15 Hungry Miles

Hello! I just got back from a spontaneous lunch date with David! He begged to go to Chili’s since he’s sort of obsessed with their baked potato soup.

We sit down, order chips and order without even looking at the menu. There’s pretty much only one way to eat vegan there and I have it etched in memory: Southwestern Vegetable soup without cheese and a side salad without cheese. Well, Chili’s changed their whole menu and don’t carry that soup any longer.

Now every soup has animal products. There’s only one vegetarian soup and that’s the Sweet Corn. I considered ordering several side dishes, but their black beans even have meat in them!

Our waitress was actually super helpful and apologetic about how the change affected my diet. She suggested I look at the salads and order one without chicken since that’s pretty much my only option. (They do have a delicious vegetarian black bean burger, but that has eggs.)

I ordered the small Asian Noodle Salad without the chicken, plus corn and with the dressing on the side. They forgot the avocado (my favorite part!!), but the salad was actually wonderful.

There were so many flavors in this salad. And check out the cold Soba noodles! The corn made it but I bet it would be even better with avocado! This was definitely not an average restaurant salad.

I was so upset about Chili’s change since I have talked so much about how it’s easy to eat vegan there in the past. I think it’d be great if they could keep vegetarians in mind when seasoning/cooking their foods. Their black beans for example: if they could flavor the beans without using bacon, they’d have an easy, vegan-friendly protein. I hope restaurants make little changes like that more in the future.

Anyway, it was a very yummy and enjoyable lunch… especially after my 15 mile run this morning!

I hit the pavement at Baldwin Park around 6:30 a.m. ready for a strong run. Instead, I was weak and dragging the whole time. My run was 5 times around a big lake (2.5 miles around) and a few miles through the  neighborhoods. Two separate times I stopped at my car to refuel with Clif Shot Bloks and H20 and give myself a much-needed pep talk.

It was terrible because I wasn’t in pain anywhere; I just had no energy. I couldn’t figure out why- I had my Zensah sleeves, shot bloks, all my gear, water… it was still early enough that the sun was getting to me… then I remembered last night.

Last night I didn’t eat enough calories to fuel me for a 15 mile run. I brought some fruits, veggies and a granola bar at work since I was still full from the day’s eats… turns out my gas tank needs a lot more than that.

I had no energy or stamina and it really ruined my run. I’m smart enough to know I have to fuel properly if I want to run long and strong. Next time I will eat plenty the night before!!

What I ate: Pre-run I had 3/4 c. oats with some brown rice protein powder and a packet of Stevia in the Raw. Throughout my run I had a packet of Clif Shot Blocks (love these). On the drive home from Baldwin Park I had a granola bar and to get myself through a shower and getting ready I had a Flat-Out with jam. After putting my body through so much, I am not about to pause, find my photo and take a photo. Instead, you get this crappy after photo :-)

Yesterday:

I couldn’t leave without showing you yesterday’s morning bowl of carbs: naner oats! For lunch I had roasted veggies (brussel sprouts, asparagus and carrots with a bit of teryaki sauce, garlic salt and pepper baked at 375* for 30 minutes) and a baked Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger. I actually had twice the veggies shown here ;)  Yummmm. I also had tons of snacks, but I’m pretty sure you can guess what those were.

Now I will work on life plans and enjoy my fruit bar and puppy. (Don’t worry- I don’t eat Dixie.)

Enjoy your weekend!

What changes would you like to see on restaurant menus?