Tag Archives: bagels

Will Run for Carbs

I’m not gonna lie–one reason that I was excited to run back-to-back-to-back halves (halfs?) was the prospect of extending the carb-loading another few weeks.

Thomas’, as in the English muffin and bagel thin people and the people sponsoring me for Sunday’s half, sent me over a little runner-friendly care package last week: three packages of bagel thins, foot cream and Ahava muscle-soothing bath salts. (I got them in another swag bag recently, and I definitely plan on buying some when I run out of the free ones.)

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My love for bagels is well-documented on this blog. Really, the only reason I don’t have a bagel everyday is because there are too many empty calories in them. But these 110-calorie bagel thins are plenty filling once I put banana and sunflower butter on them.

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Yesterday, I took a look at my split’s from Saturday’s race.

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They were a little all over the place, but in general, I started out fast and burned out towards the end of this race. Except for that awesome mile 11. Maybe that’s when I was running with Becky. This race definitely felt hard because of my tired legs, but also, I think, because I started out fast. We talked about this on Saturday night. Liz and Ashley both preferred to start out fast and have nothing left by the end. If you run a good race, they reasoned, you’re going to feel burned out by the end either way.

When I ran the NYC Half, I definitely started out a little slower and saved it all for the end.

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I definitely prefer to do that. After years of not being able to run, starting out really hard scares me. What if I can’t finish?

I do think it’s a matter of preference, though. Which do you prefer? Starting out fast or saving some energy for a strong last push?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!!!

I am half-Irish. I know Blanchfield doesn’t sound super-Irish, but IT IS.

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My dad’s family is from Athy (lower-right on the map there), about an hour south of Dublin. I’ve been to Ireland (and it was one of my favorite vacations ever), but not to Athy, where my dad’s family is from–I’d love to go back there. (Hint, hint, Dad.)

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The Ha’penny Bridge in Dublin.

When I lived in D.C., it was pretty much St. Patrick’s month. My friends and I would start celebrating as soon as it was March 1, going to pub quiz nights at 4P’s (which is apparently now Four Fields. LAME.) and Shamrockfest out in Arlington (and then at RFK.) Really, it was just an excuse to drink a lot of beer all month long.

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I still love the holiday, but now that I drink a little less and live and work in Midtown-ish, which gets swarmed by the wasted bridge-and-tunnel crew, it’s lost a tiny bit of its luster.

But I will still be celebrating tonight. Don’t expect many healthy decisions. It’s carb-loading.

Speaking of which, I got really excited for a green bagel this morning, and the bagel shop pulled some lame antics. They said they were out of green bagels, even though there was a platter of green bagels sitting right there. Allegedly, they were reserved for someone else, forcing me to very begrudgingly get a non-green bagel.


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