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Saturday, June 2, 2007

Marathon Sub-culture, part 1

Hubby and I are in beautiful, sunny San Diego for the Rock 'n Roll Marathon. Well, it's not really been sunny here today, more like temps in the low 60's and overcast, but beautiful and fun nonetheless. We worked our way to Downtown San Diego for the marathon packet pick up and health expo. I'm telling you - I could sit and people-watch for hours at a place like this. People in every age/size/shape are here to participate in the marathon. It honestly is inspiring to see these people who have trained and prepared for this event. I can't imagine RUNNING 1 mile, much less 26.2. I am a sloth.

So, aside from being inspired, it's actually hilarious to watch some of the hard core athletes. You can pick them out of a crowd with ease - they just have "that look." Even Hubby fits in to a great extent. His search in the expo was for a product called "Gu" gel - http://www.gusports.com/ When he finally spotted the Gu booth, his face lit up like it was Christmas. The only disappointment was in discovering they have discontinued his favorite flavor, but he will make do with his second favorite.

Then there was the OroWheat bread booth. In an attempt to attract people to their product, they had free samples of toasted bread and toasted whole wheat English muffins. Sounds good. BUT...they then spritzed them with a butter-like product. Not butter. A product full of chemicals. Tell me this: why would athletes who have trained their bodies to compete want to put a chemical butter substitute into their bodies? Is it just me or is that backwards? I could see the bread and fake butter product at perhaps a weight loss seminar/expo, but at a seminar for the presumed purists? Hmm. I will say this - the whole wheat English muffins were very good - fake butter or not.

So it's after 8pm and time for bed since we must get up at 3am. I will drop Hubby off at the start line, then drive to the finish line where I will volunteer. Hopefully I will time it right and get to see my honey cross the finish line. His anticipated time is "under 4 hours - hopefully closer to 3.5 hours." I can't nap for that long without getting worn out. LOL OK, maybe not really, but again, my hat is off to those athletes, old and young, large and small. Tomorrow I will have pictures. :o)

Til then...how far can YOU run at one time?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't follow your link because frankly I don't want to know what "gu" gel is for. Yowza!

Cheryl said...

Hmm - I didn't think of that. "Gu" is a food product that athletes use for quick calories, electrolytes, and I'm guessing carbs. I don't touch the stuff. It looks like baby food and is in a little foil packet that runners can easily carry with them and swallow while on the run. Yuck!