Hello From the Big Apple and Some Fun at the TCS New York Marathon Race Expo

Can I just say that red eye flights are not my favorite?

Oh wait, a funny thing happened at the airport on the way out of town. My backpack had to be checked and this guy was pretty impressed with my roasted purple sweet potato stash. Ha ha.

So, when I pictured the whole red eye business I pictured myself sleeping the entire time and getting to NYC all refreshed and ready for the day at 5:00 am here.

That was not the case.

I did have quite the set up though with the necessities: festive Pro Compression socks, a neck pillow and the cheap eye mask they handed out.

It just didn’t work out for me. I don’t think I slept a darn wink. Figures.

I got a few hours of sleep this morning at the hotel, but things are a bit rough at the moment.

Here’s just a few quick highlights from the day because this mama needs to get her act together and figure out all the details for morning tomorrow. Eeeekkkk…

First purchase while here in New York?

Obviously a $10 umbrella from a guy on the street.

Best $10 I’ve ever spent.

It’s super cold and rainy here. Definitely not the kind of weather this California girls is used to.

But seriously, just walking the streets of New York in the fall is like a dream come true.

Even though they are wet.

We found a cute little place for some breakfast called The Red Flame Diner. I went with my standard egg white omelet with broccoli, mushrooms and tomatoes

with lots of coffee.

It was a long walk to the expo, but I met a new friend on the way.

Let’s talk about the TCS New York Marathon expo.

Um, yeah, holy hugeness.

Race bibs were numbered up to like 53,000 or something.

Pretty crazy. Looks like quite of few of them are women too these days according to this sign.

Bib pick up was a breeze. It was crowded, but very efficient.

I spent a long time waiting in line to try to figure out the whole transportation thing in the morning.

I’m super nervous about the whole logistics and everything, but that’s okay. It will all work out.

They’re getting smart at these expos and have you go through all the merchandise first. Asics has some incredible gear.

I may or may not have gotten suckered into a couple things.

Those shirts are for the boys and I’m going to blame my lack of sleep for my decision to buy the jacket.

I knew the expo would be huge and take me forever to go through, but it took even longer than expected. I got to see a lot of friendly faces though.

I met up with my speedy friend Seth.

When I say speedy, I mean speedy. He’s got a marathon in a couple weeks and his goal is 2:40. Um, yeah.

I got a little too excited when I saw the Runner’s World leading men.

I just love these guys and they are such huge inspirations to me and seriously the nicest guys ever.

I told Bart Yasso that the boys were going to be jealous because ever since The Kauai Marathon 2014 they think they’re his buddies. I also had to talk to David Willey and tell him that I’ll be running on emotion big time tomorrow since I’m really not in the place in my training I would like to be.

I even got to meet the cute Elizabeth Comeau from Runner’s World new women’s website, Zelle.

Check out her fancy arm sleeves. She was kind enough to give me some for tomorrow. Goodness knows I’m going to need them.

I took long enough chatting to all the Runner’s World crew that Dean Karnazes came back. This guy has also been inspiring me for awhile now.

Not to mention we hung out at the Big Sur Marathon party this past year and he passed me during a really hard part on the course at the Kauai Marathon and reminded me to ”celebrate the pain”. I still say that to myself sometimes when I need to.

Just by chance I bumped into Meb and Kara too. What do you know?

I stopped by the Poland Spring booth for a quick little hydration fix and to tell them I already got to do my Poland Spring Cheers video at home.

Cheers!

I bumped into the legendary John Smith, founder of the Competitor Group, Inc. when I was slowly making my way out. We’re both from San Diego, but we pretty much see each other only at races in other states. Funny stuff.

I spent a dollar for a vanilla GU packet, since the ones I brought with me were espresso love flavor and I like to change it up a bit on the course.

I got a sample of the new caramel macchiato flavor too. It just sounded so good.

As of right now, the only thing I remembered that I forgot at home is my earphones.

Luckily I met the awesome Dave, founder of AURIA. They specialize in sport performance earphones and Smartphone armbands and accessories.

He told me everything that was wrong with my teeny tiny ears and told me why I have issues with earbuds staying in and such. He was nice enough to fit me for a new product that they’ll be coming out with soon and I picked up a all-weather Smartphone Carrier.

There are so many cool features about the new belt and I’ll put it to the test tomorrow. I also want to talk more about my weird ears, so I’ll save all that chat for later. He saved the day today though, that’s for sure.

No expo is complete without a couple last pictures on the way out before the phone dies.

And with that, I’m going to get my head and my race outfit ready, figure out my travel plans to get to the start line, see what else I forgot at home that I’ll need in the morning and do a little research on how to maximize the life of my phone battery so it doesn’t die halfway through the race tomorrow.

I was hoping to go check out the finish line at some point today to get a preview, but I didn’t make it. This was as close as I got.

Thanks Power Bar. Ha ha.

I’m not totally sure what my body has is store for me tomorrow. I haven’t been feeling that great with the health issues and all, but regardless, I’m so excited to run the streets of New York.

I mean, I GET TO RUN THE NEW YORK MARATHON!

I know that my heart is in this amazing journey 100%.

My goal for tomorrow is to leave everything I have out there on the streets of NY.

I want to hurt in a good way and leave everything I have out there mentally and physically for myself, my amazing family, for all of those who can’t run or be there, for all the other racers out there with me and overcoming their own obstacles and for all of you who have big dreams of your own and WILL make them come true some day.

Yep. That’s my goal. Kind of a big one, huh?

See you on the other side friends!

Good luck to everyone else out there racing and doing their thing!

Oh, if anyone has some tips on how to save my iPhone battery life for tomorrow morning, feel free to send them my way.

*Thank you to CocoaVia for being the official sponsor for this trip and this big dream of mine.