Happy Vegan Runner

No recipe in this post, just news from a very happy runner- I did the Big Sur marathon yesterday, and it was awesome!! I was very pleased to run faster than I thought I would, and even better, to have felt great the entire race! I kept thinking, "wait, this is a marathon, I shouldn't feel this good" - but I did! The views were simply incredible, the entire race course was just awesome. Picture starting off among giant redwoods at Big Sur, running by fields of cute little cows and rolling green mountains, and then out along Highway 1 along amazing California coastline- just breathtaking. I wrote a little bit more about our weekend away here. Tomorrow, we're off to Mexico to celebrate and relax some more. For more on my vegan marathon eats, read on...

My pre-race dinner: plain & simple pasta with peas, broccoli, and tomato sauce. If it ain't broke, don't fix it ;-)
Pre-race breakfast: (At 3:30AM!?! - I was worried I wouldn't want to eat, but I managed to anyway!) - overnight pumped-up oatmeal: plain quick oats, banana, and chia seeds. Breakfast of champions. Or at least it made me feel like one!
Post race: Pretzels & Better'n Butter, some fruit (the BEST strawberries from Carmel), and a veggie sammy. And guess what?! Remember those pretzels I raved about from the Carmel bakery?? Turns out they don't use any butter! So yes, I indulged in one of those beauties. Just goes to show you, it's always worth asking about ingredients.
Post race dinner wasn't great- was too tired to go out, so we ordered in. Not so good. But I made up for it tonight by getting some delicious watermelon and making this chickpea & artichoke salad, plus asparagus, over a giant bed of greens. That's more like it!
Oh and after reading about new  SO Delicious Almond Milk ice cream, I wanted to pick some of that up at the store- unfortunately my store didn't have that, but they did have this delicious icecream: Almond Dream Cappuccino Swirl. Yummmiccino. Try it ;-)

Enjoying Carmel's beach the day before the race

So, there you have it. One happy vegan runner. I have an entirely new take on marathons after enjoying this one so much.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!