Karen writes: Caffeine

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I cut my caffeine back a couple of weeks ago, and then last week stopped it. It was a big thing for me.  There were two reasons for cutting it, one was to be in relatively good shape nutritionally before the marathon, but the other reason was so that the caffeinated supplements I was planning on using would work better on the day.

I have just read the labels on the Gu gels I was swigging at regular intervals throughout the marathon.  They had no caffeine in them.   I haven't run a run longer than 15km without caffeine since...well, I cant remember when.   I feel rather silly.   But that might explain why I came close to losing it from a head point of view towards the end.

Below a pic, get a look at the rubbish, there were powerade bottle lids literally carpeting the ground.   Considering Perth is such a clean city, people were just dropping stuff everywhere, empty gel packets, the little tear off tops, drink containers.  Some of those hard working volunteers who are the heart of this sort of event will be doing some serious cleaning up.

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