diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..723ef36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.idea
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/benchmarks/go.mod b/benchmarks/go.mod
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4c594e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/go.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+module pester/benchmarks
+
+require (
+	github.com/sethgrid/pester v1.0.0
+)
+
+replace github.com/sethgrid/pester v1.0.0 => ../
+
+go 1.14
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e56fb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+module github.com/sethgrid/pester
+
+go 1.14
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pester.go b/pester.go
index f5d8866..8021e60 100644
--- a/pester.go
+++ b/pester.go
@@ -12,22 +12,26 @@ import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 )
 
 const (
-	methodDo       = "Do"
-	methodGet      = "Get"
-	methodHead     = "Head"
-	methodPost     = "Post"
-	methodPostForm = "PostForm"
+	methodDo                  = "Do"
+	methodGet                 = "Get"
+	methodHead                = "Head"
+	methodPost                = "Post"
+	methodPostForm            = "PostForm"
+	headerKeyContentType      = "Content-Type"
+	contentTypeFormURLEncoded = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
 )
 
 //ErrUnexpectedMethod occurs when an http.Client method is unable to be mapped from a calling method in the pester client
 var ErrUnexpectedMethod = errors.New("unexpected client method, must be one of Do, Get, Head, Post, or PostFrom")
 
 // ErrReadingBody happens when we cannot read the body bytes
+// Deprecated: use ErrReadingRequestBody
 var ErrReadingBody = errors.New("error reading body")
 
 // ErrReadingRequestBody happens when we cannot read the request body bytes
@@ -91,7 +95,7 @@ type params struct {
 	req      *http.Request
 	url      string
 	bodyType string
-	body     io.Reader
+	body     io.ReadCloser
 	data     url.Values
 }
 
@@ -184,6 +188,16 @@ func (c *Client) Wait() {
 	c.wg.Wait()
 }
 
+func (c *Client) copyBody(src io.ReadCloser) ([]byte, error) {
+	b, err := ioutil.ReadAll(src)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, ErrReadingRequestBody
+	}
+	src.Close()
+
+	return b, nil
+}
+
 // pester provides all the logic of retries, concurrency, backoff, and logging
 func (c *Client) pester(p params) (*http.Response, error) {
 	resultCh := make(chan result)
@@ -227,21 +241,34 @@ func (c *Client) pester(p params) (*http.Response, error) {
 	}
 
 	// if we have a request body, we need to save it for later
-	var originalRequestBody []byte
-	var originalBody []byte
-	var err error
-	if p.req != nil && p.req.Body != nil {
-		originalRequestBody, err = ioutil.ReadAll(p.req.Body)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, ErrReadingRequestBody
-		}
-		p.req.Body.Close()
+	var (
+		request      *http.Request
+		originalBody []byte
+		err          error
+	)
+
+	if p.req != nil && p.req.Body != nil && p.body == nil {
+		originalBody, err = c.copyBody(p.req.Body)
+	} else if p.body != nil {
+		originalBody, err = c.copyBody(p.body)
 	}
-	if p.body != nil {
-		originalBody, err = ioutil.ReadAll(p.body)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, ErrReadingBody
-		}
+
+	switch p.method {
+	case methodDo:
+		request = p.req
+	case methodGet, methodHead:
+		request, err = http.NewRequest(p.verb, p.url, nil)
+	case methodPostForm, methodPost:
+		request, err = http.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, p.url, ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBuffer(originalBody)))
+	default:
+		err = ErrUnexpectedMethod
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	if len(p.bodyType) > 0 {
+		request.Header.Set(headerKeyContentType, p.bodyType)
 	}
 
 	AttemptLimit := c.MaxRetries
@@ -249,73 +276,45 @@ func (c *Client) pester(p params) (*http.Response, error) {
 		AttemptLimit = 1
 	}
 
-	for req := 0; req < concurrency; req++ {
+	for n := 0; n < concurrency; n++ {
 		c.wg.Add(1)
 		totalSentRequests.Add(1)
-		go func(n int, p params) {
+		go func(n int, req *http.Request) {
 			defer c.wg.Done()
 			defer totalSentRequests.Done()
 
-			var err error
 			for i := 1; i <= AttemptLimit; i++ {
 				c.wg.Add(1)
 				defer c.wg.Done()
+
 				select {
 				case <-finishCh:
 					return
 				default:
 				}
 
