Cucumbers, because hydration means life

The two hours of leisurely running felt as colorful and relaxing as flipping through a magazine. No matter how much faster I believed I wanted to go, my legs resisted. My quads felt like they were draped in vests of lead, the kind you put on before taking an x-ray. I wondered if this humbling challenge of pushing unrested legs is a step to the magic arch a person must push through to enter the ranks of an elite runner, or if it is simply an exercise for my ego. The meaning depends entirely upon the interpretation. I was drifting down the street, like a lazy boat carried by an asphalt river, while others zoomed by. I felt the sun soak into my skin, the last lingering heat of summer. Soon there will be reds and golds and autumn smells.

Food is a constant desire in these 60 mile weeks. I left behind the salads in favor of more energy dense foods to keep up with my training, like crackers and cheeses, meats, almonds, Eggs Benedict and cupcakes. Today I felt a longing in my heart for heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers. Last year I worked, briefly, doing marketing research for farmers markets. My job was to surf the Internet all day extracting material about the nutritional and nutraceutical value of different types of produce. I had a long list of vegetables to research, all of them were very marketable: blueberries, a powerhouse of antioxidants! Apples, soluble fiber to help lower cholesterol! Carrots, beta-carotene for night vision! Tomatoes, heart healthy lycopene! and then I came to cucumbers. Cucumbers are....hydrating.

Suddenly cucumbers seemed totally uninteresting to me. They had no fancy pharmacological activity, not many flavonoids or polyphenols to brag about or fancy pants phytosterols, no great vitamin contribution, no omega 3 fatty acids to ward off inflammation.

They simply hydrate.

Then it hit me. Hydration is really important, although generally not very marketable in the food product world (unless you are selling beverages). Our bodies contain about 65% water. Manufacturers of food products have a different relationship with water in food, it increases the likelihood of spoilage causing a limited shelf life. A limited shelf life is a major roadblock for a country that relies on shipping food around to keep everyone fed. This is one reason that the frozen foods and the snack sections of the grocery store seems to just keep spreading. Many of the snack foods available in stores are dehydrated or low in water, so that they keep for longer.

Cucumbers, because hydration means life.

The Salad:

dice 1 whole large cucumber and put it in a salad bowl. Add some sliced heirloom tomatoes (or heirloom cherry tomatoes yum!!) Dress with red wine vinegar and oil. Top with 1/4 avocado, 2 slices of turkey, 1 slice of nice Italian salami, and some broken up mozzarella cheese. Garnish with crackers.

Christina's vote: (Poor Christina, I ate this whole thing by myself! By the time she got home I was licking the bowl)