I’ll never forget how to spell the word oophagous.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee wrapped up last week. I don’t watch it every year, but I always check the winner and the final word (éclaircissement, spelled correctly by a 13-year-old). I’ve followed the Bee ever since I went to school with a guy who placed fourth. We were on the math team together. He became a local celebrity.

I once asked him how he got so good at spelling. He said it wasn’t just about memory—it was about patterns. Every word has a structure. Ask the right questions—language origin, part of speech, pronunciation—and you can piece it together. The best spellers build systems to break down and reconstruct words. Then they practice. A lot.

That clicked for me years later when I started training with a running coach. Before that, I was guessing: run more, hope for the best. But with a coach, I saw the framework—weekly mileage, tempo runs, recovery. A system. And it worked.

Nutrition felt the same. It confused me at first—until someone helped me see the logic. What to take, when to take it, and why it matters.

In my experience, most things—once you peek behind the curtain—follow a system. You can figure it out on your own, but it’s often faster and easier when someone shows you how. That’s what we try to do at PEREGRUNE: simplify vitamins and supplements so you can focus on running.

Oh—oophagous?

It means feeding on eggs.