half marathon & pre-race pasta

Last weekend I ran in my first half marathon. I didn’t know the race was even going on until about 3 days beforehand, and I made a spur of the moment decision to sign up. I wasn’t sure if I was ready or not, but I am quite happy with how I did. I might be crazy, but now I’m considering doing a full marathon at the end of October. Completing a full marathon was something I had originally anticipated doing in 2011. I figure I can start training for it (in conjunction with triathlon training of course!) and see how things progress.

Anyhoo, the night before the race I wanted to make sure I got in some healthy carbs. I know the old school notion of carb-loading is not a good idea (gorging yourself silly), but eating a healthy amount and increasing the percentage of carbs in your meal is generally recommended. I had an avocado that needed to be used up and I immediately thought of pasta della California from Veganomicon.

I changed up the recipe to accommodate what I had on-hand. I used brown rice spaghetti, and subbed spinach for the arugula and tomato for the broccoli. I also added quite a bit less veggie broth so it wouldn’t be so watery (based on some reviews I had read). I thought this was delicious and it hit the spot and fueled me up for the next morning.

For years avocados make me ill and so I avoided them like the plague. Just recently I tried eating some avocado sushi and lo and behold – no sickness! This makes me happy as they are so yummy. I keep thinking of all of the different recipes I’ve shunned over the years – now I want to go back and make them all!