I came to this year's Atlanta Track Club Thanksgiving Half Marathon expo with the thought that I'd buy a GU, also known as an energy gel. I usually take one of those at Mile 9 of a half-marathon. (They will usually give you them along the course but I usually rotate older ones first).
But I didn't have cash on me and I thought it would be silly to put $1.50 on a card.
All that concern seemed to disappear when it dawned on me that I could get one ... by chance.
The booth for the Publix Georgia Marathon and Half-Marathon had a "plinko" board. Basically it's a board with pegs and you drop a chip down the top of it and the chip will meander its way past the pegs to the bottom, where you win a prize. The prizes included free T-shirts ... and a GU.
It was so easy the family in front of me got one ... and they didn't even know what a GU was.
So I signed up for a chance to play plinko. I tried to use a strategy where the chip would fall its way down to GU.
But it fell on $5 off a race entry. Add that to the $10 discount the expo booth offered and a half-marathon entry could be had for $65.
Uh, oh. The Publix Georgia Half Marathon easily is one of my all-time favorite race courses, since it winds through Atlanta's iconic neighborhoods in a way that really no other local race does.
Since I've lived here, the hilly course also is a true gauge of my fitness. I've completed it four times and did the full marathon once.
Yet in March I didn't run in it even though I was signed up for it, because I didn't feel like I was fit enough to enjoy it. We went to Jekyll Island instead, and had a great time.
Reluctantly I filled out the registration form and gave them my card. They gave me a lime green technical T-shirt that proclaims that I am in training for the 2014 race.
And so it begins again, in four months.
Time: 11:19 a.m.
Temp: 36 degrees
Gear: short sleeve T-shirt, shorts, Mountain Hardwear running pants, Columbia sportswear fleece vest, Nike windbreaker, Adidas running shoes.
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