Juice Bar Fun Run!

Juice Bar, a Cooper-Young area vegan juice and smoothie bar, held its first 5K fun run tonight! The organizers of the casual neighborhood run promised there would be free Memphis Made Brewing Co. beer and vegan snacks from Cosmic Coconut (Juice Bar's sister location). And that was enough for me to sign up!

I'd been planning to do the run for at least a month, so when the forecast called for rain this evening, I wasn't deterred. The run was going to be held rain or shine, and I actually love running in the rain. So after work, I scarfed down a veggie & hummus sandwich, donned my Mizuno rain jacket, took this awkward bathroom selfie, and headed out the door.

I was actually impressed at the turnout despite the heavy and steady downpour. Runners are dedicated, stubborn folks, and most of us happen to love beer. Especially free beer. This was an early crowd shot, but I'd guess that more than 100 people ended up coming out.

At the sign-up table, they were giving away samples of Beet Juice!

I showed up alone because my running buddy Misti is out of town, but I ended up running into a few friends there. We mingled a bit, and then we were off — running in the downpour through the residential streets of Cooper-Young. I'm a slow runner, so I fell toward the middle back of the pack and found my pace with my buddy Tristan from Lululemon. Our run took us three miles in a loop that circled back to Juice Bar.

When we went inside, there was a buffet of vegan snacks and a keg waiting for us! 

I was sooooooo happy to see they were serving samples of Cosmic's Buffalo Cauliflower Tempeh Wrap! I recently declared this wrap the very best dish in Memphis after I tried it at Cosmic Coconut's East Memphis location. It has spicy cauliflower, tempeh, and kale, and it's just so good!

And it's even better dipped in their homemade Cashew Ranch!

There were also samples of Cosmic Coconut's Kale Caesar Salad. Love this kale salad.

The sign said there was a hummus sample, but I must have run too slowly to get that one before it was all gone. Oh well! There were a few Coco-Nutties left! Coco-nutties are Cosmic Coconut's locally famous raw vegan coconut chocolate cookies. They're pretty much the best. There was a time when my former co-worker Hannah and I were somewhat obsessed with these!

After I loaded up on snacks (priorities!), I hit up the keg. I'm not even sure what type of beer this was, but I know it came from the local brewers at Memphis Made. It was a light, not-too-hoppy beer that was perfect for post-run!

There was a giveaway of juice gift cards and Asics running tees, and I won a running tee! It's bright pink, and it's just my size! But my clothes and shoes were soaked, so after the giveaway, I couldn't wait to get home and put on some dry clothes. I made a batch of post-run protein ice cream — frozen banana and chocolate protein powder — and now I'm off to bed. Goodnight!