Banana Nation

Nature's Perfect Running Fuel

It's an odd sight to see: a middle-aged woman running down the street, pulling bananas out of her pants. Yet that’s exactly what I found myself doing at the Mount Rushmore International Marathon in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Before the race, I had researched the best source of energy replacement to sustain me during my four-plus hours of running in the cool October weather, where sodium loss through sweat would be negligible.

It was bananas. These easy-to-open comestibles are a fountain of mixed carbohydrates and, at 75 percent water, would help to keep me hydrated. I jammed a load of bananas in the waistband of my long pants and began my first marathon. It soon became clear that gravity is not just a good idea—it’s the law. Within minutes, the bananas were bunched around my knees, traveling to all points south and onward to freedom.

As always, we are here to guide you through your social and nutritional concerns. Take my word for it, bananas are best transported during long runs in the form of Gu.

To Peel or Not to Peel

Bananas are popular worldwide, harvested every day of the year, and available year-round. Most commercial crops are grown in lands near the equatorial belt, but can be coaxed to grow in suitable microclimates in some very unexpected places, such as the geyser regions of Iceland.

Bananas grow on towering, grasslike plants that can reach heights of 40 feet and live for 30 years. To reproduce, the plant needs neither seed nor blossom. It propagates by sending out "pups"—sprouting roots, much like the "eyes" on potatoes.

In the United States, 94 percent of us have bought bananas in the past month, and the per capita consumption of 26 pounds exceeds that of apples and oranges, making the mellow yellow our nation’s most popular fruit. In East Africa, the consumption of bananas, and its starchy relative the plantain, is seven times that amount. Do bananas, then, account for the speed and world domination of our brethren from Africa?

"Doubtful," says John Manners, journalist and an authority on Kenyan runners, particularly those of the Kalenjin tribe, whose membership includes some of the world’s best runners. "Bananas in Africa are a traditional staple of many societies, including a few in Kenya—but not the Kalenjin." If diet plays a role in the astonishing records of these men and women, it is because, unlike the disaster areas of Africa, "they simply have enough to eat."