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Oct 30

A void

This week’s lack of blogging stems from something other than being overburdened. In fact, a recent episode in my life means I am very much under burdened.

I’m not going to get into it right now on here for various reasons. My husband has encouraged me to do so, but I can’t right now.

It has nothing and everything to do with running.

It has nothing and everything to do with how I treat myself.

It has nothing and everything to do with my life right now and some changes that need to be made.

So I’m working on some things.

I’m still running. But not sure how much blogging I’ll be doing in the next month or so.

Cryptic, yes. I’m usually a lot more transparent. But some things just need to be held close.

So on that somber note, I leave you with a cute picture of my Domo collection. The new green ones are a recent addition from a good friend.

 

Oct 22

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On the wings of the goddess of victory

The Nike Women’s Half Marathon is not one of those races that is easy to get a personal record on. Why? There are so many people running. There are many others walking. The first three or four miles are spent weaving through people until we hit the hills, then it evens out a little bit.

So my expectations, especially after my horrendous experience at the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon, were pretty low. I ran a 2:36 in San Jose. Not great. My body hurt. I hate the entire experience.

Nike was the complete opposite of that.

I loved every minute of it, even the beginning with a new corral system.

And I finished 13 minutes ahead of my time from last year. I figured I’d do better than last year no matter what because I at least new what to expect this year.

The whole experience was positive, though.

I woke up early for the 7 a.m. Union Square start. It was dark when we left our home in Tracy. It was still dark when we neared the city. I stopped at my predesignated race bathroom pit stop before heading into San Francisco.

Know where this is? I think it’s one of the best kept secrets if you are coming in to run from the East Bay. There are three portable toilets here, no lines. Stopped here saved me during the 1st Half of the San Francisco Marathon. The lines at the Embarcadero were just way too long for me to even consider going to the bathroom at the race start.

My husband dropped me off about a block from my corral opening. The first thing I noticed: There were a ton of people waiting for the bathrooms. Great, I thought, a repeat of last year. I was glad I went before I got into the city.

I walked up to the middle of my corral and was surprised to find another set of portable toilets with lines only three deep. Seriously? How is no one finding these? I jumped in a line with 15 minutes to race time and was out by the time the gun went off to let the first corral go.

I even had time to head up toward the front of my corral, which it seemed like a lot of people were avoiding.

It was still pretty dark at the start. I didn’t start seeing a glimmer of the light until I was about to cross the start line, 16 minutes after the first people began.

It was kind of beautiful, though, to see the shadows on the ground.

There was really that much space between me and the next person. It was nice not to be on top of one another, a huge change from last year.

It didn’t seem long until the announcer was telling us that it was time to head out. And, just as quickly as I got there, we were off and running.

Mile 1: 10:50 — A downhill at the beginning, not too bad. Bobbing and weaving a lot. My Garmin actually had me pacing closer to 12-minute miles. I should have known than that something was wrong with it.

Mile 2: 11:04  — Continuing running through and around people. We’re down at the Embarcadero now, with a slight wind coming up from the San Francisco Bay. But it was getting a little warm already.

Mile 3: 11:38 — A slight hill near Ghirardelli Square. I actually heard a woman say: “Wow, my friend said the hills were bad, this isn’t bad at all.” I laughed a little, if only because I knew what was coming up soon.

Mile 4: 12:32 — On the first hill, slowing down a little, but not feeling horrible. I was worried about my legs. They started getting a little tired here.

Mile 5: 11:08 — Now a downhill and run through Crissy Field. I love running along here. It’s a beautiful area, plus there is a huge cheering area at the Marina Safeway. This is probably my favorite part of the run. I picked it up here because I was so pumped…and I knew what was coming up.

Mile 6: 12:03 — Not bad as I continue through the area near Golden Gate Bridge. It’s getting harder to stop at water stops because it seems like everyone is stopping near the end now. There are just a lot of people in this race, so everything takes time.

