I think I may have come back to reality following my marathon on Sunday.  Or not.  I still want to tell every single person that I run into, stranger or friend, that I’m officially a marathoner.  I must look different, right?  Do I look a bit faster?  A bit stronger?  A bit more amaze-balls?

Seriously, though.  I don’t think my life will ever be the same.  Whenever I think something is hard, or that I can’t get through it, I’ll always be able to remind myself, “Hey, remember when you did that first marathon?  And it took you forever to finish and it was so hard, but you did it?”  Yeah, I just think that I’ll always have that, and I think that things that seemed hard before don’t seem so hard now.

So now what?  I’m not done making goals for myself, that’s for sure.  I know that I can continue to improve with my running and fitness.  I really want to get even healthier and stronger.  I really, really need to overhaul my diet.  Even though I eat healthy for the most part, I know that I can do better.  But I hate diets, I hate tracking food, and I hate counting calories.  Just tell me what foods are going to make me feel healthy, and don’t give me a bunch of recipes that will keep me in the kitchen forever.  Ain’t gonna happen, people.  I need simplicity in order to stick with it.  I think that’s why I love running so much.  It’s so simple in its concept.  Put some running shoes on and go run, ya know?

After a bit of research, I re-examined the nutritarian diet designed by Joel Fuhrman.  I looked at this once before, but it was right before I started marathont training and I wasn’t sure it was the right time.  Since I have a little over a month before I start training for another half-marathon, I thought it would be a good time to give this diet a try.  It’s so simple in its concept.  Here’s what you eat every day:

• 1 lb. raw vegetables
• 1 lb. cooked vegetables
• 1 cup beans or legumes
• at least 4 fresh fruits
• up to 1 cup starchy vegetables and whole grains
• up to 1 oz of nuts or seeds

I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, anyway – I just have to eat more!  I can do that!

Supposedly, I’ll lose some weight if I stick to this diet plan for 6 weeks, but really, that would just be an extra bonus.  I’m looking for a plan that will help me stick to healthy eating and will hopefully help me with my fitness performance.

I’ll keep you posted and let you know how it goes…..