Sunday, April 04, 2010

The Easter Effect

I made it a point to get back to the city before nightfall so I could enjoy a nice run in today's gorgeous weather. The reservoir was beautiful, as usual. I may end up with a hefty collection of reservoir sunset pictures because I can't help but stop for a quick shot when I see something stunning. Today's gem:


I had a pretty nice run today. I tried to keep it down to 2 miles to follow my friend Abby's advice. She's a dedicated runner and told me that according to Galloway's Book of Running, I should start off with short 30-minute runs or stick to my initial 2 mile goal so that my legs can gradually get used to running and my brain thinks of it as a fun activity rather than work. I have to admit that an extra mile snuck in there though and I literally had to force myself off the reservoir because I felt like running some more! I guess it's best to take it easy on my body for now though and keep that anticipation alive so I'll be excited to run again on Tuesday. I don't know what it is that has me jonesing to keep going. Is it the beauty of the reservoir or have I just become an endorphin junkie? Whatever it is, I'm just glad that my body's default craving these days is for constant activity and not for being parked on the couch.

In related news, I went back to meat full throttle this weekend as I spent Easter at my aunt and uncle's house in New Jersey. As I've mentioned before, there's no such thing as a vegetarian dish in Filipino cuisine. I think it's funny that a lot of Filipinos don't even think of seafood as meat, so when you say you don't eat meat they're bound to say things like, "Oh, this only has shrimp in it so you can eat it." I'll be honest, I loved eating all that delicious home-cooked, meat-filled Filipino food, but I found that it made a difference in my run today. I found myself suffering from sidestitches towards the end of my run, something I did not feel at all on my much longer run last Thursday. I chalk it up to the fact that I'd been eating a lot more meat, which is much harder to digest. My last meal was four hours before my run but it consisted of turkey, stuffing, lasagna, pork barbeque, fried spring rolls and three different kinds of cake. Last Thursday, I was just getting off my vegetarian diet and had been eating considerably less. My digestive system emphatically let me know that it was not too pleased with my new eating habits towards the end of my run. If only for that, I think I will go back to eating food that's easy on the digestive system during my running days.

I hope you had a great Easter, as well. And if you stuffed your face like I did, I hope you'll find the motivation to work it off, too. Swimsuit season is upon us after all! Just a friendly reminder ;-)

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