Washington DC is dope!
There are bikeshares everywhere. Public transportation here rocks. It’s a healthy, pretty city. Not to mention what really makes it great – two friends live here, one of whom I’m staying with, and one of whom will meet me at the finish line tomorrow!(!!!)
When I told my dad that David freaking Petrick would be waiting for me at the finish line, my dad said, “Oh, you’ll be running toward David Petrick? So, you’ll be doing it in what, fifty-nine minutes, then?” I’m sure I will delve into how much I adore David soon enough. For now, suffice it to say I love everything single thing about him.
The expo today rocked! Remember Chris from Brooks Running from the New Orleans Expo? Well, check this out –
#1) He straight up remembered me! When I went up to him, he was all, “Aurora!” So, that was cool.
(Even though he admitted to never having read the blog – even while knowing I’d mentioned him in a post. So, I assured him I’d thoroughly badmouth him in this post.)
#2) He is moving on up in this world! He’s gone from cool, Brooks ambassador guy to a more superhero, super-management guru (notice, if you will, the t-shirt from last time vs. the “I’m serious” shirt of this time).
Chris helped me pick out some sweet running socks. (I generally hate socks, so I gotta get some great ones for running.)
Hey Brooks, I was about to say give this guy a raise. Then I remembered, you just promoted him. So…good job on that.
This expo was chock full of games, wheels, plinko boards, arts & crafts, and video projects. Companies brought their A games! They really, really wanted us to bank with their banks, use their insurance, drink their milk, run their races, and all that good stuff.
I spun the wheel at the Geico booth, and landed on “mystery prize.” Spoiler alert: it was a Geico Pez dispenser (which I did not know existed)!
Yet again, I stopped by the chocolate milk booth. I know. I cannot even get started again on my confusion as to whether or not milk is good for me. However, I will say they actually had a physician there, and he said milk absolutely does not leech calcium from your bones. Score one point for milk?
Back up to when I was asking the milk people if they’d heard about the leeching calcium stuff – they were all, “No, of course not. In fact, we have a physician here. Talk to him, for sure.”
I looked over, and everybody was getting this guy’s autograph and taking pictures with him. The little sign about him said he was a marathoner and a triathlete, even doing an Ironman. I thought, yeah, those things are super cool. I wouldn’t expect doing them would make him this popular, but that’s really nice that people care so much about those accomplishments. Nope. Turns out he had been “The Bachelor.”
He seemed genuinely surprised/impressed about 52 half marathons in 52 weeks. I wanted to be like, “dude, you’re an Ironman.” Nonetheless, he was very nice.
What a great expo, followed by dinner with my incredible friend Fareed (who’s graciously opening his home to me this weekend), and his fun group of friends.
Now, it’s time for sleep! I’ve got a race tomorrow!