Good afternoon! I thought I would go ahead and do part one of my race weekend recap, the expo! Part two will be the actual race. Sorry I am so slow!
Friday night, Karen and Jason came to my parents house and stayed the night, and Saturday we drove over to New Orleans for the expo and to check into our hotel. This was the same hotel we stayed at last year, it’s a nice place and within walking distance of the start line and the bus drop off after the race.
We had a little trouble getting a good picture. Thanks Bobby. Not sure what Karen is doing haha!
Much better.
We walked across the street to the convention center for the expo. We had to walk the entire length of the convention enter to get to the hall with the expo. The race is put on by the competitor group of course, and Brooks is a sponsor, and they had this cool carnival type thing where you play games to win prizes, etc. We each got a free card that they scanned at the booth to see what prize we won! I won a t-shirt, and Bobby won something I will be giving away on my blog in a few days! I thought I had the picture of us with our shirts but I can’t find it, maybe Karen has it, and I will post it later. Anyway, here is a picture after we picked up our bags and packets.
Bobby and Jason played some game where you have to hit these buttons to make your runner run, and then we headed into the actual expo.
We walked around for awhile, it was pretty crowded. We went to the Sweaty Bands booth and talked to Donna for a minute, and Karen checked in at the Determination booth. We also met up with Karen’s brother and his wife Kayla. We sampled a few free things, and then I got a call from the hotel saying our room was ready.
It was a beautiful day, a little on the cool side, but it was promising for race day at least. Here is our room!
Race shirt!
There was an interesting list of New Orleans facts in the front of the race booklet.
Karen and Jason had to leave to go to a pasta party for the team determination, so Bobby and I hung out in the room (Bobby took a nap) and then walked a couple blocks over to Pie. it’s the yummy pasta and pizza place we went to before the jazz half. We got there and there was a line out the door, they were not open yet but luckily we were close to the front. I took a picture of the line with my phone but can’t seem to find it! Bobby waiting outside in the cold.
I love how friendly runners are with each other. The people in front of us ran the Disney half, as did the people behind us. The people behind us also ran the jazz half, so we were at THREE races together and never met. Cue the music! “It’s a small world after aaaalllll!” It was getting cold but the restaurant opened and we sat down and ordered a large pizza!
It was getting cold in the restaurant, and we were starving! We devoured the whole pizza in less than ten minutes. YUM!
We headed back to the hotel, I stopped by to see my sister who was staying at the same hotel, and then we hit the hay. It’s almost race day!!!
QOTD: What is your favorite pizza topping?
Omg that pizza looks so good! Your hair looks great wavy! Can’t wait to hear about the race 🙂
it was SO yummy. probbaly because we were starving!
I totally didnt have time to straighten it so i did a couple pieces in the curling iron and just left the rest haha!
I did the NO marathon the year of the big hurricane and am so glad I got to see NO before the storm hit!
you should come back again!
Haha, it really is a small world. 😉
I’m not a huge pizza person, but I do love spinach and mushrooms on my pizza.
spinach and mushrooms? lol! two things I would never eat on mine hehe
Sounds like you had a good day! I look forward to hearing about the race, I must say that picture of the pizza made me hungry
the pizza was so good. I’m not sure what they do differently, but wow!
Pizza is my favorite food ever! I always want pizza before a long run. Unfortunately, my body doesn’t agree, so I usually stick with boring pasta. Your pizza looks delicious!
haha. Luckily I haven’t had any issues with it yet!
My favorite is cheese, cheese and more cheese!! I have never attempted pizza before a race but it sure makes for great post race fuel!
luckily I dont really get stomach issues at races so I just eat whatever I normally do. i try to eat pizza or pata though.
I LOVE cheese!
Your hair looks so much longer than it did in your accent vlog! So pretty! I like spicy foods so I’m a big fan of buffalo chicken pizzas. I loooove the goat cheese and kalamata olive flat bread at Jiko, too – that’s kind of a pizza, right?
my hair is layered in the front, and for the accent blog I had part behind my ears and didnt realize it so it looked like the layered part was the length of my whole hair lol!
oohhh Jiko yum!
Ham and pineapple! Also veggie pizzas, by I can never order them because mike won’t eat it.
haha I was laughing b/c my new post is “what is your favorite froyo flavor” and I look at your comment of ham and pineapple and was like HUH? lol!
I love olives on my pizza.
I think going to the expo is one of the best parts of running a race. I love the shirt!
olives. interesting!
yes expos are fun, i love being around other runenrs!
Wow, I’ve been reading for a while and didn’t know you had a sister! Pics please?
My pizza must have onions, jalapeño peppers and extra sauce! Yum 🙂
yes she is two years older thatn me! she is in a couple of these pics:
http://www.runningwithsass.com/christmas-in-pictures-2010/
The hotel you chose looks really nice. I’m looking at hotels right now since I just registered for the 2012 race with today’s RIDICULOUS discount!
I registered last night!!! we always stay at the wyndham riverfront