In and around my face.

Finally, someone has answered my never ending cries of hunger.  I have made it well known that i have been struggling in an epic way with marathon nutrition.  I love to cook, but my recipes have always hung out in the low fat/meat free range.  Which is fine, but doesn't really supply the fat and protein required for 15 mile runs.  


Since i don't eat red meat, and only rarely eat poultry, AND have to limit dairy because of tummy problems, everyday becomes a battle to consume healthy fats and proteins, and not just load up on quick burning carbs.  


Artisana makes every kind of nut butter available:

I'm going to be perfectly honest, i ate an entire jar of cacao bliss this weekend.  Its a cocoa/coconut butter, and its basically heaven in your mouth.  I normally dislike chocolate, but this is a nice balance of coconut, and mildly sweet chocolate (none of that milk chocolate crap)  I am sure you can put it in oatmeal, or quinoa, or on bagels, or yogurt, or lots of things, but i liked just eating it with a spoon.  The only word of warning is that coconut by nature is high in saturated fat, so you probably shouldn't eat an entire jar in one sitting.


Artisana makes all their products in little 1 serving packets too, which works much better for me!

I have been having these babies on mini pitas at work when the 3 o'clock nightmare hunger strikes, and they are totally and deliciously doing the trick.  I have a hunch that if you put this on graham crackers, it would basically rock your world.  I just need to go to the store and buy graham crackers still.  

I think i might start eating these before my long runs on the weekends.  I still love luna bars, but its just not enough, and i become violently hungry around mile 14, even with a gu....and almost all protein bars taste awful to me.  I am thinking nut butter toast is my new long run fuel!!


I was going to give away some of the samples, but i honestly have eaten almost all of them in the past few days.  They are that good.  Luckily, they are super nice, and we are in talks to have an Artisana giveaway, so that they would ship a sampler directly to your house, therefore preventing me from eating them all!!! STAY TUNED FOR THAT!


Artisana PROS.
Tastes amazing.  Seriously.  I like these way more than standard peanut butter
I LOVE the single serves.  I have a bad habit of overserving myself anything.
They're organic and kosher.  The kosher thing doesn't really matter to me, but i am always paranoid about the quality of food going into my body, and this is quality.
It is safe for people with peanut allergies, gluten intolerance, and dairy intolerance.  That is seriously awesome.


Artisana CONS.
It's not in stores yet, you have to order it :( :( :( Here are all the online retailers
My mom is totally going to take credit for this excellent eating decision, and i totally made this one on my own!




And, in running news, I really want my Shamrock Shuffle time to be around 42:00 mins.  It is seeming a little impossible right now, because it takes me a solid three miles to not hate running.  That's more than half the race where my legs will be slow, angry, and unresponsive.  So unless i want to just run the last two miles as 6 minute  miles (HA!)  I need to figure out a plan of action, and fast.  Does anyone have any good warm up routines so that they start the race ready to race?  (I am looking at YOU all you speedy 5k people, how do you run a shorter distance race??)




And lastly, it had to happen:

WHO ARE WE ALL KIDDING?