About Us

Meet the Family

My name is Susan and I am a 47-year-old journalism teacher who started running a couple of years ago and I just completed my first half-marathon. I have a lot more experience on the eating side, so I feel pretty confident about that portion of this venture. I've been married to Dan for almost 24 years, and we've been raising three awesome daughters, Valerie (21), Erin (18) and my illustrious blogging/running partner Rachel (13).

I'm Rachel the youngest (and most good-looking, if I do say so myself) of three sisters. I have always liked running, whether it was playing tag or soccer or running a cross country race for my school. I play the viola and I like reading and writing. I can beat my mother at any video game on the face of the earth, but that's not really a big accomplishment. My favorite color is green. I sorely need a new pair of running shoes, so Adidas, if you're reading this, my size is 6 in women's.

I'm Dan, and I don't run.  I'm just along for the eating.  And the driving.  I'll do my best to tell you what you can do if the rest of your family goes running somewhere.  You can probably count on it involving trains or music.

Coming soon--Valerie and Erin (maybe).

This picture is of Susan (left) and Rachel (right) the day we outlined the idea of Eat & Run during a 5 mile run at Sedgwick County Park.

Welcome to Eat & Run in Kansas

Rachel and I are a mother/daughter combo who plan to trek across scenic Kansas, sampling food from interesting restaurants and finding scenic places to run nearby. The idea actually came from my husband who originally suggested we spend our summer doing this and writing a book. Well, a book seemed a bit much, so we settled on a blog, which, at the moment, also seems a bit intimidating. So I'll let Rachel say her piece. --Susan

Ahem, my mother may or may not have copied my eloquent phrases in the paragraph above, but can you blame her? I think it's cute that she's aspiring to be a writer. Nonetheless, it'll be interesting to visit overlooked little gems of Kansas all summer with my family eat my body weight in pie. Of course, I'll have to run it all off. Not that that bothers me. I'd rather run with an awesome view than on a treadmill any day. --Rachel

We decided to start small and close, visiting Newton, KS for our first outing. It's half an hour north of Wichita, where we live. We plan to start our run on a nature trail at the Bethel college campus, running south until it meets up with a concrete path through Newton. We read that locals call this path "The Trail of Two Cities." Charles Dickens, eat your heart out (Not funny, Mom). As for us, we'll be eating at the famous Bread Basket buffet in downtown Newton.

Check back with us tomorrow evening for our first post on Eat & Run.