Still Fighting Food!

Oh man am I still struggling with food! It’s mental. I know this. But seriously, how long did it take me to figure out that most of my problems with running were mental? I had to complete a half marathon, without collapsing at the finish line, before I believed that I could do it. So where the heck is the food finish line?!?! It’s not weight loss. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I’m still shy the 50 pounds I had collected previously, but sheesh if I can’t find the motivation to get back on the food wagon.

A recent road trip woke me up. First of all, I got 12 hours of “me” time – six over, six back. Lots of thinking was accomplished! I was really proud of myself the first day – I ate well and hydrated even better. I’ve never stopped SO many times on a six hour drive! Dinner that night wasn’t the greatest, but I wasn’t upset with myself.

Day 2 – Horrible! First of all I had a Danish for breakfast. I NEVER have sugar for breakfast! It just leaves me starving an hour later! Then I had my standard mocha with a piece of lemon pound cake from Starbucks. By the time we returned from our short shopping adventure, I was crashing - fast and hard! I had fueled with sugar and caffeine and my body had used it quickly and left me worthless. Ugh! A short rest later, dinner prep began, as did the endless munching on chips and dip. I’m embarrassed at how much I ate. I should have stopped myself, but I didn’t even try. Dumb! Really dumb!

The return trip – I ate and drank identical to the drive over. I stopped to pee just as many times. I was back on track. Until dinner. Well, dinner #1 was great. It was moderately healthy and filled me right up. Yes, I said that was dinner #1. See, later that night someone very special to me called and said “hey, let’s grab a bite to eat.” SOOOO excited to have this moment with a long lost friend, I said sure and headed to Red Robin, where I proceeded to eat deep fried chicken and fries. Dumb! Really dumb!

Come Sunday morning I hopped out of bed and jumped in my clothes to go for my long run. Before I had gotten to my shoes, my gut started aching. I decided to go ahead with some cereal and see if I was going to feel better or worse. Guess what? Worse! Much worse! I curled up in my running clothes and took a nap. After getting some chores accomplished, I was feeling considerably better, so I laced up my shoes and hit the road for 10 miles. In the grand scheme of things, I’m glad the day worked out as it did. My run was full of funnies and I really enjoyed it! Well, until I began to feel fatigue a little sooner than I should have. I attributed it to the days of poor food and the runs I had missed during the week. I knew I deserved this punishment. I took it and pushed harder than I ever thought I could to finish that run.

So there I have it… I get pretty thoughtless about my eating. If I see it, I eat it. This must stop!

I read some blogs today that totally helped inspire me! Here are a few things I picked up…
“… knowing everything you put into your mouth needs to be used as fuel with no exceptions…”
~ www.adventurejunkiemom.blogspot.com
“Calories = fuel, plain and simple”
“… Essentially, eating a healthy, well rounded diet *is* a treat itself. Feeling the best I can by properly fueling my body is worth its weight in gold…”
~ www.runfastermommy.com
“Eat consciously, always. Treat your body with respect and fuel it accordingly.”
~ www.shutupandrun.net