The Water Challenge

by Patrick on May 4, 2009

I originally wanted to title this post, “The Gallon Challenge”, but Wendi told me that it refers to a more disgusting stunt that involves dairy products. I was well aware of the milk gallon challenge but didn’t know it was called that.

A little factoid about me, I enjoy keeping hydrated.

While I’m at work I have a 32oz Nalgene bottle with me that I used to use to make sure I got my 8 glasses of water a day. At first I used to try and drink 64 oz within my work day so I would know I’d be on point, but as the 8×8 theory continues to get debunked, I’ve mellowed out to casually drinking a bottle’s worth. None the less I try to drink water as a part of a healthy lifestyle- I’ve never been a fan of soda except as a mixer.

My co-worker Krissy recently caught on to my Nalgene habit and started bringing her own Nalegene to work as well. That got the ball rolling about our daily water consumption… and how extreme we could make it.

Now Krissy and I have been competitors in weird areas, but somehow last week we decided to see if we could drink a gallon of water.

At first, we had fears that an attempt to drink a gallon of water would be lethal, and we didn’t want to end up dead (especially if we didn’t get a Wii in return.) So we decided to make it an endurance challenge, could we consume an entire gallon of water over our workday. It’s not as easy as it looks. At best I was drinking 64oz of water over the course of a day, and that was tough enough, now I was going to attempt twice that in the same amount of time.

So last Friday I brought in two gallons of drinking water for Krissy and I to drink over the course of our work day.

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Yummy Giant brand water!

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After the first fill-up of the Nalgene I really thought it wouldn’t be that hard- look how much of a dent I made!

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I was ready to rock and hydrate! At noon we checked-in to see how we were doing, we were both drinking at the same rate pretty much, Krissy was using a glass (left her Nalegene at home) so at lunch time she was actually ahead. I felt fine but Krissy told me she felt sloshy, “Patrick, I can feel the water in my stomach when I walk!”

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Peeing was inevitable and encouraged, we weren’t trying to hold it in- just drink it up. By 3 PM I logged only three trips to the bathroom but Krissy had around five.  However at 3 I already drank two Nalgene bottles worth and now I was going into uncharted territory when it came to water consumption. Trying to drink the water became a little bit tougher as we hit the home stretch.

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We agreed to do the challenge on a Friday since it was casual day and work was expected to be slow. That wasn’t the case, I spent the day editing videos for a presentation and I had to excuse myself twice during a review session so I could empty my bladder. My supervisor enjoyed the explanation of my frequent urges. However by the end of the work day Krissy and I chugged our last 12 oz and we finished our gallon challenge intact. And we only had to pee a combined 13 times!

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To many it maybe silly but for us it’s just another life accomplishment.

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  • http://enjoylifeandprosper.wordpress.com Krissy

    Yes!

  • http://www.ihatesomuch.com Maxie

    Nalgene bottles make water taste like metal poo.

  • mp3ray

    I use to drink 1/2 my weight in fluid ounces. I got sick a LOT less and it was awesome to feel that healthy. It was pretty easy to do!

  • http://liebchen11.wordpress.com Liebchen

    Nicely done. I can sympathize with “feel the water sloshing around in my stomach” though. Not always pleasant.

  • http://francobeans.com f.B

    You guys are superheroes.

  • http://aliceblogs.blogspot.com Alice

    i’d heard the 8×8 thing was a myth… it does make me feel less guilty if i don’t drink 239876 glasses of water a day, at least :-)

    man, i am SO familiar with that sloshy feeling. it’s unpleasant. well done you guys!

  • http://www.dmbosstone.com Patrick

    Krissy – This is where amazing happens.

    Maxie – What’s mental poo?

    mp3ray – That doesn’t sound like a lot of water, but I do feel good when I do drink lots of water.

    Liebchen – I feel you must run off a lot of that sloshing, actually have you ever run with that sloshing? It probably doesn’t feel good

    f.B – I strive to be as cool as that other Asian guy with glasses.

    Alice – So do you drink that much water? How else do you get the sloshy feeling?

  • Katie

    Yeah, I can never manage to drink even close to enough water. I get caught up in the 174936 things I have to do and forget. And there is NO WAY I would have the time to pee that much. I’d have to get a catheter.

  • http://www.dmbosstone.com Patrick

    It’s gotta be different when you got all those students- I’m lucky I don’t teach…

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  • http://capslove.wordpress.com Dazey

    This is by far the best post I have ever read. I would totally have done that challenge. One day when I had a soar throat at work, I consumed my 32 oz. Nalgene in maybe 30 mins. Peeing had never been so annoying! Haha. GOOD times.
    .-= Dazey´s last blog ..Cold Feet =-.

  • http://www.dmbosstone.com Patrick

    I feel that makes peeing feel that much more awesome however.

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