Prior to my long run, I usually have a Clif Bar and maybe half a bagel with a smoothie drink about 45 minutes to an hour prior. During the run, I have my sports drink and lately I have been trying a cut up Clif Bar. I can usually wash down the first half of it, which I usually consume about 45 minutes into the run. But sometimes I  don't eat the rest of it because I just don't feel like washing it down. They can be pretty dry. The Clif Shots get stuck in my teeth. So for tomorrow's run I am going to go with Vanilla gels again, but I am also going peel and segment a couple oranges and see how that works. I'll put them in a zip loc bag. I think that might work better than the orange slices they give us in the race because my hands won't get all sticky. Oranges don't have quite as many carbs as a Clif Bar, but they will be much easier to get down. I figure I can eat a couple during my run. The one thing I will be checking for is potential reflux due to the acidity. That's usually not an issue for me, but then again, I've never eaten oranges while running. I will provide a report on how that worked on my long run update tomorrow. Talk to you soon.

Karl

Somehow my eggs, bacon, toast and coffee seem to get me thru most long runs and marathons.  During, snickers bars, water, some gatorade and banana and orange.  All that keeps me running.  The day before, pasta, pizza, potatoes, anything carb and add chicken or fish to that and needless to say some nice carbie dessert.