So what do you eat when you’re getting ready to run a marathon and half marathon? “Anything you want” sounds like a good answer…but that’s not what we did. One of the things you get pounded into you when you’re training is: “Don’t do anything different just before a race.” This applies not just to your shoes, socks, and other clothing but also what you eat and drink as well.

Fortunately we’ve been to WDW a number of times, so we have favorite foods that we like, and that are familiar and not likely to upset our systems. We did eat maybe a little bit extra, but we tried to make smarter choices, so we weren’t indulging in funnel cakes and Mickey bars – we save those for AFTER the race! 🙂

When we came back from the Expo on Friday we went to Picabu at the Dolphin. I wasn’t that hungry, but I had the chicken pasta soup with crackers, and that tasted good.

Lee did go with a pasta meal, and had their meat lasagna with a couple of sides.

My “secret weapon” is Rold Gold Honey Wheat Braided Twists (pretzels). When we were training for our first WDW marathon five years ago our West Coast Road Runners coach advised us to snack on pretzels the day before the race, both for the carbs and the salt, and that really works for me. So I munched on those Friday and Saturday. They taste really good after a race, too. We also drink at least 16 ounces of sports drink (we use Ultima) the day/evening before (and after) and also lots of water.

A half marathon doesn’t require the energy stores that a full marathon does, so we don’t worry much about carbo-loading before a half marathon. It’s important to eat a good (and fairly early) dinner the night before, but I don’t stuff myself. Yes, we eat some carbs, but also some lean protein, too.

We went to Seasons in The Land pavilion for dinner the night before the half marathon. I had the Sustainable Fish Nicoise (which always seems to be salmon) and a side of mashed potatoes.

Lee had the Mongolian Beef, which came with noodles and a lovely side of broccoli. I love broccoli (it’s something I usually eat for dinner at home the night before a long run), so he offered me some of his broccoli in exchange for some of my mashed potatoes. Deal. 🙂

I did eat more the day before the marathon – had what was for me a pretty big lunch (also because I was hungry after the half marathon!) and a reasonable dinner. Our lunch was at Big River Grille and Brewing Works – we’ve eaten there a number of times and enjoy the food, plus as DVC members we get a 10% discount.

I had the Honey Dijon Chicken Sandwich, topped with bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato. I didn’t finish all of the bun, but ate just about everything inside. And yes, most of the chips too – salt and carbs!!! 🙂

Lee had the Blackened Mahi Mahi Sandwich – he pretty much cleaned his plate except for the chips. He had a beer, too. (Lots of carbs in beer, right?)

For dinner we went to Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney. We both had the butternut squash soup and Lee had a pizza. I had a sandwich, but I was disappointed in that – it was not made fresh at all – they just pulled it out of the refrigerated case. I only ate about half of it. The soup was good, though, and very filling. Not what I’d choose again the night before a race, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, and it didn’t have any adverse effects the next day.

The standout meal of the weekend was definitely our celebratory dinner on Sunday night AFTER the marathon, when we had an early dinner at Kouzzina. Kouzzina re-opened in mid-December after some remodeling with a slightly new look and a slightly updated menu.

We had a terrific server named MaryAnn who took excellent care of us, and answered questions and made recommendations. There was so much on the menu that looked good that we had to make some hard decisions.

We started off with a pitcher of Sangria – no need to worry about alcohol dehydrating us! Though this had very little alcohol in it – it was very tasty, though. MaryAnn brought us some herbed bread with two different olive oils to dip it in, but we also had the Kouzzina Sampler. The platter had olives, spiced garbanzo beans, dolmades, tzatziki sauce, hummus, and grilled pita wedges and came with two skewers – we had our choice of grilled prawns, lamb sesame meatballs, or chicken. We chose the prawns and they were excellent. (For $4 more she would’ve brought all three kinds of skewers. That would make an excellent dinner for me one of these day.) Everything was really good.

For an entree I had something that is new to the menu: Saffron Pasta with Lamb Ragu and Shaved Kefalograviera Cheese. (Try saying that three times fast!) It was very tasty.

Lee had the Kouzzina Trio, which has been on the menu for a while. It’s “tasting sized” portions of three favorites: cinnamon-stewed chicken, Greek-style lasagna, and a half-sized lamb burger. It was all good, though the lamb burger is a little bit too spicy for me (that’s why they only serve the small size now – it used to be an entree on the menu by itself, but many guests said it was too spicy to finish).

There was no question what we were going to have for dessert: Loukoumades These are freshly made Greek doughnuts drizzled with honey. Definitely to be eaten while they are hot! There are six to an order, and they come with two dipping sauces (raspberry and vanilla) though neither of us used them. Mmm, mmm, good!

It was really a wonderful dinner. In fact we enjoyed it so much that we went back to Kouzzina for breakfast the next morning! (Actually dinner had nothing to do with it – we’d planned to eat breakfast there already.)

There’s some interesting items on the breakfast menu, too, but we went with the French Toast and theWaffles and split them. I found it very filling – I couldn’t finish my half of both.

Not exactly “marathon eating” in terms of amount and variety, but it powered us successfully for the extended weekend!

Post a Comment