I Will Be a Spectator

So I've decided I will not be running the 2010 ING New York City Marathon.  This was a very difficult decision, but I believe it was the right one.  I am seriously undertrained, and have been battling injury for the past year.  My mileage has been way, way down from where it was even in the spring, and I've had very few successful long runs this season.  For me to run a marathon in just two weeks would be extremely difficult, possibly risking even more injury.  It would also be a really really really slow run, and would just not be an enjoyable experience for me.

I came to this decision on Sunday, in the middle of what was to be my last long run before the marathon.  You'll recall that last week was the FRNY Blue Line Run, the last 20 miles of the marathon, and I had a pretty disastrous run, pretty much falling apart and having to take a taxi after 17 miles.  After last week, I gave myself one more chance to have a good long run before the marathon.  I came up with a great 22 mile route, which traces the last 15 miles of the marathon, following a 7-mile run from my apartment to Williamsburg.  I specifically wanted to do the end of the marathon route again so that, on race day, I wouldn't be dogged by the reminder of how crappy I felt during the Blue Line Run down Fifth Avenue.

So Sunday, I headed out for my planned 22-miler.  I felt fine for the first 12-13 miles.  But then I just started to get tired, and kind of lost my energy to keep it going.  I could probably have still continued, but I knew it would be a struggle, and mentally, I knew that it just wouldn't be fun.  About mile 14, I stated thinking that I just didn't want to run 8 more miles to finish my planned run; and the thought of running 12 more miles in the marathon just seemed like it would be miserable.  So I decided to just stop, enjoy the run that I had, defer on this year's marathon, and head home for some lunch.

It was a difficult decision, but one that I think I'm glad I made.  Running is supposed to be enjoyable.  Even when it's difficult and I'm pushing myself to the limit, I enjoy it.  But pushing myself to do a race that I'm not properly trained for is just not fun.  It's also not responsible running.  I'd like to think that I've matured enough as a runner that I don't have to be out there for every race, pushing my body to do things that it really shouldn't be doing.  It's not always about the distance covered, or the time that I ran it in, or how many times I can do a race.  Running is more about the love of the sport, and the ability to continue pursuing this passion.  I know that, by making the difficult but responsible decision to pass on this year's NYC Marathon, I am strengthening my love for running, and taking care of my body so that I can have other great races in the future.  While I'm definitely disappointed in missing out on New York, I am even more inspired to take care of myself and train properly in the spring in order to have a kick ass Boston.  I'm so excited to get back in shape and renew my love of running.

 *                           *                           *

After deciding not to run the marathon, I was definitely a little bummed.  But fortunately, I had previously made plans for some runner friends to come over for dinner.  Among them were Mikey and Derek who got me excited to be a part of "CHEER FORCE ONE," our marathon cheering squad.  I'm hoping we'll get to see our teammates in three separate spots--Greenpoint, 1st Ave and 5th Ave.  I've never actually been a spectator at the marathon, so think this will be a lot of fun.  

Ever since Mikey's chicken dinner last week, I've been thinking about making some pulled pork.  The last time I cooked up a pork shoulder, though, I ended up eating pulled pork for weeks, and I got a little sick of it.  So this time I decided to have a pulled pork party, with a bunch of fun side dishes.  

This time, I made my own barbecue sauce (although I kept handy a bottle of store-bought sauce just in case I was unsuccessful).  I actually make barbecue sauce often, but I only know how to make it with asian flavors (soy sauce, sesame oil, grated ginger, hoisin, oyster sauce, bulgogi sauce, etc.)  But I didn't want this sauce to be too asiany, because I didn't think that would work so well with my side dishes.  So my sauce consisted of: sauteed chopped onions, garlic power, ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, chili power, cayenne pepper powder, Manishewitz grape wine, red wine vinegar and a little bit of sriracha sauce.  It came out really good!  A perfect blend of tartness and sweetness, with a little bit of a kick.  Someone even commented that I would make a lot of money if I bottled it.  :-)

For my side dishes, I made cole slaw, baked beans, collard greens and a corn pudding.  Mikey and I got into a disagreement about the collard greens.  He thought they should be sauteed and served crisp and bright green.  I thought that, when serving collard greens with barbecue, they should be cooked for a loooong time, and super wilted to the point where they practically melt in your mouth.  We ended up in a compromise and served them somewhat wilted but still crisp.  Feel free to comment below on how you like your collard greens!

