Hitting the wall: I need ideas to help me reach my daily carb goal

I knew it was finally going to catch up to me one day. Running 50-plus miles a week. On courses with more hills than I'd ever run on before. In 75-plus degree temps and humidity over 90 percent.

A bad running day was bound to happen. And I finally "caught" one Saturday.

Let me start with the excuses first: It was an 18-mile run. It was 75 degrees with 90 percent humidity. It was, as you can see in the elevation picture, mostly uphill the first half of the run. Plus, my legs were pretty much dead before the run. I was on my third consecutive week of running at least 50 miles - a personal record for me. Saturday's 18-miler would put me at 56.74 miles for the week - another personal record.

(I think it's time for me to take a step-back week. Let my legs rest up and heal. They hate me right about now)

Back to the run....

They say your body has this Central Governor, where it knows how your run is going to be within the first few miles. And before we hit the first water stop, before we even hit the first hill, I was already feeling it. Face flushed. Sweat just everywhere. Hot. Hot. Hot.

I slowed down to like an 8:10 pace and still felt like crap. Two hills on Mile 7 just about wiped me out and after taking 9 minutes to finish that mile, I thought about turning around and just doing 14. But no, I figured, I needed this kind of run, where you try to get through it when everything isn't going right.

I trudged on. They called this route the Mt. Bonnell run because, well, Mt. kinda means mountain. And by Mile 8, I could see what they were talking about. Look at the elevation. Straight uphill. About 230 feet in about 1.5 miles.

You don't really run, you just lift your feet up so they don't get run over by the ants.

I was pretty much a goner by this point, but my legs still had some juice in them for the second half of the run, which was mostly downhill. For the next six miles, I averaged about an 8:05 pace. We had a water stop at Mile 14 and I thought I had this run whipped.

I was wrong, so wrong. Right at about the 2 hour mark of the run (14.5 miles in), my gas tank was empty. I hit the wall. No carbs left. Running slow didn't help me feel better at all. It felt like the last few miles of all the marathons I've done. My pace went from 8:30 at Mile 15 to 9:30 at Mile 16 and 17 to...... 12:00 at Mile 18.

That's right. A 12-minute mile. I did the walk-run thing to make it in. I'd run to a light pole, then walk, then run, then walk. I wound up completing the 18-mile run in 2:35, an 8:37 pace - or about a minute slower than last weekend's 16-miler.

I know that nutrition has been my biggest problem for long runs, and it appears the nutrition bug bit me again Satuday. But folks, I really am trying to eat as much as I can. Somedays I get all the carbs I need *450 to 500 a day) and other days I struggle to get 200. I know. I know. Terrible for a runner.

But hey, my marathon isnt for a couple of months and so I've got time to figure this out. If any of you runners have secrets about how you get in the carbs, please let me know. I know pastas and potatoes and breads. But what else do you guys/gals do?

What's a fast, quick, and cheap way to get the carbs you need without getting so full you don't want to eat your next scheduled meal?