Chicago Marathon Expo Moment
It’s 5:38am and I’m ready to head out to the marathon. Since there’s still about 10 minutes before leaving, there’s time for a quickie joggling post.
Yesterday, I went to the expo and was amused by the following moment.
At marathon expos they have dozens of free samples. Magic vitamin water, organic figs,
pro biotic yogurt and pumpkin pie were just some examples. I love free samples and will try anything as long as it’s free. Shannon doesn’t get my fascination with free but she’s not Polish and didn’t grow up with 6 other brothers and sisters.
So, yesterday I walked up to a booth hawking nutrition bars. For non-runners, nutrition bars are glorified candy bars that are nearly unpalatable. I love candy bars even if they don’t taste quite right.
Over the booth was a sign that read “Voted Best Nutrition Bar of the Year”. On the table were three plates with small rectangle pieces of chocolate and peanut butter bars. They looked fabulous!
I snatched up a bar from the peanut butter plate and plopped it in my mouth. I was immediately surprised by the grainy texture. It was mushy. Then the foul flavor hit me. It didn’t taste like peanut butter. It tasted more like mushy dog biscuits. Bleah!
As I turned back to Shannon she asks “How was it?”
I glibly respond, “Yuck! It certainly shouldn’t be called the nutrition bar of the year.”
While I waited for my wife’s wry smile a woman next to me turns and say “Hey, that’s rude!”
I look down at her shirt and see “Nutrition Bar X”. She was working the booth and overheard my impromptu review.
Immediately I started backpedaling saying I didn’t mean it or that the bars aren’t so bad. I even suggested I didn’t like peanut butter (not true, I love peanut butter).
The woman didn’t want to hear any of it. I quietly apologized and receded back into the marathon expo crowd. Next time I’ll save my product reviews for the blog.
…
ooops..my ride is here.
I feel good about this marathon. Hopefully, the heat won’t be too bad. Good luck to all the other marathoners.
This Post Has 7 Comments
Wow, Perry, looks like you were one of the few runners to actually finish this race … and you wre joggling! What a feat. I think you broke the world record for fastest joggling marathon in 88-degree temps. Looking forward to hearing about it … and the rest of your nutrition bar story.
Perry
Congratulations on finishing — from everything I’ve read, it sounds like that was just brutal experience. And under those conditions a 3:59:00 finishing time is something to be proud of. I hope that you’re well, that you recover quickly, and that you give us a report of the experience when you’re ready.
Congratulations on your race. I would have loved to have seen you juggling, but you were way ahead of me :-). I only got to see Elvis running in a full long-sleeved suit in the Chicago heat 🙂
I was the ride that interrupted you blogging. My bad. Anyway, like Derek I was only able to pass the dude in the Elvis suit along the way. *If* I ever attempt another marathon I hope it’s under 80F.
3:59 while juggling in 88 degree sun-baked heat? Unbelievable! What do you eat for breakfast?
I had one of those foul nutrition bars and a pot of black tea. I meant to eat a bowl of cereal but I forgot.
Congrats, Perry, for finishing. I can’t wait to read your comments about the actual marathon.
And, just for the record, that’s bad booth behavior from the Nutrition Bar chick. Seriously, you’re a potential consumer of her product so she should be listening to what you didn’t like about it in order to improve her bar -not tell you that’s rude – that’s rude!!