Today I ran my 100th mile since starting my training for the Nashville Country Music Marathon next April. It was during a beautiful long run on the Tennessee River Walk in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was a 10 mile run that took me just over 2.5 hours. It was also the first of my training runs that caused me some agony.
About two hours before heading out, I had a wonderful ham and cheese sandwich. Great tasting, but probably not so wise. Meat this close to a run was not going to be digested. Then I grabbed a package of Honey & Oat bars, filled one water bottle with a cherry flavored Poweraid drink I had never tried and left for the trail. I drank water and the Poweraid throughout the run and ate the bars about the halfway point. My stomach felt like a cage trying to contain multiple MMA fighters vying for the crown. After a 5-minute bathroom break (there are several restrooms along the trail) I was back on my feet and feeling much better.
So, what have I learned? No heavy foods before a run and when trying new trail foods or drinks, expect that there may be problems.
So far the Tennessee River Walk is my favorite urban run. The main stretch runs 7.7 miles (according to Google Maps) with plenty of scenery and interesting things to see. I will do a longer post with photos once I have run the entire trail. This run was an out and back that left a little over 2 miles to still be experienced.
