You Just Know

I've been catching up on my blog reading, and saw Endurance Granny's post on her new hydration pack. It reminded me that for ride and tie, my mentor and partner told me that I will need to carry at least one water bottle with me off the horse, in case something happens and we get seperated. Unlike Endurance, in ride and tie you seperate from your horse on PURPOSE. Something that still seems crazy to me. Hand the horse off to someone else so you can run along on foot, in order to find it tied to a tree somewhere in the wilderness? Yeah, I'm pretty sure ride and tie people are even crazier than endurance people.

Anyways. Hydration bottle. I was also reminded yesterday that 2 hours of running in July, even in the early "cool" hours is way too long to go without a drink of water, especially if you are trying to down 200-250 calories every hour.

Because of my marathon training, I have lots of experience with different hydration packs and what I do and don't like. I've never found a pack I was truly happy with, but my camelbak came surprisingly close, much to my amazement. Still, in addition to the fact that I think camelbaks look stupid on people doing road running (which is most of my running) and only feel good AFTER a couple of miles of getting used to the various straps and things bouncing and joustling, I sold it, deciding that I would never run far enough to need a hydration pack again, and the best place for my water for endurance is on my horse (not necessarily the best place for SAFETY, but the best place for my comfort and sanity. At the end of a 100 miles I don't give a damn whether I'm dead on the trail somewhere because I got dumped and the water is on the horse, but I do care that my sanity is intact at the end by not have a water bottle bumping me in an imperfect pack).

Tess and I had a discussion in which she told me that she was NOT going to carry my water and food for me on long runs if it meant missing out on her several-times-per-run-swim-in-the-irrigation-ditch. So, now with 2 reasons to have to carry water on me --> ride and tie, and my grand experiment into long distance racing while training in a completely differently way than "normal", I decided to peruse my choices in the running hydration department.

I started with Amazon. I had in mind something like Endurance Granny ended up with --> a one bottle "angled" system with a little pocket that would hold applesauces, peanut butter and the like. I had a couple on my wish list (how I keep track of items I want to compare) when I saw it.

 

THE ONE.

I didn't know I was looking for THE ONE.

I didn't know that THE ONE even existed.

But I knew it was THE ONE when I saw it.

 

Maybe I'll even like it enough to ride an endurance ride in it and substantially reduce my chances of blowing away like a desiccated potato chip when Farley decides that her best survival strategy in facing a large carnivore is to ditch me as a distraction while she runs for her life.

 

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