Mile 7: 15:11 — THIS. HILL.SUCKS. I hate it. It’s in both this race and the 1st Half of the San Francisco Marathon. When you run on a hill this step, it really feels as if you are running in place.

That’s the elevation chart from my Garmin. The biggest, most challenging hill is starts near mile six. And it seems to take forever to climb.

Mile 8: 11:42 — Back down the hill a little here. Not a bad mile. Not my best. Just kept running.

Mile 9: 14:00 — The second big hill here. I forgot about it completely. I thought I was going to start a downhill, then turned a corner and realized how wrong I was.

Mile 1o: 12:13 — I think mile 10 is always my favorite mile during half marathons. It is in this one because the downhill here is significant, but you can get caught up running way to fast. That happened to me last year. This year, I paced nicely down the hill.

Mile 11: 11:43 — Into the park, feeling my fatigue.

Mile 12: 12:45 — I walked here for longer than I wanted to. I think I was just tired. I finally picked up a slow jog. And yet, it didn’t seem as if I wasn’t running at all. (A theme in this race, I think.)

Mile 13: 10:44 — I realized it was nearing the end. I picked it up and gave it all I could. We exit the park and then, immediately, hit the finish line. So it’s quiet, then it gets all crazy (especially with people running across the intersection).

Mile .26: 2:24 — RUN. FAST. NOW! I don’t know why I picked it up so much, but it felt good. You can’t tell from my race photos, but I was so happy to be done.

Garmin time: 2:40:01

Chip time: 2:40:51

And then, the line for the Tiffany necklaces.

I’m told that once upon a time, they would just hand you the necklace upon finish. Now they scan each bib and make you walk through this area before a handsome firefighter hands you a necklace.

(An aside confession: I’m a little on the heavier side again now and hate, hate, hate my back fat. But I realize when I run races with a lot of women that nearly every woman has back fat that is unflattering in athletic clothes. Even slim ones. I don’t know why that makes me feel better, but it kind of does.)

Back to the necklace. I waited for nearly 10 minutes trying to make my way through this mess. It just kind of seemed like my line had a log jam.

Then it happened.

Hello handsome firefighter. Thank you for handing me a beautiful necklace. By the way, when I took this photo a woman behind me scoff and said I was holding up the line. I found it funny because the woman to the right of me is getting her photo taken with a firefighter. The woman to the left to me, you can see her phone, just finished doing the same thing I was.

My next line was my finisher T-shirt pick up. Last year I loved the yellow. This year I loved the florescent lime green. Great for running at night. Great for being seen in general (it’s at the top of this post).

It took forever to get through the finish area. After getting a banana and a bagel, I only took one of both, and some water I dunked under a barrier to get out of the mess. I finally went and sat down looking at Ocean Beach, ready to open my prize/medal.

I always hate untying the bow. It’s so perfect. I wonder how long it takes to tie 20,000+ Tiffany boxes with ribbon. I would imagine Tiffany works on this for quite some time.

I opened the box up and was confused at first. The pendant is dog-tagged shaped with what looked like cryptic writing in the background. Upon closer inspection, I realized the figure was actually running in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Perfect, since this is the bridge’s 75th anniversary.

Beautiful. I honestly love it so much more than my one from last year. I’ve been wearing it all week. Love.

Last year, I was thankful to run this race. This year, the wings of the goddess of victory led me to another 13.1 this year. It’s tough to get into this race, but I’m so glad I did. And there’s never a guarantee for next year.

But it was an amazing journey. I’m crossing my fingers than I’ll be able to run it again in 2013.

Oct 21

Reasons for a lull

I’ve mentioned before that I often get ridiculously busy some weeks between two jobs and everything else I do.

This week was an over-the-top exception.

I told myself I was going to take a couple days off after Nike, for a couple reasons. I was tired after the hills of San Francisco. And my Garmin was having some serious issues.

So I told myself I’d pick up a run on Tuesday.

