Monday, July 23, 2012

Rock and Roll Half Marathon Expo

Yesterday I ran my first Rock and Roll race. Due to the cost, I hadn't participated in this race in previous years. For 2012, I got a good deal and took advantage. The expo itself was located at McCormick Place. If you live in Chicago, you know this is a fairly inconvenient location. RNR didn't offer any sort of shuttle service (like the Chicago Marathon does) so you were on your own to figure out parking and everything else. I ended up going on Friday and took the train from the Loop after work. I met up with Maggie along the way. We got our bibs and took a quick photo before we headed to the Brooks booth.

Brooks was the main sponsor for this race and I regretted ordering a medium tee versus a small since they ran kind of big. We tried to win a pair of Brooks shoes but I ended up with a bandanna and pair of sunglasses instead. That's okay, it was some nice swag regardless. We then saw the blue screen photo booth where we had to take a quick snapshot. It isn't loaded yet on Brooks' website unfortunately. I'll be sure to update this post when it becomes available.

We continued to move up and down the aisles and ran into Amanda at the Zensah booth. I chickened out asking Dean Karnazes for a photo as his time at the expo was coming to a close. Instead we made sure to get some quality photos with Charlie, the Starkist tuna mascot. They were giving away sooo much tuna. I think Maggie walked away with 10 packets. I'm not a fan of tuna so I just snagged some coupons for my mother-in-law.

There were lots of other great samples and coupons as pictured below! So Delicious was even giving out free (dairy free) ice cream bars! I was happy to get a chance to try some more Nuun flavors and the Clif powder as I have been liking electrolyte powder versus Gatorade for my races (they're easier on my stomach surprisingly). I also purchased a tube of Zipfizz. TBD how it works out!
All the race swag. Not pictured: 3 tee shirts. They were already in the laundry.

I had a great time at the expo and was able to try out some great products. A full race recap will be coming either tomorrow or Wednesday. I need a few days to think about everything that was the race. If you're friends with me on Daily Mile, you already know how things turned out. Spoiler alert: it was hot day in Chicago and things didn't go my way. I still finished though and am now eligible for Half Fanatics. Also, my interview with Dr. Andy Baldwin went really well! I recorded the interview and didn't take great notes (I was a little loopy post-race) so it will take me a little bit to go through the audio. Stay tuned as I'll be sure to have both recaps up this week.

Today is the last day to enter my Oiselle London Calling Tee giveaway. You have until 11:59pm CST tonight to enter!

4 comments:

  1. I can't wait to hear the full report! It was so hot yesterday, I was thinking of the F'Ners on my bike ride yesterday. Way to power through!

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  2. I tried the Zipfizz in the pink lemonade flavor and I thought it was really good. Not as good as those dairy free ice cream sandwiches but still good. :o)

    Great job!

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  3. Haha agreed! I mean not much can beat an ice cream sandwich...

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  4. Thanks Kelly! It was rough out there. It was comforting to know that I had lots of support! :)

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