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Posts from the ‘Expo’ Category

Oct 22

Two half marathons in two weeks

I didn’t sleep well last night. I haven’t been sleeping well at all really. Last night, though, was pretty bad. I woke up four or five times. I ended up taking a nap at midday. It was a good thing I woke up early, though. I had to drive to Stockton and pick up my race number and packet for my second half marathon in a two week period.

I signed up for the St. Joseph’s Half Marathon because it’s a local event. I’ve run so many races outside the area I live (mostly in the Bay Area) that I figured I should probably give back to the community I work in everyday. This race was an especially easy choice because it supports a program at the college I teach journalism at.

What I didn’t realize was how tried I’d be after the Nike Women’s Half and three weeks of swimming. My legs are sore and tired.

I ran two miles on the treadmill on Friday and felt as if I was dying.

I’m not 100 percent sure I’ll be competitive during the race. I heard of a bunch of people say they’d be walking it. I don’t want to do that. Thomas and I already after afternoon plans so i need to finish in a decent time frame.

I’m using this more as a training run since I have my nice new half PR from the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half earlier this month.

So I stopped by the Stockton Fleet Feet store, which recently moved to a new location.

I have a love/hate relationship with Fleet Feet. I love what I can buy there and all the supplies available. I hate the money I spend there. And I usually end up spending a lot. I went in today for my race packet and came out with a new pair of Zenzah compression sleeves for my shins. I am definitely planning on wearing them tomorrow.

It didn’t take long to get my number (which is three digits and scares me because I’ve grown accustom to larger races, small races are so lonely) and was given my reusable bag (with nice printing on it) and tech shirt.

I also got a running vest, which is a little large. I’ve never wore a running vest, so I’m not 100 percent sure what the purpose of one is. I think it it had pockets I’d be more in love with it. I do like the reflective nature of it, though.

The line at the register to buy the compression sleeves was long, but I waited it out. There were a lot of people crowding to get the cards they were handing out to get signed by vendors for a chance to win a heart-rate monitor. I passed, if only because I already have a heart rate monitor (with my Garmin 405CX) and I needed to get going and get a lot of errands run.

The expo was on the brick walk outside of Lincoln Center in Stockton. And it was a nice day, so there were a lot of people checking it out.

So I grabbed my packet and left. I’m washing my running clothes for tomorrow right now in hopes of laying everything out for tomorrow.

I don’t have high hopes for a solid half. I’m really hoping to just hold everything together. And, more than anything, I’m hoping I wake up tomorrow and really want to run.

Low expectations? Yeah, maybe.

But I think my body is physically exhausted from all I’ve been doing lately. I think I’m pushing myself a little too hard lately. It’s showing in the quality of my runs.

So after this half, I’m not running another race half until Big Sur on Nov. 20. That gives me some recovery time. But I have an 18 and 20-miler to do in between this and that too.

We’ll see how this goes.

 

Oct 15

It’s not an expo, it’s an Expotique

I’m going to try to temper my excitement with this post, I swear. But it’s going to be hard for a couple reasons. One is that this is the race I’ve wanted to run all year. Another is that I’m doing so for free as part of Team Somersaults!

I had commitments both Friday and Saturday, so I was glad Nike started the expo – or Expotique as it’s called – on Thursday. A bonus to that was that my brother-in-law was playing a show right down the street in the same area. So I took BART in from the East Bay and left my car where my husband, who was meeting me for the show, could drop me off later.

I literally jumped off the BART and headed immediately to Union Square.

If you know anything about that area of San Francisco, you know it’s a huge tourist spot. The sidewalks, which are all under construction around Union Square – making me wonder how all of this is going to go down on Sunday – were full of people. I tried to wait patiently at the light.

When I finally got across the street, I was greeted by a little confusion and a huge tent.

I went to one side and was told by a guard that the line for checking in was there. I waited there for 10 minutes when I realized it was the wrong check in line. Another guard told me to go to the middle of the tent. Wrong again. I finally saw where check in was, only to have another guard – really rude this time – tell me I had to yet again go around the tent. Signs would have been nice, but I digress.

I found the yellow-marked half marathon line. Check in was quick. I was handed my number – a circular bib with a really low number, apparently numbers are assigned when we get there, which is easy for volunteers – and a bag full of coupons and samples, including Somersaults Snacks new flavor cinnamon.

I then proceeded to the rest of the tent where there were a good deal of vendors. Even on a Thursday, it was a big of a mad house.

There were samples of Gatorade, Pom and Neutrogena. Some women were getting their hair done. Others were getting foot massages. I honestly wasn’t interested in either of those things. I’m not just into really girly stuff.

Safeway had an awesome setup to ride a treadmill and power a smoothie.

The tent was a little stuffy, despite huge fans. It was a relatively warm day in San Francisco. I took off my jacket (I didn’t need it at all, even at 9:30 p.m. when I finally left) and stuffed it in my black pull string backpack. I ventured outside and found that Safeway had more samples of an Asian noodle salad, fruit and cookies. They were also pouring Italian soda.

