This morning I attended the Chicago Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon Expo to pick up my packet for tomorrows race. The expo ran all day yesterday and runs today, Saturday, from 9am to till 5pm. I left the house at 8:15am and was in the parking garage at McCormick Place East by 9:00am for the opening of the expo. It was not too busy when I pulled in but by the time I exited the building at 9:30 the line of cars at the parking entrance was starting to get pretty long.
The race organizers anticipated this Saturday rush thinking the out of towners would be coming to the expo today to pickup their packets, so they suggested that if at all possible that the locals should shoot for a Friday pickup. They even tried to incentivize pickups by offering prize drawing entries to anyone who did come in for a pickup on Friday instead of Saturday. Unfortunately my schedule did not permit a pickup yesterday so I wanted to get there for opening today and that plan worked out pretty well.
Lots of the usual race branded clothing, sports accessories, bars, gels, sports healthcare providers and a ton of Brooks stuff, the main sponsor of the race. Even a couple of electric vehicles on display for a healthy planet.
I know I am not fully ready for the race tomorrow so I am going to run with the 2:15 pace group and see how it goes. I expect to loose them at mile 11 when I stop to say hi to my brother Joe and his band who will be performing there, or before that if I have trouble. At any rate it should be a beautiful day and I am really looking forward to it.