Saturday, September 7, 2013

Two Halves Make a Whole, Right?

Tomorrow I tackle my second half of the year, the Chicago Half Marthon.  It is the half marathon I have run the most number of times and the site of my only sub-2 hour finish.  Hoping for low 2s tomorrow.  Matt Sag will run with me after he puts in an even earlier 4-5 mile warm up so he can stay on pace for his date with destiny at the Chicago Marathon in October.

Me, I am mostly healthy and mostly just putzing around until I start my serious ramp up for the December 8th Cal Int'l Marathon.  Running a lot of high 20 mile weeks with lots of 10-14 mile long runs so good and ready for a half.  Weather even looks promising for tomorrow for a change.  Thanks as always to L. for being willing to drive us down to Hyde Park at the crack of dawn.

 I am getting sick of the whole fitness expo thing.  Its a waste of time and money and a little depressing for the lesser races.  Yesterday's pick up was at Navy Pier which is a hike from my office.  If coming by cab at least $10 each way, or $12 for parking.  My compromise was to walk there and cab back.  The exhibits were small and uninteresting.  Except for the race shirt which was fine, the goodie bag was "virtual" and included lots of discounts to races in the general Midwest that were of no interest.  Usual merch vendors.  No giveaways unless you wanted to give your email and spin a wheel for a box of rice. 

Only highlights were registration and packet pick up for two later fall Chicago area races which is a great idea.  My only purchase was a new pair of Saucony Kinvara 4s at $79, which is a nice price.

The only expo I have enjoyed of late was Rome where the US contingent plus spouses took the subway and wandered a large and reasonably interesting hall and posed for pictures with Roman Centurions. For Chicago, they could have at least had fake Blues Brothers or real Daley Brothers!

1 comment:

  1. I loved the Rome Expo for the company, but in general, I hate expos. I like showing up the morning of the race, registering and running, no muss, no fuss, no heavy duty marketing . . .

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