Awesome! I’d been hungry my way over and didn’t stop to eat before I came to Union Square.

I went back into the tent for a little while and checked out the different offerings. I also noticed that there was a deejay! I’d never been to a expo with a deejay! That was kind of a nice addition.

I followed another crowd outside where there was a booth selling runner must-haves (forgot Glide? They had it). I also noticed a really crazy line forming at another booth. I went over to check it out. It was the Somersaults Snack Co. booth! The demand was huge! I tried to squeeze in, but a group of about 15 women went by me as I was taking this photo.

“Try some of the cinnamon ones!” one of them said to the others. By the time I backed up, they were surrounding the booth. Somersaults Snacks were definitely one of the highlights of the expo. And see the team jersey? Love! The ladies at Somersaults also gave me a sunflower clip to wear in my hair for the race.

And, because I didn’t want to cover my team jersey, I bought arm warmers to wear. This will be my first race with arm warmers.

So the expo got a little crazy after that as more and more people came.

Safeway was hosting a “ladies night,” so there was a lot going on. I decided to take leave and head over to the Niketown store where I knew the crowds would also be. One entire floor is dedicated to Nike Women’s Marathon goods. I walked in and there were people everywhere!

I went looking for half-marathon specific apparel. I’m a stickler for that. I don’t want to wear a shirt that says “marathon” typically unless I’ve run the distance. That said, there were a lot of people running the half buying the apparel. So I grabbed up two half-specific shirts. And I got a bag. And a poster (even though I registered late so my name isn’t on it). I bought an awesome jacket. It says NWM, so I think I’m going to take it to a local embroidery guy to add “13.1” to it. I’m weird like that. I also grabbed a water bottle.

I found one specific shirt that I absolutely love, though.

I bought enough to get me a free photo frame. It also flagged fraud alert on my American Express. Nice. I had to try to remember my pin number. Awkward when you can’t even remember setting up your credit card. Not sure what the lady at AmEx or the guy behind the counter thought of me. But the purchase went through.

By the way, the Nike store is decorated in all NWM. It’s inspirational. I kept trying to take photos of the huge sign as I went up the escalator. They all came out blurry. So this is my best effort from the line.

After calling my husband to make sure he knew the card was being used lawfully by me, I went back to Union Square where part of the crowd had thinned out in some areas, or so I thought.Everyone was actually inside the tent as they drew names for a Cole Haan bag. I found my way around, checking out more booths.

At one, I was offered frozen strawberries. The guy manning the booth also told me not to be afraid of the first hill in this one. That kind of put me at ease, but not really. I grabbed the strawberries and found a stand-up table to eat at.

Safeway also provided the decor for the tables. Beautiful flowers. Nice setup.

By then, it was getting to be time for me to head out. I tried, again, to stop by the Somersaults booth. They were so busy! Every time one person left, another person came over. Those cinnamon-flavored snacks are kind of addictive.

I passed by a couple more vendors. The Google Wallet people gave me a free Diet Coke. The technology was pretty awesome, but not available on my Droid X. And I received some samples from the Meyer’s Soap folks too. Good stuff too.

That’s my spread at home later. I also “liked” Neutrogena on Facebook at the booth to receive a small bag with face wash and sunscreen. That will come in handy tomorrow. I’m hoping it’s a nice, yet cold, day.

After all was said and done, I headed over to the Westfield Shopping Center to look around and wait for my husband. I walked past even more signs proclaiming it Nike Women’s Marathon weekend. It was awesome.

The one hanging from Macy’s was, by far, my favorite.

Also among my favorite is the shirt I bought that says “I run to be sexy.” It’s a long-sleeve shirt, perfect for the soon-to-be-cooling weather. I bought it after seeing what I consider a huge sign telling me to do so at the Expotique.

So my visit to the Expotique went really well. I chatted with some folks, spent way too much money at Niketown, got my bib and I think I’m almost ready for the Sunday run.

I can’t say it enough: I’m excited to run this race. I’ll be more excited when I get to San Francisco tomorrow at 6:15 a.m. and meet with with Team Somersaults for our photo beforehand. I’ll be excited when I run, even if the hills turn out to be not so wonderful.

To me, it’s not about the Tiffany necklace at the end. It’s not about the swag. It’s about the cause this is for. It’s about what it represents. Thousands upon thousands of women running together for a cause. It’s about empowerment. In the past two years I’ve run to be a lot of things.

I run to be stronger. I run to be powerful. I run to be healthy. I run to be sane. I run to be me.

On Sunday, I run to be empowered.

Oct 14

The signs are everywhere

I haven’t had much time in the last 48 hours to run let alone blog. I worked late on Wednesday and came home and ran 6 miles. Thursday, my rest day, I worked part of the day before venturing via BART to San Francisco from Dublin to pick up my Nike Women’s Half Marathon race packet (really just the number) and check out the offerings.

