Runner Food: An Introduction

I’ve spoken about my running habit here before, and it should come as no surprise that I’ve kept them up in recent months.

In fact, I ran and completed a half on New Year’s Eve with some friends. It was a blast… and once I crossed the finish line and began my recovery process, I started looking for what I wanted to do next.

The thing is… I’ve had a specific running goal in mind for a long time that has equally thrilled and terrified me, and once I weighed the pros and cons (and talked with several trusted, more knowledgable friends who supported my train of thought) after the New Year’s Eve Half, I realized it was time.

Time for what, you ask?

Time to run a full marathon.

Runner Food: An Introduction {and a reason as to why I'm sharing all this running-related meals with y'all now} // The Speckled Palate

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    A marathon — any marathon — has been on my running bucket list for a few years now… and I’ve officially started training for my first one, which is in late April.

    And since this marathon training stuff is new, exciting and scary to me, I wanted to share some portions of it here with y’all. And since this is a food blog, I’ll be posting about the food/fuel aspect of my training.

    Now, I’m not a nutritionist or a dietitian. (Y’all know this, c’mon.) I’m not a health food connoisseur, either. (I just told y’all about the cheeseburger rule!) My tastebuds are not the same as everyone’s, and neither is my body, but I know what kinds of food make me feel good and strong when I’m training.

    That’s the central thought behind the new Runner Food series: Sharing my favorite running-related recipes as I ramp up to run 26.2 in the hopes that some of y’all will enjoy these dishes, too, whether you’re training for a certain race/event or are looking for a delicious, relatively healthy meal. I’ll also be adding in anecdotes of the times where it didn’t work because, hey, I learn more from my mistakes than successes.

    That being said, the first recipe in this series goes live next week, and I’m really excited to begin sharing my running-centric recipes with y’all!

    Other running-related posts: That time I decided to train for and actually RUN a half marathonSunday Snippets: The Rouge-Orleans Edition33 Things Y’all Didn’t KnowSunday Snippets: The Belated Beach Edition / Fitness Goals, Eating Well and a 10-Day Challenge Review / Sunday Snippets: The #glitter200/Ragnar SoCal RecapRunner Food: An IntroductionMarathon Training Update: 3 Weeks OutMarathon Training Update: 1 Week OutRace Recap: OKC Memorial Marathon

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    About the Author:

    Erin Parker is a Southern gal living in Texas with her husband and two daughters. She started The Speckled Palate to share what she was cooking as a newlywed… and over the years, it’s evolved to capture her love for hosting. Specifically, the EASIEST, lowest key entertaining because everyone deserves to see their people and connect over good food. Learn more about her

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    20 Comments

    1. So excited! I’m working on my running too, and I love your recipes anyways, so I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

      1. Aww, I’m so happy you’re excited to be a part of this journey, Karen! Excited to hear more about your running, and I hope these recipes work like charms for you, too!

    2. I’m so excited to ‘read along’ your journey! I know you can do it and it’s going to be GREAT. I’m also looking forward to the Runner Food Series because I really find it challenging to find ways to fuel myself to have success workouts! I’ll be looking to you for motivation for sure 🙂 Looking forward to this!

      1. Aww, thank you so much, Jenn! I hope you can glean some good recipes from this series for your workouts, and I hope that you’ve found some motivation in these posts, too!

    3. This is such a great idea! Looking forward to seeing your recipes! Good luck on running a marathon 🙂 That’s pretty awesome!

    4. I love your shirt. I ran a 5K with my mom when I was a little girl. I love running but never stick with it for too long. I want to get back into it again soon. I’m looking forward to your running recipes.

      1. Thank you, Tiffany! That’s awesome that you ran a 5K with your mom when you were little, and I hope you find your way back into running and find a way to stick with it if it makes you happy! Enjoy these recipes!

    5. I’m so excited to follow this series! I set a goal for myself to run this year also. I am planning my very first 5K in April and before the end of the year, I plan to run a 1/2. Like you, my ultimate goal is to run a full but I am nervous and anxious about the thought of it! Good luck to you! I’m sure you will do AMAZING! I Can’t wait to see what recipes you come up with!

      1. I’m excited for you to follow along with this series, Apryl! That’s wonderful about your first 5K in April. How’s training coming along? And are you still planning for a half marathon near the end of the year? I’m excited for you to get started on this journey! You can do it!

    6. What a great way to stay motivated for your goals. I had a big support team behind me during my weight loss and work outs last year. It really helped me stay on track! Good luck and can’t wait to see the recipes!

      1. Thanks, Erin! I find that any kind of accountability, whether it be a team of folks close to me or using this blog, helps me along MAJORLY when going after huge goals of mine that are a bit scary. 😉 I appreciate the support, and I hope you enjoy the recipes!

    7. Can’t wait! I love reading about how others eat healthily. You’re so right in saying that everyone’s body is different and what they need is different from person to person. I tend to take a bit here and there and come up with my own idea of what’s good for my body and what feels right. Eagerly anticipating this series!

      1. Thanks, Jayne! It IS pretty fun to read how others eat healthily, huh? If I’ve learned ANYTHING throughout my running journey, it’s that we are all a little different, and that learning how to meet our own needs is oh-so-important. I hope you’ve been enjoying the series so far, and I look forward to sharing more recipes!

    8. I love, love this and also yay for running your first marathon! I feel like I’m going to be doing that sometime in the nearish future because I want to see that my body can do something that crazy.

      1. Thank you, Terra! Hooray for the first marathon… and honestly, girl, when you start prepping for your first one, PLEASE let me know because it is incredible to see the transformation of what you THINK you can do to seeing what you can ACTUALLY do… and it turns out, you can ACTUALLY do a lot more than you think you can. So yeah…

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