But anyone who follows my Twitter feed knows I’ve been having some very serious car troubles lately. Unfortunately I hadn’t saved up enough money for a down payment on a new car enough to make buying on feasible.

The problem is, my Camaro is getting to the point where it’s just not reliable anymore. It is for getting me closer distances and using every once in awhile. But the intention was never to drive it into the ground. I love it way too much.

So my husband and I went looking a new cars on Sunday. We found a certified pre-owned 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. My first choice in cars? Not so much. I was really leaning on buying a new Camaro.

The problem was that it didn’t make sense. Instead, we spent some money fixing my 2002 Camaro up. And then we pulled from joint savings to put money down on the Jeep. I financed the rest of it through my credit union with a 3.24-percent interest rate.

I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason. This week instead of a Tuesday-night run, I found myself signing paperwork for a new car at the Jeep dealership in a nearby town.

Whew. Now I have a reliable car. The Camaro will be used for in-town and leisure driving for now on.

On top of that, my students out out a newspaper this week. And I was finishing preparations for a baby shower I hosted at my house yesterday for a very deserving friend/coworker who is expecting her second child early next year. (We figured October would be better than later months of the year because people get busy around Thanksgiving and Christmas.)

Many, many Costco trips were involved in the production of this baby shower. The treats above? Those were the favors, chocolate-dipped pretzels decorated in fall colors. The theme for the shower was “fall” since my friend isn’t really the blue/pink type. (She’s having a boy.)

So up until 2 p.m. yesterday, when the shower ended, I was busy the entire week. I didn’t even have a chance to do my Nike Women’s Half Marathon review yet. I’ll be working on that later today after I upload some photos from the day of.

A side note: I was able to get my time fixed, but it still appears to be wrong. It looks like I ran a half marathon in 40 minutes. I know my running is getting better, but not that much better.

And today, with the glitchy Garmin, I ran 15 miles. Only 8.5 tracked with the Garmin before I had to switch to my Nike+ app. I’ve sent a request for service to Garmin, but after entering my serial number is came up saying my unit was no longer under warranty, even though it’s a replacement unit that isn’t even a year old.

After buying a new car this week, I really don’t want to buy a new Garmin.

I feel a little better after today’s run. I feel as if I’m getting back in the habit, especially after a very, very stressful, but rewarding week. Running-related posts to resume soon.

Oct 14

Happiness in a little Tiffany blue box

After an incredibly bad week, that included my 10-year-old car being towed away and looking for a new vehicle today in addition to 100 other things, I crossed the finish line at the Nike Women’s Half Marathon somewhere around 2:40 today.

The time comes courtesy of my Garmin. I still don’t have my chip time results on the website.

Last year I finished somewhere around 2:53. So I set a 13-minute course personal record.

I can’t be mad about that. I can’t be mad about how I ran, because I busted to get up those hills, even though I slowed down quite a bit.

I didn’t stay at the finish line too long or partake in a lot of the festivities. I’ve been completely beaten this week. The half marathon was exciting. It was empowering. It was amazing.

It will also get a full recap in another post. But I did well today.

And now I know last week’s horrible half in San Jose was a fluke. I run better than that now. It was warm. I was tired. Things happen.

Today was redeeming. I’m going to celebrate that.

I’ll also be celebrating my sweet new Nike bling. I love how the Golden Gate Bridge, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is incorporated.

Oct 13

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A nice retreat at the Nike Expotique

I mentioned in a previous post how excited I am about the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. It’s a huge race. There are more than 25,000 women running for the same cause. It’s all about female empowerment. And it’s fun. There was nowhere along the race path last year that I wasn’t having an amazing time.

I’ll admit, though, I was reluctant to sign up this year. It’s a lot of money. Getting in is also pretty difficult. There’s a lottery system. Nothing is guaranteed.

And yet, I got in. I was thrilled when I got the email earlier this year.

So I’ve been anxiously awaiting this race weekend. When I got the reservation for the LunarGlides, I immediately took the day off so that I’d be able to spend a lot of time at the expo and in San Francisco.

