Stay hydrated with a glassful of this intensely refreshing Watermelon Strawberry Lime Juice. It’s a perfect and healthy way to use up all that cool, crisp watermelon.
I may have done something quite stupid yesterday. Or maybe ridiculous, or impulsive, or crazy. Pick whichever adjective you like, but basically I may have acted a tad bit hastily.
Gulp…I signed up for the St. George Marathon.
So here is my justification. I am probably in the best shape of my life. I run 6 to 8 miles a day, 5 to 6 days a week. I haven’t been training for long runs on the weekend, but I know a lady that is running the marathon and she said I could jump into their training schedule. They are running 13 miles this weekend and bumping it up from there. I can handle 13 miles. If it would have been 18 or something to start with, I may have just peed my pants.
Also, we’re going to be in St. George that weekend anyway. My brother works for Tuacahn which puts on the outdoor summer theater series. He got us tickets to see Shrek the Musical. I figured I could get up suuuuuuuper early (we’re talkin’ 3:30 am), run the race, and be done by about 10:45ish. I would still have the whole rest of the day to hobble around and hang out with the family and then crash while watching the musical at night. Good plan, right?
And lastly, my main motivation for signing up for guaranteed pain is so that I could prove to myself that I am strong enough to RUN a marathon. I’ve run (I use the term loosely) a marathon once before, about 3 years ago, in Phoenix. I had a great first half, and then pooped out the last 8 miles. I completely overestimated myself and most definitely didn’t hydrate correctly. You can read all about it here. But ever since then, I’ve wanted to participate in just one more marathon that I could actually feel proud about. So I guess this is it.
Funny side note about the marathon. When I went to the home page to register, it stated that registration had closed. However, you could contact one of the charities that may have an open spot, which they would then give you an online registration code. So I did this. The charity requested that I donate $150 to their organization and then pay the additional $95 race registration fee. Well, when I went to put in the code and it took me to the actual registration page, it stated that they had opened up late registration to an additional 500 runners. I didn’t even have to make any kind of charitable donation in order to run.
Say what???!!!
So guess what I did. Yes, I’m ashamed to say that I called the charity, after receiving a sincere thank you email for my generosity, and asked for my money back. How awkward is that???! I’m sure I must being going to hell. Seriously, who does that?! Hey, I at least told the lady that I would love to make another donation…just not $150. How about $25??? Haha! I’m such a jerk. I’ll probably die running on the side of the road just because I did that.
And speaking of dying on the side of the road, which I about did when I tried running my first marathon, I am determined to stay fully hydrated this time around. Lots of water for me! And not only do I need to stay hydrated on race day, but I need to make sure to consume plenty of fluids leading up to the day of the run. I may have to make weekly batches of this sweet and refreshing Watermelon Strawberry Lime Juice in order to keep me alive and kicking.
But seriously, I wouldn’t be opposed to drinking a pitcher of this juice every week. It’s fabulous!
I got the idea for this juice after thinking about this watermelon water I tried a few years back at Costco. I recall it tasting delicious. I’m not a huge juice fan. I think they’re way too sweet, so I often water them down by 50%. But this watermelon juice has a very subtle flavor; not too sweet, and simply refreshing. I remember seeing somewhere on their packaging that they blend up the entire fruit, rind an all, which is probably what cuts down on the sweetness.
So, after Emry decided to bounce my watermelon that I bought at the store last week, I knew I had to do something with it quick. We ate about a 1/4 of it for dinner and the rest went into the blender for a cold pressed summer drink.
But I didn’t stop there. You know me, I like to get all fancy. So I tossed in 2 cups of strawberries to puree along with the watermelon, then added fresh squeezed lime juice and organic honey to the finished product. Boy oh boy, I was in love. The pitcher didn’t even last through the day.
The key to obtaining a smooth, palatable juice is to strain out all the pulp so you are left with just the flavored water of the fruits. I did this by pressing the puree through a fine mesh strainer. I repeated this twice to make sure there were no excessive pieces of pulp left in my juice.
You can take my recommendation and add strawberries to your puree, or you can go just the watermelon route. I do highly advise adding at least the lime or lemon juice to cut through the sweetness of the watermelon. Otherwise the drink is a bit bland and one dimensional in flavor.
In place of strawberries, you could add other berries, a banana, orange juice, apples, peaches, or really any other fruit into the mix. Just don’t blend up the rind of any citrus or your juice will taste too bitter. Otherwise, you can add an array of flavors into your watermelon base. Get creative.
So whether you’re running an actual physical marathon, or your days just feel like you are, stock some of this healthy juice in your fridge for a midday pick-me-up hydration session. Your body will love you for it.
What is the most physically challenging event you have participated in?
- 3 blenders full (72 oz. size) of watermelon wedges, with rind
- 2 cups strawberries, stems removed
- 2-3 tablespoons agave or honey
- Juice of 2 large limes or lemons
- Fill a 72 oz. blender with watermelon wedges (including rind) and blend until smooth. Pour puree into a fine mesh strainer, held over a large bowl. Using a spatula, press pulp against strainer to squeeze juice through. Repeat blending process two more times with remaining watermelon wedges, cleaning off strainer in between batches.
- Place strawberries in blender and blend until smooth. Strain strawberry puree through strainer to remove pulp and combine with watermelon juice.
- Pour mixture of watermelon and strawberry juice through strainer (over a pitcher) one more time to remove excess pulp.* Squeeze lime juice and honey into pitcher and stir until honey is dissolved.
- Serve juice chilled with ice cubes.
