Drinking and Eating: Runner-Style

Apologies all around for the lack of consistency in my posting. I'm blaming it on the election. Boo election 2008! And, the blame must be shared with work, because it has been busy for the past week. Performance evaluations and stuff like that, you know.

But this week heralds the return to training! Monday morning was my first day back on the path since the Chicago marathon. It felt...okay...my run wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad either. Nothing hurt, and I ran between a 10:30 and a 10:00 mile for 45 minutes. I still have that nagging knot in my right calf muscle (ha! consonance is fun, isn't it?) but overall, everything feels pretty good.

Which brings me to this: Perhaps the only thing worse than tapering is reverse tapering. Mentally, I am so pumped to start training again, even though I won't be able to do another half or full marathon until May. So pumped, in fact, that I can see myself completing three runs per day along with cross-training and a crazy diet. This is a recipe for an injury. Or an eating disorder. So therefore, I'm going to resist the urge to throw myself back into training as if I hadn't just finished a marathon two weeks ago. Instead, I'm going to do one workout per day for the next two to three weeks, and then ease myself back into doubles. It's just so hard though because there's nothing better than running in the Autumn in Chicago! The weather is PERFECT, the path is less congested, the colours are outstanding, and I get to wear pants again. What more could a girl ask for?

True...a hot guy to run with...but let's not get greedy.

On a humorous note, I have a TON of beer in my apartment because I won the beer tasting we had last weekend. Basically, the rules states that you bring three six-packs of the same brand of beer. Two of the six-packs are served for a blind tasting, and the remaining six-pack is put in the "pot". Whoever wins get the "pot"! In the interests not letting the beer go to waste, I have had a few each day. And it would only be appropriate for me to drink the beer in special pint glasses:


This is not the winning booze, but I enjoyed it anyway. And hey, it was free!!!


And in other news, I was grocery shopping at Whole Foods and discovered something magical. Something that only Autumn-loving runners such as myself can truly appreciate...

SEASONAL CLIFF BARS!!!


It's enough to make me squeal with delight. SQUEAL I SAY! And I think I might, because tomorrow is my birthday!