As an avid, long-time runner, I signed up for a marathon clinic this past January for a new challenge that the half distance wasn’t giving me anymore, and to have a better experience than my last (and only other full) marathon in 2006, that rendered me injured for 9 weeks, slow and unmotivated to keep on running. I quickly set an ambitious goal of running a sub-4:00 time.
However, as a person with a history of disordered eating, restriction and nearly obsessive calorie counting and tracking, I knew my nutrition needed improvement if I wanted my body to stand up to the demands of this training, but I was lost; I didn’t have the tools to get my nutrition in check and had no idea where to start. The minute I had the privilege of having Sarah give a talk at my clinic, something clicked in me! This is what I needed!
So, I contacted Sarah the next week and quickly got on my individualized plan. With Sarah’s knowledge, openness and desire to really help people reach their goals with sensitivity and practicality, I knew I could trust her to guide me to health and running success. The recipes were delicious, easy to execute and provided my body everything it needed to perform and recover! I can say I have a newfound appreciation for my body and what it can do; I have repaired my relationship with food and am now looking into completing the education to become a nutritionist myself. The best part? I have run a personal best time for the 10km and half marathon distances, AND I crossed the finish line in my marathon strong, healthy and in a time of 3:55:07! I can say I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Sarah’s passion, guidance and confidence in me!
Devon McGuire, Vancouver BC
Update from Devon, 9 months later.
Well, I’m now 9 months into my personal investment with eat2run and am just as inspired and motivated as day one! In fact, eating 2 run has become second nature for me. My one on one work with Sarah may have ended, but the dividends continue to pay off!
Working with Sarah has honestly changed my life in so many ways! Immediately following my PB marathon in Vancouver in May, I committed myself to another fall marathon. Using the eat2run principles, my post-marathon recovery was amazing and I was out running only 5 days post-race. I followed an intense summer training plan, running nearly every day and hitting 2 100km weeks! Honestly this level of mileage made possible by solid rest and eating for performance and recovery. During that training session, I smashed not one, but TWO old records, running a 1:43 half marathon at SeaWheeze in August and taking an additional 10 minutes off my time in Victoria in October and running a 3:45 marathon! Not only that, but only two weeks after THAT marathon, I was recovered well enough to run a 1:44 half at Rock n Roll in Vancouver.
I honestly can’t express how much eating to run and not running to eat has made a difference in my life and my goals. Not only that, but I’m now 1/4 of the way through the Nutrition program myself and am ambitiously looking forward to 2015, with goals of running a 1:40 half marathon and even a Boston Qualifier! None of this would have been made possible without eat2run and my now good friend (and running buddy), Sarah Cuff.
Update from Devon, 12 months later.
In just 12 months of “eating 2 run”, I’ve set PB’s in nearly every single distance, crossed the finish line as first overall female at a local 5km race, shaved 10 minutes off my half marathon time (1:51-1:41), taken 23 minutes off my marathon time (3:55-3:32) and have qualified for the 2016 Boston Marathon! The crazy thing is that this all happened in just over one year, while for 10 years previous to that I struggled to perform well as a runner. And that’s just the beginning – I’m pumped to see where this year of training and eating 2 run takes me!