I headed to the city around 11 a.m. on Thursday. I venture over on BART, a public transit train system in our area. It’s about a 40-minute ride from the station I board at to near the expo site.

It took forever to find parking. I had to go to three garages. So I was ridiculously hungry when I got to San Francisco.

First stop, the mall. For food.

There’s a great pasta/pizza place there with thin crust pizzas. I ordered one and ate like there was no tomorrow.

It was amazing. The cheese was perfect. The flavors were amazing. Then again, I was really hungry. I actually was able to eat before the lunch rush. Then I walked around for a couple hours at the mall.

I even found a pair of shoes I’d been looking to buy for awhile (Cognac-colored flats).

There are very few stores where I live and not many that sell inexpensive clothes. So whenever I make the trek to San Francisco, I usually visit H&M and some other places that specialize in low cost, fashionable clothes.

I decided it was time to head to Union Square after a couple hours. It was a quick five-minute walk up the street. When I got there, I was greeted by the purple Nike tent.

There was hardly anyone at the expo, as it had only opened a couple hours before. So I headed to the first person with her hand up. Checking in was easy. And she didn’t even check my identification. (For all that Nike preaches about not allowing other people to run in the place of another, I thought that was a little weird.)

The volunteer’s scanner wasn’t working, so she manually entered my number. I was handed my Nike+ volt-colored bag and basically sent on my way. Actually, I got something new this year too.

It’s a pace band. After last year’s disaster of a start line, which I’m told happens every year, I was glad when I was handed this band. I’m not the fastest, obviously, but I also don’t want to be behind a sea of walkers. We’ll see if this brings any change.

The bag is pretty nice too. Definitely something I’ll reuse. I’m not big into bag check. Usually I just take what I need with me and my husband brings me a bag at the end. (I have another new one in my ongoing quest to get him to actually bring me a bag, it’s another one from Lululemon I’ll post about later.)

Then I checked out the expo.

There’s always a lot going on at the expo, but not in a regular sense. People complain about not being able to sign up for other races or visit other vendors, but I think it actually works out for Nike. It’s a big brand. Plus, I’m often tempted to buy  a few to many gear items I definitely don’t need.

This year, I was tempted by the sports bras.

I briefly chatted with the saleswoman, but decided I probably already had as many sports bras as I could handle right now. I know you are supposed to replace them every six months. I have a few that aren’t even that old.

I checked out the Neutrogena booth, where they were giving away free samples. I drank some Nuun. I got some coupons for Safeway. I also watched a runner have their gait checked out. A lot happening in a small area.

Then, I headed to Nike Town.

I was specifically excited for one thing there this year: Seeing my name on the wall.

And this time, it was there. Last year, because I gained late entry, I was too late to have my name included.

I was so excited to see it in purple.

And here’s the point where I go a little crazy. The same thing happened last year. I normally limit my expo spending in any area to a set amount. For some reason, I can’t see to do that at Nike.

I was already purchasing the $150 limited edition LunarGlides.

Then I started looking around. This year there was more half marathon specific items.

I found a new cotton shirt for everyday wear. I have a gray one just like this from last year that I love.

Then I picked up a new tech shirt for running.

And since it’s getting to be cooler outside (seriously, I went from wearing T-shirts and needing the air conditioner two weeks ago to sitting here typing this with a long-sleeved shirt and wearing socks), I justified buying a new long-sleeve pullover to run in.

That’s the front, which is pretty basic but still pretty awesome. I’m really, though, in love with the back.

I love the ombre-inspired color pattern going down the back. Plus, as I mentioned in previous posts, I’m a fan of good design. This long-sleeve is really well designed.

See how I went a little crazy? Yes. I actually saved up a good amount of money to not break the bank this time, like I did last year.

Then, just for good measure, I figured I would pick up a hat too. I run with them from time to time, especially when it rains.

