My first half marathon is less than a month away so it’s time to start doing weekly “dress rehearsals.”

Many articles on training suggests recreating the exact conditions you’ll be facing on race day during your long runs to prep yourself both physically and mentally. This is also a good time to experiment with anything “new” you want to try. So, for this morning’s 15 kilometre run, I wanted to test out drinking Gatorade and eating Sharkies chews.

I also got a lot of sleep last night and followed a schedule that will be very similar to the one I plan to follow the morning of the half marathon. Here’s what this morning looked like:

6:00 – woke up and ate my pre-run meal

Peanut butter and banana on toast with a cup of green tea. I followed this with a cup of Gatorade to get hydrated.

6:15 – 7:15 – put together a badass playlist (my old one was getting pretty crusty) with all sorts of gems ranging from Wu Tang Clan and Gwen Stefani to The Killers and Bon Jovi. I like to keep things random!

7:15 – 7:30 – got dressed and warmed up

Do I looked psyched about my run or what?!?

I’ve decided I’m going to wear these Lululemon running shorts on race day. They are super light, sit comfortably on my hips and have lots of hidden pockets. They also have built-in underwear. Score!

7:30 – start time (same as the Oakville Half Marathon)

8:10 – ate my first two Sharkies chews. They went down well and gave me a little pick me up (or maybe it was all in my head?).

8:15 – as I was running, I thought to myself “why does it suddenly smell like the Whole Foods hot bar?” Then I realized it was because I was a block away from Whole Foods. This was kind of a mindfuck because there have been many times when I’ve been too lazy to drive to Whole Foods.

8:20 – the batteries on my iriver died (FYI – an iriver is a cheap little mp3 player you can buy for $30 at PharmaPlus; it has lasted me five years and I love it. Don’t hate, you know you want one!).

So I had to run the rest of the distance in silence. I wish I had something positive to say about the experience — like it gave me a chance to focus on my running form or I enjoyed listening to the birds chirping — but then I’d be a big fat liar. I hated it! 

Oh well, at least I learned an important lesson – check your batteries before you leave! Another important lesson I learned today – listen to any songs you download before you load them onto whatever music playing device you run with. Today, I ended up with an instrumental version of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” (it’s a good beat but loses some of its motivational power without the words) and some lame cover version of Madonna’s “Hung Up” (this reminded me of the songs they sometimes use in LesMills classes when they obviously haven’t acquired the rights to the real version).

8:30 – ate two more Sharkies.

9:15 – arrived home (yeah, I know I’m a slow runner) with sore legs (thanks Body Pump!) but feeling pretty good.

9:15 – 9:30 – stretched and ate up a storm — a slice of cinammon raisin toast with a bit of margarine, a glass of skim milk and a few way too many spoonfuls of almond butter. Kind of random but I haven’t done the groceries yet.

On that note, it’s time to blow dry my hair and get my behind moving. Lots of errands to run today!

Do you bring anything with you to sustain you during your long runs?