A Dinner WIth Compassionate People (Marathon Eve)

For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm not a freak or an inconvenience to someone.  No one looks at me funny for saying that meat is toxic and abusive to your body.  I can have realistic conversations with people who realize that the value of having a compassionate lifestyle isn't about what you can't do, but about what you're doing for the earth and for other living creatures that share this planet with you.


To those who don't already know, this weekend I am in Washington DC running my marathon with a group of No Meat Athlete blog readers.  A group of like-minded compassionate athletes who fuel their body (quite successfully I might add) with plant based diets.  Among the group is Matt Frazier, the guy who started the NMA blog (and ultimately made me confident that I could be a successful runner on a vegan diet) and Susan Lacke (ironman finisher and fellow vegan runner).  Then, sitting right behind me is the one and only Gene Bauer, the founder of Farm Sanctuary.

Farm Sanctuary is exactly what it sounds like.  One day, Gene decided he was tired of watching factory farmed animals be abused and began adopting those who were left to die.  He now has farms in California and New York.  As it turned out, he is running his first marathon this weekend also!  I like to think that we bonded over that. ;)  Primarily though, I'm just thrilled I got to meet him!!  Seriously? How awesome is that?!

As I sat among this group of people, I began to feel normal...that I wasn't alone.  Its one thing to know that there are others out there who believe the same things as you do but its quite another to be among them.

Its so easy to feel the social pressures of not conforming to the general meat eating society.  Even off hand comments about how a group has to go somewhere that "I can eat" start to wear on you, even though they're completely good natured and accommodating.  Or, having to cook your own Christmas and Thanksgiving meal because there is butter in the mashed potatoes.  I consider myself strong in my beliefs but, it still wears on me from time to time and I begin to think that I'm a hassle to those I care about, even if they wouldn't ever think that about me.

Its empowering to be reminded that its completely ok to refuse food because of what you believe in and that its not because you're rude but because you stand by your values.  I left that dinner feeling a lot more confident in why it is that I don't eat what everyone else eats.  Now, whenever I begin to have my self doubts and negative thoughts I can remember what it was like to sit in that room and be reassured that any inconvenience I cause anyone else pales in comparison to the compassion that everyone in that room feels toward this earth and the animals that inhabit it.