PastaQueen meets Jared, The Subway Guy, in a wacky weight-loss crossover!

I woke up at 7:30am last Friday, by choice, and not because I had a flight to catch. What could lure me out of bed at that hour?

Why, it’s Jared the Subway Guy, national sandwich-chain spokesperson and Indianapolis resident! While a photo op with Jared was a good lure, the free breakfast and coffee they served had a strong appeal too. I attended the Subway Fun Run at the Broad Ripple location of the sandwich store last Friday, and as I learned in college, if you feed them, they will come:

Of course, on first try, the photo came out more like this:

Yes, PastaQueen’s crappy camera strikes again. I shouldn’t bitch though. My Canon Powershot had a near-death experience last month when I dropped it on a wooden patio. I thought it was a goner, but after I whacked the lens (almost) back into alignment, I found that I’m able to take photos again (as long as I don’t try to zoom over 3X). Thankfully the PR people at the event had a better camera and I got a clear shot.

I was given an opportunity to interview Jared, but I honestly didn’t know what to ask him, and I didn’t want to be the eleventy-billionth person to ask him, “What’s your favorite sandwich?” So, I decided to just take the photo and leave the man be. Afterwards, when I was looking at the photo, my first thought was, “Do I look fat?” Because if you’re standing next to a weight-loss wonder, I suppose that’s one of the first things to come to mind. The one thing I would like to say about Jared is that he’s tall.

Ok, yes, everyone looks tall next to a pack of grade-schoolers. But I am 5’9″ and Jared clearly towers over me in our photo, so the guy’s got to be about 6’4″.

The fun run was held to bring attention to Subway’s new breakfast menu. Stores will now begin opening at 7:30am weekdays and serving breakfast items. I sampled the Western Egg & Cheese and it was decent.

The run was pretty nice, particularly because I got to walk on the Monon Trail, which I used to run on all the time when I lived in my old apartment. I really do miss that trail. It’s also been awhile since I’ve gone to an official running events, and it was nice to get back into that atmosphere where not everyone is an athletic jock, but we’ve got our running shoes and our paper numbers and, gosh darn it, we’re going to give it our best!

As part of the event, the PR people gave me three $5.00 gift cards to Subway to give away. As your reward for reading to the end of the entry, you can enter by commenting with a question you would have asked Jared if you’d had the opportunity. Winner will be drawn randomly. Submissions will be open until 11:59pm on Wednesday, April 7, 2010.