26.2 challenge- finding inspiration beyond the workday

Photos above from Runner's World Magazine

What do these 3 people have in common? They all are professional chefs (well Gesine's a professional baker) and they all are constantly creating food which also means tasting food throughout the workday. Each one has a secret to how they make it through a hard shift with enough energy at the end of the day to train for marathons. In this month's Runner's World, they share everything from fueling & lightened recipes, to snack ideas and ingredient substitutions.

Personally I am always in search of new healthy food suggestions/trends so that I can & will continue to make wiser decisions every time I open wide. I work in a restaurant kitchen 5 days a week in addition to spending endless hours at home preparing delights for our dinner table. Sounds old fashion but I am a huge fan of a sitdown family dinner at home most nights of the week. And as I am sure I have mentioned before, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach (aka Michael's stomach). It's my motto and I am sticking with it for better or worse. Regardless of who enjoys the meals I make, standing on my feet for 9+ hours a day is grueling. Tasting food throughout the day can certainly weigh me down and the last thing my legs want to do is work harder when I am ready for a break. But if these celebrity chefs can find time to train for marathons, I have no excuse.

Read these inspiring stories below from a few chefs that find time to pound the pavement after being on their feet all day. I hope that you find inspiration in their stories (2 of which are weight loss stories) and maybe even decide to lace up your kicks more often after a long day at the office, in class or wherever you spend your time.

These Runner's World articles are from the October 2011 issue:
Nate Appleman's story
Gesine Bullock-Prado's story
Art Smith's story