Girls Gone Wildwood

Full disclosure: I love olives in general and have gone through nearly a dozen Oloves packs during the course of my running career. When I am at REI (which is not very often), I almost always pick up a package or two of Oloves. They're shelf-stable, convenient, and delicious. They have four flavors, and I enjoy them all. I think lemon & rosemary is my favorite because it's delightfully piquant, and although I love the spicy flavors, you don't always want spice or garlic on a runner's stomach. You know what I mean. Olives make for a great running food. They're savory, salty, and juicy, not messy or crumbly, and easy to eat. In fact, I would bring olives more often if I could find a good way to carry them, so they don't leak juice or go bad. Oloves solves those problems and provides a great portion size. Unfortunately they also cost more than I'm willing to spend on a regular basis... at least at full retail. For some reason I've never purchase...

Go Umami baked tofu I was at a different grocery store from my usual, and saw these Go Umami tofu sticks in the refrigerated section. I was excited at the prospect of a savory protein-- baked tofu meant for immediate consumption, rather than to be used in cooking. There were three flavors available, so I bought one of each. I brought two on a snowy run, and we shared them to try both. The packages weren't too hard to open (a plus with cold, stiff fingers, and something that's been an issue with some other, similarly-wrapped products) and the tofu was firm but juicy with a good, firm texture. The flavor, however, was too bland for me. I couldn't taste much difference between the two; couldn't taste much at all, to be honest. Ann liked them a bit more than me. Based on their relatively short shelf life (the best-by date was within a week of purchase) and limited availability, I likely won't buy these again. Primal Strips are a much better option-- they don...

I subscribe to a monthly box of vegan snacks, which is how I first tried these "nori wrapped energy sticks." There's a light crispiness to the seaweed wrapping, and the sunflower seed filling gives them a substantial chew. I had never eaten anything quite like it, and I immediately looked for where to buy more. I have the POWER (wraps)! I ordered two of each flavor from the maker's website, and enjoyed them all. I discovered that my local vegan grocery store  carries them. Then I don't know if I got tired of them or I just got a bad batch, but suddenly they didn't taste good to me anymore. A couple of years passed, and I decided to try them again for this experiment, specifically for running.

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.

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.