Alright… let’s do a little race recap other than my previous one.  That one was kind of a downer, and the event wasn’t an entire downer. I actually had a pretty good time!

Expo:
We got to the expo about 2 hours before it closed.

This is the first time my husband has ever gone to a race expo with me, so I was a little excited to share that with him.  But the environment didn’t feel as thrilling to me as the first (or second or third…) expo did.  And maybe because he was obviously not that interested in things, I was a little less eager to jump in and talk to various vendors because I didn’t want him to be bored.  We did have to run away from some timeshare company that had a booth set-up there.  That’s a bummer exhibitor, I hate timeshares!  The people from ElliptiGo were there, I spoke briefly with them.  I REALLY want to try an ElliptiGo.  They said they were going to have a cheaper model soon (which was just announced.)

Hotel:
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, it was very close to the start line.  I only had a mile walk to the start (or a jog, if you’re ambitious like the guys who trotted past me… who I later passed while walking up the hill to the start.)  The hotel has craptastic parking… they charge $20 a day for parking and the parking lot is down a hill on the other side of the compound from the rooms.  Plus there is the antiquated practice at “nice” hotels of charging for internet… that’s stupid and it’s something that should end, SOON.  It’s an expected amenity! In fact, I’d rather have free wi-fi than the ironing board they provide!  Go ahead and charge me to rent an ironing board!

Race Gear:
The bib numbers were custom to the event and featured the participant’s name on them.

The shirts were a nice tech shirt and it is probably my favorite race shirt EVER so far.  It fits well, it has a nice cut and it’s attractive.

The medals are attractive, with both a custom ribbon and medal, both of which specify the year in particular.  Do you ever wonder about races that give out a medal and it doesn’t say anything about the year?

Course:
Lots hillier than I anticipated, but it was also pretty.  I loved running past interesting homes and I was mesmerized by the view of the ocean. I had to keep reminding myself to look forward and not keep staring to my left as we ran by it for a ways.  There were some sections with some serious cambor to the road which I think is the cause of the pain I felt in my right hip by the end of the race and for several days after.  The roads have a lot of raised reflectors, so those are things people need to be aware of when running.

Along the Way:
I saw a lot of people in Vibram Five Fingers on the course, I only saw one guy completely barefoot (and he passed me around mile 6).  There was a woman running in Crocs too.  There were plenty of fun motivational posters along the way, one that made me laugh was a guy holding a posterboard that just said, “Big Motivational Poster.”  There was a stretch of girls with signs that read things like “This way to skinny!” and “Your butt is so tight!”  I actually found that stretch kind of annoying.  Maybe it’s because I was already in a negative mind space by that time, but I just kept thinking “Why don’t they focus on things other than looks?”

Post-Race:
After the race we were all given a small bag that contained: a banana, 2 mini Clif Mojo bars and 2 mini Erin Baker’s mini breakfast cookies. They had water and bottles of G2 for everyone. I bypassed the finish-line photos.  There was a tent set up with Kool ‘n Fit spray, the staff would spray down runners’ legs to quell the burn and promote recovery.  The man at the booth sprayed down my right leg and told me to walk around for a while to see how I felt.  The stuff felt REALLY good post run!  I absolutely went back to get my left leg sprayed too!  They had an exhibitor area on the fair grounds that had Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, Nirve bikes (super cute beach cruisers), CrossFit (a specific Newport Beach gym, but they encouraged everyone to check out their local CrossFit sources), Paindrops, Nutrilite & several other booths (but I don’t remember who else). There was also a booth for the book The Power of Real-Time Social Media Marketing by Beverly Macy and Teri Thompson, the book is actually being used as a text book for some college courses. I am intrigued by the book!

The hubby came to pick me up after the race, but it was a little bit of a traffic nightmare getting into the parking lot at the fair grounds.  He was stuck at a light right by the lot for about 30 minutes.  If I had known, I should have just walked out to the street to jump in the car and avoid the $5 parking fee!  Live and learn!

In the days following we spent a little time vacationing.  We saw sea lions, dolphins & whales (oh my!).

We saw the sun set on the beach, we ate yummy food, we went to Disneyland…

…and Jade was fine at the vet’s office the whole time. But she was super happy we were back home!