Big Breakfast, Big Meeting, Long Run

Yesterday was a super busy, beautifully chaotic day. I got up at the normal time and wondered, what comes after pumpkin pancakes and whole wheat waffles? Well, how about panettone French toast? Sounds delicious to me.

I still had the Bauducco Panettone with Sun-Maid raisins that was provided to me by the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, which I thought would make killer French toast and indeed, it did. Here's the recipe:

Panettone French Toast
4 slices (1-inch thick) of Bauducco Panettone
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon milk

Set up an assembly line with a cutting board and shallow pan on one side of the stove and a serving dish on the other. Beat together the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and milk and place in the shallow pan. Preheat a skillet or griddle to medium heat and spray with cooking oil, if you're using a stainless steel pan or griddle. Working one slice at a time, dip the bread into the egg batter on both sides, then cook for two to three minutes per side or until golden brown. I like my French toast coated with cinnamon sugar, but Tim likes his with syrup, so to each his own.

After gorging myself on French toast and cleaning up, I headed downtown for a meeting. I had an awesome lunch at Tavern on Rush, along with stimulating conversation and a productive get together.

I caught the train back home relatively early, so I decided to knock out my 11-mile run as planned. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough daylight, so I did not eat as though I'd be running for two hours. This mistake would not be forgotten or forgiven by my system.

I set out and had beautiful weather and was feeling great. I felt fast and comfortable, until about mile three. Then my stomach started rumbling and I was mentally calculating when I could hit a bathroom. There was a gas station coming up, but once I got there, I realized I would much rather find a bush than use the nasty bathroom there that was harboring untold diseases. So off I went another 1.5 miles to the next gas station, which was like the equivalent of a fresh spring in a dessert.

After my brief pit stop at around 5.5 miles, I set back out to finish the remaining miles. At the six-mile mark, I took a gel. I've never used gels, gu or shots, but I figured after my long-run implosion at Fort2Base, I needed to give it a go.

Let me tell you, if more people knew that distance running included eating caffeinated chocolate frosting in the name of improving performance, there would be more marathoners in this country. I loved the flavor, consistency and boost of the mocha Clif shot, and I think I'll be buying a case of it for my remaining training runs.

I have no clue how long this took me or what my splits were because my phone battery died about 3/4 of the way in. I felt good, but my stomach was still angry. I had water and sports drink while I did my ice bath, but was ready to sleep before I wanted to eat.

Bad choice. As a result of burning like 1,100 calories last night, I woke up ravenous and could not be satiated all day long. I ate, I snacked, I went out for dinner. I had treats, I had protein. And I could still eat more.

Instead of working out again tonight, I'm resting. I had things to do tonight, I'm a little sore, and I wanted to have dinner with a friend. I hope that by skipping my workout, I can stop craving all food like a teenage boy in football season who's going through a growth spurt.

I'll be back to the grind tomorrow, hopefully with a happy feeling stomach and fresh legs.