So I mentioned in Tuesday’s past week in fitness post that I completed a half-marathon this weekend. If you have been keeping up on my fitness recaps, you’ll notice I have been running fairly consistently lately, but never have I mentioned that I am training for a half. That’s because honestly, I wasn’t! Last Saturday, I did a long-ish run (ten miles) and last Sunday I did a seven-miler. Then, I didn’t run all week, and instead cross-trained and walked. Well, when I went to the gym this past Saturday, it wasn’t open when it should have been, and I had planned on doing another ten-miler. I ended up skipping the gym altogether that day (after waiting a good 30 minutes in the parking lot hoping someone would come open they gym) and just did some nice stretchy yoga.

I knew the United Healthcare Half Marathon was on Sunday but had no plans to run it– until I realized my past week in fitness was kind of like a taper week for a half, at least according to the Hal Higdon’s Beginner Half Marathon plan that I have used before. The fact I didn’t get to do a long run on Saturday convinced me that the half on Sunday just might be perfect to get in those miles. I have a good base mileage right now, so I figured I could handle this half, as long as my leg injury didn’t act up.

Saturday afternoon, I made my husband walk with me to the expo so I could register for the next day’s race! We ended up running into all kinds of awesome things happening in Providence on Saturday, so I thought I would share with you all of the cool stuff we stumbled upon as we were making our way to the Rhode Island Convention Center.

First, on historic Benefit Street, we saw Rhode Island’s only vegan ice cream truck, Like No Udder! I haven’t ever had it, but I look forward to finding it this summer and trying some vegan soft-serve.

Then, further down on Benefit, we discovered the Rhode Island School of Design’s art sale! It was packed, with a variety of student artists displaying and selling their wares.

At the art sale, we saw a cupcake food truck called Sugarush. Though I didn’t want a cupcake at the time, I did scope out the menu and noticed they offered two vegan and gluten-free cupcake options: chocolate lavender and chocolate mint. Very, very cool! I certainly will be hunting down this truck in the future.

As we made our way downtown, we started to detect signs that a marathon/half-marathon was being set up!

Here’s the beginnings of a stage. . .

plus trucks loading goodies onto the ice rink, which I believe was where the party for runners was after the race (I never made it to the after-party– more to come on that tomorrow!).

We finally made it to the expo. Registration was easy, but I thought the expo itself was kind of weak. We didn’t stick around, because we had to get to dinner so I could carbo-load!

My husband and I are officially on an Indian food kick, so when he suggested we go one of our favorite Indian restaurants, aptly named India, for my pre-race dinner, I happily obliged. I have been to India many, many times, and have already reviewed it once before on my blog, but I thought another review is appropriate now that I am vegan and gluten-free and can no longer enjoy some of my old favorites mentioned before here on the blog. I had to navigate the menu with my relatively recent vegan/gluten-free eyes, and am thrilled to report there was so much delicious food for me to eat!

Since the last time I have dined at India, India has very thoughtfully revamped their menu to include more vegan and gluten-free options and also clearly label them as vegan and/or gluten-free. I so adore restaurants that do that– it makes my life so much easier!

I scanned the apps and was happy to see two explicitly vegan/gf options, both of which I ordered. I got the pappadum aka crispy lentil wafers with tamararind chutney, which were fantastic. Our waiter was so awesome as to detect that I was vegan and gluten-free without me saying anything and told me not to eat the mint chutney if I was avoiding dairy, as it contained yogurt. How awesome is he for being so alert, attentive and helpful! In the background, you can see my husband’s bhel puri, a sweet and spicy combo of puffed rice, chickpeas, wheat wafers, onion, tomatoes, chutneys and a few other ingredients. While I couldn’t indulge in it due to the wheat wafers, my husband thought it was quite tasty.

I also ordered the aloo tikki, described as a pan-seared potato patty topped by chutneys, chickpeas, onions, and a few other things. I expected it would be composed of a few individual patties, but rather it was one huge pile of potato-y goodness!

On the menu, the aloo tikki is labeled as gluten-free but not vegan, but my waiter easily got it veganized for me by getting the yogurt left off. The aloo tikki was perfect– sweet from epic amounts of tamarind sauce, spicy from the seasonings and filling from the addition of yummy chickpeas. It was so nice to be able to get a substantial, delicious app given my dietary restrictions. My husband shared with me and declared it his new favorite appetizer at India!

Here’s a shot of some of the pappadum and aloo tikki. I am so wanting to eat it again right now!

India has a section in their menu of mix and match sauces and proteins. In other words, you can select the sauce or curry you want, and then decide if you want a certain meat in it, or paneer, extra veggies, and even tofu! I went with my standard favorite of mango curry with tofu. The curry is a sweet and spicy combo of mango curry with pineapple chunks and cashews. Paired with the tofu, it was a perfect option for a girl who often can’t get a decent dose of protein when going out to eat. I have always been addicted to their mango curry, but before, I used to get it with the Indian cheese, paneer, rather than tofu.

In fact, our waiter who knows us well based on the numerous times we have dined there over the last seven years mistakenly brought out my old fav of mango with paneer. I noticed immediately, and told him of the error. He immediately and profusely apologized– he instantly realized his mistake, explaining he accidentally put in the old order I always used to get. He was so sweet and felt so bad. I on the other hand had no issue at all with the oopsie. He brought out the correct order in less than five minutes, and even packed up the mango with paneer for us so my husband could enjoy it later! Rather than take the incorrect order back, as many restaurants do, they let us keep it, as he knew my husband would like it and eat it! Therefore, we ended up getting 3 entrees for the price of 2, which was pretty awesome on their part. The service we received was truly top-notch!

Of course, I ate my mango tofu with their aromatic basmati rice, speckled with steamed peas. Their rice is so nutty and flavorful, and texturally, I love how individual and not sticky the rice kernels are.

I ate about half of my meal, and too had it packed up for the husband.

I didn’t get any pics of the inside, but India is gorgeous, with lots of beautiful artwork, Bollywood movies playing on a large flat screen, and even talented belly dancers performing on this Saturday night to boot! The ambiance is fantastic, the service is five-star, and the food is fantastic. Oh, I did forget to mention India’s focus on healthful (meaning nothing fried and only quality ingredients) cuisine, which makes the fact their food is so packed with flavor even more impressive since they’re not relying on the deep fryer to make food taste good. India is has always been an obsession of mine, but I am really happy that despite the fact I am now vegan and gluten-free, I can still be obsessed with it!

Have you ever randomly done a race of some kind without having completed a real training plan? What’s your favorite Indian food dish (assuming you’ve tried it and liked it!)?