Because I really needed something else. To say this is why Nike doesn’t allow other vendors at the expo would likely be an understatement. They want you to come spend money, lots of money, at the NikeTown store. And that’s what most people do. It’s always ridiculously busy in there, some women buy shirts upon shirts upon shirts.

Some likely also buy enough stuff to sell it on eBay. (An off note, I saw a pair of the Nike LunarGlides posted as an eBay link  on the Nike Women’s Marathon Facebook page. That was a little disgusting. I’m glad Nike removed it.)

I had to wait a couple hours to pick up my shoes, so I headed back out to do some more shopping.

The lobby to NikeTown has maps of the course and huge images reflecting the marathon themes. It’s pretty inspiring.

So many photos, right? I get a little blog happy at this expo. Seriously, I’m probably more excited to write about this half marathon than any other one I do. I’m even usually more excited to run it. I’m REALLY looking forward to tomorrow.

Since they let me pick up my shoes at 4 p.m., I went back to the mall where I was going to wait until my husband told me to head back to the East Bay. I figured I’d hitch a ride back with him to my car. So I decided to go back to my favorite pasta place and order the best Italian dish ever.

Pesto gnocchi is amazing. I also had a small Caesar salad as well. It was all delicious. By the time I finished eating I was so tired. I walked around a little bit more and decided that I needed cupcakes. Because I always need cupcakes.

Always.

Yes. I got six. I’m not ashamed. They are delicious. And the booth is right next to the BART entrance to head back home for me.

About an hour later, my husband and I talked and decided I should just start heading back to the valley. I hopped on the first train and started my journey.

My trip home wasn’t nearly as fulfilling as my time in San Francisco. My car started overheating. My husband, who was supposed to go out of town today, is now in our garage trying to figure out what’s wrong with it. He’s already replaced the thermostat. That’s the fourth time in the 10 years I’ve owned my car the thermostat has been replaced.

I did, finally, get to look through my “goody bag” from the expo.

There was a lot of great stuff in it, including lip moisturizer, coconut water, Somersaults Snacks and cookies. This was actually a bag filled with good stuff. Compared to other bags, this one is probably the definition of an actual “goody bag.”

Today I’m taking it easy. I slept with compression socks last night. I’m worried because my legs have been incredibly fatigued in recent days. And my half marathon experience last week was brutal.

So I’m nervous about tomorrow. But I’m also incredibly excited about being able to run with lots of other woman who will inspire me along the way. I’m counting down the hours.

Oct 12

My new glass slippers

I’m not typically into girly girl stuff. Not at all. I don’t wear a lot of dresses, or do my hair all fancy or anything. But early last week when Nike posted a photo of the Tiffany blue LunarGlide’s that would be made special for the Nike Women’s Marathon, I didn’t hesitate to try and reserve a pair.

And, surprisingly, I secured them. The confirmation process took little more than five minutes. And I was set.

All I had to do was show up and pick them up at 5 p.m. today. I knew I’d be in San Francisco today to pick up my race packet. So I reserved my time for when I’d be around.

After waiting and waiting in anticipation (again, I’m never typically like this), today was finally the day.

I went through the expo earlier in the day, but I headed over around 4 p.m. on the off chance I’d be able to get my pair early.

They did.

I showed my identification and the store employee checked my confirmation number against a long roster, then I was directed toward the counter where a man dressed in a fancy tuxedo handed me my pair of shoes.

The man showed me my shoes, checked the sizes and then handed them off to me so I could purchase them. The price was steep, yes. But it’s not more than I would have paid for a new pair of running shoes.Plus, the LunarGlides are within my range for stability.

I fell in love at first site.

The shoelaces are a delicate satin, but the shoes also came with regular Nike white laces to switch out. I’m not sure the pretty laces are even practical, but they are cute. The little Nike swoosh at the bottom of the laces is shiny and adds a nice touch.

I’ve never had “bling” on my shoes before. This definitely qualifies.

