Plant-Strong Running

May 8, 2012

Yahoo! I ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati this past weekend. Although it was my 9th half marathon, it was my first plant-strong race. It was an opportunity to see how 6 months of whole foods, plant-based eating would stand up in 13.1 miles of running. I am happy to report that I felt the most energetic in this race that I ever have in a half. I felt almost frisky, like I was chomping at the bit, and even at the end of the race, it was my muscles and bones that started complaining; my energy and cardio were fine.

For breakfast, I fueled up with a banana, a No-Bake Energy Bite, and a jumbo Everything Muffin. I ran with my training partner, only the second time I have run an entire half-marathon with someone. I think running with someone helped me out as well because it pushed me to keep going, keep performing at my best. The company and conversation were great as well!

I was thankful to see an excerpt from ultrarunner Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run in the June 2012 issue of Runner’s World. As a seven-time winner of Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, he knows what it takes to make the human body perform at its greatest potential, and he eats a whole foods, plant-based diet. I hope more people will consider going meatless and unprocessed, at least for a few meals a week, as a result of the spotlight. I know I personally saw the fruits of it this past weekend.