pre-race thoughts

This is just the first part of the race experience. Saturday morning I went over to the Nike SF Womens Marathon Expo which took place in Union Square. This was about a 5 minute walk from my hotel. Perfect! The streets were already abuzz with a ton of people going all over the place. On a morning like like this one, where there the masses where out and about, it was hard to feel like we still are in a recession. I felt the same way in NYC.

I went into actual expo tent and got my bag, bib# and other stuff they toss in there. Unfortunately, there was no real good race “Schwag” stuff. I was REALLY surprised they didn’t have any gels except for some Luna Gels of some kind. Kinda like Clif Shot Bloks. I would spend some of the afternoon looking for gels which are extremely hard to find in downtown SF. Before I left expo i found out that if you wanted to take a shuttle from the finish back to the start location, the price was $10. WTF? I have NEVER paid for race transportation before. I thought THAT SUCKED. Nevertheless, I reluctantly handed over my $10 and got a sticker on my bid that was “proof” to be allowed on the shuttle. Oh well.

I crossed the street and went over to NIKETOWN! WOW. Absolute madness! 4 floors, at least, of excited and crazed women checking out all the race clothing, gear, etc.. I was truly bummed that I didn’t like any of the clothing. Everything had the same logo and print on it whether it was a shirt/sweatshirt/hoodie/cap etc..and this included a logo/print w/ FLOWERS on it. Now I have nothing against flowers, but in case you haven’t already figured, I’m not really a floral print kind of girl! I was disappointed because I wanted an article of clothing beyond the Race official tee. Oh well. Moving on. Needless to say, the atmosphere was truly ELECTRIC! It was a beautiful clear day and everyone was smiling, taking photos, and getting ready for their big adventure.

Outside of Niketown, on one of the walls of the building, there was something like a wrap/mural. It was actually part of the wall and it had the names of all the race participants. How freaking cool is that? People were looking for their names and taking subsequent photos. I found mine and have a pic to post later. I cannot post any pics from my camera until i get home and upload them. I thought this wall “mural” was fabulous! Nike does it again! That made up for me not too enthralled with the clothing part! 🙂

Believe it or not, I was still not feeling to well. I kept taking the Emergen-C, took a nap and later met up with 2 wonderful friends for dinner. We ate at a one of our favorite neighborhood joints(in Potrero Hill) called Aperto. A wonderful evening filled with lots of laughter. Isn’t it wonderful when you can re-connect with friends you haven’t see in ages and it’s like no time has passed?!

Stay Tuned. Race details tomorrow!