North Carolina in a Week

This has been quite the week of traveling. Tuesday through Thursday I spent near Asheville, NC, visiting a special boy, Richard. Friday through Sunday was a girls' road trip through North Carolina and South Carolina. I've certainly covered ground!

Maybe it's just me, but food just tastes better in crisp mountain air. I introduced Richard to PB-naner oats and taco salads with the amazing Daiya vegan cheese.

Runs are definitely better with hills, nature and that crisp mountain air.

Richard is a flexitarian who appreciates good vegan food, so we made it a point to try his favorite vegetarian restaurant in downtown Asheville, Rosetta's Kitchen.

Rosetta's has a funky, local feel with mis-matched chairs and fun wall art. The crowd was varied and definitely included plenty of dreadlocks!

We got the vegan Pad Thai Kitchen Style with tofu and a peanut-apricot sauce. It had a nice twist from typical pad thai, but amazing nonetheless!

We walked downtown after our amazing dinner. It was very hippie and fun for sure. I loved what I saw and can't wait to go back and really scope out the area!

Recommendations to try out Laughing Seed Cafe have poured in since I first mentioned my visit to Asheville. You all know your stuff so we stopped in for dessert.

We shared a raw vegan ice cream with cacao and candied pecans and a vegan organic peanut butter cookie.

The "ice cream" was incredible- refreshing, dynamic and just sweet enough. The cookie was moist and rich and full of peanut butter goodness.

How do you select restaurants to try out when visiting a new city?

Men's Health Urbanathlon: Race Recap!

I feel so lucky to have been able to do the Men's Health Urbanathlon with Nike Field Reporter. This 9+ mile run with lots of intense obstacles was by far the best race I've ever done!

It was an early start when we took a cab to the start around 6:45 a.m. for the 7:30 a.m. start. The starting area was bustling with athletic men! I'd guess maybe 20 percent of the participants were women. I also noticed everyone seemed to be in great shape, where in most races I see more of a range of athletic body types.

I was on a relay team with Gina and Audrey, who are Nike Field Reporter Correspondents. Check them out here!

We all three only met this weekend, but we were instant friends and had a blast doing this challenge together.

We weren't able to bring our cameras on the race course, which is a bummer because I'd love to document how hardcore these obstacles were!

I took the first leg but ended up running all three legs after passing off my timing chip. Gina ran with leg 2 and Audrey showed leg 3 who was boss!

Leg 1:

- 3.25 mi. run

- Obstacle Course 1: Jersey Concrete Barriers (balance beam), Monster Truck Tire, Tires

- Obstacle Course 2: under Blue Police Barricades, over Yellow Traffic Barriers (repeat about 10 times!)

Leg 2:

- 3 mi. run

- Obstacle Course 3: Traffic, Marine Hurdles

- Obstacle Course 4: Cargo Crawl, Monkey Bars

Leg 3:

- 2.75 mi. run

- Obstacle Course 5: Soldier Field Stair Climb (total of 866 stairs!!)

- Obstacle Course 6: over Cabs, Bus, The Wall

Before the race I was flat out nervous. With running races there's no specific point that judges your fitness level. If you need to, you just run a little slower or walk.... no big deal. But on this course I was challenged to do things I've never done before- things I wasn't sure I could handle. With some dirt, grunting and help from complete strangers I was able to complete each obstacle, along with the 9+ mile run. I hopped hurdles higher than my head, climbed stairs when my muscles were screaming and scaled a wall before running to the finish. This race ROCKED with its intensely challenging course and fun atmosphere. Everyone should do this race!

Final results (not that they matter at all!):

Overall Time: 1:59:49
Leg 1: 35:35
Leg 2: 41:10
Leg 3: 43:05
Climb: 22:03
Division Place: 69/109

Our team regrouped at the finish line before grabbing some food and seizing awesome photo opportunities!

After a quick shower at the hotel I said goodbye to my new friends and headed out to explore Chicago on my own! I ended up walking 12 miles over the course of 4.5 hours before I had to leave for my flight. I was so tired!

The infamous bean (and photo of yourself looking at it) was my last stop. By this time my legs had traveled more than 21 miles outside and I was exhausted. I snapped one photo and said to myself, "good- NOW I can go home!"

This trip was fantastic. I loved exploring the vast city of Chicago, making new relationships and competing in such a challenging course. Definitely one of my favorite weekends :)

Next up: Ironman in SIX days!!

Have you competed in a race with obstacle courses? What is your craziest physical challenge?

Men's Health Urbanathlon: CHICAGO!!!!!

Hi, Chicago. I think you're pretty great.

I flew in to Chicago this morning to compete in the Men's Health Urbanathlon tomorrow with Nike Field Reporter. I was so excited to finally be in the windy city! Argo Tea across from my hotel drew me across the street before I could even check in. Luggage in tow, I exclaimed to the barista that this was the very first place I ever visited in Chicago! And then I realized he didn't care. :-P

With my Chicago-made soy pumpkin chai in hand I took about 40 minutes to explore the city.

After some exploring I met up with the rest of my relay team to head to packet pick-up!

Meet Gina. She's my spunky new friend and another relay team member!

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the recap from this fun race! Nine miles of running and tons of obstacles... should be fun!

Do you get nervous before races?