RNR Seattle Expo

Yesterday afterwork James and I hopped the ferry to ride over to Seattle and visit the RNR expo. There is no race morning packet pickup so while a weekday trip is hard for me to manage I decided I would rather do it Thursday than Friday. It was raining and I wore flip flops to work so I had James bring some boots for me to change into. We had a little under a mile walk from the ferry to the events center and I wasn't going to walk that with my feet sliding all over wet sandals! Last year when I ran RNR I went to the expo Friday night and it was chaotic so imagine my surprise when I walk in last night and see virtually no lines anywhere! Score! I picked up my packet and proceeded to corral change. Since I am running the half vs. the full my pace will be a little faster so I moved from corral 29 to corral 21. Brooks sponsores this race- well at least in Seattle is does- it's a Seattle based company, so there was a TON of gorgeous running apparel calling my name. Maybe next year- the jackets were $85 a pop and most of the workout tanks were somewhat sheer. I need to work on having less belly to bounce around before I dare wear something sheer enough to see my belly button. I tried on some moving comfort bras hoping that since it's an athletic based company (unlike my current stock of Old Navy bras) that it would caress my back fat a little more sweetly and prevent quite as much spillage. We according to the saleslady with a racerback bra "even our most fit models still have a tiny bit of back overhang." I don't know if that made me feel better or just frusterated that I wans't going to find a solution. I tried two styles on anyway and then decided since I had to "matrix" my body in order to get out of them I was going ot hold onto my $45 for elsewhere.

We went to the Brooks prize raffle and tried to win some free shoes- didn't keep up my lucky streak from last year- but I did get a shirt, and James got some new earbuds, sweeeet! I found the sparkly soul  booth and was excited because I need new headbands and I love me some sparkle. I actually won one of these headbands from a contest online but there was a mix up in getting the headband to me so I talked to the lady at the booth and she emailed her contacts back in NY- BOOM, this morning I had an email asking what color and thickness I wanted :) I bought two while I was there yesterday though cause hello a girl needs more than 1 headband, so I sprang for the rainbow and a dark pink. I'm getting a kalidescope pink in the mail for KK. The website says they are for ages 3+ so I'm interested to see how they fit her cause I think they might be too big, I'm hoping to be proved wrong. I'm also a fan of sweaty bands but in our limited time at the expo we didn't come across their booth. Oh, I finally got a 26.2 sticker for my car. James and the cashier talked me into pink. I was going to go with black but since I'm putting it on a tinted window they both said it wouldn't show up as well, "ok ok."

MMMMM....Fitting for RNR race weekend

After the expo we had an hour until our ferry came so I told James we HAD to go to Ivars. I love fish and

chips- and he'd never been- so we indulged in some good 'ol fashion deep fried cod (well James had the chicken actually). He was completely grossed out by me mixing garlic vinegar with tartar sauce but it was soooo good. I even dipped my fries in it mwwwahhhaahahahaha. I love Ivars' food but I also love how much just standing at their old walk-up window makes me truly feel like I'm a Seattleite (sp?) and yet tourist all at the same time. Now I don't know that I can or can not say I am a Seattleite because I wasn't born there but it is the only big city that I really can claim as "home." I have run several races on those streets, walked along the piers more times than I can count, attended concerts and sporting events, danced the night away with my friends; yes it kind of feels like home in a weird way. I still carry my camera though capturing the odd sights that make this city so unique.

The ferry ride back home wasn't very relaxing the crew decided 8pm was a good time to test out their fire response or something like that. I didn't see him but I heard other passengers talking about someone walking around in a gas mask that was chirping (I did hear it), kind of creepy, not really something I want to see when I'm stuck on a boat.

Today I over indugled in Krisy Kreme donuts- can I call that carb-loading? A sweet friend left me this message on my facebook after I complained about probably not running a PR tomorrow:

I'm again reminded how lucky I am to have met such wonderful running buddies and people