Dallas Marathon Expo

After brunch, we made our way to Dallas to hit up the expo. It was nice going Friday during the day because it wasn't super busy. Sometimes I get really overwhelmed at expos and just want to get my bib and GO. 

 

I was surprised at how great of vendors they had at the expo. I remember it being big in past years but not really anything I wanted to look at.

We stopped at the Tory Burch sport booth and took full advantage of their selfie booth.

 

I got to introduce Dominique to her first Normatec leg compression experience, and I think she loved it. I sure did. Especially after my legs felt so terrible during my airport sprint.

We also stopped at the Samuel Adams booth, who had two beers on tap for the expo and an big giveaway for a trip to Boston. Unfortunately the giveaway was only for TX residents. Lame.

Twin Cities Marathon Expo

We made our way to the expo, and I was so excited to spend all the monies. It's been a long time (4 years!) since I've run a marathon and I gave myself a little budget to purchase some fun things to commemorate the occasion. We went to the official race gear first so we didn't miss out on sizing of things.

I fell in love with a super cute vest but the $130 price tag had me second guessing that purchase. I have an amazing winter coat from 605 Running Co. that costs less than that. And I've wore that in -10+ degrees. Uff da. Eventually I talked myself out of it, as well as a $100 light jacket. INSANE. I did snag a cute short sleeved shirt, and a pint glass, of course. 

We picked up our race packets and I took note of their words of encouragement for the race.

We made our way through the booths and took some time for some photo ops. I couldn't believe that I didn't heavily stimulate the economy at this expo. CRAZY. I talked myself out of everything.

BRF jackets!

Before too long we were ready to leave. With almost as much money in our pockets as when we started. sigh. It's the law of marathons. When you have money and want to spend it, there's nothing. When you're poor poor poor there will be all the cute gear and you'll be sad you can't have it. Harumph.

605 Race Crew Night + Race Expo

The Friday night of the Sioux Falls race weekend, the 605 Race Crew met up for some socializing and good beer at WoodGrain Brewing Co. Melissa and I met up early to get some dinner. We picked up sushi masa, and since WG doesn't have food, they let you bring dinner in. We had some delicious beers and caught up with old running friends, and even met some new, super speedy ones.

We all were told to wear our 605 team shirts, and I was hoping we'd snap a picture, but all of the 605 staff was milling about at the expo trying to get everything set up after Donald Trump's visit to South Dakota through a wrench into the schedule for the day. Eye roll.

Saturday morning, I got up later than I wanted to get in my shake out run, and then made my way to the expo. I was excited that 605 Running Co. brought back their race predictions, this year including an adorable polaroid camera. Chelsey messed up writing down my time, but I should've kept it, because she was closer than I was! I guess 2:02:42 and she wrote 2:02:02. The winner was SPOT ON and had done the marathon. And best yet, the person's coach was the one that predicted it. How's that for knowing your athlete's abilities?!

I took a break and enjoyed ten minutes of recovery at one of the booths and chatted up my running friend Nichole while I was there. I had so many people stop by while I was stuck and wonder what the heck I was doing. They're great.

Then a group of us decided we all needed to buy the same shirt, after I had told myself that I definitely didn't need it. Look how cute they are though!

And a picture with my bib before I left. Lucky number 64! This expo has gotten better and better. When I first started running this race, packet pick up was in the Scheels in the middle of an aisle. When it was first taken over by Sports Authority it was in the same arena, but it was laughable how big the site was compared to the vendors. It was basically a packet pick up booth with maybe 1-2 other booths. This year, and last year, it started to feel like a legit race expo. There were tons of people I know who were planning to go that weren't even racing this year. That's a sign of a good expo. Keep it up!

Twin Cities Race Weekend

Friday around lunch time, Toni was off work so I went to pick her up and head to the cities! A pre-road trip car wash and selfie felt necessary at the time.

The drive there felt like it flew by. I think we had two bathroom stops, and we were there. Whoa. We arrived at our hotel and received this visual reminder of just how close we were to the finish line. yessssssss!!

Our hotel has a shuttle to take you within a few miles of the hotel for food/shopping/whatever, but we opted to walk to dinner since we'd spent a few hours in the car. On the way to our dinner destination, I found FALL!.

St. Paul is so adorable, I can't even handle it. I was starving, so I only let myself stop every once in awhile for photos.

We tried to eat at the Red Cow, but they were at an hour wait. Kyle and I ate there after the Monster Dash Half and it was GOOD. We wondered up the road, and The Happy Gnome had immediate seating, but only outdoors, on their super adorable patio, on a gorgeous fall night. Uh.... yes.

Toni and I couldn't decide on our meals, so like good travel partners, we split two: a burger and a veggie/cheesy melty sandwich. So freaking good.

Also, a beer, obviously. 

Saturday morning, we woke up fairly early to head out on our shake out run. The plan was to run 3 miles, ending at a coffee/breakfast place near our hotel and walk back after eating and retrieving breakfast. Except I somehow picked a breakfast place in a hotel, and we had to walk quite a ways to find a caribou. Just what you want the day before your race: unplanned time on your feet. Oops!

We headed back to our hotel and headed out to the expo. We were about a third of a mile from the expo so we walked there as well. Despite bringing all the monies to spend at the race expo, I walked out having only purchased GUs (several toasted marshmallow), and a TCM pint glass. There were some really cute things at Mill City Running but nothing in my size. Bummer.

We stayed close to the expo for lunch and had a decent meal.

Then we headed back to the hotel for some r&r, including a nap. Traveling with Toni is my favorite. Mid-day nap? Yes please. 

When we woke up, it was time to head to dinner. I love that this race weekend was all about food and running, because those are two of my favorite things! We took a ride this time, to Pizza Luce and again split a couple of pizzas. I still have dreams about this mashed potato pizza. It tastes like happiness.

After the race, I grabbed a beer, we showered up and headed back outside into the rain to cheer on all of our running friends!! Such a great race weekend, and I can't wait for next year when it's our turn to tackle 26.2! eeps!