It seems like every weekend in the summer here in Madison and the Midwest, there’s some sort of running/bicycling race or other physical challenge. In addition to staples such as Crazylegs and the Madison Marathon, you can compete in the Couples Triathlon, Race for the Cure, Twilight 10K, Color Me Rad, Glow Time, The Glo Run, Blacklight Run, the Neon Vibe, Capitol City 5K, Paddle & Portage, Tough Mudder, Ironman Wisconsin … have I made my point?
(As an aside, what’s with all the neon-type races? I’ve listed five, and I’m sure there’s more. Isn’t one enough?)
Over the past few years, it has come to my attention that we have several races that involve eating. Since this is a food-related blog, I thought it would be fun to look at some of them:
RAGBRAI. Technically a ride, not a race, RAGBRAI takes bicyclists through 468 miles of Iowa over the course of seven days. Food stands, including the famous Mr. Pork Chop, are littered throughout the course.
BACooN. Also in Iowa and affilitated with RAGBRAI, BACooN presents riders bacon snacks and drinks throughout the 71-mile ride. The post-ride party features live music, a beer garden and of course, bacon.
The Beer Mile. You can do this on your own. Just drink a full-size beer, run a quarter of a mile, then repeat three times. Read the rules and then submit your results online. Note the penalty lap for throwing up!
Chocolate 5K. Ghirardelli and Choc-Ola greet runners during and after the race. The Chocolate 5K takes place throughout the United States; Milwaukee was a host this year.
Twinkie Run. In Ann Arbor, Mich., participants eat Twinkies (including grilled Twinkies) before, during (after 1.5 miles) and after the race 5K race. The incentive? You shave off a minute for every Twinkie you eat.
It’s been a long time since I was inside the building that 
It sounds silly, but I was impressed with the Gyoza (six for $6), as they were packed with a tasty pork mixture that contained hardly any vegetable filler. Another hit on the appetizer list was the spring roll (two for $4), which was all veggies in a knock-out crispy shell. I actually ate it as part of the Salmon teriyaki bento box ($10), a steal that also includes soup or salad, rice and a four-piece California roll. And lest I forget to mention, the salmon was super flavorful.
The Atomic Sausage ($9) bothered me in a few ways. One, it’s too expensive. You’re basically paying $9 for a single brat. Second, I couldn’t detect any spice, a major letdown for a dish that uses “atomic” in its name. To make matters worse, I chose the side of red cabbage slaw, and it was supremely flavorless, even for cabbage.
