Watch me, Pooh!

Piglet said it best.

Ahh, the question that just doesn't come up in everyday conversations but is very important to get off ones mind. My buddy Shéamus writes about What Do You Do When You Want To Use The Loo In The Middle Of A Workout? in his blog today. I'm glad we both agree that it's fair to pause your chronograph when you have to take a nature break.

Over my career I have seen a lot of misfortune when I comes to this subject. I have not always had the best of diets and, as most Soldiers start out young, many others are plagued by bad diets too. This makes the body irregular, and sometimes we have to "make" at the most horrible of times.

As my diet has improved, it then has come down to timing of the right foods to eat to have a clean system before long runs. The change over to natural foods was easy, except on the pocket book. the hard part was getting the food intake adjusted to the fit scheduled activities. What I've found is a bedtime snack with an attack of fiber on the system seems to get all but the worst cheat day out within 15-30 minutes of my wake up the next morning. As long as I get about 5 or more hours of sleep, then we are in business and production is good.

But not trusting that the system will last throughout a long planned run of over about 1 hour, I often take a small package of paper with me, wrapped in plastic wrap and tucked into my key pocket. I don't yet have a running belt, but I plan on sticking paper in a belt when I get one. I have seen a few times where somebody has come back from a long run with their socks missing!

Now long runs aren't the only times when you can get that annoying call of nature and they won't leave a voice mail. I have a "spot" that is only 1.5 miles away ... that I've had to visit twice. (It's really a cozy spot off a shaded path inside the wood well away from the road.) Common sense: never use the exact same spot.

Why all the talk about The Scrolls of Wisdom without talking about The Throne of Knowledge?, you may ask. There have been many a time where the throne is not available simply because it wasn't there! Lot's of trails, lot's of trees, and lot's of ... sand. Yes, sometimes a small rise that is barely a sand dune is all there has been. And I'm just talking about "making" when exercising ... you don't want me to get started on "what if" in the performance of military duties.

As for the Throne of Knowledge, I look for good places when I am on runs so that when I'm using routes nearby I can go to those places again. Look no farther than my post "Night Moves" where knowing where to stop came in handy. Plotting down or remembering where the OPEN restrooms are on a run help greatly on planning the long run.

So, what if there is no restroom? Then it's a good thing I have years of training and I am not afraid to go plodding through the woods. A safe spot is just behind a tree about 5 meters in the wood line. Kick out a hole, use those well developed quad muscles and squat. Hold the tree for extra balance, if you need to. Replace your spoil over what you made. It's biodegradable, but nobody wants to leave a surface laid land mine. If you didn't bring papers with you, don't grab a leaf unless you know for sure which ones are safe to grab. (Again, my training has paid off in this area!)

I hope this has helped any one out there with a question on what to do when they need to do-do.

Thank you, Pooh Bear