Day 3,692: A night with Nuun

It's a lot of fun to go to a company's event when you are a fanboy. Lots of swag here.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I shoved a tablet of lemon-lime Nuun in my mouth and started eating it.

Next thing I knew I'd won a pint glass from the Seattle-based company that selected me last month to be one of its brand ambassadors.

Nuun, pronounced "noon", was holding a free hydration class at the local REI to help prepare runners for April's Ragnar Trail Atlanta. I was just there because it seemed like a great way to learn more about a product I'd been using for the last few years training in Atlanta's hot summers. (I don't have plans to run in the relay but do have experience with relay races, having run in the 2000 Hood to Coast relay).

We learned about Nuun's array of products, from "Active" which is what you use to replace electrolytes after a run, to "Energy" which also contains caffeine to their new "Vitamins" which is more for everyday use.

They also have a Nuun Plus, which you use to add carbohydrates to another Nuun product to help your body absorb electrolytes better for longer runs of 90 minutes or more. (They told us that later this year they would be coming out with a powder form of this to make it easier to pour in a container of water).

I learned the trick of how you can chew a Nuun tablet to help replenish electrolytes in the middle of a run (hence the tablet eating contest) and we of course sampled different kinds of Nuun tablets mixed with water.

We also got to try mixing two or more different flavors with water and then we all did a blind taste test to see what concoction was the best. (I won that too, by just mixing together my favorites, blueberry pomegranate and blackberry citrus, which we learned about in last month's Hot Chocolate expo).

And then there was the swag, as seen above, which was a great reward for being present to listen to something the wife and I both love drinking after workouts.