I think the biggest hit of the night was the corn pudding.  I decided to make corn pudding because I thought it would be a more interesting alternative to cornbread, which I'm not always a huge fan of.  Everyone liked it!  It was completely finished by the end of the night.  The consistency was kind of half-pudding/half-cornbread, and it was really able to showcase the sweetness of the corn.  I thought I'd include a recipe, which I adapted from a combination of this and this:

              Dave's Delicious Corn Pudding

              3 15-ounce cans of corn (2 cans drained; 1 can pureed)

              1 medium chopped onion, sauteed

              2 eggs

              6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, melted

              8 oz sour cream

              1 box jiffy corn bread mix

              1 tablespoon sugar

              Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Enjoy!

And for dessert, homemade sweet potato pie.  Yummmmmm!!!!!

Wurtsboro, Last 20-miler, Taper Time!

With about a week and a half until the Boston Marathon, I feel like the pre-race jitters have started to kick in.  I find myself in a bit of an emotional roller coaster, thinking, depending on the day, confident, or nervous, or seriously undertrained, or excited, or fearing that I will crash and burn, or hoping to get a certain time, or afraid that I may risk further injury.

The big confidence-destroyer was two weekends ago at the Wurtsboro Mountrain 30k.  As I stated in my last post, this is a really, really tough race, with the first 4.5 miles up a mountain, followed by a steep downhill and difficult rolling hills throughout the race.  Two years ago, I had a great race, and finished in 2:17:08 (7:21 pace).  This time did not go so well.

I knew early on that it wasn't going to be my day.  That first hill is soooo long, and sooooo steep.  Seriously, I can't even put into words how brutal it was.  Peter, IJ and I decided we were going to run together, but just about everyone else seemed to charge up that hill and leave us in the dust.  (There were 13 Front Runners doing the race, including Kevin the "Honorary Front Runner" who races with Urban Athletics.)  At first, I wanted to think, "See you in about 4 miles," thinking they may not be able to all sustain their fast pace up the hill.  But I soon realized that it was me, who, despite running my first two miles at 9 minute pace, would probably have to slow down.  Ugh.

Around mile 4 or 5, Peter, IJ and I started to spread apart a little, with Peter up front, then me, then IJ.  For a while, I tried to keep Peter in my sight.  Mile 4 was particularly difficult, though.  Having studied the course elevation chart, I had thought that after mile 4, it would be smooth sailing.  But no, the hill keeps climbing for about another half mile.  And then, there's this steep, steep downhill, which some people were racing down, but I had to take easy because I was afraid that the pounding would affect my butt condition.  I was relieved, though, when I got to this part of the race, as several of the other runners around me were cheering the fact that the hills were over.  But no!  As we turned the friggin corner there was another friggin hill.

To make matters worse, it was about at this point that I realized I didn't dress properly for the weather conditions.  Being in the mountains, and being about 90 minutes north of NYC, the race started out around 30 degrees, but was forecasted to get to around 40.  I decided to wear shorts and my long sleeve FR jersey, with gloves and a headband.  Because running shorts have the built-in liner, there's no reason ever to wear underwear with them.  Well, that is, unless you're doing a long run and it's 30 degrees out.  In that case, failing to wear underwear means running into the bitter cold with nothing to protect the goods from the elements except skimpy running shorts with their even skimpier liner (which are meant to breathe, not retain body heat).  I didn't know what to do...  I still had to do like 12 more miles but my nuts were literally about to freeze off.  For a second, I pondered whether there was anything I could use to improvise some underwear...leaves, cups at the water station...whatever.  Then I realized that I had my headband, and decided it would be better for my ears to freeze off than for the other alternative, so I stuffed my headband into my shorts.  Ahhhh....  about a mile later, I was was so nice and toasty down there.

