Carb Crusin’ – What should you eat for a marathon

The Chicago Marathon is Sunday and that brings me to “Carb Loading.”

Many of us wonder why these healthy, thin, athletic people who are crazy for running over 26 miles straight, want to come over to OUR side of the table.

Pasta, rice, potatoes, PIZZA and are all high in carbohydrates.  But why should they blow their diet before this majorly physical event?

Apparently, it gives the runner additional energy.  Carb Scientists say when you eat a bowl of spaghetti, most of the carbs are stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver. Glycogen is your body’s most easily-accessible form of energy, fat is the other, but that’s harder to convert into fuel.  When you run out of glycogen for your muscles, you hit the wall.

I’m not seeing many of us “Over Glycogen’d.” Would it be wrong if we ate some deep-dish pizza and beer in support while on the side of the route cheering them on?