Peanut Butter Makes Everything Better

**For the benefit of those not in the Runner's World Community, Leslie Bonci is a sports dietitian who has an ongoing nutrition blog on the Runner's World website along with several videos about, you guessed it, sports nutrition.

After reading Leslie's blog post about refueling after running, I decided to start taking a package of fig newtons to the gym with me so I can have something with calories right away after working out. When I didn't bring anything with me, it could take an hour or more before I got home and raided the fridge/cupboard. I knew refueling quickly was important, but I just needed that little extra nudge from Leslie's blog to get me to throw those newtons in the bag. Thanks, Leslie!

Also knowing that protein is important in the refueling/recovery process (but not willing to spend the extra money on protein bars), I wanted to get some of that important nutrient in me when I got home today. The freezer is filled, the cupboard as well and the fridge isn't exactly empty, but nothing looked appetizing to me. So what did I do? I grabbed a spoon and dipped it into the peanut butter jar!!! Oh Yeah!!!!!! Mmmm.... Peanut butter makes everything better. Or was that cheese? Oh, no, it's peanut butter. The cheese thing goes like this: There's no such thing as too much cheese. That's right.

Today's weather report included decent temperatures, in the low 30s, but also very strong wind gusts. So I opted for the treadmill today. I did a 3/4 mile walking warm-up and then hiked the speed up to an 8:49 pace and left it there for about 4 miles. Over the next 2 miles I slowly increased my rate until I was at my marathon goal pace of 8:34 at the very end. Though the average pace of 7:59 felt relatively easy yesterday, for some reason a much slower pace on the mill today seemed much harder. I find that to be true quite often. Weird. Anyway, overall I felt pretty good about the run. Tomorrow is a nice, easy 3 miler and then my first longish run since my return on Sunday, 8-10 miles.

Yay, peanut butter!

Meow.