"Incredible Hulk Smoothie/Green Smoothie"

Part of my training entails eating better.  I have much to say about this and will do so throughout the year.  As a start, my wife started me hacking down a morning health drink she has named the "Green Smoothie".  I have resisted for over a year but have broke down based on advice I recently received from a podcast named "Endurance Planet" on which a guest speaker named Ben Greenfield (an expert in sports nutrition) recommended. Every morning my wife puts about 2.5 cups of green grapes, 4 cups of spinach, 1 or 2 leaves of kale, 1 orange, 1 banana, 1 cup pineapple, and ice in a Vita-mix blender and emulsifies it into the greenest concoction anyone can come up with.  My wife convinced my boys into partaking of it daily by naming it the "Incredible Hulk Shake".  Since my boys were big time Hulk fans they drank this stuff down like it was Kool Aid.  This worked until my two oldest boys discovered that the green color was coming from some kind of plant.  Last year my oldest son Brady made the observation one morning: "Mom I know you put grass in this." Well he was not far off.  My second son's (James) love affair with the "Hulk Shake" has now started to wane as well; this morning he said: "Mom, do we have to drink this every morning" with displeasure weaved in his works.  Since I just started drinking the mixture, I just plug my nose and suck it down as fast as possible.  In reality it does not taste that bad.  It is actually fairly sweet and I eat a spinach salad at least 4 times a week, which I really enjoy.  I just have this mental thing going on with mixing everything into a liquid and drinking it.  Now the only ones who do not complain or have to hack it down are my wife, because she is just plain healthy, and my youngest son (Jackson), who is to young to know better (give him a year and he will put the "green" and "grass" together as well) [see pictures].

Running in the snow (Week 16 of AR 50 miler training)

My long runs this week were both in the snow.  I had been spoiled by the relatively nice winter weather the last couple of months (no snow and decent temperatures) but Mother Nature decided it was time to frost the ground with five inches of fresh powder Friday morning. On my birthday (Friday, February 25) I started my first of two consecutive long runs (3.5 hrs on Friday and 4.5 hours on Saturday) in the middle of the storm at 4am.  The early start on Friday was because I needed to get to work on time.  I have three presentations to finish for a conference in Albuquerque next week and needed to get to work on time.  I was not very excited about running when I walked out the door.  When I say I was not very excited, I mean I was about to return to my bed and sleep in, but I pulled myself together and went anyway.  I have put in way to much work for the American River 50 Mile Endurance run at this point and was not going to slack off now. I actually really enjoyed the run because it was so beautiful outside with the fresh snow covering everything.  My pace was slower than normal because of the snow but that is okay, at this time in my training it is the time on my feet not the distance that matters (at least that is what my training program reads).  I covered a little over 17 miles in 3 hours 30 minutes.  My wife took a few picture of me when I got home partially covered in snow (see posted pictures).  On Saturday I covered 23.5 miles in 4 hours 30 minutes and felt great.  This is the best long run I have ever had in terms of my legs feeling great. I only ate half a Cliff bar,one Power Bar gel, and an orange during the run.

After I finished the last long run, I looked back on the experience with a touch of gratitude that I started the first long run on Friday.  Life is like this sometimes.  I often do not want to do something difficult.  I may be tired or just feel like doing something else. But like that run, if I stick with it I always have the great feeling of accomplishment.  Now, if I can just remember this lesson the for two weeks after I return from NM in which I have back to back Friday/Saturday 4 and 5 hour runs.