-				// rehydrate the body (it is drained each read)
-				if len(originalRequestBody) > 0 {
-					p.req.Body = ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBuffer(originalRequestBody))
-				}
-				if len(originalBody) > 0 {
-					p.body = bytes.NewBuffer(originalBody)
-				}
-
-				var resp *http.Response
-				// route the calls
-				switch p.method {
-				case methodDo:
-					resp, err = httpClient.Do(p.req)
-				case methodGet:
-					resp, err = httpClient.Get(p.url)
-				case methodHead:
-					resp, err = httpClient.Head(p.url)
-				case methodPost:
-					resp, err = httpClient.Post(p.url, p.bodyType, p.body)
-				case methodPostForm:
-					resp, err = httpClient.PostForm(p.url, p.data)
-				default:
-					err = ErrUnexpectedMethod
-				}
-
+				resp, err := httpClient.Do(req)
 				// Early return if we have a valid result
 				// Only retry (ie, continue the loop) on 5xx status codes and 429
-
 				if err == nil && resp.StatusCode < http.StatusInternalServerError && (resp.StatusCode != http.StatusTooManyRequests || (resp.StatusCode == http.StatusTooManyRequests && !c.RetryOnHTTP429)) {
 					multiplexCh <- result{resp: resp, err: err, req: n, retry: i}
 					return
 				}
 
-				loggingContext := context.Background()
-				if p.req != nil {
-					loggingContext = p.req.Context()
-				}
-
+				loggingContext := req.Context()
 				c.log(
 					loggingContext,
 					ErrEntry{
 						Time:    time.Now(),
 						Method:  p.method,
-						Verb:    p.verb,
-						URL:     p.url,
+						Verb:    req.Method,
+						URL:     req.URL.String(),
 						Request: n,
 						Retry:   i + 1, // would remove, but would break backward compatibility
 						Attempt: i,
 						Err:     err,
-					})
+					},
+				)
 
 				// if it is the last iteration, grab the result (which is an error at this point)
 				if i == AttemptLimit {
@@ -324,14 +323,11 @@ func (c *Client) pester(p params) (*http.Response, error) {
 				}
 
 				//If the request has been cancelled, skip retries
-				if p.req != nil {
-					ctx := p.req.Context()
-					select {
-					case <-ctx.Done():
-						multiplexCh <- result{resp: resp, err: ctx.Err()}
-						return
-					default:
-					}
+				select {
+				case <-req.Context().Done():
+					multiplexCh <- result{resp: resp, err: req.Context().Err()}
+					return
+				default:
 				}
 
 				// if we are retrying, we should close this response body to free the fd
@@ -342,7 +338,12 @@ func (c *Client) pester(p params) (*http.Response, error) {
 				// prevent a 0 from causing the tick to block, pass additional microsecond
 				<-time.After(c.Backoff(i) + 1*time.Microsecond)
 			}
-		}(req, p)
+		}(n, request)
+
+		// rehydrate the body (it is drained each read)
+		if request.Body != nil {
+			request.Body = ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBuffer(originalBody))
+		}
 	}
 
 	// spin off the go routine so it can continually listen in on late results and close the response bodies
@@ -373,8 +374,8 @@ func (c *Client) pester(p params) (*http.Response, error) {
 	defer c.Unlock()
 	c.SuccessReqNum = res.req
 	c.SuccessRetryNum = res.retry
-	return res.resp, res.err
 
+	return res.resp, res.err
 }
 
 // LogString provides a string representation of the errors the client has seen
@@ -440,12 +441,12 @@ func (c *Client) Head(url string) (resp *http.Response, err error) {
 
 // Post provides the same functionality as http.Client.Post
 func (c *Client) Post(url string, bodyType string, body io.Reader) (resp *http.Response, err error) {
-	return c.pester(params{method: methodPost, url: url, bodyType: bodyType, body: body, verb: http.MethodPost})
+	return c.pester(params{method: methodPost, url: url, bodyType: bodyType, body: ioutil.NopCloser(body), verb: http.MethodPost})
 }
 
 // PostForm provides the same functionality as http.Client.PostForm
 func (c *Client) PostForm(url string, data url.Values) (resp *http.Response, err error) {
-	return c.pester(params{method: methodPostForm, url: url, data: data, verb: http.MethodPost})
+	return c.pester(params{method: methodPostForm, url: url, bodyType: contentTypeFormURLEncoded, body: ioutil.NopCloser(strings.NewReader(data.Encode())), verb: http.MethodPost})
 }
 
 // set RetryOnHTTP429 for clients,
diff --git a/sample/go.mod b/sample/go.mod
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bc7a87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sample/go.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+module pester/sample
+
+require (
+	github.com/sethgrid/pester v1.0.0
+)
+
+replace github.com/sethgrid/pester v1.0.0 => ../
+
+go 1.14
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sample/main.go b/sample/main.go
index 3a63fdc..635dd81 100644
--- a/sample/main.go
+++ b/sample/main.go
@@ -164,15 +164,15 @@ func randoHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	var code int
 	switch rand.Intn(10) {
 	case 0:
-		code = 404
+		code = http.StatusNotFound
 	case 1:
-		code = 400
+		code = http.StatusBadRequest
 	case 2:
-		code = 501
+		code = http.StatusNotImplemented
 	case 3:
-		code = 500
+		code = http.StatusInternalServerError
 	default:
-		code = 200
+		code = http.StatusOK
 	}
 
 	log.Printf("incoming request on :9000 - will return %d in %d ms", code, delay)