Friday afternoon, Amy and I hit the Expo to pick up our race packet. The Expo was at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. It was pretty legit.
The parking was a little crowded. All lots near the HP and Josten’s buildings were full so parking attendants began navigating participants to spots on the grass. The parking situation was intimidating and kind of left you wondering what kind of chaos was inside.
We walked into the complex and it was really cool to see. I’m glad I can say I’ve been there.
There were a ton of people filtering into the park and there was a decent number of volunteers directing you to the “big white tent” where you would pick up you bib. If you hadn’t printed out you waver and such and signed it before coming, like me, they did have stations where you could do that. Luckily, when we got inside, there wasn’t nearly the crowd that was suggested by the parking situation. It was only mildly crowded and getting my bib was easy.
Once bib was in hand, it was off the the Josten’s building for the Expo and to get your t-shirt and goody bag. But not before loving on the Beast!
Entering the Josten’s building was easy. The crowd was not that bad. Some of Amy’s friends that came in to see her run said it was going to be terrible, but it wasn’t. Or maybe I am just used to the size of crowd at an expo, who knows. The “goody” bag had no goods in it. The folks at Disney are cheap bastards.
The expo was packed with merchandise. The only thing that made this expo different than any of the other expo’s I’ve been to was all the “princess” gear. Everyone was on board. Running Skirts made shirts and skirts that said things like, “Princess’ don’t sweat, they sparkle,” and Bondi Bands bedazzled rhinestone tiaras onto head bands. Everything was pink and shiny. Then of course you had you official race merchandise that was Princess everything.
Everything was pretty easy to maneuver though, so that was good. The only real obstacles being the number of kids running around and rolling on the dirty floors. Where are your mothers?
I was very excited that Nuun was there. They had coolers or water bottles of each flavor. I’ve never had it before so I was psyched to try some without the obligation to purchase. I picked 2 that I liked for 10 bucks and got a free Nuun water bottle. Score.
I also picked up a blue sparkly Sweaty Band that I had my eye on at several other expos but was never willing to buy before because of their price. 15 for thin bands and 18 for thick ones. I guess they get away with that price because they literally have something for everyone. So many choices!
After we left, there was not nearly as many cars in the lot, so we must have picked a good time to walk around. If you ever run this race, definitely take advantage of the fact that the expo is two days and come the first day, from what I hear day two, Saturday, was not nearly as pleasant. Depends on if you do this a lot, or are just here for the novelty of the race. Yeah, we’ll get to that in my recap. Don’t worry.
