What do you usually eat the night before a marathon?
a drool-worthy Carytown Cupcake I usually start carb-ing and hydrating up at least two days before my marathon.  The night before I race, l believe it's important to have a nice, healthy, home-cooked carb/protein balanced meal.

So when I heard all these runners were coming down from NYC, DC, DE, etc. I decided that I'd host something that I'd love to find in a new foreign marathon city-- a blogger carbohydrate fueling party.

The Richmond Marathon is, after all, the world's friendliest marathon (yes, this is serious, look at their logo) so I wanted to make these girls feel welcome :)
Richmond Marathon Logo.
See, it is America's Friendliest Marathon.I contacted three of my favorite local places to eat to see if they wanted to sponsor the dinner and they all were happy to support the marathoners.

Meggie , Gia , Brittany , and Christine all helped me get things arranged, heated up/cooked some goodies.  My friend Melissa (who I wish lived in the same city as me, darn it) came by, so glad I got to finally meet her.  The other bloggers were stuck in traffic, but eventually  Jess ,  Christy , Laura, Fiona , Christine , and Ashley arrived.  I felt horrible for them, it took 8 hours to do a 6 hour drive.

We all ate and I stuffed my face as if I were running a marathon the next day (even though I wasn't), it was so gluttonous and wonderful :)

We had a few delicious pizzas from my favorite local pizza place, Superstars Pizza .  We had the So-Crates (fresh garlic, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, oregano), the Pesto Panache (homemade fresh basil pesto, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, oregano), and the Luau (canadian bacon, pineapple, mandarin oranges.)  If you have time today, hop on over to check out this great local company  on twitter :)
my favorite Superstars Pizza was the one in the back,
it had some heat to it, good sharp, fresh taste.We had delicious sides, pasta, sauce, and a fresh green salad from The Fresh Market , a specialty gourmet food store.  They have a new store in Carytown, very convenient.
perhaps my favorite side dish of the night,
an edamame salad with feta and dried cranberriesOk let me rethink that...I actually loved all three side
dishes from The Fresh Market, can't pick a favoriteedamame salad
quinoa salad
spinach and artichoke saladDessert was two courses (of course.)

Course #1 of dessert was a dozen cupcakes made by Carytown Cupcakes , my favorite local cupcake shop.
Carytown Cupcakes  Look at the way they set up the box:
there was a key on the top portion so that we could
remember which flavors are which.  It's the little details that count :) Course #2 of Dessert was a sorbet and ice cream party (including Sea Salt Caramel Truffle)