By this time, IJ had caught up to me.  I was happy to see him because I had already decided that this was just going to be a fun run for me, and it was nice to have the company.  We ended up spending the rest of the race running together while chatting and gossiping.  I was happy to get my mind off of the fact that we were running 8:30 miles.  Around mile 14, we were joined by Geraldine, a 40-something runner from Ireland but living in Jersey.  She was really giddy and proud of herself for running with two younger men who both qualified for Boston.  She was actually running pretty strong--a lot stronger than we were--and ended up pulling us with her for the last four miles.  But when IJ and I saw the finish line, we couldn't resist; both both ended up kicking hard, outsprinting Geraldine in the last half mile.  I felt kind of bad, since if it weren't for her, I would have been a few minutes slower.  But, it is a race, haha, and we had to do what we had to do to beat her.  :-)

So in the end, my time was 2:38:40 (8:30 pace), more than twenty minutes slower than my first time.  But I had a ton of fun, and am looking forward to doing the race again next year.  Congrats to all of the other FRs who made it out to Wurtsboro who had a great race as well: Michael W. (4th overall!), Chris (2nd age), Matt (1st age), Rachel (3rd age), Tim, Steve, Mikey B., Kenyon, Peter, IJ, and Michael O.  Sorry you overslept and missed everything, Jeff.  Special thanks to IJ for running with me, and to Mikey B. and Steve for joining me on the extra 1.36 miles to make it an even 20.

One final note: not that I'm making excuses, but I think part of the reason for the difficulty the race was the fact that the night before was Koach Kelsey's birthday party.  As I mentioned here, Kelsey works for Harlem United, so the party was held in their offices.  They put out quite a big spread for us, including four different kinds of wine, all of which I had to have a glass (or two) of.  And then, after the party, I went out with some of the bigger lushes in the club (I'm not naming any names, but you guys know who you are).  A drinking game was involved.  I got home after 2.  Chris gave me my wakeup call at 4:45.  I was not feeling like running 20 miles...  After the race, I vowed that for my next and final long run, there would be no drinking the night before.

*                               *                             *

The next morning, I decided to go on a recovery bike ride.  For the longest time, I had been wanting to go out to Nyack to the famed Runcible Spoon Bakery, which I've always heard was a haven for bikers.  From my apartment, it's exactly 60 miles round trip.  This is more than I've ever biked in a single day in my entire life.  But I figured it wouldn't be too bad if I just went at an easy pace and enjoyed the scenery.  I roughly followed the Fast & Fab cue sheet (see the map here), which just stays on Route 9W from the GW Bridge to Piermont, NJ, then goes on a scenic route along the Hudson River for the last four miles.  It was a very pleasant ride.  The first two or three miles off of the GW Bridge can be a little scary, though.  But most of 9W has a nice shoulder (and plenty of signs that tell drivers to watch for bikers).  The end of 9W is a bit hilly, but it's mostly downhill so I didn't mind too much.

I was starving when I got to the Runcible Spoon, and so excited that I made it.  It really is a perfect spot for bikers.  They have bike racks right in front of the window, so there's no need to even lock up your bike.  Inside, there's a bunch of other bikers, most of whom I'm guessing made the trek from Manhattan.  It's the only bakery I've ever been to that sells Clif Shots.  I had a very delectable turkey club, latte, and a raspberry rugelach and shortbread cookie for dessert.

Once again, I failed to dress properly for the weather.  It was in the 50s that day, but I didn't really understand that what you can wear in the 50s while running doesn't really work for biking.  Plus, it started drizzling towards the end of my ride out to Nyack.  I was a little concerned.  Luckily, the pharmacy in Nyack had some gardening gloves which I used cover my fingerless biking gloves.  And the rain didn't really get any worse than a moderate drizzle.

The ride back was a little bit more complicated.  In order to avoid the hills of 9W, the Fast & Fab cue sheet took me to Route 340 and a bunch of local streets that wound through the towns of Rockleigh, Demarast, Cresskill, Tenafly Englewood and Englewood Cliffs.  There are a lot of ugly, expensive-looking mansions in Englewood Cliffs.  

After 60 miles, it was good to be back home.  By the time I made it, I was wet, cold and exhausted, but I was so happy that I made it.  I can't wait for my next trip out there.

*                               *                             *

So after my two dismal twenty milers this season (Wurtsboro and this one) I was determined to not make my last long run before Boston suck.  Mikey, Matt and I decided to go on a 20-miler Sunday, the day after the Scotland Run 10k.  I purposely didn't push myself very hard for the Scotland Run because I felt it was more important to have a successful last long run going into Boston than to have a somewhat faster 10k.  And Saturday night, I was home by 11 and only had 2 beers (well, 3 if you count the 34 ounce Asahi as 2...).

