Boston Marathon and Passover conflict

No pizza, bagels or pasta carbo-loading for observant Jews the night before that year’s Boston Marathon — the April 21 race falls smack in the middle of Passover. Jews that follow Passover dietary rules do not eat leavened foods such as bread, pasta or any fermented grains for eight days. Passover kicks off April 19 with a lengthy seder dinner celebrating Jewish freedom from Egyptian slavery. Another seder is held the moment night.

No doubt Jewish runners participating in the 2008 Boston Marathon will handle the clash differently. One couple practiced carbo-loading before preceding races with potatoes and fish. Another is breaking the rules and eating bagels on marathon dawn. One rabbi reports he’ll be

consuming plenty of matzoh (unleavened bread), but he’s not entirely confident that matzoh — a star food in a seder dinner — is the best choice. It reportedly can bind you up. Constipation and marathons do not go well together.

I wonder whether a couple bowls of Bubbie’s matzoh ball soup honestly slow down marathon times. I suspect it doesn’t matter whether you carbo-load on potatoes and kugel or pasta and bagels, but it might be a good notion to try out any new diet on a few longer training runs first. I mean, it’s an honor to run the Boston Marathon, ya gotta be prepared!

Original post by Bev Sklar

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