Pita!

Pita pockets have been such a great help since I changed my diet. I found a whole wheat brand that tastes wonderful, and the best part is that my girls love them. I stockpiled Toufayan Whole Wheat Pitas last month. I have six or so packs in the pantry right now. That's how much I love these things! We use them for tons of things, but I think the most cost effective use is to replace pita chips when we have homemade hummus for a snack. Amy's seems to be one of the only companies making pita chips, and the prices they charge for their chips are flat out absurd! It's so much cheaper to buy pita, cut it up and toast it yourself. It takes all of five minutes.

I've done a ton of pita pockets for lunches and the occasional dinner lately. Here's a few of the combos I've come up with:

Bean combo: drained pinto beans, avacado, cucumber, tomato, monterey jack cheese
Tex-mex combo: chicken cooked with cumin and a little chili powder, black beans, avacado, tomato, cheddar cheese
Greek combo: chicken cooked with greek seasoning, black olives, tomato, cucumber, spinach, feta, hummus
Italian combo: chicken cooked with basil and green onions, roasted red bell peppers, tomato, spinach, mozzarella cheese

I had a five mile run yesterday, and it was rough! It took me two miles to find my groove, and even then I felt off. I finished in just over 57 minutes. I was kind of disappointed because I didn't get that high I usually get after finishing a long run. I came home, showered, had coffee and yogurt, and moped around. It took me a good two hours to get around to entering my run on dailymile.com. I was shocked to see my results. I ran at an 11:28 per mile pace. That's about 10 seconds faster per mile than my last long run, which was only 4 miles. So, I ran 1 mile further, and did it 10 seconds faster per mile. I guess I am making progress!

I did decide to eat, or rather drink, something before my run. I usually get 2-3 miles in and get hungry when I skip breakfast before my long runs. It's not as big of a deal on a 4-miler, but I was afraid I would run out of energy before 5 miles. I drank a Gatorade Prime 15 minutes before my run. I guess it helped since I beat my old time and lasted the entire 5 miles. I also bought these Power-Ade energy gels. Bad idea! I shoved a few into my pocket before my run with the intention of eating one at every mile or so. Running and trying to chew the gel at the same time was not good. It took me 1/4 of a mile to fully finish the first one. I didn't eat another one after that. It totally screwed up my rhythm. Next time I'm going to try out Gu.