Ann Guthrie

 Last week, on Saturday morning, I ran exactly 9 miles.  I ran for so long (over an hour, closer to two) that I had to eat “gu.”  Gu is a gel full of carbs and sodium and sugar.  It is designed for athletes (often runners) who will be active longer than an hour and use all of the energy stores in their body.  In order to be able to keep going once all of your energy has been depleted, you have to eat this (sort of gross) gu stuff and wash it down with a few good swallows of water.  I’ve put off doing this for as long as possible, but last weekend I could it avoid it no longer.  Fifty minutes into my run, I slowed down ripped open my vanilla bean gu and squeezed it into my mouth.  Not so bad.  EXTREMELY salty and EXTREMELY sweet at the same time.  Didn’t know that was possible.  A few swigs of water and I began running again.  I had about fifty more minutes to go.  Three or four minutes later, I glanced at my watch and then glanced back again to confirm.  I was going faster than I had in the beginning.  I felt great.  I couldn’t believe what a difference the gu had made.  My tired muscles didn’t feel so tired.  Miles 5, 6, and 7 seemed to fly by.  With about a half mile left, I realized that I was out of gas.  I looked at my watch again and noted that if my run were to continue it would be time to eat another gu.  I was blown away.  That stuff works.  My body needed that energy because it couldn’t store enough at any one time for me to run (well) longer than an hour.

And that’s the story of how I became a believer in GU.

Well, I made it.  Just barely.  My goal was to raise 25% of $4,000 by March 18th.  Here it is March 19th and I have raised $1,021. 

 My next goal is to complete my fundraising by May 19th.  That means I need to raise $2,979 in exactly two months. 

 Here goes nothin’…