RnR Expo & Blogger Dinner

You know that thing I did a week and a half ago?  You know?  Just a small, little, eensy weensy event called a marathon?  Oh, you forgot?  That's ok.  I've been M.I.A. so I understand.  I mean, I'm surprised I've surpassed 500 awesomesauce blog readers!  THANK YOU!!!  Sorry I've been a blogger fail lately!

Expo Madness
Since Goob had swim lessons at 10:30 on Friday the 24th, we headed over to the expo after lessons were over...thus missing the meetup with Stacie, Kerrie, Jill, Chelsea and Mel.  Boo. :(

This year instead of carrying Goober around in mah belly I chauffeured her around the expo in her jogger (Gizmo).  Not sure if that was a mistake or not, as the jogger is long and hard to maneuver around tight corners...but oh well.  Goober did really well for the most part, and even took a nap towards the end.  I, however, was taking my sweet time and savoring the Expo madness!  Even ran into people I knew (or recognized), including high school buddy Anthony (I think he resembles LL Cool J now), Kasey aka Blonde Mom, Larissa aka Nordic Moxie & Running Skirts rep, Endorphin Dude and Dane Rauschenberg.

LL Cool J, er, um, Anthony & I

The ever stylish Larissa with Running Skirts

Blonde Mom!

Endorphin Dude's smile is wicked contagious! ;)

Tall Dane!

After picking up my packet, smiling from ear to ear, roaming around the expo 1, 2, 3, maybe 4 times and then purchasing new Run Love Compression socks from Larissa at the Running Skirts booth, I decided that I should trek back to the car to make it to the dinner in Tukwila.  Me being the super cheap person that I am, decided it was a good idea to park way far away from the expo site...in a free parking area.  HA!  Day before a marathon no-no.  At least I learned that one.  I.Was.Tired.

Unfortunately the traffic was not being nice either, and instead of going home to change & feed Goober I got off the freeway early and went straight to the Old Spaghetti Factory to wait.  

Blogger Dinner!

The second annual Old Spaghetti Factory pre-RnR Seattle Blogger dinner was incredible.  Mel (aka Tall Mom) was the super organizer of the event and even got some sponsors for a little goodie bag for the runners.  The following companies are huge supporters of the running blog community, so please check them out! ;) 

A very special thanks to:

OnlineShoes.com for the fun bags, water bottle, mug, shirt and other goodies

Nuun for the delicious samples

GU Energy for some yummy Peach Tea drink tab samples

Kerrie also made her awesome "mini race bib" name tags, Jess aka Blonde Ponytail brought super scrumptious PB protein bars (they were like FUDGE!), and I made some runner trading cards to hand out & get people mingling.  (HUGE thank you to my fantastic hubby, Trav, for getting the cards printed and cut out for me!!!).

Runner trading cards!

It was great meeting new faces and sharing stories/tips/tricks with some talented runners.  The night was fun, but a part of me was too preoccupied with worrying about the next day.  Here's the roster of runners in attendance (thanks for the list, Mel!):

Alma- http://averagewomanrunner.blogspot.com/
Amanda- http://5mls2mt.blogspot.com
Amy- http://www.dailymile.com/people/AmyB48
Amy S.- http://www.dailymile.com/people/Astrick
Chelsea- http://ballardbitter.blogspot.com/
Christine- http://www.dailymile.com/people/ChristineM10
Cynthia- http://rundreamlaugh.blogspot.com/
Harmony- http://harmlove.blogspot.com/
Jess- http://www.blondeponytail.com/
Jesse + Tressa- http://trackcoach-tressaabe11.blogspot.com/
Jill- http://running2sanity.blogspot.com
Jill- http://www.runwithjill.com/
Kasey - http://blondemomruns.blogspot.com/
Kerrie - http://momvsmarathon.blogspot.com/
Lauren - http://marathonlar.blogspot.com/
Megan - http://www.mymarathondiaries.com/ 

Tall Mom Mel - http://www.tallmomontherun.com
Stacie- http://stacie615.blogspot.com/
Stacie - http://skippinginseattle.wordpress.com
Tiffany- http://www.musingsofarunnergirl.blogspot.com/

After some good pasta, bread and a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream, it was time to head home.  BOY was I NERVOUS!  It took me forever to get stuff laid out for the morning, freak out, get Goober's diaper bag packed for Travis (he's never really done it before), getting food ready for Goober, making sure I had Gus charged, adding songs to my long playlist, freak out some more, run around making sure I wasn't forgetting anything...and then Travis kept saying "GO.TO.BED!"  When I finally went to bed it took me a long time to actually sleep.  Travis even gave me a small sliver of the melatonin that he took.  Didn't work.  Goober got up to eat a couple times too....so I probably got a total of 4.5 hours of sleep the night before the big 26.2.

NEXT: The race recap.