Why Not to Eat a Fish Sandwich Before a Run

Today I was starving before my run because I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, I'd been running around all day filing my tax return because this is the last day to file with an extension and doing all sorts of other things and before I knew it was time to run and yeah, I was starving.

So we’re driving down Manhattan because my BD agreed to drop us off at the park to run and I’m getting hungrier and hungrier and sick to my stomach because I always get car sick especially when I’m hungry and finally we decide to stop at One Fish Two Fish and order fried catfish sandwiches. By this time I felt like I was digesting my stomach. I ate a bag of Doritos while I waited for the sandwich then I ordered a side of coleslaw with my fish sandwich and a side of fries with my BD's fish sandwich and I ate both sides as well as the fish sandwich. Feeling good and full now.

I started out running in Central Park and it was surprisingly hot for the middle of September. 10 degrees above the normal…as the weather man on NY 1 put it. High 80’s, humid and no breeze, took so long getting to the park in traffic and then of course slowed down even more eating the fish sandwich so my running buddy Michelle not only started but just about finished without me. So I’m jogging along after running all my errands and eating my fish sandwich and I’m pushing the jogging stroller and it’s hot and humid and my usual company isn’t there to help motivate me.

That fish sandwich sat right there on my stomach, bearing down with each step…not fun at all.

I intended to run a 6 mile loop of the park but then I ran into Michelle running back so I ran back with her. That equaled about a mile. Then I ran back to the train station and ran up every hill twice. That added another two miles to my run, generously estimating. But I’ll never eat a fish sandwich right before I run again. It’s bad enough running on a weekday in the evening after a crazy day. Don’t need a fried fish sandwich to weigh me down even more. But I’ll say that was one good fish sandwich! ;-)

I'll tell you another thing...pushing a jogging stroller you get a lot of support. Even the fast runners who pass me up are like, "it's hard enough for me to haul myself without hauling a jogging stroller on top of it" and I'm like yeah! But every run I find someone to out-do me. Like today there was a stout guy running with a jogging stroller stuffed with two kids each looked like they weighed half as much as him.

But you know what, for the first time in my life, I'm finally toning my arms. I never could get the arms toned, because I'm scared of the water so I don't swim, I don't care for pushing weights - I find it very boring...I know a runner should do some weight training...and any kind of sport that requires the arms also requires hand-eye coordination, something that I sadly lack. But I've finally found the thing. Running and pushing a jogging stroller up hill. Yay! It's tonight my whole body, not just my legs for once! ;-)