We have a lot of fun here on this blog with wordplay, double entendre, and of course, puns.  You’d be hard-pressed to find a blog post without at least a little implied double meaning.  As proof, Google finds 22 mentions of the word “pun” in my blog (not counting the 3 in this post)!  What we’re celebrating today, however, is the literal nature of the blog’s name.  The real intersection where running meats meets eating.

Where you might infer that “Will Run To Eat” means I’ll run to burn calories, thus requiring refueling, what I’m talking about is literally running to eat.  On several occasions now I’ve laced up my shoes with the sole (shoe pun? maybe? no, I guess not) intention of reaching a food truck, grabbing some eats, and running back home to enjoy said eats.  It’s like the circle of life.

Of course some foods are more accommodating than others.  For example, I don’t see a successful trip to, say, fresh-baked pizza ever happening.  But a foil-wrapped sub sandwich? Yes, please!  On two separate occasions I’ve run at least 5 miles round trip to grab a Short Bus Subs sandwich.  The first time, at their semi-permanent Mueller Hanger location, I ordered at the window and then proceeded to run around the park while they prepared my food.  The next time involved running from work to the bus, ordering / paying, and then trying to figure out a good 7-ish minute loop so that I’d get back to the bus right when my sandwich was coming out of the oven.  I lucked out and trotted up to the window just as my name was being called.

All this is well and good, but you may be wondering “Umm, once you have your food, how do you transport it back to home / work?”.  To that I simply say: my hands.  This is what makes sub sandwiches perfect and, say, hot coffee a logistical impossibility.  I’m scoping out other options, such as paper bags loaded with tacos or maybe bring my own ziplock bag with me to get some BBQ brisket and ribs.

To be fair to my new hobby of biking, I’ve even ridden my bike a total off 11 miles round trip for an ice cream sandwich from Coolhaus.  I zipped down to their Riverside location, got their mind-blowing coffee-toffee ice cream on chocolate chip cookies, and then rode home, belly and taste buds fully satisfied.  The nice thing about biking is the relative low-stress on the stomach while riding, whereas running is a full-on torso / GI assault.

I’m always on the lookout for runner-accessible food.  What makes trailers so appealing is they don’t have a “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” policy*.  Anything within 10 miles total round trip is fair game, though like I mentioned, some foods play nicer than others.  So with that, you’re on notice Jalopy Rotisserie, MMMpanadas, and Evil Wiener.  Watch yourselves, I’m coming running for you.

*I suppose that applies to most of Austin…