I’ll be blogging a full race report after I present at a journalism conference in Sacramento on Saturday (the main reason I had to go to San Francisco on a Thursday). But I thought I’d add this because it kind of sums up my excitement for this weekend.

I literally was off BART for 3 minutes when I saw this sticker on the window at the mall in San Francisco.

The signs for the NWM event were everywhere.

Counting down now…two days.

Oct 1

2 Comments

Getting ready to rock it in San Jose

When my friend Sam and I signed up for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon we did so because we didn’t get admission into the Nike Women’s Half on Oct. 16.

We figured we needed something to train for. Rock ‘n’ Roll would be our October half. It would also be Sam’s first.

By a strange twist of fate Sam, our friend Jennie and I all gained Nike entry in the past month. But that’s for another post.

The race is tomorrow. Today we ventured to San Jose to pick up our race packets (I’m always slightly annoyed by this practice, but understand nonetheless that part of what these races do is bring people into the area) and check out the expo.

Sam had never been to an expo before. I fear she may be spoiled now.

For one, the race medal is awesome. It’s not ridiculously small, like the last two I’ve received. And it’s heavy – very heavy. It’s a beautiful medal. I can’t wait to get one in my hands in fact.

The race packet pick up was by far the best I’ve ever experience. No long waits. In fact, we both walked right up and grabbed our bib numbers. We were handed an extra packet with four safety pins. That was a perk. So often I’m handed bib numbers without any way to attach them to my shirt.

We then moved to the “shirts/swag” area. Our blue Brooks shirts are nice, but they are a unisex size medium and I can swim in it. No kidding. I’m actually kind of in love with races that have sex specific shirts. My favorite so far is from the San Francisco Marathon, but I digress.

We picked up our shirts quickly and found our way to a swag bag table with reusable pull-string backpacks (the first image in this post) that actually double as sweat-check bags. The next stop was the race-specific merchandise area where the prices were a little steep for Brooks gear (one of the sponsors) with official logos on it.

We checked out some of the booths, including some fine Moving Comfort goods. We also checked out some sweet smelling portable toilets (if only because they didn’t actually have a stool in it).

The main floor of the expo was really awesome. There were representatives from big and small name companies. There were brands I’ve ever of and some I never knew existed.

We got free energy bar samples. We tried some recovery drinks (Sam found the Muscle Milk booth) and checked out the booths for other races, including the Oakland Running Festival which we’ll be hitting up in March.

We got to a small booth hidden away on the side of the hall where we got race-size Body Glide for $1. I also got a larger stick for $7, which is as much as I paid for my smaller stick awhile back.

I also found a neon green pair of Zensah compression sleeves for my legs. I’m not too keen on the color, but at $25 the price was right and I figured if I wear them at night people will at least people able to see me.

I’ve already tried them on and I love them. I don’t think they’ll be making their debut in the race tomorrow, but I might try them on one of my shorter runs sometime this week. The sleeves are much more neon green than the photo shows, believe me.

Sam had her stance evaluated at one booth. I think she would have taken the plunge and bought some new insoles if they weren’t so expensive.

We then found a booth for “The Stick” massage stick. The representative literally spent a minute on my leg and I was convinced I needed to own one. I’m planning on rubbing my leg out later with it before I go to sleep tonight.

I may have to add it to my “favorites” list if I love it enough. Sam wasn’t as convinced, but she felt the deep tissue version.

That said, she ended up buying a sweet little massager for her muscles. While she was getting a preview at that booth I saw that Marshall Ulrich of “Running on Empty” fame. I ordered his book from amazon.com the other day. I’m supposed to get it on Monday.

But then I saw him there. I nearly had a squeal running geek girl moment. I contemplated not going over to shake his hand and say hello. I was recommended his book by a friend who said it would be a good read when training for a marathon.

I sucked up my nerve and went over and said hi. I could barely ask questions I was so nervous (awkward for a journalist, yes). I talked to him and bought a book on the spot. I’ll send the amazon.com one back. He signed my copy. It was totally worth it. I’ve never been so inspired during a five-minute conversation with someone.

Seriously. He signed my book saying “the only limitations are in your mind.” I’m using that to get through the 13.1 tomorrow. And, hopefully, the 26.2 in December.

Our parking meter was coming close to expiring, so we had to get moving quickly. It was too bad too because Sam was actually loving the whole expo experience. I’ve been to three other expos for half marathons and this was the best of them all. It was well-lit, had a lot of free swag and good deals on other items. Garmin was even there with a booth. I nearly bought a new heart-rate monitor, but I figured I’d wait until mine actually went out.

I’m stoked about running this half marathon for a couple reasons. The first is that there is entertainment along every mile. I think I’m going to enjoy that. The second is that it’s the first half since I hurt my leg in August. I thought for a minute there that I may not run the rest of the year. I had a two-week period where all I wanted to do was cry because my leg hurt so bad.

I feel good about this run. Now I just need to pick out what I’m wearing.

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