Syracuse, N.Y. -- When Joel Capolongo was looking to put together an all-vegan running team to do a 200-mile relay race from Saratoga to Lake Placid, it seemed like a long shot.

"At the time it seemed farfetched -- I didn't know 10 other vegan runners," he said, sitting the Strong Hearts vegan cafe that he co-owns. Vegans don't eat anything that came from an animal: no meat, no dairy, no honey.

That was three years ago at the Ragnar Adirondacks race. On Sept. 23, the Strong Hearts Vegan Power runners fielded four teams of 12 runners each. Ragnar races seem crazy to people who don't love to run: they are relays where all of the runners do several legs within 24 (or more like 30) hours to cover the 200 miles.

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The race is serious running with lots of silliness: Teams rent vans that they decorate with sayings and odd items, like Peeps candy. Some teams wear costumes.

The Strong Hearts Vegan Power team members all wear the same thing: black T-shirts with the team name on the front and "Go Vegan for the Animals" on the back.

"We roll up looking a little bad-ass," Capolongo said. The vegan runners have just as much fun as everyone else, he said, but their message is a serious one: They believe that eating food from animals is unkind. You can't be vegan for a week or a day to get on the team. You have to adhere to a strictly vegan diet.

Veganism started as a more stringent version of vegetarianism and its adherents were mostly like Capolongo: they were in it for the animals. But now there are many people who become vegan for the health benefits. Former New York Times food writer Mark Bittman wrote a book about the "Vegan Before 6" diet, which suggests eating animal products only at dinnertime. (Bittman would not qualify for the Strong Hearts team).

When they first ran three years ago, Capolongo said the vegan team expected to get jokes about bacon shouted at them along the route. And they did. But those shouts have largely faded as veganism has gained popularity.

It's not a lifestyle of just eating nuts and berries, said Casey Johnston, a member of the Strong Hearts running team who has been vegan for four years. "There's still thousands of other things," Johnston said.

Like Capolongo, who has been vegan for 23 years, Johnston became a vegan because he was ethically troubled by eating something that had been alive. He didn't want to feel like he was hurting someone to fill his stomach.

Part of last weekend's race went past a large dairy farm where the cows are kept indoors (referred to as a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO). The farm had put up signs to cheer the runners on and make them laugh. "Keep moo-ving." "What do you call a cow that just had a baby? De-calf-inated".

The section of the race was one of four that Johnston ran. "It inspired me and it also really touched me," Johnston said. "I even stopped and apologized to the cows...I had a second for the cows."

Johnston joked that he wasn't running that fast, so didn't put his team behind. Most of the teams that compete in the Ragnar event are running to finish. It's a grueling concept - run four times in a 24-hour period on tired legs with no sleep.

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he Strong Hearts Vegan Power A-Team was running to compete. The early results show them winning their division and coming in third in the race of more than 300 teams.

One of their runners is Laura Kline, who holds amateur world and national titles in the duathlon. The sport combines running and swimming events. Kline was a customer at Strong Hearts when she lived in Syracuse. But she'd moved away by the time Capolongo put together the running team.

He called her, thinking she'd never do it.

"I said, immediately, yes." Kline said. "At the time, I didn't know many vegans, let along vegan runners."

Kline is what's called an "elite" athlete. She doesn't make money running -- her day job is in marketing - but she competes at the highest amateur level. She's found her niche in endurance running lately. She does races that are 50k or more.

People wonder how she can have that much stamina without ever eating meat or other animal products. Kline says that actually makes her faster. Her body is able to recover quicker without the inflammation that's often caused by animal-based products, she said.

"The stereotype is that vegans are pale and weak," Kline said. She's proof that that's not true, she said.

It's also wrong to think there's no good vegan food, Capolongo said. The race was a testament to all the tasty options that exist for the vegan palate.

"The race is a traveling potluck," he said. Each of the four vans was stocked with food that people bring and donate. Capolongo brought a vegan, and gluten-free, peanut noodle dish. And his team chowed down on Tofurky sandwiches (think tofu turkey).

At the end, they traveled back to Albany and ordered pizzas and calzones, both vegan, from Little Anthony's, an Albany restaurant that offers vegan options for all of their pizzas. Then they spent the next day at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties. It's an animal refuge that cares for 300 animals saved from slaughter and poor conditions.

The visit was a live reminder of the reason behind the choice the vegan runners make daily. They also raised $1,000 for the sanctuary.

The race was not easy, Johnston said, sitting in Strong Hearts cafe earlier this week, wearing his black "Strong Hearts Vegan Power" running team sweatshirt.

"But it's worth it," he said, "to be around 50-60 people all at once who are so passionate and so caring."

Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, life and culture in Central New York. Contact her anytime: email | twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2246