Hello? ABC Warehouse calling…
I sent an email to ABC Warehouse, complaining about the late night delivery of my dishwasher. I was nice and pleasant and factual. No swearing. I didn’t even say that they sucked. I think my wording was something like they had “left me feeling very resentful and bitter” about shopping at their store. Type “ABC Warehouse” into Google and see whose site shows up. :)
Last night I got two messages left at work from Mike at ABC Warehouse. His first message said he was calling to get more information and gave a few numbers to call him back at. In the second message (40 minutes later) he apologized for the mess up with the delivery and that he had spoken to the store manager in Ann Arbor and that on my next purchase, they would give me the “employee price”. I thought it was very nice of him to make the calls and offer that discount. I could have used the same treatment the other day (without my having to whine about it) but it was nice of him to follow up yesterday.
Not that I’m going to risk giving them my money again. Once bitten, twice shy, you know?
Has anyone used the Gatorade powder? I bought this a while ago because its cheaper to mix your own water, but I’m thinking it may not be such a good idea. There’s a big difference between the powder and the liquid (except the water). The liquid you buy is sweetened with glucose-sucrose syrup. But the powder only uses sucrose. To me it seems like there would be a big difference between those two in terms of how fast they digest and how quickly they are absorbed. Its gotta make a difference.
Along with that I’m wondering if training with one sports drink and then racing the full marathon with another will change how you do. What if you find some nifty drink that works well on your stomach and then get to the race and its some wierd crap with aspartame that a sponsor gave them for free? You are totally dead that’s what! These things make me nervous.
Last night I did an easy 3 miles on the ‘mill. 9:00 pace, 1.5%. I found my form has to be really different on the mill in order to do ChiRunning there. You basically are doing little hops up and down while the belt spins beneith you. Took about 2 miles to finally get into the right rhythm, but once I was there it was so obvious. Night and day compared with the wrong form. I’m still having to think about that left foot alot but its getting better.
And just in case you didn’t know, thinking about the marathon training starting up next month is starting to make me nervous. Really nervous.
May 11th, 2005 13:05
hehe…you should respond to the email and tell them to google their company name. can’t be good for business for “ABC Warehouse SUCKS!” to show up right below their own link…haha!
i’ve always trained with a specific fluid type and then continued to use that during the race. either by having someone crew for me and hand me a fresh bottle, or by taking my own powder along to mix on the run. the race coming up in july will be my first without taking my own fluids on the run (no fuel belt or bottle). i contacted the race organizers to find out what sports drink they’d have so i could train with it. found out it’s something i don’t want to train or race with, so i’ll be relying on friends and family to crew the race for me.
don’t worry about the training…it’s the journey that is the fun part with the marathon being a celebration for all the hard work.
May 11th, 2005 13:09
Two words: fuel belt. I bought one to use for long runs over the summer, and plan to fill it with my sports drink of choice for the marathon.
I’m also running Detroit - what training program are you using? I’m going to try and start with Higdon’s intermediate and see how it goes. (I’m using his intermediate 10K plan right now and love it.)
May 11th, 2005 13:14
Just in case, I have two of those little bottles meant for gels that I put my drink in. I have some of the powder stuff but have not used it as of yet. Was given to me after last year’s marathon. Committee members get freebies…lol.
May 11th, 2005 13:21
I have to get a new washer this weekend, ya think they’ll float your discount to me and deliver the washer to my house just because?
You’re kickin’ butt already so you’ll do fine on your marathon. It would be a good idea to call the organizers to find out what they’re serving at drink stations. They usually taste like the ones you mix yourself (at the water stations).
May 11th, 2005 14:05
I agree, fuel belt. I got one while training for the half marathon and really found it useful. First I was able to drink at regular intervals and second, I was able to carry my own stuff. I can’t stand a lot of sports drinks so it was nice to have my own there.
May 11th, 2005 18:35
I’ve never used any sports drinks-only water-so I’m not help there. You may think you are nervous about the marathon training, but I have a feeling you are going to be great, just great. No problemo!
May 11th, 2005 19:00
I’m a big fan of gatorade powder vs pre-mixed. First, there’s none of the karmic burden of paying good money and fuel to ship water cross-country.
Second, I can adjust the strength. When I’m going out for a ride of over an hour, I mix one bottle about 3/4 strength, and another at half strength, plus carry a bag with a couple scoops of powder in it in the event it’s REALLY hot and I stop for water.
Lastly, for whatever reason, the powder doesn’t irritate my stomach like the liquid can. Probably the glucose/sucrose thing, but I don’t get the acid kick from the powder that I do from the mix.
YMMV
May 11th, 2005 21:33
I can’t wait to get to the point where I get to say “an easy” 3 miles! At least you got ABC’s attention and they tried to offer some form of olive branch, albeit weak (in my opinion) and as you say, a bit late.
May 11th, 2005 23:29
Agrees with Ed,, easy three miles,ppffffeeeeeddddddddddd, your gonna have no problemo with your marathon, look how awesome you did on the half,, on crazy trails!!!
Heather
May 12th, 2005 07:47
You are going to do great on your marathon. I believe that you’ll find the marathon training experience to be transformative in many different ways and at the end of the training you will KNOW you can run the marathon.
Sorry to hear about the ABC Warehouse issues. We are going through similar issues with our king-sized bed, which is lying on the floor in our master bedroom (we are sleeping in our queen-sized bed — long story). Why do so many businesses suck?
May 12th, 2005 10:48
I use powdered Gatorade, and have for some time. Honestly, though, I seem to be able to stomach everything I’ve taken while running so far, so I usually take the gatorade at race water stations, without really worrying about it. So maybe I’m not the best person to ask.