You probably didn’t know this, but this week is Ithaca’s Downtown Office Worker Appreciation Week. One of the many perks of working downtown! I just finished some tasty free pizza!

When I saw the list of activities planned for this week, I admit I got pretty excited when I found out one of them was a Hot Dog Eating Competition!! Now, anyone who plays Ithaca Ultimate Frisbee and Soccer with me, knows I am pretty competitive. Perhaps another lesser known fact is that I like to eat, and I always eat quickly. A perfect opportunity to combine both skills? Let’s put it this way, having never done this before, I couldn’t resist! (Insert a plethora of ‘gross’ & ‘yucks’ from friends who I told this to).

Knowing this competition was only going to be 2 minutes, I wasn’t going to go all out. Training for something like the famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition takes months of stomach stretching and technique-building. Think about it, 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes! Yea…

But if you are competitive, you want to win, so I trained (for 2 days). My diet for these 2 days existed solely of the cheapest hot dogs you can find, with a complement of water-soaked hot dog buns, and my friend (thanks Jesse!) worked with me on my technique. It certainly paid off….

Yesterday it was time for the competition! Dowtown office workers gathered around to see this spectacle. 18 competitors. I was happy that I was able to tie my training record at 4 hot dogs! I was beat only by a guy from Collegetown Bagels, who got 5 down and my friend who managed to get down 6 1/2 hot dogs in that time. He was a good trainer!

I felt I had pretty good showing at 3rd place. Plus it was free publicity (not to mention a free lunch!) I am getting quite a few strange looks walking around the Commons and “aren’t you the girl that ate 4 hot dogs in 2 minutes?” Why yes, that is me. Could I be the top female competitive eater in Ithaca? Maybe!

If you want to see more, The Ithaca Journal did a front-page article about the heated competition and if you watch the video (credit News 10 Now) you will see AWP and me represented in a, err, less than flattering way. But, it sure was fun! Go AWP!