Still smiling after 26.2 at the New Jersey Marathon

So, briefly, I was a tiny fairy light in the niche-y world of vegan athletes* when my essay “My Vegan Marathon” was published on the New York Times** website last month. You can read the essay for yourself. Thing is, there isn’t a whole lot of “me” in it after two rounds of editing. So that’s what this space is for. Not sure if my blog readership will top that NYT piece, and I seriously doubt I’ll write anything here that gets 65 comments. But I can be bitchy if I want to, or goofy, or obtuse, and I won’t have to fight with anyone’s legal team about whether it’s “okay” if I state my own opinion in an essay without corroborating scientific studies.

*Scott Jurek is the poster-boy of vegan athletes. He’s an ultramarathoner who fuels his 50-mile-plus races on beans, whole grains and veggies (and CLIF bars, presumably, since they are one of his sponsors). He’s heavily featured in the book “Born to Run,” a bestseller that I avoided for ages because I feared it would be overhyped. It is not. You should read it if you are at all interested in running, or human performance, or Mexico, or huarache sandals.

**Until last month, I worked for ConsumerSearch.com, a site I was with for 12 years. The New York Times bought it back in 2007. They still own it, but they don’t own me anymore.