Taking a few minutes to sing the praises of Vitacoco 100% pure coconut water.   I know it’s a Fad.  Coconut water is the latest “thing” being touted by all the trainers and nutritionists on TV and in magazines.    It’s on the shelves in all the stores.   But that’s typically a reason why I WON’T drink or eat something.  I’m not a Fad person.  I generally don’t like to be “sold” on something.  I don’t succumb to commercials.  Yet, once I do come to love an item, I am a BRAND loyalist!!   This is why Hostess going bankrupt this year was a GOOD THING.  Heck, ONE of us had to go down….and whew, thank god it wasn’t me!!

Back to the Vitacoco!  It was about 8 weeks ago when I was running regularly, and getting ready to start my HM training program.  I was suffering from this weird pain behind my left knee.   The pain always emerged after running and it felt as if I was over-extending my knee while running.  I remember talking to Marathon Brian about it one day, and he suggested an increase in potassium.  I was already a regular banana eater.  I always have a banana about 30 minutes before I hit the streets or the treadmill for any length run.   It serves two purposes.  It’s light enough to put something in my stomach, so I’m not running on an empty stomach, and it’s loaded with potassium.  At this point in time, I didn’t even understand WHY potassium was important for a runner.  LOL, I just did it because all the running websites said so.  Heck, as soon as I finished my first 5K, someone shoved a banana at me.  That must have reinforced the Pavlovian reaction to bananas in runners!!