Long Runs and a Review of "sugar-free Peeps"

For the past few days I have succeeded at a goal... to run 70+ minutes per day. This is how my running used to be, and I remembered that even at a low effort, this duration of run always "worked for me." Gosh, it feels so right to run long again. I think often that I should follow conventional wisdom-- short, fast runs. This, however, doesn't work for me. Maybe in the light of having extra training (martial arts for example) around it, this would work, since the MA would provide the long duration moderate intensity cardio, but without MA, long cardio (with some calisthenics/weights at the end) just feels... right. I am posting this here so that I will remember it... the satisfaction that comes from running long.

This morning I went upwards of 90 minutes. The reason being that I forgot my watch, so I had to rely on my CD player, and the mix list I had which lasts for about 94 minutes. Subtract a few potty breaks in the woods, and that puts me right around 90. Sweetness.

When I was done, of course, I was hungry, but I had no where to park at the school and all my stuff was in the car, so I decided to get a "snack" at Walmart (I needed a binder for something, and one of Clemson's many disadvantages is that there are no office supply stores or Target's here, so Anderson (around 15 miles away) is the closest place to get a binder)... it wasn't worth the drive. I will confess I have a love for marshmellows. They are my bad food weakness. Well, those and vanilla ice cream, although I have a bite of it and I remember that I hate ice cream. It's a cycle with that one. But not with marshmellows. So on sale at Walmart were... sugar-free peeps? I figured, well, they're on sale, and marshmellows aren't exactly healthy anyway, and I just did a run...

My review? They taste exactly like the sugared ones, except my teeth don't feel like they are going to rot out. They have about the same amount of carbs, but it is all from isomalt, which is not any healthier than regular sugar... i.e. they aren't made from Splenda or anything fake so I guess that's why they don't taste like butt... they just aren't technically made from "sugar." I also enjoyed a nice 6 pack of Fresca, since I was really thirsty, and it was near the front of the store, and it reminded me of my childhood.

Seriously, every time I drink Fresca I think of when I was little, and we had a season pass to the zoo. We went every weekend to see the lemurs, and there was a soda machine by the lemurs, so I always got two frescas. That was the same year that Christy's parents took us sailing a lot, and her mom had this big outdoor fridge filled with Fresca and Tab. We used to fill up a cooler with Fresca and sail until our skin cracked. So Fresca is a happy memory for me.

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