I bonked real bad on Sunday when I tried to run 12 miles from my new home (house) to my old home (apartment). The whole idea started with the plan to transport my bicycle over. I would drive from the house to the apartment, then I would ride my bike back to the house, run back to the apartment, drive back to the house. Except it was hot, humid, and I got dehydrated quite fast. I have a bottle that holds 1 quart (=0.95 liter) of fluid. I filled it up with Gatorade, and I drank about a half liter of water just before I left. I assumed that even if I consume a quarter bottle every 20 minutes (which is about as much as my stomach can empty into my bowels in 20 minutes), then I still have 100 minutes, and 12 miles should be done in 100 minutes.

I was on pace, all fine in the first 30 minutes, and I didn't feel I needed to drink before that. Then I drank a quarter of the bottle. I felt I needed a drink again at 45 minutes, but I resisted a bit (the 20 minutes was not up yet), and finally I drank another quarter bottle at 48 minutes. Then I started to have that bad feeling that I want to drink more, but I wanted water, not Gatorade. I was also sweating profoundly - my clothes were dripping wet from the sweat. I was running in the middle of the day (big mistake, but I had to fix a flat tire in the apartment before I left on my ride), and it was right after a rain. We are in the Ohio valley, so the humidity must have been close to 100%.

At 1 hour 5 minutes into the run, I knew I was in trouble. I was in the 8th mile, and I hit a nasty hill at the back of Cherokee Park. I knew I still have more that 4 miles to go, so instead of killing myself on the hill, I stopped running, and I just walked up to the top. I emptied my bottle, because I remembered there is a water fountain just off the path on the top the hill - normally I wouldn't stop, but this was an emergency situation. On the top of the hill I filled up my bottle with water, then I immediately drank half of it. Filled it up again, started to I ran to the bottom of the hill. But this part of the course was really hilly. Another hill started right after that - not very long, but I didn't make it to the top running: I had to walk the last portion. I continued this run-walk thing for another short while, but just before mile 9, I called it quits.

Then of course I had to walk home the remaining 3 miles! That was not very pleasant, either, but I could do it.

I hate when this happens. It is amazing, but 8 oz (= 1/4 quart = 0.24 liter) water/Gatorade is not enough here in the summer, at least not in my state of training/acclimatization.

This morning I was able to run 6 miles without too much trouble, though again, my shorts were dripping sweaty when I got home. This was also the first run from the house, but it was sort of disappointing, because the route was not that nice (lots of concrete sidewalks), and there was an extremely nasty road crossing. I think I'll experiment with a different route tomorrow. And I'll bring water. Even for just 6 miles.