Day 4 - Uneventful, except that I lathered cream cheese on a bagel during our morning admin meeting without batting an eye. Just as I was about to pick it up and stick it in my mouth, my coworker Erin-Rose saved me. 'Um, Carol - isn't that cream cheese?' Oh. Yes. It was. Oops.
In the twilight of Day 5, I come to you with a fresh perspective on what I'm trying to accomplish here. In my first post, I referred to this 30-day vegan thing as a 'Plan.' However, I now realize that 'plan' infers a thought-through strategy. Had I been on my game, I would've created a list of power foods to help push me through higher periods of activity. I also would've organized a series of recipes (I did consider doing this, but I didn't get around to it). Emily has sent me a plethora of links to help me learn more about veganism - especially while pursuing an athletic lifestyle. I promise I'll review these this weekend!!!
So, what I have on my hands is an objective, not unlike when I was ski touring in Canada last year and our guide Christina would refer to the day's objective - what we hope to accomplish if all conditions and factors pan out in our favor. I had this thought about 10:30 this morning as I knelt in the snow digging into my pack for food. I was on a big outing with Markian, my boss, and Chris. Our objective for the day was a 13,000' ridge up Pitkin Creek in the Gore Range - and plenty of sweet corn snow on the descent (objective met).
There I was, reading ingredients for a chocolate bar, peering at a Snickers and beef jerkey I had been carrying in my pack for over a month, and considering the necessity of committing to the vegan diet vs. taking in much needed calories that had a bit of staying power. Ahead of me - some 1,000' feet or more of vertical yet to climb, plus the long descent back to the car. My breakfast was meager - a bowl of 10-grain hot cereal and half a grapefruit. I hadn't planned that one well at all. For trail snacks I had 2 Gu packets (Espresso Love), 2 Larabars, the other half of my grapefruit and a bagel lathered with hummus. This wasn't adequate food intake for the outing. Again, poor planning. Yet, I'm happy to say that while I considered slamming pieces of non-vegan dark chocolate into my mouth, I opted for the grapefruit instead. I was amazed by the lift it gave me. I left myself open to missing the mark on my vegan objective, but in the end, I pulled through. It's amazing to push your body into places it's not gone before and come out the other side with a new perspective on what you can accomplish. On the downside, I ran out of water - and so did Chris.
When I got back to work at 2:30, I chugged a quart of chocolate soy milk, made a mess of gnocchi witih pasta sauce, and had some potato chips.
I will sleep deeply tonight. At least, that's my objective.
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