On I went, out of the wood, passing the man leading without knowing I was going to do so. Flip-flap, flip-flap, jog-trot, jog-trot, curnchslap-crunchslap, across the middle of a broad field again, rhythmically running in my greyhound effortless fashion, knowing I had won the race though it wasn't half over, won it if I wanted it, could go on for ten or fifteen or twenty miles if I had to and drop dead at the finish of it, which would be the same, in the end, as living an honest life like the governor wanted me to. -Alan Sillitoe, "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Running math

Let's see...

I can have all of this:



For $3.59. 18oz of peanut butter, yum. 20 cents an ounce - that's NYC prices for grocery delivery.

Or I can have this:



8 for $10.80 (or 24 for $32.40, which is the same price), which works out to $1.23 an ounce. Granted you can probably find it somewhat cheaper, but that's the price to buy direct from Gu's website.

What am I missing here? Oh, yeah, the nifty packaging. Which promptly ends up tossed to the side of the road, if New York is anything like the rest of the world.

7 comments:

  1. Ha! SO true. I love PB / loathe Gu. When I need to take food on a long run, I use little plastic ziplock bags (snack-sized). ;)

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  2. Exactly why I've been carrying peanut butter and cheese sandwiches on my long runs. I'm cheap, I know. ;)

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  3. BONUS: I'm pretty sure I'd puke while eating either of those while running.

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  4. Wait, is PB Gu just plain old peanut butter? Hrmph.

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  5. Depends on what you're using them for. I'd guess that Gu & other similar products are designed to be easily digested during running or other activities, & to quickly supply you with energy.

    I wouldn't try to eat regular peanut butter during a race; I bet it just sits in your gut while you're running.

    Yes, Gu wrappers end up on the side of the road; but plastic peanut butter jars sit in a landfill for 10 bazillion years. I don't see much difference in environmental impact.

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  6. I am obsessive about few things but not tossing my Gu packets on the ground while running is one of them. During a race, fine...you're paying for cleanup (unless you're Gu-ing for a 5k in which case you're clearly incompetent). But geez, carry the thing until you see a trash can. It's not a whole jar of Jif.

    BTW, is the reduced fat any good? I tend to think it's PB, you live with the fat. THen again, they've added HFCS.

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  7. I don't really notice a taste difference btw the reduced fat and the full fat. My roommate buys the peanut butter, though - I'm not a huge consumer of it.

    And nothing makes me more annoyed than the jackasses who toss their cups/gels/etc anywhere. Like, if you're running a 5:30 full, you can take the two seconds to be sure you're not just tossing your empty cup in the middle of the road. AT LEAST aim for the side, and personally I think it's inexcusable not to aim for a trash can.

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