Finding New Paths

Post - CapTex brought on the dreaded Recovery Week AKA only slightly less frustrating than Taper Week week.  Since you have that sense of accomplishment, and well, you are tired, it's a lot easier to give your body a break.  Add in the slightly annoying pull in my shoulder (I refuse to acknowledge it as an injury), and I cut my distances down to rest up.

Something had been niggling in my brain for the past three weeks or so, but it wasn't until this week that it came out full force.  After an endurance race, you are HUNGRY for the following few days.  After Shiner, if it resembled food, it was a target.  This time, something odd happened.  I didn't want meat. At the CapTex celebration dinner, I ate fajitas and cheese quesadillas. No disrespect to the chef, the food was cooked great and it was tasty, but it just felt kind of...empty. So yesterday I made a decision to become vegan.

This is somewhat of a radical decision, heck, I grew up on a farm.  Eating animals was a way of life.  We were told never to name the farm animals, so as not to develop any attachment to them.  Later on, the joke when seeing a cow was to name it Big Mac or Whopper. We were allowed to play with the new chicks until they began to develop their feathers, then it was off limits.  Meat was a way of life, and we had it sometimes three meals a day.

Making the transition into training again, I never thought this would be a viable choice for me - tried being vegetarian once, for a week. Made it to day four, and found myself at the local McDonald's, chowing down on a Big Mac. So, as far as I was concerned, it was off the table.

But as with many things, the more you are surrounded by people being excellent at something, the more you wonder if you can do it too.  Many of my group at VRC are vegetarians or vegans, and I applaud them for not trying to stuff it down my throat.  When they talked, I listened.  And slowly this idea began to grow in my head - if they were looking so good, being strong in their runs, and didn't seem to be suffering from lack of meat, was it possible?

I'm not going to use this as a platform to tell you everyone should be doing this.  First off, that would be stupid (and I pride myself on being fairly intelligent) and second, everyone needs to make their own choice.

I didn't want to try it before CapTex, since you never do anything new in the weeks leading up to a race.  But this seems to be the right time.  I'll be starting a new cycle of training, and I am on summer vacation which means I will have more time to research. My daughter is somewhat on board - she wants the option to eat meat when we go out.  At her age, she can make that decision for herself, I'm not going to risk rebellion by forcing it on her.

So, it looks like I'm trying a new path...again...seeing where it will take me. I hear the detox is interesting to say the least, but in the end I think it will be worth it.  I have a goal, and if this decision will help me get there, then it is what I will do.

See you at the starting line!