Comfort Carb Loading

Wow, what a day. Even though it was a good day for me, it wasn’t knowing the horrible events happening Japan. Just wow. It’s so hard to watch footage of tragedy and feel so helpless. So I’ll just say my heart, thoughts and prayers goes out to everyone affected by it.

Moving on, it was a pretty washed out day for me, work was busy and I’m still in a sinus pain fog. I spent some time reading advice on what to do and eat during my 2-day countdown to the half-marathon and came back more confused because everyone has different advice. Apparently carbo loading is a good thing, but not too much. Resting a day or two before is a good thing, but maybe not because legs can get sluggish and energy levels can sag. Everyone has different experiences on what works. I toyed with the idea of doing some light cardio tomorrow, not running, but we’ll see how I feel.

After a long week, hubby was sweet enough to take me out for one of my favorite comfort meals – the Three Mushroom burger at Paul Martin’s American Bistro. I know, I written about it a few times here. But it’s a comfort food that works well for me and he figured trying something new may not be a good idea so close to the race. Sorry, I didn’t take my DSLR, so pictures provided by my point-and-shoot camera. But it could be worse, I could have used the iPhone. :-)

I love that they use a wine glass stain for the restaurant logo, classy and fun.

The atmosphere is classy and energetic with a lively bar scene, but not too noisy and the perfect amount of mood lighting.

A little bread and wine to start the meal, my last drink before the race since I won’t be drinking tomorrow. Is it strange I like to dip bread in wine?

And the masterpiece meal, the burger patty is made from 3 different varieties of fresh mushrooms and it’s one of my faves because it has a slightly different personality each time. And perfect paired with organic greens and a chilled quinoa/buckwheat side.

We had a wonderful evening just talking, remembering our early awkward days of dating and other happy times.  Then I got reminded of why I don’t drink that much when I ran into a girl throwing up and emotionally confessing to her friend that she usually doesn’t starve all day then drink like that in the ladies room. I felt bad for her poor date waiting outside the restroom! Being young can be tough! Now I’m nicely full and feeling ready to crash.

What’s your day-before-half marathon advice on exercise and food?