The Expo & Pre-Race Race

Race weekend is always exciting for me!  I love, love, love the Expo - it's what I'd call "my happy place"!  I had to leave work early on Friday for a doctor's appointment, so I was able to head to the Expo afterwards and meet up with my friend Mary Jo, who would be running the 5K on Saturday.  Before I left work, my co-workers were super sweet and made me this cute sign...

THE EXPO

Did I mention that I love the Expo?  And, the Houston Marathon Expo is always well organized and fun!  I love that they have the previous year's shirts all hanging along the back wall...so much history in the past 41 years!

The shirts...call me crazy, but I love looking at these!

Shopping with Mary Jo was fun and we found some great bargains!  I ended up with some cheapie sunglasses (I lose them, so no use buying expensive ones!), a long sleeve tech shirt ($9.99), a super cute Nike running skirt ($22 +20% off!) and top ($12 +20% off), some new socks (20% off), gloves ($9) and more Hammer Gel (20% off).  One thing I did not buy is the cute Nike waterproof jacket that I saw at one of the booths...or at least the disposable Tyvek jacket for $10...I would be regretting that decision on Sunday! 

While at the Expo, I ran into my peeps from Woodlands Fit!  I love running into my peeps!

My Peeps!!!  Love the guys!!!

Finally, Mary Jo and I decided that we had done enough damage.  I headed home and started to get all my stuff ready for the 5K the following day.

THE ABB 5K
I arrived downtown in plenty of time to park, hit the porta potties and line up at the start. I managed to find a good parking spot, but the parking meter was broken and I had to move my car, doh!  I was meeting some of my Woodlands Fit peeps, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Mary Jo and another friend.  I only managed to find about 1/2 of these folks, but it was all good!  The invocation before the race was awesome...I am not sure who said it, I only know it was a local Rabi.  And, Meb was there to say a few words.  I love, love, love Meb!  Once the race started, we ran right past him...I may or may not have yelled and waved to him like a crazy woman...there may now be a restraining order.  I dunno.

My sister-in-law and I decided that we would run/walk the race together...no sense tiring out the legs when the longer race was more important to both of us.  We had fun running and chatting along the way.  The only downside?  The weather!  It was 70+ degrees and about 197% humidity - YUCK! 

Me with my Sister-in-Law and Brother-in-Law before the 5K!

After the race, I finally caught up with Mary Jo and Ginger.  They were enjoying the free adult beverages after running a great race.  :-)

Before we left, I noticed this really long line.  I thought that for this long of a line, someone must be giving away something AWESOME!  Isn't that what you normally think when you see a long line?  I mean, even Forrest Gump thought this!

See the crazy, long line????


Taking a closer look, I realized that Jack in the Box was giving away FREE burgers!!!  I know this sounds very food-snob of me, but WTF?  Okay people, so you ran a 5K...I agree that a reward is in order, but it's gonna take more than a 5K to burn off that shiznit!

Free thunder thighs and budonka donk butt, oops, I mean burgers!

Instead of partaking in the free burgers, I got my usual post-race free banana and a bottle of water.  Oh, and they were giving away mini-Rice Krispie Treats.  The banana was too green, so I didn't eat it...that was my justification for eating the rice krispie treat instead.  Yeah, and I was just talking about eating crap after a race.

I love these water bottles...so cute!

As we were leaving the race and post-race party, I snapped a pic of the finish line.  This was going to be a welcome sight the following day!!!

THE FINISH!!!!

So that's my expo and pre-race race coverage...stay tuned for the very long overdue race report!