{"id":25345,"date":"2015-06-17T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T13:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=25345"},"modified":"2020-04-13T16:31:31","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T20:31:31","slug":"nma-va-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/nma-va-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at Our No Meat Athlete Virginia Beach Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just like Miami<\/a>\u00a0and our other big running group successes,\u00a0Virginia Beach<\/a> came as a huge surprise.<\/p>\n

In an area that’s home to several military bases and training centers — which means a transient population and (I figured) not a lot of interest in plant-based diets — one of our most active, tightest-knit running groups emerged.<\/p>\n

And from my first morning with the group, I understood why.<\/p>\n

My First Experience with the “Energy Lab”<\/h3>\n

We got up early on a Saturday to meet at leader Andrea Denton’s house, where we piled five into\u00a0a car and drove 45 minutes to a 100-mile Tour de Cure cycling event … not to race, but just to support three members of the group who were riding.<\/p>\n

When we\u00a0arrived, I was surprised to meet another four or five group members, also not riding, just out there to cheer on their friends from the group. We brought out a big sign they had made that says “No Meat Athlete Virginia Beach — Energy Lab” and set up a table with lots of plant-based fueling options that they had made the night before, and long before we saw our three riders, other<\/em> riders came by to grab some food (homemade Glo Bars<\/a> were a hit) and ask what No Meat Athlete and the Energy Lab were all about.<\/p>\n

Conversations started, people were grateful, and the members of the group got a chance to talk about this lifestyle they love so much.<\/p>\n

And in this single activity, they were doing everything I had hoped our groups would do:<\/p>\n