I had Zio Johnos spaghetti for dinner tonight. Delicious.
Spaghetti is the go-to dish for many carbo-loading runners. The night before a big, long race or run, it’s common to eat a large carbohydrate-filled meal such as spaghetti,potatoes, bread, or rice. The idea is to refuel the body’s glycogen stores – the energy supply your body uses up when you run or exercise. When your body’s glycogen stores are depleted, your body must use stored fat for energy. Converting fat into energy to be used by the body is much less efficient, takes more time, and leaves you feeling awful, like you can’t take another step. If you’ve ever heard of “hitting the wall” from long-distance runners such as half-marathoners, marathoners or ultra runners, this is what they’re talking about. However, if you eat the right amount of carbs before the big race, you can prepare your body to have the optimum amount of glycogen already available. Runners’ World, a magazine on running and fitness, wrote an article on carbo-loading the right way so you can get the best results.
My love for Zio Johnos spaghetti comes not only from its delicious flavor, but all of the memories surrounding it. I love cross country, and I love my cross country team. Several times per year, we have a team dinner with Zio Johnos spaghetti the night before a meet. It was always so rewarding, fun, and relaxing to sit and eat our Zio Johnos together as a team, to know that we were done with another hard week of training, and that we had nothing left to worry about until tomorrow when we would race. Or on other occasions a few friends and I would stop by Zio Johnos to pick up some spaghetti after getting back home from a successful meet. We would celebrate as we crashed at someones house, tired, happy, and no longer hungry. Now that the season is over, eating this spaghetti gives me more than a satisfied stomach but sentimental memories of a successful season, great times with the team, and excitement for next season when I know we will make many more memories and share many more buckets of delicious spaghetti!
runfreeforever 