The shoes are incredibly detailed. Each time I look at them, I see something unique. It may be cheesy, but I kind of feel like these are my glass slippers, especially after the week I’ve had with technology fails and my car overheating on the way home from the Expotique (more sigh).

That’s the insole. When the nice tuxedo-clad man showcase the shoe for me, he made sure to give me a peak of the inside to let me know there was something special there too. The shoes are that Tiffany blue color everywhere.

That includes the Lunarlon padding, which actually is more pearl-toned than I thought it would be.

I’ve talked before about how I didn’t have a “pretty” pair of running shoes until I bought my LunarEclipses a few months ago. Then, finally, I had some color and different texture on my shoes. I felt, dare I say it, stylish when I ran.

These make me feel like a running princess. And I’m not inclined to ever feel like a princess. Ever. That’s just not my style. It kind of changes my perspective on running shoes (which have, always, been about function as opposed to style for me).

The downside? I don’t get to wear them during the actual run. I never, ever try anything new on race day. It’s taboo in general, but I think on a course like the 13.1 I’ll be running for Nike it would definitely be a big mistake. I’d love to wear these to run, but I’m sticking to my LunarEclipses because I know the shoes and how they’ll react on the course.

I’ll do a more throughout report from the Expotique a little later, but I wanted to share these photos and some giddy about these awesome add-ons to my race experience this weekend.

For those venturing out in the next few days, Nike Town is also giving away a free gift with a $150 purchase. It’s really, really easy to rack up that kind of damage at the store. There’s too much awesome stuff to choose from. I’ll admit, this is the one race where I actually do go a little crazy with gear.

The shoes come with a reusable bag.

Other purchases that exceed the limit come with a very practical cosmetic-style bag. Last year the gift was a brushed metal picture frame. I like this year’s freebie, particularly because it also came with pony tail ties and an elastic headband.

Definitely useful.

I may go a bit crazy about this race over the next few days. I’ve been fortunate enough to secure a spot in it for the past two years, which is really, really special in itself.

When I started running, my ultimate goal was never 26.2. It was “one day, I’ll run the Nike race.” I accomplished that last year. This year I’d like to beat last year’s time. With tired legs and a stressful week, though, I’m not sure that will happen.

One thing is already for sure: My shoes are an amazing treat.

Oct 11

Happening now

20121011-140536.jpg

I’m in San Francisco at the Nike Expotique! Way more excited than I should be!

Oct 11

Ever had one of those weeks?

I should name this the “post in which I tell you that I’m not writing a race review for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon.”

Why?

Epic technology failures.

My week has seen enough of them already to make me really feel, again, like I looked before the beginning of the half marathon this past weekend.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is my angry face. It’s my “I’m looking at you and my mouth is askew because I can’t say what I really want to.” I had said face at the beginning of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon because there was no pacer in my corral.

I had a goal. I was told a pacer would be there. No pacer.

I should have known then it would be a bad run. I should have laughed it off.

But for some reason I can’t laugh anything off this week.

I’m four for four on days with technology issues. Not just at work, but at home too.

Servers not working. Equipment not connecting. Images not appearing. All by no fault of my own (seriously, I haven’t brought down a server in some time). All taking away from time I needed for other assignments and projects.

Add on top of that a very glitchy-as-of-late Garmin that I had to do a master reset on this morning, thereby erasing all my data from the past three weeks, and I’m not a happy runner this morning.

Then, my six-year-old 17-inch multimedia special edition laptop died. I want to cry. It’s the computer I built my masters project for University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism on. It’s been my go-to computer for the past four years.

And the hard drive just keeps trying to load. And load. And load. Windows XP keeps saying “not happening.”

This week sucks. I can’t even sugarcoat it. I’m afraid to leave my house and head to the Nike Women’s Marathon Expotique in San Francisco now, but I will be shortly.

Since my primary blogging laptop died and my Garmin has no data, there will be no Rock ‘n’ Roll race recap. I’m actually pretty good with that. Why? I can sum of the experience succinctly: Started good, stomach hurt, threw up, kept going, got sick again, finished nine minutes above last year’s time.

