By Joe Nuss
A short time ago I heard about the awesome nutritional value of quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), which is a great high-fiber vegetarian food as it contains all of the complete essential amino acids that are found in animal products, but has the added bonus of being a whole grain as well. This month, Endurance is proud to bring you another great Brandon McDearis recipe, Quinoa with Garlic Chickpeas and Wilted Spinach, which will knock your socks off in both taste and nutrition, considering the addition of spinach, another superfood, amongst the other tasty and healthy ingredients. Clearly in a “Best Of” category all his own, we didn’t include “Best Personal Chef” in our Best Of awards voting, so I want to give Brandon a mention for not just his amazing recipes for Endurance but for his charitable work for abandoned children in Peru, as well. Thank you, Brandon!
We would also like to thank all of our readers who participated in our Second Annual Best Of Awards online survey. Our 2011 voting saw even more responses from our readers than last year, so we’re excited to reveal the big winners in this issue. This year’s results are sure to confirm what you already knew in some categories and open your eyes in others. If you’re like me, you’ll jump at the chance to try something new and Endurance Magazine’s Second Annual Best Of Awards issue can serve as your map to hidden gems and treasures all over North Carolina. Make sure to congratulate the winners and finalists while you’re out buying gear, dining, training, racing and recovering from your training and racing in 2012.
Speaking of new things, Brian Schiff offers a few new exercises in his “totally hip” article about hip mobility, an often overlooked area in training for triathletes and runners geared too much toward only forward-movement exercising. Also in the “new” category is Angelina Stevens’ detoxification article about creating a “brand new you” in 2012. But the most amazing story about something new in this issue is the story of Anne Howell, who collapsed after a road race in 1993 only to discover she suffered from a degenerative heart disease. Over the next 16 years, the once-athletic Anne endured the symptoms of a deteriorating heart before ultimately needing a transplant. In 2009, Anne got her new heart, and she has come to consider it her teammate as she re-enters the world of active living.
We are proud to share Anne’s amazing story with you here. Thank you for reading and, like Anne: Inspire. Perform. Endure!
