I am on a “need to know basis” with the details of my schedule these days. If information isn’t immediately necessary for the conduct of my official duties as mother to a 6-year old and a new baby, I don’t have it. Where am I running this weekend? That’s “need to know” Saturday morning in the driveway. Dinner tonight? I’ll think about that at five.
All this is to say that while I’d been enjoying the wonderful full catastrophe of motherhood, I hadn’t given my hydration plan for the Umstead 100-mile run much thought until the week before the race. I’d be drinking. There’d be an UltrAspire water bottle involved. There was a 12.5-mile loop I’d have to cover eight times. That was known. So when I finally sat down with the race document and saw that there would be water stops every two miles or so, I sent a hurried email to UltrAspire. “Is there any way I can get the Isomeric 8oz handheld by Thursday?” I’d never run with such a small water bottle before, but 20oz seemed like overkill with that kind of aid station support. And what better place to test gear than an important race?
And I’ve got to say, that little handheld was absolutely perfect. I could cinch it down, so it fit snugly against my hand. And I could easily fit two gels between the bottle and the mesh sides. And it was so light. I PR’d at Umstead and set a course record of 15:07, and I’m not going to say the little handheld was responsible for that, but it sure made the journey a lot easier than it would have been. Living in South Texas, I don’t get the opportunity to run with just 8oz of water much, so I think I’m going to use it in combination with my hydration vest. That’s how much I love carrying it. And that’s all you need to know. Read my full Umstead 100-mile race report here.
Photo by: Shannon Johnstone