I have never been a fan of electrolyte gels, no matter the brand. The false flavors and unnatural consistency are
difficult to stomach – just the thought of them on a long run is enough to make
me want to gaarp all over the trail. I stick
with gelatinous chews, mostly by Cliff and Stinger, and the Hammer Perpetuem
Solids . . . until now, that is. Thanks
to an FB post by a fellow runner, I have learned about GU Salted Caramel. Hold on!
Caramel? . . . Salted? I thought,
I don’t care if it squirts into my mouth
like a warm streak of duckshit, if it tastes like salted caramel, I am in. I picked some up at the local REI to try the following
day on a long run. An hour out, I tore off
the top, squirted half in my mouth and squished it around for the test. I’d like
to be buried waist deep in this stuff. I now have a box of them stashed in my running
drawer. My wife and I have for years
joked about taking a pocketful of cookies and candy on the trail during the
holidays. Now we can.
Flavor: Authentic. While it may not be as luxurious as a
home-made version with loads of cream and butter – I could squirt this on ice
cream or chocolate brownies, and never know that it was an electrolyte
replacement.
Consistency: Perfect.
Some caramel is supposed to be semi-fluid, so it works.
Price: $1.35 – and well worth it. On sale they are $0.99. While I do not need an incentive to run, these
sure are a nice bonus. I get to do one
of my favorite things, and eat something sweet while doing it (another of my
favorites).
Packaging: The best on the market as far as I am
concerned. Trail runners, while typically
not concerned with what others think, still like to identify with something cool. The Yeti on the package shows that GU had an
epiphany while creating this packaging.