No other technological devices failed in the writing of this blog.

But it’s still early.

Sigh.

Oct 7

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Some bad news, some good news

Today didn’t go as well as planned at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. I finished nine minutes over my PR from last year at 2:36:13.

My problems started at mile three. By mile eight, I was keeled over on the side of the street throwing up. (Sorry for the blunt honesty right there, but there’s no real easy way to say it. Maybe, expelling all my Gu on the streets of San Jose?)

At mile ten, I had another episode. I honestly had a moment where I didn’t think I’d be finishing the race. Then I pulled it together and pushed my hardest.

Today was bad, because I didn’t reach either of my goals for the race.

It was good for a completely different reason.

I don’t write about my job(s) a lot, mainly because I’d rather not get into too much about work on my running blog. But today, I want to share a link to a story I wrote.

It started as a blog post in response to Wisconsin anchorwoman Jennifer Livingston’s on-air response to a letter from a concerned reader about her weight. I had something very, very similar happen to me in 2009.

Full time, I edit a newspaper website. But I’m also a writer. I was a writer before I learned how to code HTML, interpret CSS or shoot and edit video. Today, I revealed a very personal part of myself in an article in the newspaper.

It’s here (with a wedding photo of me even! Another thing I don’t often share because my husband and I have different last names professionally and I typically like to keep that aspect of my life private too).

It’s kind of nice that the story ran today, if only because today was one of those bad runs I address in the story. From each run, we learn something not to do for the next. (For this one, I think having an upset stomach for four days is probably not the best thing to run a half marathon while dealing with.)

Either way, I wanted to share it with my readers. It’s more revealing than I am on here sometimes, though I aim to be candid on my blog as well.

I’ll post a full race recap later this week. Just to warn: it won’t be pretty.

 

Oct 6

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Becoming anti-expo

This morning, my husband and I ventured to San Jose about 60-miles away to pick up my race packet for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. I’m usually pretty accepting of picking up my bib number and race shirt far away, then returning home, but today I was annoyed for several reasons.

The first is that gas is ridiculously priced right now. The second is that I felt completely underwhelmed by the experience. So this isn’t an expo review. Not at all. This is a post about how I’ve increasingly become against expos in recent months.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll expos aren’t the entire reason. Competitor actually does a good job of moving people through the lines and then corraling them into an area where you can purchase more race stuff. And then you walk around and looked at all things running related.

Except I didn’t want to stay.

We only had an hour on the meter anyway. I had already made a corral change. I had my bib and my shirt. I had my “swag” bag that wasn’t full of all that much swag. We walked around for about 20 minutes and I looked at my husband and said I was done.

“I’m over it,” I said.

And with that we walked back to the car and drove five miles to the nearest Lululemon. I’m not even joking.

I was disappointed for several reasons, all of which have been hallmarks of many expos I’ve been to lately.

The first was the location. In San Jose, the expo was at the local convention center, right near/in the middle of the downtown area. Not bad. But the building was torn up last year when I went to this expo. And then torn up again this year. We had to walk much further than we wanted to. Petty complaint? Yes.

But consider we’re in a metropolitan location and working against a meter and you’ll realize our dilemma.

The next was organization and a tad bit of misinformation provided at check in.

Check in was easy enough, but see that line at the end. That was the line for my initial corral. Above each of those signs was another sign that said
“corral changes.” So I asked a guy if we made corral changes at the desks. Seems simple enough, right?

He said: “Do you know how this works?”

Then he proceeded to tell me where I needed to go to pick up my bib. I already knew that. I was asking a separate question. He wasn’t listening, or didn’t want to. I know this happens. But I’ve noticed a lot more lately that volunteers aren’t exactly helpful at expos. Often they have no idea how to answer a question.

It’s because they’re volunteers. It’s because they have very little training before being sent out to do their jobs for the day. In many cases I’ve seen teenagers leading people the wrong way at expos. They’re probably working for community service credit, but still.

