OM, do you know those guys, the Gookin's? Ed Gookin was one of the geology lab tecs at SDSU when I went to school there. He was a great guy and always helpful. Whenever we did geology field work, he would let us have packets of Gookinaid; with Gordon Gastil's projects he would give us boxes full of the stuff. If I remember right, the story was that him and his running buddies got together and collected sweat. Then they just analyzed them in the Geology department and added some flavoring to the mix. Two flavors; fruit punch(always tasted a little sweaty to me) and lemon (lemon was good). He also got us into orienteering; that guy could move fast in the back country. I have often wondered what happened to Gookinaid. Thanks for bringing that up.

I think BrianLe said listen to your body; that is probably the best general advice anyone can give. If you are thirsty, by all means drink more water at a water stop. But if you fill bloated, I think it is time to stop. With water, that feeling seems to come a lot faster than food as well so its not like you have to wait 15 or 20 min. When I am going out for a desert trip, I hydo up the day before...all day long I make sure I actually drink plenty of water. But I never drink till I think I will burst.