It was so beautiful here in Bostonland today that I decided to try out a new running route, along the river. This decision left me scrambling to find a water bottle before I left the house. I have developed a real problem with dehydration after runs. If I don’t get enough water to drink after a run, I get a dull headache that eventually develops, hours later, into a debilitating migraine, leaving me unable to sit up or think clearly. I first discovered this on a Hash run in Carthage about fifteen years ago; uncharacteristically, I was drinking fluids during the run, but the fluids were beer, negating the hydrating effect. (That’s right: running and drinking alcohol in public in a Muslim country. I’m the height of sensitivity.) Since then, I’ve had to be very careful.

On my usual route, I buy an overpriced bottle of Poland Spring water with a nozzle top to do the job, but I was going a different way so I needed an alternative. I used to use a Nalgene-type water bottle, but it got disgusting so I threw it out. So there I am, standing in my kitchen, thinking, “Where can I find a container for water that’s small enough to hold and is spillproof?”



I defy you to tell me how that’s any different from any water bottle being carried at the Boston Marathon on Monday.