From sunlight to a single step

I cross the finish line. The race is over, but getting here started long before the starting horn.

I followed a training plan based on my own numbers, watched how my body responded and made adjustments along the way.

The night before, I had pasta for dinner—my usual choice before a race. I thought of the carbohydrates as fuel for the hours ahead.

When the horn sounded, I felt ready. I knew the next few hours would test my body’s limits. The training had given me an idea of what to expect, but I still had to go out and do it.

I usually think about that preparation in terms of training and food. But I’m interested in the connection between them: how something on my plate becomes available to a muscle, and how that muscle produces a pull.

That takes me back to the wheat used to make the pasta, and the sunlight that helped it grow.