Gu Energy Gel

Purchased my first packet of Gu Energy Gel today from Fleet Feet Sports Fair Oaks. Will wait until my foot heals before trying it out. The woman at the store says she uses them on her two-hour runs. The packet says to use them every 45 minutes with water. That seems pretty frequent vs. the Powerbar.

Also bought a $9 pair of Balega Dry-namix Enduro Running Socks. The woman exclaimed when I brought them to the counter, "These are the best socks ever." :) And they work well, this is my second pair.

My main purpose in traveling to Fleet Feet today was to look at systems for carrying water with me when I run, sunglasses, and watches. The watches and sunglasses were very expensive, from $50-$100 and $150 respectively. In terms of a watch, I only want something that counts seconds after one hour elapses, so I can accurately time my walk breaks without having to look down, hold my shirt out of the way, and squint to read my pedometer while attempting to run forward. The sunglasses I tried seemed hip, and they had the grippy bits on the nose-pads and ears that the woman said remain grippy even while wet. $150 means I have to think about it some more though, and when I told that to her, she laughed, and agreed. :) She wore a colorful, long scarf around her neck, but the store was empty besides me and she seemed bored. The woman told me that she uses the bottle-gripper hand-strap instead of the systems that wrap-around the waist. She did not like the bounce of it during the run, but she said she did enjoy using it on hikes. She recommended the 2/4/6-mini-bottle wrap-arounds as an alternative. the smaller containers means the water weight is distributed and doesn't bounce as much in any one spot. She confessed that she forced herself to use the bottle-gripper and it took some getting used to. :P