These low carb mini frittatas are packed full of healthy kale and delicious bacon, and they fuelled me through a gruelling 18 miles! A great keto breakfast recipe.

Apparently I am really into making things for two lately, despite having a family of five to feed. But maybe I should actually say that these low carb mini frittatas are for one. And one. Because I ate them both. I didn’t even offer them to my family members. They were all mine! And they were delicious. I need to make them again soon, and next time I might even be prevailed upon to share.

These little frittatas were my running fuel, as it were. This past weekend, I participated in the Cascade Lakes Relay, a 216 mile race set in central Oregon, running from Diamond Lake to Bend. It’s kind of a crazy event. Teams of 12 (or less, we ended up with 11) in two vans, running multiple legs and passing the baton off to each other. It starts on a Friday morning and ends on a Saturday evening, and yes, you run straight through the night. The logistics are slightly mind-boggling, the multiple exchange points, the way the two vans leap-frog each other, the little 4 hour snatches of rest each van gets while the other van sends out their runners. It was crazy, insanely hot, exhausting, and pushed us to our limits. And I can’t wait to do it again!

Our team name? 2 Legit 2 Quit.

I confess, I was sort of dreading the whole thing. I had never participated in such a relay race and I really didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t that well trained, as I’d been dealing with a hamstring injury all spring and hadn’t been able to do much in the way of distance or hills. I was particularly concerned about my final leg, a 6.1 mile portion that was designated”very hard” because the majority of it was straight up Mt. Bachelor. And the heat was of great concern to me, as I am the sort of runner who is miserable when it’s over 60 degrees.

This Central Oregon heat is killer! And that’s an ice pack around my neck…

We definitely struggled at times. The heat was really bad for two of our runners on the first day, but we drove alongside them, spraying them with water, handing off water bottles, and using bags of ice to put down their running bras (“boob ice”, as we called it). The night runs were pretty amazing with the stars and it was a welcome break from the heat. But it was on very dusty gravel roads where it was hard to see. And I am sure breathing in all that dust wasn’t particularly good for us. We managed to snatch a little rest at one of the sleepover sites, from about 5 to 7am. While my van-mates headed to the showers, I climbed into my sleeping bag in my sweaty, dusty running clothes and crashed. I smelled lovely when we all got back in the van but I was too tired to care.

There was even a costume leg. That’s my friend running in an MC Hammer outfit.

I was so anxious about my final leg, I gave my team-mates very specific instructions. When to stop, how often to spray me down with water, and how we would communicate if I needed one of them to take over. But I worried needlessly, it seemed. Although I took off at about 2pm, in the heat of the day, I had a nice mountain breeze and just some of the most amazing views. It got challenging pretty quickly so I would fall back to a fast walking pace to catch my breath and then start running again. On off, on off, running, walking. I felt a wonderful sense of well-being, so I knew I had a great case of runner’s high going. It felt amazing and even with the bits of walking here and there, I managed to bring it in at a pretty good pace.

Being sprayed down before I head up hill!

I was, thankfully, with an amazingly supportive group of women. We weren’t trying to be competitive, we just wanted to have fun and finish. And so we did…and in third place for our division! It was quite an experience and it’s given me back some of the love of running I’ve been missing lately.

My mini frittatas were also perfect low carb running food. I had one for breakfast on each of the days, and along with some cheese, some beef sticks, and some low carb energy bars, plus veggies, berries, nuts, peanut butter, and other portable snacks, they fuelled me admirably!

A little shout out to the peeps who supplied my whole team with snacks. Cabot Creamery sharp cheddar in little individual sizes, Ayoba-Yo South African beef sticks (droewors), and Primal Kitchen dark chocolate and almond bars. The whole team loved them, thanks so much!

And now, for the star of the show, please see my Mini Bacon & Kale Frittatas on A Sweet Life Diabetes Magazine.