Our run took us from Rutgers, up the Westside Highway, into Inwood (the Northernmost tip of Manhattan), across the Broadway Bridge into the Bronx, and up to the Tortoise and Hare Statue in Van Cortandt Park, then back the same way but stopping at 94th Street.  I have to say, I felt pretty good during this run.  Mikey and Matt both commented that I was pushing the pace a little bit.  Of course, I didn't just run a 39:38 10k like Matt did.  But I did feel like I had it in me to run faster and longer.  This was just the run that I needed to get me psyched up for the marathon.  Thanks, Mike and Matt!  Now...  it's taper time!

*                               *                             *

After more than two months of trying to cook dinner in my living room, my kitchen renovation is finally (mostly) done.  All that's left is touching up the paint in some places, and other minor odds and ends.  I'm generally very pleased with how it turned out.  And I figured I saved at least 50-60% by doing most of the work myself (with some friends).  And so far, no pipes have burst, and I haven't gotten electrocuted or had a gas explosion.  Here are some pics:

For the inaugural use of my oven, I made some barbecued chicken.  I seared it first in my cast-iron skillet, and then finished it off in the oven.  I cheated, and used sauce from a bottle.  But I'm not gonna lie, it was very tasty.  I served it with some beans and brown rice, and some zucchini and squash sautéed with just salt and pepper.  Ahhh....it's good to be able to cook again!

Six weeks off...

I have not run for two weeks now, and I learned this week that it's going to be quite a while longer.

Last Friday, I went back to Dr. Babiy.  The purpose of the visit was to look at the x-rays on my ankle and determine the next steps, as well as to get my electromyogram (EMG) on my butt.  The x-ray came back negative for a fracture.  However, it did show some signs of "cortical thickening," which I guess means that the outer layer of my tibia bone had grown thicker than usual.  She said this was probably the result of my running--as the muscles pull on the bone, they cause stress on it and make the cortex thicker.  She said this was probably not a huge deal, but told me to get an MRI just in case.

The EMG is a test used to record the electrical activity of muscles.  It can be used to detect muscle abnormalities, such as when there is a pinched nerve.  The purpose of the test was to see if I had problems with the sciatic nerve, since I had reported a "pins and needles" sensation to her.

The test was sort of like the rubber mallet reflex test that doctors do, only more high-tech, and much more painful.  The doctor places these electrodes up and down my leg.  She would administer a little shock here and there to basically see how much my leg reacted.  By my foot, where the sciatic nerve is at its smallest, I would feel what amounted to a little electrical pinprick.  But as she moved up my leg, the shocks felt more and more intense, and my reflexive reaction got bigger and bigger.  When she got to my butt, it felt like I got hit with a stun gun, and my leg let out a huge uncontrollable kick.  It was kind of funny and painful at the same time.  The EMG showed that there was nothing wrong with my sciatic nerve, so it turns out that my butt issue is just a muscle problem, like a pulled hamstring or something. 

Later, at physical therapy, my PT Marina (funny, both Dr. Babiy's and my PT's first names are Marina) confirmed that the problem area was not, as I had believed, my piriformis muscle.  She did this by isolating my piriformis muscle: I lay on the table on my left, bent my right leg and raised my right leg up, while her hand applied downward pressure.  This maneuver apparently isolates the piriformis muscle, which ends up flexing out of the butt.  She poked around at that muscle, and I didn't feel anything abnormal.  The area where I felt tenderness was further outside--my glute.  So I guess Dr. Metzl was right, I just have a weak butt. 

So I've been working some exercises to strengthen it, although some of them don't really seem to be butt exercises at all.  One of them is a "pushup" where I lie on the floor and push my chest up while keeping my legs and hips on the floor, kind of like an Upward Facing Dog in yoga.  My favorite part of physical therapy is when she attaches the electrodes to my butt.  The electrodes make a tingling sensation, nothing like the EMG shocks.  She sets the machine for ten minutes, and I usually end up taking a quick nap while it makes my butt feel all warm and fuzzy.  Here's the machine:

The next day, Saturday, I went to get my MRI on my ankle.  I have to say, as great a doctor as Dr. Babiy is, the places she sends me to get imaging done are the worst.  For my x-rays, I went to a place on 17th Street, where I had to sit in the waiting room for an hour and a half!  This was during my lunch break so I thought I was going to get fired.  For my MRI, Dr. Babiy sent me to Union Square Diagnostic Imaging.  I appreciated how this place had evening and weekend appointments.  They were able to fit me in the day after I called them, for a Saturday evening appointment at 7:30 (yes, I was planning to spend Saturday night getting a magnetic image of my ankle).  Around 2:00 they called me and told me they were running ahead of schedule, and asked if I could come in at 5:30.  I gladly obliged.

