Powered by the King of Fruit

Some runners are powered by PowerGel during runs; some by PowerBar. For Penguin-2 and -3, they are powered by both PowerGel and PowerBar. But for me, I am definitely powered by the King of Fruit -- the Durian.

I had durian for lunch and dinner for the

past few days. Instead of eating the normal fried noodles or rice, I think it is an excellent idea to have durian instead. After all, this is the durian season, and the best thing is that the price of durian is very cheap. For RM10, I can get six fairly large durians.

I went for a run this evening after work. After running for 5km, my energy level was as high as when I started the run -- full throttle ahead. This is the second time that I experiment with durian as fuel. Last November, during the durian season, I tried the same method -- I had durian for four consecutive dinners. And I could feel the power during running. I could run blissfully on and on without feeling tired.

One area that needs special management is that after taking too much durian, not only the fart sounds like thunder; it smells like rotten eggs too. So, avoid letting the gas out especially when you are surrounded by other runners. Otherwise, you could scare the hell out of them due to the thunderous sound or intoxicate them due to the smell.

Why is durian so cheap? According to a colleague, it was published in a Chinese newspaper that other than potent mix of nutrients from the durian, it is also high in cholesterol. I think the cholesterol must have scared many folks avoiding this fruit.

To show how potent this fruit is, it was reported in the Star newspaper that in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai, a 68-year-old Thai had died after over-indulging in durian. As in the case of diabetics, eating two to three seeds means having to adjust their medication such as increasing their insulin intake.

But for runners like you and me, I think it is very safe that the cholesterol from durian -- whether good or bad ones -- helps to power us during runs. With the extra power, much like after taking steroid, a runner’s performance would definitely improve. But the best thing is that you would definitely pass the dope test because (a) this is a very unusual performance enhancing method; (b) durian is not popular with the Westerners and as such, they would not have developed any benchmarking yet against durian power.

Keep eating and enjoying the fruit. After all, they say eating fruit is good for us.

Penguin-1