My title has little to do with the bestselling book "Eat, Pray, Love." Mostly due to the fact that I've never read it. My love for the phrase is grounded in a clip from the movie "Bad Teacher."
Instead my title refers to how I felt going into my long run today. Here's what I ate for dinner last night.
General Tso was likely a fierce warrior, obviously too powerful for my feeble will power to overcome. Judge all you want but it was delicious. And until 10am this morning I didn't regret a single bite. But 8 miles into my long run I was praying. Praying for the ability to finish my planned run. The life of any athlete -- or 30-something father who likes to pretend that casual running and having played soccer 20 years ago makes him an athlete -- usually revolves, at least partly, around proper nutrition. I always think about nutrition and running in the context of my college computer science class where I learned the phrase: Garbage in, garbage out. I no longer remember why this is related to computers. But it certainly relates to running.
Last night was garbage in. 8 miles into my long run I received garbage out - not literally luckily. And I was reminded, yet again, the importance of properly fueling my body for the road that lies ahead.
Look how happy she looks making that shake. That's how I look at a pizza. My goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. And so some bargain must be made between enjoying what I eat and giving my muscles what they need. Less Chinese food, more shakes. Got it. Of course... it's 3 months of sacrifice. I can't give up pizza for 3 months. Maybe the bargain comes in what kind of pizza I eat or what kind of Chinese food I order. Can chicken and broccoli be just as much a reward at the end of the week as General Tso's chicken? Can I live without deep dish pizza? Of course I can, and this is where the bargain has to be made. Changes I can live with that don't make me a raving lunatic.
So the moral of the story is that next Friday night it's chicken and broccoli. My goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Day 3: 10 miles, 85 minutes, 8:30 pace.
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