Beating the Blerch for the Weekend List

Happy Sunday morning, I’m enjoying a quiet morning listening to the rain outside while the sun is just starting to come up – so pretty. It also rained last Sunday here and we got caught in pretty heavy downpours on our long runs. It was fine, running in the rain was actually kind of refreshing and therapeutic since there was no wind or lightening. I placed our shoes on the fireplace to dry after and hubby caught this darling shot of Miko after he stuffed himself between the shoes to get in on the fireplace action.

Occasionally I poke my head into Grocery Outlet to see if there are any vegan deals, it’s one of those stores I can’t do regular shopping at because the selection and prices are just too hit or miss. But if you have a few free minutes, you could probably score great deals on vegan products like organic kale chips, chia seeds, vegan yogurt, etc. I scored a shelf stable box of So Delicious Almond+Plus Almond Milk, a product that I never knew existed.

Basically it’s almond milk with added pea and rice protein and still lower calorie per serving than skim dairy milk. While it wasn’t bad in coffee, it wasn’t great either. It has a grittier texture and very slightly bitter flavor. And it needs more shaking to keep it blended. The extra protein is nice, but I much prefer to get that by adding protein powder to smoothies with frozen banana. So, eh.

I snapped this beautiful pic of our front tree while walking the dogs before work one morning, I just love the fall colors!

Besides salads and smoothies, my eats have been pretty simple this week. Like this green bean, tempeh, and kale oil free stir fry.

I did splurge on a huge salad and KeVita probiotic drink at Whole Foods for lunch one day, always great.

Another simple oil free tempeh stir fry using rainbow chard.

And lentil and quinoa one pot meal seasoned with ginger and miso paste topped with Trader Joe’s Vegan Mozzarella Shreds for an interesting and tasty flavor combo.

We also ran a race this weekend! Have you ever heard of The Oatmeal online comic? If not, you should add it to your RSS readers! Mathew Inman is the talented guy behind The Oatmeal and awhile back wrote a comic called The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances. It led to an entire book dedicated to running and this great Saucony Ad. Last year he held a crazy race in Washington to celebrate the book release, a wacky marathon and half marathon that I was so tempted to travel for. Apparently it was so popular that it’s now a traveling race series this year, Beat the Blerch. Lucky us, Sacramento was one of the stops!

Unlike a lot of traditional races, it was on a Saturday and the packet pickup was Friday at a Sacramento REI location until 7PM. It also included a book signing with Matthew. Problem is, lots of people work Friday, like us, and had to get there later. After battling rush hour traffic, we arrived at 6:15 pm to find the line for the packet pick up was literally wrapped around the entire store! It took us 40 minutes to wait through the line which actually was not bad, we got to talk to other runners, check out products at REI, and race volunteers were handing out candy to the line for carb loading, lol. We were there for about an hour, grabbed our race stuff and got Matthew to sign our book, then headed to a local Thai place for a late, spicy curry tofu dinner.

All race length options were offered – marathon, half marathon, 10k, and 5k. Both hubby and I did the 10k and I love the long sleeve technical shirts provided, I will be using this a lot for winter running!

We also got temporary Blerch tattoos to sport for the race. The races were timed interestingly to try to bring everyone through the finish line closer together for a group photo and book signing opportunity after, the narrow finish line on Raley Field was packed from about 11AM to 1PM as marathoners to 5k’ers were crossing together. But I will toot my own horn here because I PR’d the heck out of the 10k finishing at 50:50, which is a pace of 8 minute and 12 second miles, my fastest for a 10k. And wore my Team Veg shirt of course which I got some compliments on.

I started in the first wave for the 10k and enjoyed that the route was not crowded at all once the initial start group broke up and the finish line was nicely not crowded when I crossed. Some cool, wacky features to this race are all the race photos are free, you can just download them when they become available online. The water stations also served birthday cake and Nutella sandwiches which I avoided. There were volunteers running around in Blerch costumes serving treats before the race and couches all around Raley Field, like regular indoor ugly couches, for people to crash on and take pictures to signify the lazy couch Blerch I guess. The 10k started later, at 10 am, which was nice for a laid back race. Matthew Inman himself runs the marathon in his green Blerch costume after a long day of signing books and interacting with fans the day before. And he signs more books and greets fans after running the marathon, wow. Such a cool event and I’m glad we got the opportunity to do it and scored a unique metal to add to my collection.

Moving on to the list!

Here’s a great article on a vegan diet and athletic performance.

And an inspirational story of going from 410 lbs. to an ultra runner on a plant based diet.

Another dropping 180 lbs. and some nasty health problems.

This plant based couple posted a cute, satirical story on their vegan diet to combat silly eating disorder articles lately.

And here’s some helpful tips for positive vegan advocacy.

This savory torte looks perfect for the Thanksgiving table.

And so does this whole roasted cauliflower recipe.

How about even more Thanksgiving recipe inspiration?

But these raw mint chocolate bars are speaking to me.