Marathon weekend Part I

Wow. Those 18 weeks sure seem like they went by quick after race day is all over. It is funny how that happens. I will do my best to keep this relatively short, because I am sure I could write forever on marathon weekend. I will start with the expo.

Race Expo

I decided Friday would be the best day to go to the expo. There is no chance I wanted anything to do with Saturday and all that craziness. Some runners and I had a hard time figure out the shuttle bus from the south loop. We potentially could have been part of some joke someone decided to play on runners. Whatever the reason for the confusion, we all ended up there somehow.

The expo for the marathon is always exciting because it makes the marathon real. In the back of your head, you know the marathon is coming, but walking into the expo, it smacks you in the face. I have been to plenty of expo's, but it is still overwhelming a bit. There is so much to see!

I figured that I would be there for 30 minutes or so and get out of there;oops. I ended up spending close to two plus hours walking around and talking to people. There were a ton of Fleet Feet people everywhere and I made sure to say hi to them. I ended meeting Sara from Sara runs at the CEP booth. She is really nice and we chatted for about five minutes. Soon after that I ended up at mini Niketown, a.k.a the store at the expo.

They had quite the set up of marathon gear and fun toys to check out. It always impressive to walk through and see how things work. There were tons of people walking around the store and buying things. If anyone reading this went to the expo, it is easy to see that BRIGHT is in. While personally I am not of fan of BRIGHT colors, I can understand why it is popular. Nike did extremely well at the expo. 

   

Once I got done at Niketown, I walked around for who knows how long. It always fun to see the excitement of people at an expo. A lot of people there are running there first marathon and are extremely nervous and excited at the first time. It is always important to take it all in and enjoy it. I told a lot of first timers to just enjoy it. On the bus back to one of the shuttle stops, I said that to a guy who sat next to me on the bus. We chatted for about five minutes about races, the marathon and shoes. That is one of the cool things about running. This guy and I could have very little in common, but we were both about to take on a huge challenge and shared a small moment. The only thing that I did not do is get his name. I wish I had so I could have seen how he did.  I also told him to not change his routine too much and to get some sleep.

Speaking of sleep, Sara told me I should get some. She mentioned that 48 hours before the race is the most important day to get some sleep. Finally, I left the expo and went home. It would have been easy for me to go out for bit on Friday night and hang with friends, but  I actually took her advice and stayed in on that night. I had a goal in mind and wanted to get as healthy as possible. I forgot to mention that I had all sorts of ailments last week (i.e. a head cold, a big time cough, allergies and so on). I probably the most orange juice I have ever had in a week. There is no way I would let some cough/cold stop me from completing something that I had work so hard for. 

Up next: the big day!