Girls Gone Wildwood

Some days are better than others, and some runs are better than others. Today was not one of the better ones. Only a few miles in, I tripped on a root and landed on my left hip, sliding on my side through the mud. My right hand was covered in prickles. Almost immediately my phone stopped working, so I didn't have any podcasts or music to listen to, and my run didn't get tracked. Sola Bar The muscles around the sides of my back throbbed in persistent pain that never warmed out, as I had hoped when I started. It felt like the body aches of coming down with the flu. But one good thing did come out of it: I tried a new savory bar and it was pretty good.

Four weeks ago I got a flu shot and almost immediately after I started to feel dizzy and tired. I left work early and went home and slept the rest of the day, the next day I only lasted at work for 2 hours. Over the weekend I started getting headaches and felt fatigued no matter how much I rested. I figured I was coming down with a cold or something. After a week of not getting better and having a mild headache all day I went to Zoomcare  to try and figure out what was going on. The doctor at Zoomcare told me she thought I had over training syndrome because I didn't take enough time to recover after CCC. I tried to debate this with her but it became apparent that she wasn't use to working with endurance athletes, so I dropped it. She conducted a normal exam and said it was possible that I was suffering from sinus headaches, but she still suggested I take 2 months off of running. She said no one wants to run in the rain anyways. UGH! I got a prescription for Sudafed and w

Pizza in a pouch == surprisingly yum Last year I heard about the weirdest running food product: a pizza-flavored paste in a pouch. Sounds gross, right? But it's vegan. And it was developed by Clif with Scott Jurek, who wrote the awesome book Eat and Run . I first tried it during our Mt Rainier circumnavigation and was happily surprised. It tasted good to me, went down easily, didn't upset my stomach, and satisfied my desire for savory food. Then I bought more, but when I got around to eating one it had a bad aftertaste-- and it turns out they were all expired (although only by one month)! I decided to give it one more go when I got a great deal on a case.

For the past few years I've been all about eating "real food" out on long adventure runs. It feels healthier, and the range of options is far wider. But most of all, I get sick of sweet foods and I love salty things. My go-to was a small tortilla with hummus, spinach, and some kind of pickle (okra, please!). Sure, it gets warm, the tortilla can get soggy, and the spinach wilts... And sometimes it's just not what I feel like eating.