Again, working against a clock here.

The T-shirt pick up was a breeze, as was the “goodie” bag grab.

Except all these races that promise “goodie” bags have one sample and then a bunch of pieces of paper. The Rock ‘n’ Roll series is notorious for that. Other races (the Oakland Marathon and San Francisco Marathons included) have online options for this. I’m always appreciative of that, even though it likely requires more work.

Why? Because all but one of those papers from the expo I went to this morning went into the recycling bin when I came home.

I think next time I’ll bring my own bag and skip the reusable backpack.

Another peeve is that there are very few deals to be found at expos anymore. Only a year ago, you’d see signs for compression sleeves marked down to $25 from $40 or $5 off on purchases at another booth. I rarely see that these days. I didn’t see that at all today, outside of Competitor offering discounts on signing up for next year’s event.

The size of the event was also smaller, likely due to the ongoing construction, so there wasn’t as much to see.

I’m jaded, I think. I have all my “racing essentials” already. I don’t need last-minute compression socks, or a sports bra, etc. I have running gloves that are packed in my gym bag every day. I have Glide. And sunscreen. I have, basically, all my goods with me. I’ve never purchased shoes at an expo. And I’m saving my money for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon next week.

So we made quick work of it. For a 120-mile round-trip drive, with gas pushing the $5 range, it just wasn’t worth it.

Even if I got to walk past the finish line, where I’ll be, all things going fine, will cross the finish line and receive a pretty blingy little medal tomorrow morning.

But instead of spending any money at the expo, we went and shopped elsewhere.

Race organizers often promise cities when they book events that the runners will bring money in and stimulate the economy. I don’t have qualms with that. I think most races are money boons to cities. But I hate being forced to traverse miles and miles, only to have to come back the next morning.

We decided to venture to Lululemon and stimulate the economy there instead of at the expo, which kind of fails in the purpose of the expo too. It was there I picked up a pair of capris I’ve been eying and new ear guard for colder weather. And then we made out way back to Tracy, via a stop for lunch in Livermore.

The one good thing today? The race T-shirt.

This year, organizers switched to gender-specific shirts. I have last year’s shirt from the same race underneath. It’s a unisex medium. The gender-specific one is a women’s large, big difference.

GETTING TO THE POINT

This post seems rambling. I’m sorry for that, but there’s a lot on my mind as I write it (including what I’ll be making for dinner tonight). But I have a point.

Many races have strict “no race day” pickup policies to avoid confusion and disarray on race mornings. I’m totally fine with that. What annoys me is when I’m forced to drive long distances to spend 20-minutes at an expo and pick up a race packet when there’s very little to offer me otherwise.

So, as much as I try to make a day out of it and add on some extras to make it “worth the drive,” it usually isn’t. The one exception to this is when I head to San Francisco for a race there, because I can often spend the entire day finding things to do.

Moreover, expos don’t offer all that much to entice a more seasoned runner. (Yes, I’m calling myself a more seasoned runner.) For newbies and people still building a base stock on supplies, expos are great.

But most the time, expos offer very little in the way of useful items. This is the case for many of the expos I’ve been to in recent months. I just want to be out and done.

Jaded? Yes, definitely.

But I’m also saving a lot of money by not dropping money on every little thing at an expo.

I’d just like them to be more worth my time and not just a destination to pick up a race bib.

ON ANOTHER NOTE

I have a goal for tomorrow’s race, but I don’t want to write it or say it because I think that makes it too real. This race held my PR for nearly a year. It was one of my last good races before I hit a really bad slump at the beginning of the year.

So I have a goal. But I never know until I’m actually running if I’ll make that goal, or if I’m trained enough. There are lots of variables. I’m definitely leaning on my time for this being faster than my projected time for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon.

I don’t want to have too high of expectations, because I’ll be disappointed if I don’t make my first goal, or even second or third goals. But I’m anxious to try.

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