6 Miles! And a Product Review

6 Miles!! That's right, I ran 6 miles yesterday.

Granted it wasn't pretty - afterward my face was beet-red and I had to stop and walk for a bit right around the 4.5 mile mark, but I picked it up and finished the last 1.25 miles strong.

Now that I am running for just around an hour on "long run" days (yesterday's 6 miles took me 1 hour and 6 minutes), I've decided to start experimenting with energy gels and chews. So yesterday, about 3 miles in to my run, I had some strawberry Clif Shot Blocks.

Now, I had heard some nasty stuff about energy gels and chews, which made me quite wary of trying them. In fact, one day at our local running store I heard a kid exclaim, "Gross! These taste like fishing bait!" after trying some shot blocks. (No, I didn't ask him how he knew what fishing bait tasted like, although I wish I had.) However, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. They were good. In fact, they were so good that I ended up eating the whole bag, instead of the 3 pieces I had originally planned on. Oops.

As I continued on to my final 3 miles I kept waiting to feel more energized. Or, at the very least, not like I was about to die. It didn't happen. In fact, my stomach starting cramping up a bit around 4 miles, which is ultimately why I ended up walking for a bit. I'm not sure if the cramps were related to the shot blocks or not (it could very well have been just that my body was unhappy that I was increasing my mileage). Looking back on my run, I also realized that I probably didn't follow the shot blocks with enough water. This could also be the source of the cramping.

In event, I'll probably try them again sometime and see what happens if I drink more water (and only eat half the bag). In the very least, they deserve another shot because they are so yummy!