I woke up at 4 this morning but felt that was possibly too early to go running along the river so held out until 8 and decided to do this long run with progression as a pre-breakfast run with gel assistance. I managed to slow my easy pace down and took on water every 15 minutes, turning at the 50 minute mark (the furthest down the trail I have been), then taking on water every 10 minutes (like a leaky boat). I had a gel at 65 minutes then attempted to do the final 20 minutes of the 90 at half marathon pace. It took me a little while to pick the pace up and had to dodge thistles and dogs, but was fairly racing along towards the end. The gel (a high5 energy gel in “citrus burst”) was more pleasant that I expected – not too thick and sticky and not too sickly sweet. There was even a bin at just the right spot to dispose of the wrapper.