Well, I got to the waiting room, and ended up waiting for an hour and forty-five minutes.  I was like, ripsh-t.  I mean, like, they f-cking tell me to get to my appointment two hours early only to wait in the f-cking waiting room for two f-cking hours to watch f-cking Animal Planet on the f-cking TV?!?!  I went like apesh-t at the poor receptionist there, who was the one who told me to come early.  Not one of my proudest moments.

The MRI itself went off without much incident.  Despite the completely unnecessary noise (like an ambulance siren combined with a tractor truck's backup beeps), I managed to fall asleep during the half hour long process.

Wednesday, I had another physical therapy appointment.  And although I did not have a separate appointment that day with Dr. Babiy, she agreed to see me after my PT to discuss my MRI results with me.  It's things like this that make Dr. Babiy such a remarkable sports medicine doc.  I can't imagine another doctor taking time out of their busy day to have an unscheduled meeting with me.  So here's another plug for her.

Well, the MRI results were not good.  I have a partial tear in my tibial tendon.  On top of that, a bone bruise cannot be ruled out.  Though she's not able to say for sure at this point, Dr. Babiy said that these types of injuries usually require about six weeks off from running.  I've already taken two, so four more to go...  Dr. Babiy also referred me to a foot and ankle specialist, Dr. Jessica Gallina, who will further evaluate and treat the condition.  She mentioned the possibility of wearing a boot.

What little information is available online about posterior tibial tendon tears does not give me great confidence.  It is also somewhat confusing.  This injury does not appear to be a common one in runners.  Instead, it usually occurs in sports that require a lot of lateral movement, such as basketball or tennis.  It could also result from a sprained ankle.  I vaguely remember twisting my ankle at some point after the NYC marathon.  But there's a possibility that I'm imagining it, or it could have been my other ankle, and I certainly don't remember it being particularly major.  My appointment with Dr. Gallina is on Monday, so I guess at this point, there's no real point to stressing over it.  It's worth mentioning that while all this is certainly bumming me out, I am glad I sought out Dr. Babiy for a second opinion after Dr. Metzl told me there was nothing wrong with my ankle.  I'll let you know what happens after my Monday exam.

Last week I went to yoga five times.  Yesterday, I realized that I need to get back to doing cardio, lest I continue to balloon up.  I went swimming for the first time in months.  Hopefully, by the end of six weeks, I'll at least be able to develop my stroke.

*                *                *

I made a couple of chicken dinners over the past week.  The first one was a five-spice braised chicken and daikon that I made in my pressure cooker.  I just threw the chicken and daikon in the pot, along with some scallions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice wine, Manischewitz, five spice powder, star anise, and sugar.  In the picture below, the daikon looks a little like scallops.  I recently discovered that I can make brown rice in my rice cooker, so I'm making an effort to eat more brown rice instead of white rice.  And I've been on a collard greens kick of late, so that made a nice pairing.

The next night, I made pan-barbecued chicken.  For the barbecue sauce, I used ketchup, soy sauce, sesame oil, grated ginger, sugar and Worcestershire sauce.  My cast-iron skillet did a great job at giving the chicken a tasty caramelized crust.  I served it with a vinegar-based nappa cabbage coleslaw (I was excited to use, for the first time in my life, coriander seeds in this), and some not-so-homemade Bush's Baked Beans.  Oh, and some leftover brown rice and collard greens.  Dessert was a delicious Betty Crocker carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  Mmmmm......

Running to Duke's

I am not 100% sure whether I'm running the ING New York City Marathon next Sunday. I really want to do it, even if I don't race it.  I would love to do it as a complete fun run, without any pressure to get a time; that was what I did for the Big Sur Marathon in April, and it turned out to be one of my most enjoyable marathons.

