The cookie monster ate my training?

Ever since it took me a disappointing 5-plus hours to finish the 2007 White Rock Marathon, I've been trying to figure out what went wrong.

My training? Couldn't be. I ran my first marathon in 2005 in 4 hours, 41 minutes with just one week of at least 40 miles. Last fall, before my taper, six of my last seven weeks were at least 40 miles, which included a 45-mile week and a 50-mile week.

The marathon day weather? In 2005, it started off in the mid 30s and ended near 60. In 2007, it was kinda rainy, kinda windy, overcast, and in the 30s and 40s for most of the run. In other words, it was near perfect long-distance running weather.

And yet with all of that, there was something terribly wrong on Marathon Day 2007. And I knew it by mile 2. I was out of breath when I tried to run faster than a 10 minute mile, even though a month earlier I'd run a 1:52;20 in a half marathon (8:30 pace). My fastest mile at White Rock in 2007 was a 9:39 in mile 8, and THAT took an 80 percent max heart rate. (Wednesday morning I ran 6 miles in an 8:58 pace and my heart rate averaged 77 percent and it was 25 degrees hotter than it was on marathon morning, and I didn't have nearly the long-run base that I did then.

So, if it wasn't my training or the weather, it had to be what I ate in the days leading up to the marathon.

What. Could. It. Be?

Two things, I've determined.

Milk and cookies.

During my marathon training, I had the worst worst worst diarrhea, and it was real bad the morning of the marathon. I've noticed in my diet that when I drink soy milk (it's all I can drink because I am lactose intolerant), and pile on the miles, the problem is worse.

The cookies? I ruled out a lot of things to get to this. Peanut butter. Oatmeal. Thai food (which I love).

In the months after the marathon, the cookies have been the common denominator when I've had a run where my heart rate mysteriously took off and my performance was terrible.

And come to think of it, I had a ton of cookies _ and more specifically, Central Market cookies _ during my marathon training.

Still, I thought nothing of the Central Market cookie-bad performance link until about a month ago. I bought a carton of the Central Market cookies (chocolate chip) and had two the night before a long run. Within an hour, my fingers swelled up a little bit. My stomach was distended with the extra-water weight that I took on. My run the next day was horrible.

Still, I thought it was something else. But the next weekend, I had a few more cookies the night before a long run. Had the same problems. Fingers. Stomach. During the run, I had to stop to walk at mile 9 on a 10-mile run, I put 2 and 2 together.

Something in the Central Market cookies was making me sick and seriously affecting my run. And I know I had some of these cookies the night before my marathon. I was trying to carbo-load.

So what's the dealio? I'm going to do some more research on what's in those cookies (Crack? Damn, they are good). But I am absolutely sure of the culprit.

The Central Market cookie monster.