She's Going the Distance: 2013 Boulder Distance Classic Recap

The week before my first marathon, I was supposed to do an easy eight mile run, so I decided that it would be a great idea to do a 15K race instead. And you know what? It was a great idea. The Boulder Distance Classic is a small race, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in awesome.

Course: This course loops around the Boulder Reservoir, meaning that there are rolling pastures to one side

and stunning mountains to the other, making this course unbelievably easy on the eyes. An added benefit of this course is that it is almost entirely run on hard packed dirt roads, making it nice and easy on the joints. There's some loose rock here and there, but nothing you'll wreck yourself on if you're paying attention. Towards the end of the course, there's a really steep hill towards the end, but then it's easy sailing to the finish line.
Crowd: Another sparse race, but the support throughout the race was amazing and it felt like there was an aid station every fifty feet, all of which were loaded with water and gatorade. Great, great support. Also, the song they played at the start line was Chariots of Fire. Just try to not be inspired by that.
Chow: Yay for fruit! It's always a good thing when there are multipe types of fruit cut and ready to go post race, along with a giant tub of water bottles on ice. There was also a huge spread of barbecue, but the idea of eating barbecue, vegan or not, post run grosses me out.
Bling: Brooks tech shirt that appears to be a traditional cotton shirt, but does, in fact, wick your sweat away. Since this race was inexpensive at $30, I feel like I got a super sweet deal with an awesome race, good food and a nice shirt.
Expo: This was the expo that I finally indulged in one of those free massages and it was awesome. Why have I never waited around for a free post-race massage? There were also a decent amount of free goodies, and a beer garden featuring Avery beer.

For those not wanting to race the full 15K, there's also a 5K option, but I always figure that if I'm going to sign up for a race, I want to get the most bang for my buck. Frugal runner here.

Celestial Seasonings loves vegans!

 One of the great things about my relocation to Denver is that I am now only about 30 minutes away from Celestial Seasonings, which is located in Boulder. This means that I no longer have to pay full price for Celestial Seasonings and that if I want any tea-related paraphernalia, I'm all set. This also means that I've been on the free factory tour more than once, which is actually a blast. You receive tea packets as your tickets, and then you can taste test teas and kombucha until your tour starts, where you will learn all about tea, Celestial Seasonings and experience the somewhat intense and mysterious mint room. Celestial Seasonings offers both agave nectar and soy milk for their tea tasting area and sells Cocomels in their gift shop- a perfect way to begin and end your tour!

PS- I was interviewed for Buffy Tuesday at Seitan Beats Your Meat and Pudds (my cat) wrote a piece on what vegan foods he'd like to get his paws on over at Get Sconed. Check it out!
PPS- Did you know that Celestial Seasonings sells the lower quality tea leaves they don't use to Lipton? Seriously! Fun facts from the tour!

Sleepytime Bear veers dangerously close to drunk

Leaf

Leaf is another restaurant that I was introduced to via the 2008 Denver Vegfest. I believe they had seitan skewers for samples and I went back to their booth over and over again. I finally got to try the actual restaurant recently, as I selected it as my restaurant to provide me with proper nutrition prior to attending a Hanson show.

The restaurant in itself is a sight to see. Giant windows line the street side of the restaurant and they were all open on the day I ate there, combining the best of eating inside and outside. Additionally, Leaf has a happy hour, three to six. For me, this meant my sandwich was $8 inside of $8.50, but appetizers and martinis are around $4 during this time- definitely something to consider.

I wound up ordering the blackened tofu and veggie sandwich with a side salad. This normally comes with cheese, but I asked them to leave it off and didn't miss it at all. The tofu was spicier than I expected but the cooling hummus and vegetables countered it nicely. Additionally, the house side salad was made memorable with the addition of dried cherries and banana chips.

Overall, I would eat at Leaf based only on how gorgeous the restaurant is but knowing that the food is delicious is also a plus. Leaf is located right off the Pearl Street Mall, so keep it in mind as the perfect break during a day of shopping.