Gas Powered Marthoner

In a few minutes I'll be heading to bed. Gotta get some beauty sleep before I run a half marathon plus three miles tomorrow morning. But first I thought I would share what I'm eating the night before a long run.

I've really been trying to eat cleaner this week since I discovered on Tuesday that I would be participating in a race this Saturday. Emphasis on "trying". I'm not perfect in what I eat, but I've done a little better in squeezing in more veggies and healthier carbs.

While I'm not "carb-loading" tonight in the sense that most people think of, I am eating a delicious, healthy soup full of protein and carbs. Satisfying and filling and certain to power me through 16 miles. Even if it ends up being gas power from all these beans. ;)



My little helper for the evening...Elle

Chicken Taco Soup (adapted from a friend's vegetarian taco soup)

Olive oil
1 or 2 cans chopped green chilies
1 medium onion, chopped
3 TBSPs homemade GF taco seasoning (or 1 pkg taco seasoning)
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Great Northern white beans, drained and rinsed
2 (14 ounce) cans of peeled, cut tomatoes (or 1 qt canned stewed tomatoes)
1 can yellow hominy (or corn)
1 can white hominy (or corn)
1 pound chicken, shredded (My canned chicken breast works perfectly for this!)
2 TBSP salsa (optional)
2 to 3 cups of water
1 to 2 tsps chicken bouillon, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, sauté onion and chilies in oil for about 3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream.

A few notes...This can very easily be a vegetarian meal; just leave out the chicken and bouillon!

If you are using chicken, a rotisserie chicken, such as the ones they sell at Costco, works very well for this recipe. Or you can just prepare some chicken breasts and shred them.

The beans are flexible, in that, you could put in whatever beans you have on hand. Black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, etc.

This recipe was my first encounter with hominy. If you've never had it, you've got to give it a try! Hominy is a form of corn, but it's just not the same. It has a fantastic, almost chewy texture which I love. It can be found near the canned beans in your grocery store or in the ethnic food aisle.

I love this recipe because it is a "dump it all in and simmer for a bit" kind of recipe. It's gluten- and dairy-free too. And I'm a sucker for a good hearty soup too, especially on a snowy day such as this one.

Yep. Snow. In March. The day before a half marathon race. I keep getting antsy about it, but then I remember...Oh yeah. I've been training all winter. This ain't nothing. Wish me luck!

Dashing through a Dozen



Things you see on a 12 mile run: Domestic Elk

I normally do my long runs on Saturday when Joe is home to watch the kids. I wake up early to get out the door and get it done, but it still takes up a big chunk of my Saturday and I spend the rest of  the day recuperating from the pounding miles.
This week Joe got back into town early Friday so I jumped on the opportunity and did my run Friday afternoon instead.

Thus far, I have started my runs from home, running out in a straight stretch half the distance and then running down a block and returning back on a parallel straight stretch. It's effective. It's predictable. It gets me where I need to be. And it can get awfully boring.

So this time, since I had Joe around, I asked him to drive me out 12 miles away from home and I would run all the way back. It seemed like a great idea...when I was sitting in my warm, comfortable home. And then we started driving.

12 miles seems so much farther when it's done in one straight shot.

My stomach started to squirm as we got farther and farther from home. We passed from our town to the neighboring town to another town and even another town.

Gulp.

When we reached 12 miles, he asked me what I wanted him to do.

"Take me home", I said, only half way joking.

But I got out of the car with the thought that the only way 12 miles is going to happen is one step at a time. And so I ran 12 miles home. It was marvelous. And it was cold, much colder than I had anticipated. Yet still marvelous.

My legs stuck with me. The music was good. I felt pretty comfortable, as comfortable as one can be jogging, until mile 11. Then it got extra uncomfortable and dark and even colder, but with the thought that there was only one mile to go...I got through it.

I ate a couple of Clif Blok Shots and anti-fatigue pills before and half way through. I think that really made a difference. My ten mile run a couple of weeks ago was miserable. This 12 mile run with that mid-run nutrition went much, much better!

I still haven't committed to a hydration belt. I just carried a water bottle with me and refilled the two times I stopped at convenience stores to use the bathroom. That would have worked okay except for the cold water sloshing out of the bottle making my already freezing hands even icier.

And with that run I'm almost half way to marathon distance! That's exciting and very motivating. Next week I'm scheduled to run 14 miles, the longest distance I will have ever run in my entire life. After this run...I'm game!

Oh, and it was very satisfying to wake up this morning and NOT have to go running. Especially when a huge snowstorm came plowing in. I sat quite comfortably in my recliner, watching the snow blowing horizontally, feeling very smug and relieved that I was already done with my miles!

The Terror of Ten Miles

Last Saturday I ran ten miles.

If my training schedule hadn't said "10" I would definitely have quit at 7. Those last three miles were t.o.u.g.h. My legs, especially my calves, and the bottoms of my feet were not happy with me. My entire body just felt tired. It was pretty miserable. Towards Mile 9 I found myself talking out loud to...myself.

You can do it! You can do this! Just move. Keep going forward. You can do this, girl!

And I did do it, but instead of feeling proud of my accomplishment, I felt fear.

If I'm struggling this bad to get through ten miles and hurting this bad for the entire day after, how in the world am I going to make it through 26.2 miles? Heck! How am I going to make it through the 11 that I need to run next Saturday?

It's disheartening to let that fear settle in and eat at your confidence. But my hope is that with a bit of education and some new "toys" I can overcome some of the struggles I had with this run.

It's time to bite the bullet and shell out some cash for new shoes and a hydration belt. I've only ever bought one pair of running shoes from a real running store where they watched me run and advised me to buy a certain type of shoe. (I guess I "over pronate"?) That was just last year and it cost me over a $100 as well as some respect from my husband.

He is so not fond of my favorite hobby. The time and money spent on training, gear, and races drive him nuts. It's going to be hard to convince him it's already time to buy more shoes. And then even more money on a "fancy fanny pack". He's going to be thrilled.

Oh and then it's also time to delve into the world of mid-run nutrition.

Shudder.

It's very overwhelming to me. Shouldn't running be simple? Why do I need to learn biochemistry and sell my first born just to run, or at least run comfortably? I guess I'm kind of a lazy runner. I don't want to put much work into it beyond moving my legs.