Oh man, where did this week go?? One moment I’m ready to start the Rock ‘n’ Roll LA Half Marathon weekend and then the next thing I know it’s already Monday and the weekend is officially over and alas, the race is official done.
The Saturday before the race I went to the expo to pick up my bib, grab some free goodies, and see some amazing running rock stars!
Follow that guy!
I got my bib, D-TAG, and goodie bag and got a sign about a possible marathon I should do.
Meet me in St. Louis? Maybe.
St. Louis even won the World Series. Boooo. I was rooting for the Texas Rangers. So close. Oh so close.
I think this sign lied because it got toasty on race day!!
WOW!! HOW RUDE!!! Oh wait…that says fast.
Mom…Mom….Mom…Momm…Mommm…..MOM!!
Spiderman in da house!!
That’s right, Spiderman decided to hang around and meet Kara Goucher just like I did. First thing I noticed about her is how teeny tiny she is. Second thing I noticed was how closely alike we resemble each other. My gosh, we could seriously be twins.
Me (on right) and my doppleganger, Kara (on left)
Actually we don’t look too much alike. She’s a couple inches taller than me.
I love Earth Balance! The best natural buttery spread in the world!
The ASPCA booth. The Official Charity of RnR LA.
After we walked around a bit, it was time to see the speaker program with Josh Cox and Vanessa from 98.7 who was running her first half marathon.
After their talk, I headed over to have a personal chat with them. While waiting in line, I spotted the Caped Crusader himself. What? Wrong super hero? Sorry, I meant I spotted one of the Wonder Twins.
This race doesn’t allow flying.
Finally it was time to meet Josh and Vanessa. Actually I kinda already knew Vanessa before that day. Let’s just say we may have passed each other in the halls once or twice.
And then it was time to meet the one and only Deena Kastor!! Actually I met Deena about 10 years ago. We go waaaay back. Way back when she was still Deena Drossin. It was funny too because she said she totally remembered me! Okay she didn’t actually say that.
“Can you sign it, To my Favorite Fan in the World? No?”
BFF’s!! And look who totally photobombed us. Kara!!
I love Larabar!! You could only take 3 mini bars at a time so you know I went back a few times. I’m kidding of course! Just twice.
At the expo I spotted a Loser! The Biggest Loser Dan. I ran with his mom during the race for a few minutes. We’ll get to that laters.
Before seeing Josh and Deena at the speaker program, the ASPCA was telling us all these wonderful things about adopting your next dog. Seeing all these dogs walking around just made me want to snatch one up and take it home, but I couldn’t. People who run much faster than me would catch me.
What up dawg?
Bucko the Jack Russell (shown below) took it upon himself to have some of this guy’s beverage. Bucko was quite thirsty. I just couldn’t figure out if he was drinking water, sports beverage, soda, or coffee, but he sure did go to town on that thing. After Bucko was done, I anxiously waited to see if the guy would follow suit and drink from the same cup Bucko was drinking from so I could spurt out “Ewwwww.” I’ll save you the suspense. He didn’t.
Bucko the thirsty dog.
Apparently some runners thought this was part of the course and tossed their trash where they were sitting. tsk tsk.
Deena Kastor, my BFF, doing a brief interview before her talk with Josh.
Josh Cox and Deena Kastor = Awesomeness, Pure Awesomeness!
After meeting them again, it was time to bid adieu to the expo. On the way out, we got a glance at the video of the course tour. Sometimes I don’t care to watch these things because I want to be surprised on the course. I watched about a minute of it and decided I would definitely wait to see the course as I ran it.
I’ve been to many-a-race-expos in my time and this ranked as one of my favorites! I got to meet my twinsie Kara Goucher, my idol Deena Kastor (again), and my virtual friend Josh Cox. It was so much fun! Maybe it was a sign of things to come. 🙂
P.S. I totally copyrighted the word Expovaganza. 😉