
Episode 33: Gu gel and the Chicago Marathon Heatwave
The history of endurance sports is basically the history of humans trying to avoid bonking by aggressively eating increasingly weird snacks.
This week on True Crime Culinary, Leah Llach looks at the 2007 Chicago Marathon heat disaster, the sticky rise of PowerBar and GU, California’s endurance culture boom, and why athletes went from believing food during races was weakness… to carrying caffeinated sugar goo in tiny foil packets. Also: mountain bikes, ultramarathon aid stations, and why humans eventually realized they actually like chewing.
This episode references reporting and historical…
The skinny
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