The 30-year-old marketing professional was imbibing on a bit of bourbon when an idea popped into his head: Why not use the race as an opportunity to both better his body and his dating life?
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"I couldn't stop giggling," Bergstrom told Runner's World of his idea.
So, the night before the race, he enlisted the help of his female cousin to write "SINGLE/on Facebook/ Steve Bergstrom" on his bare back.
"I wrote it on a sheet of paper and handed it over to her with a big smile on my face," he said. "She immediately had the kind of ‘initially disgusted but then laughing her ass off’ reaction I was going for."
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It made sense, given that the young professional has "a job that occupies a lot of my time," he said. "Having a ridiculous hour commute each way, and then also being dedicated to my gym and dedicated to my sports, I don’t have a ton of spare time on my hands."
We hear you, Steve.
So, did it work? He's had several Facebook conversations with interested ladies in the days post-race — and he's even had drinks with one female spectator who showed up on the route with a sign showing a photo of a cat that said, "MY MOM IS LOOKING FOR A #CATDAD."
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"I said, ‘You know, with me showing up at the marathon with my sign on my back and you showing up at the marathon with that sign, we are missing out on a golden opportunity for future storytelling here if we don’t meet up and have a drink,’" Bergstrom said. "And we did, and it was great."