pasta and a movie: Off and Running

This week, it ain't pasta I'm eating and it ain't really a running movie I'm watching. But carbs will be had and to offset the unconventional running movie choice, I'll start the evening program with the NOVA episode Marathon Challenge. Off and Running, the feature presentation, is more of a coming of age story and if you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know I'm a fan of female coming of age stories, even though I have little in common with the subject of this documentary:

With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers — one mixed-race and one Korean — Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household. But when her curiosity about her African-American roots grows, she decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity, and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she’s always known. She begins staying away from home, starts skipping school, and risks losing her shot at the college track career she had always dreamed of. But when Avery decides to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of her identity, the results are inspiring. Off and Running follows Avery to the brink of adulthood, exploring the strength of family bonds and the lengths people must go to become themselves.

That synopsis is from the film's website. Here's the trailer:



Looks pretty good, don't you think, and with enough actual running footage to fill the figurative tank for tomorrow's ten-mile run (our first "easy ten"!).

To fill the literal tank, I'll be making this "salad" from the latest issue of Sunset Magazine. Turns out my best runs seem to follow the nights I have rice, not pasta, so now that we're getting into double-digit mileage, I'm starting to get a little more serious about what I'm eating all week long but particularly the night before a long run. Downside is it'll take me about as long to make this salad as it will to run 10 miles tomorrow morning! (And that's long!) Also, I'll be running in brand new shoes, brand new shoes that are currently still on the UPS truck, ready for delivery. Well, at least it's not the night before the marathon, right?