Haribo Macht Runner Froh

I woke up yesterday with a restlessness to get out on the road and run.  I opened our porch door to check the weather conditions and saw that the cool temperatures were also complemented by a clear and sunny sky.  I had a good week of shorter runs this week, but had also been craving a good long run.  It's been almost a year since I've ran longer than marathon distance.  I combed the kitchen for gels, fruit bars, or some other reasonable snack to pack along.

I finally found an old bag of one of my favorites.  I rate Haribo Happy-Cola in my personal top five list of gummy style candies.  Each tiny cola bottle has a satisfying but easy to chew consistency and a flavor that effectively emulates a tiny bottle filled with cola.  I questioned whether a single bag would provide enough calories, and upon looking over the nutritional content I was satisfied that it would.  One full bag contained 580 calories, of which about 70% were from sugar.  Surprisingly, this also included about 12g of protein.

I put the bag in my waist pack and set out on the road.  I ran east through town and was soon free of the traffic and relaxing on the slight downhill grade of Lampkins Ridge road.  After about an hour I consumed six or seven tiny colas without breaking stride.  The gummy bottles were easily chewed and swallowed and only required a minimal sip of water to wash down.  If only these tiny bottles of cola were also caffeinated!

I continued to eat a few every 30 minutes and as the miles counted off and I ran over the hills east and north of Bloomington I managed to totally stave off any hunger.  I stopped once for a refill of my hand bottle at the "Short Stop Food Mart" (13 miles) and then again at another convenience store on the north side of town (24 miles).  At the second stop I filled my hand bottle with a mix of half water and half Mountain Dew.  I had brought a few dollars and offered to pay the price of a small polar pop but the friendly staff simply wouldn't allow it.

Pleased with my good fortune, I finished my last few happy cola bottles and welcomed the kick a little Mountain Dew provided.  Finally, I looped my way around the B-line trail and through the middle of campus.  As I picked up the pace for my last few 7 to 8 minute miles I felt a wave of elation that I rode all the way back to the house.

I had run over 30 miles.  It felt good to run long again, and I had a new snack to recommend to any other gummy candy obsessed runners.