Are You Kitten Me?

Early morning bike commute. Suspicious activity on the main road I take. Got to see the bomb squad.

Oh yeah, I used to write and share a lot about food. And then I got lazy. We still eat all the time. We are both still vegan, it’s been a little over 4 years and keeps getting easier and easier.

A few months ago I heard that Trader Joe’s started carrying accidentally vegan cinnamon rolls. I went looking for them one time and couldn’t find them. A few months later I was back in the store and stumbled upon them. They are bad news good. Not great for you at all, and a little too easy to make, but they have been a great breakfast/dessert fall back.

A new-ish restaurant opened up in the neighborhood north of us, and Eric and went up for dinner last week. THEY HAVE A VEGAN CHEESEPLATE. Seriously. It’s pretty good. The smoked mozzarella was amazing.

Last Saturday we went on a 30 mile bike ride and while heading home were discussing ice cream. Discussing ice cream led to us wanting ice cream. It was a nice day out so we decided to stop for lunch first.

We went down to The P.O.P.E. and tried their French Toast for the first time.

Post brunch we walked across the street to get vanilla soft serve from B2.

That I can think of off the top of my head, there are currently 4 places in Philly to get vegan ice cream, all with very different ice cream.

 On another non-food related note, this summer I will be running the 2013 Stroehmann Back on My Feet 20in24 Silver Relay. I will be running two 8.4 mile loops with a really awesome team (Your Pace or Mine), and our total mileage will be 84 miles.

I really hate asking people for donations, but if you are feeling generous, please consider making a donation to this wonderful organization! http://20in24.com/donation-form.html?kwoAdvocateId=8MMN3L9

As I mentioned last week, I really didn’t know how I should run this years Broad Street 10 mile race. I have been running, but not really training (aka speedwork).

We went to a bike swap on Saturday and I was talking to my friend Blake (who is a seasoned runner and ultra marathoner) and he suggested just running as fast as possible until I blew up. After some thoughts and more talking, I thought taking this approach would be interesting, and why not?

Sunday morning, Eric drove me to the Spring Garden stop, and I caught the subway up to the start. I saw friends on the subway and then met up with my friends Olivia and Leslie at the start. We hung for a bit and then I slipped into my corral.

I wore red socks and an awesome sticker the race promoters created.

I ran across the start line and just started running by feel. I was feeling great and was just super pumped to be running. I kept looking for Eric, but never saw him (more on that later).

The miles kept ticking by and I felt great. I got so excited when we were approaching City Hall because the run was more than halfway and I was feeling great.

So I just kept running and running. Never feeling mentally or physically spent. And at around mile 7 I realized I could PR!! Which was just the boost I needed to keep going.

I ended up crossing the finish line in 1:21:xx, almost a full minute PR from last year. While I have been running, it’s been some sloooow miles on trails.

Post race a bunch of friends and I met up. I kept calling and texting Eric after the race, only to find out he ran part of the race (9.5 miles!) for fun. He’s insane and never runs.

We all headed over to FDR to hang out with Philadelphia Runner.

And then there were horses. Because horses always randomly show up in Philly.

After some beer and some food we decided to go to Blackbird for some more food.
Blake mentioned he was running there and I think the beers convinced me it was a good idea.

Blake and I ran to Blackbird and met Eric and scarfed down pizza, wings, and fries. After eating we discusse our options to get home and Blake and I decided to run back to Northern Liberties.

I ended the day at 16 ish miles.

Splits from the race and the miles home: