Redemption Run - Part II

The race is in two days!!  At this time last year my stomach was churning with anxiety.  What had I gotten myself into?  Were my friends and family members correct in accusing me of being crazy? 

The day before a race you’re supposed to seriously carbo-load.  That means at least four grams of carbohydrates for each pound of body weight.  For me, that’s 408 grams of carbs the day before the race, and since the race in question is run at night, about half that on the day of the race.

This is a lot of carbs!  To put it in perspective, my go-to nutrition bars contain 30 grams of carbs each.  A bottle of sports drink contains 55 grams. A Science in Sport gel contains 22 grams.  Add that to some real food and it’ll be a great day to eat!

If only…  Some people eat under stress.  Some people cannot eat under stress.  I fall into the latter group, and last year I literally couldn’t eat all the nutrition supplements I’d packed.  Nerves!  This was the one time in my life that I wished I were a nervous eater.  Because my lack of food intake bit me about 3 and a half hours into the race.  It’s so cliché to say “I hit the wall” but that’s pretty much what happened.

This year will be different.  I’ve trained well – with my longest run being 4 and a half hours.  I’ve done it before, so I know I can.  And I’m counting on my stomach to willingly accept the massive amounts of food I’ll be eating in the next two days.  Wish me luck.