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Vegetarian and Vegan Runners

Liz Z.
Liz Z. Sendmail

New Member//Vegan Marathoners

posted almost 3 years ago | Report

Hi All,
I'm new to this group and am so glad to have found you all! I have been searching awhile online to find something like this. I have been vegetarian for many years (12ish) and went vegan in October 2008 (the absolute GREATEST gift I could ever have given myself!). I have one marathon under my belt (Los Angeles 2008) and am currently training for San Diego in May. I'm slow but I'm going to finish if I have to crawl!
I was really hoping there was an active vegan run club in the Los Angeles area but I have not been able to find one. Do any of you know of any? Or even of any vegan run clubs in other cities? I think it would be great if there was some organized network of vegan/vegetarian marathoners that meet up at big races en masse wearing message shirts and showing people that being vegan does not mean being weak and deprived! Is there any such thing out there?
Good luck in your training!
Cheers!
Liz

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12 posts

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  • Leslie G.
    Leslie G. Sendmail

    I wish I knew of one. I call myself vegetarian (I'm not yet willing to give up leather handbags and shoes) but don't eat animal products (including milk, cheese, eggs). In February I ran my first 50K and next month I'm attempting a 50 mile race. Wish I could yell "See -- it doesn't take eating animals to make you strong!" :)

    You know who might know an answer to your question? Catra Corbett. She's a WONDERFUL ultra girl who lives in the Bay Area. She's vegan and very connected with PCTR. Just Google her name and I'll bet she could point you in the right direction.

    Welcome!

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Jessica H.PRO
    Jessica H. Sendmail

    I don't have an answer, but I'd be into it. I'll be back in the Bay Area in August . . . I think we should start our own, if you can't find one =)

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Liz Z.
    Liz Z. Sendmail

    Hi Jessica,
    I agree! Let's start one! I've poked around online and haven't found anything that is a big organized group, but there is a good vegan running thread on vegweb.com that I need to read through still. But all we would need to do is pick a race and spread the word on every message board, website, podcast, etc. that caters to vegans and hopefully we'd end up with a big enough group to make an impact. If people wanted to use it to raise money for an animal charity they could do that, and we could all get matching shirts promoting veganism. I see stuff like this at races for all kinds of groups...so why not for vegans!?
    I haven't contacted Catra yet as suggested by Leslie, but I'll be sure to do that soon too!

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Jessica H.PRO
    Jessica H. Sendmail
    in reply to what Liz Z. said:Hi Jessica, I agree! Let's start one! I've poked around online and haven't found anything that is a big organized group, but there is a good vegan running thread on vegweb.com that I need to read through still. But all we would need to do is pi... read more

    Liz,

    I think that's a great idea. I feel like I should disclose that I am a veggie though, with strong vegan tendencies. I'm not sure if I'll ever go all out vegan, as I'm a big greek yogurt fan, but I have been tossing the idea around now for a bit. Anyway, I would totally be into a veggie/vegan running group, promoting the ideals with tshirts and whatnot at races. I'm planning on running the SF half in July, so that could be a good starting point. Thoughts?

    jessica

    jess

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Liz Z.
    Liz Z. Sendmail

    Hi Jessica,
    That all sounds wonderful to me. I'm doing the San Diego Marathon on 5/31 so I would be ready for a half in July. We would definitely need to start spreading the word soon though to give people time to prepare. And is SF the one where the full and half marathoners all start the run together, but the half marathoners just end at a different place? If that is the case we could include in our group anyone who wanted to do the full or the half. (I would probably just do a half myself.)
    I'm organizing a small group of runners now for San Diego for a children's charity so I need to look in to getting running shirts printed anyhow, so I'll try to start gathering info on that. And I agree that it should be open to vegetarians and vegans...the more the merrier!
    I think today I will post something on a few other message boards I am a member of and see what the response is. I'll hit the Compassionate Cooks board and the Happy Cow board. Are you a member of any others that could be good? For now maybe we should just gather a list of interested people and see what size group we could get. Is that a good starting point?
    I'm really excited about this, I hope it all works out!
    Cheers!
    Liz Zeigler

    PS....my email is lmzeigler@yahoo.com. I'm also on Facebook!

    posted almost 3 years ago | edited almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Liz Z.
    Liz Z. Sendmail

    Darn it, I just realized as soon as I sent that post that I may have a family vacation planned for that weekend. I am checking the dates and will find out ASAP. Are there any other races that could work?

