Cool-Kept Water & Ice in 24-Ounce Polar Bottle Saves the ... Dog?

Yesterday was our first 90+ deg day in the Atlanta metro area, and a great opportunity for me to test my recently acquired blue-lined Polar Bottle.

Trying to keep my heart rate under control, I had to stop several times on my 20 minute loop, specifically at the beginning and middle of the 'BIG' hill at Tribble Mill Park. About halfway up this monster hill in the sweltering evening heat, I noticed a guy and a girl in the grass about 3/4 of the way up. Heart pounding in my ears, I plodded and clunked my way up, and observed a large black object attempting to rise up off the grass next to the couple, and plopping down in a heap again. About the same time, someone in a truck pulled up beside them, and I assume from the thankfully dismissive hand motions of the couple, had asked them if they needed help. By this time my fried brain had figured out they were dealing with an overheated dog.

As I slogged up the hill to the rhythm of the nicely preserved ice cubes knocking around in my Polar Bottle, I resolved to offer its contents to the couple tending the poor dog. I remembered the bull with heatstroke from the James Herriot All Creatures Great and Small books. After a painfully slow climb, I approached the couple and panted with confidence "I have actual ICE CUBES in this ICE COLD water!!". I asked if they wanted to use it because obviously the dog needed it more than I did. The poor creature had collapsed and was heaving rapidly. Scanning the scene I noticed a gallon jug of warm water next to the soaked black lab and his jogger-owner, who must've outrun him! I believe the guy helping was another concerned passer-by. At my urging, the guy dumped out most of my water and ice chunks onto the dog's back & sides, and I stood there uttering goofy comments like "I've definitely been where he is now". I was thinking specifically about A2A mile 69 - the grassy knoll at the top of Silver Hill, or the Keno hyponatremia cement-plant rest-stop at mile 76. To my relief, the lab heaved himself up onto his front elbows a short while after the ice-dumping.

I skated for another 10 mins, even swigging the remnants from my bottle and not caring if it smelled like wet dog. By the time I got in my car to drive out of the park, the dog and his companions were gone, and I assume it was a happy ending.

Moral of my story: this insulated Polar Bottle does a great job of preserving ice and ice-cold water up to an hour into a skate on a 90 deg day. My other regular plastic bottles lose the ice after about 30 mins in such heat, rendering my hydration supply too disgusting to drink.

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