However, after Chicago, I feel like my body has been beseiged with a number of aches and pains.  For one thing, my right butt/hip area has been bothering me since my 20-mile trail run over Labor Day weekend.  It doesn't really bother me when I run, but I can definitely feel it when I'm sitting or walking.  For the first week after the Chicago Marathon, I could not sit for long periods at my desk at work, and was convinced that I had a stress fracture in my butt--the pain felt like it was radiating up and down my thigh.  Last Thursday (10/15), I made an appointment with Dr. Jordan Metzl, my sports medicine doctor, but I couldn't get an appointment until next Monday (10/26).  In the interim, I no longer feel like I have a stress fracture, but I think I may still keep the appointment just to have him check things out.

In addition to my butt issue, I have tendon issues on the tops of both of my feet.  This is more of an annoyance than anything else; I'm thinking my shoes were probably tied to tight when I ran Chicago.  I've been massaging the areas, and applying ice when I remember to, but the inflammation doesn't seem to be going away. 

I pretty much took the week after Chicago off, running 3 miles on Friday 10/15 and 4 on Saturday 10/16.  Sadly, I decided to just cheer instead of run at the Asbury Park Relay Marathon, where the two FRNY teams came in first and second overall. 

My plan for this week was to run 6 miles at the Wednesday night fun run, and if that felt good, to do 10 on Saturday or Sunday, and if that felt good, I would do the marathon.  Well, Wednesday was a great run for me.  I was keeping pace with Mike Terry during most of the run (although he outkicked me over the last half mile), and I felt like I was flying up the hills.  I think taking those extra rest days really helped strengthen my legs. 

Yesterday, still on a runner's high from the day before, I headed out for an easy 4 miles along the West Side Highway.  This time it didn't go quite as well as the night before.  The Wednesday run definitely took a toll on my legs, and I felt this new thing developing in my right calf.  I ended up turning around and heading back after only 1.5 miles, figuring that it was better to rest up than to overdo it.  I still want to do a 10-miler this weekend; hopefully it will be a good run I'll end up deciding to do NYC next week.  Not sure if I'm going to do said ten-miler tomorrow or on Sunday, though--I got a long night of drinking ahead of me tonight, haha.

Speaking of drinking, I ended up using my $40 gift certificate to Duke's BBQ yesterday.  I got the gift certificate through Groupon, this collective buying service that emails you every day with a ridiculous deal that you can get if enough other people also sign up for the deal.  Most of the deals are restaurant gift certificates with a bunch of random other stuff thrown in.  Anyways, it was my first time at Duke's and I was in for quite a shock.  I think the place normally caters to a pretty fratboy-heavy crowd, but because of the baseball playoffs and a football game yesterday, it was ridiculous.  The good thing was, on football nights, they have $5 margaritas and $2 bud lights.  Oh, and $5 wings.

The runner in me is embarrasesed to say how much food was ordered.  But since this is a food blog...   we ordered the wings, the fried calamari and the full rack of ribs (with baked beans and cole slaw) to be split between two of us.  They were out of the calamari, so we ended up getting the "Smokin' Stack" instead.  OMG, that was ridiculous, but so good.  Onion rings, piled on top of a plate of pulled pork, with cheddar cheese and chipotle sour cream on top.  Seriously, not good for the arteries.  In case you're wondering: no, we did not finish everything.  In fact, I had one single rib and took the entire rest of the rack home.  I'll be working on that over the next few days, I think.

Welcome!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have two obsessions in life--running and food.  I've always had a love of eating, whether it's dinner that I make myself, a modest snack at a streetcart or a fancy meal at a Michelin-anointed restaurant. 

Running, though, was a more recent interest.  I decided to start running in January 2006, as a way lose weight after a year a living in Santa Fe, New Mexico and eating too many chicken enchiladas, and then beginning law firm life with a seemingless endless supply of Seamless Web and summer associate lunches.  I soon became hooked on the sport, not because it helped me to lose weight, but because I loved the adrenaline that I got after a great run and the friends that I met through running.  It was a bonus that I got to eat what I wanted and still stay fit.

It dawned on me last night, as I sat at Duke's BBQ Restaurant, a week and a half after the Chicago Marathon and a week and a half before the ING New York City Marathon, that I should combine my two passions in this blog.  I hope to chronicle my adventures in eating and running, and through this process perhaps bring to others some of the enjoyment that I've derived from these two activities.  Happy reading, and Run Appétit!