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Jessica H.PRO
    Jessica H. Sendmail
    in reply to what Liz Z. said:Darn it, I just realized as soon as I sent that post that I may have a family vacation planned for that weekend. I am checking the dates and will find out ASAP. Are there any other races that could work?

    well, I'm doing the Nike Women's Half in SF in October, too. But registration is already closed for that. Otherwise, I'd have to look into other races. Maybe something in August or September in the bay area or LA/SD area?

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Liz Z.
    Liz Z. Sendmail

    I just checked a race calendar...not much in August but there is the Disneyland Half on 9/6. I've heard mixed things about it but I think they redid the course. There would certainly be a lot of people to see us!! SF does sound perfect though, I'm so bummed it overlaps with one of the few weekends I can't do it. If we want to wait until after Nike we would have more option too. There is City of Angels half 12/7 and the Vegas Marathon which is usually in December.

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Leslie G.
    Leslie G. Sendmail
    in reply to what Jessica H. said:Liz, I think that's a great idea. I feel like I should disclose that I am a veggie though, with strong vegan tendencies. I'm not sure if I'll ever go all out vegan, as I'm a big greek yogurt fan, but I have been tossing the idea around now for ... read more

    I'm running the SF Half in July too! Have you run it before? It's a WONDERFUL race!!!

    I call myself vegetarian although I rarely eat cheese, eggs, or milk. And I'm not ready (nor may I ever be ready) to give up leather handbags and shoes.

    Not on (this) topic, but there should be a new Veg Food for Thought podcast on Monday or Tuesday (3.30 or 3/31) and I can't wait!

    posted almost 3 years ago | edited almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Jessica H.PRO
    Jessica H. Sendmail
    in reply to what Leslie G. said:I'm running the SF Half in July too! Have you run it before? It's a WONDERFUL race!!! I call myself vegetarian although I rarely eat cheese, eggs, or milk. And I'm not ready (nor may I ever be ready) to give up leather handbags and shoes. No... read more

    I haven't run the SF Half before. This is my first time. I'm doing the flat/fast second half. Which one are you going to do? I'm in Texas through August, so I figured I'd save the hilly runs for when I can train on the SF hills ;) I added the Veg Food for Thought podcast to my Itunes subscriptions since you mentioned it, but I haven't had a chance to listen yet. I'll have to do that soon.

    Oh yeah, and we missed you last week, Leslie. Glad you're back to getting lost in suburbia!

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Leslie G.
    Leslie G. Sendmail
    in reply to what Jessica H. said:I haven't run the SF Half before. This is my first time. I'm doing the flat/fast second half. Which one are you going to do? I'm in Texas through August, so I figured I'd save the hilly runs for when I can train on the SF hills ;) I added the... read more

    I'm doing the first half, cuz there's nothing like running over the Golden Gate Bridge! Let's plan to meet at the Expo the day before the race, ok?

    Thanks for the nice thoughts about me being back -- they are very appreciated!

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

  • Jessica H.PRO
    Jessica H. Sendmail
    in reply to what Leslie G. said:I'm doing the first half, cuz there's nothing like running over the Golden Gate Bridge! Let's plan to meet at the Expo the day before the race, ok? Thanks for the nice thoughts about me being back -- they are very appreciated!

    Yeah, I'm totally envious that you'll get to run over the bridge. That will be great =) Hopefully, I'll be ready for that next year. And yes, we will definitely have to meet up at the Expo!

    posted almost 3 years ago | Report

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