Food = Energy

Food = Energy

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Snow Day!!

Last night I gave a quick speech at a casual dinner celebrating the student volunteers that will be embarking on some truly awesome community service trips this school year (some students have already completed their trip). These trips are planned by student leaders involved in the group Alternative Breaks here at Rutgers University and I had the pleasure of being an "Alt Breaks" member for three years as an undergrad at Rutgers. Being able to speak at their Kick-Off dinner as an Alternative Breaks alum was a great experience and one that can now be added to the many great experiences and memories I have as a result of the community service trips I participated in during my college career. 

After the dinner, I returned to the apartment to do complete some late-night planning for today's school day and having closed the laptop after 11pm, I was not looking forward to the now-inevitable dragging state I'd be in for school. You will understand, then, my relief and excitement to find out this morning that school was closed due to the impending snow, however I did not read that "impending" part. So as I go to look outside the bedroom window, I am expecting to see nothing but a pristine, white blank of snow covering the street and sidewalks. Instead, I see absolutely no sign of snow. "Oh well. No school!" I think to myself. So I change my alarm clock to 7am (yes, that's sleeping in for me), but as I am lying in bed I can only think about the endless possibilities of a snow day: a ten mile run, completing a paper due Thursday, buying fish food, a ten mile run, doing laundry, catching up on some TV episodes, a ten mile run, enjoying a hot lunch at the kitchen table, writing this blog post, and lastly, a ten mile run. Needless to say, I could not fall back asleep and decided, instead, to go on...you guess it....a ten mile run. 

AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! 

I haven't been so ecstatic about a run in a long time. I would choose an early morning run over any other time of day without pausing to think about it. Having been unable to leave the apartment for a run while the sun is yet to rise made the run today so much more enjoyable. Andddd to top it off, it started snowing about 5 miles into my run and with no sunglasses to protect my eyes from "the elements" I was really forced to enjoy Mother Nature in all her beautiful glory. 

I just wish I had my phone with me to take a picture of the untouched snow covering the streets and sidewalks not even 20 minutes after it started coming down. 

If you haven't gotten a chance to exercise today, I encourage you to grab some gloves, layer up, and go "play" outside. Don't think of it as exercise. Throw snowballs in the air for your dog to catch or jog around a local park that's bound to be more beautiful when covered in snow. Or you can be like my girlfriend, Val, and get off of the bus a mile and a half early and walk back home (or to destination x)! Now that's the spirit, Val! 

Lastly...I stumbled upon an article for those of you who have contemplated changing your diet to a vegan, plant-based diet or for those of you who have tried, but reverted to your old ways for whatever your reason. This Health.com article may prove helpful! I encourage you to read the article even if just to educate yourself...you never know if a friend or family member of yours might bring it up in conversation.



Happy running!

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Today's run: 10 miles

Pre-run fuel: Nothing, unless half a glass of water counts. I was aiming for my late dinner, as a result of the event I went to, to hold me over for the run. I was right!

Post-run recovery:  Breakfast: Two small, toasted whole-wheat rolls (from last night's dinner event) with natural peanut butter and a banana sliced up for each one (2 small bananas). Excellent recovery breakfast or snack for multiple reasons: potassium for muscles, protein for muscle and tissue recovery, and carbs for restoring glycogen levels.    




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