to see how I was doing. He is an accomplished distance guy who had just run a 2:52. Not that I could've gotten anywhere near his pace if I had eaten right, but it's worth noting that he drank Gatorade at every aid station and ate 14 shot blocks during the race. My intake miscalculation was a big miss.

So here's the kicker. Now I think I have to run another one of these suckers. Not sure when, but I'm pretty positive I'll be back out there again. And you'll read about it here.