Running a marathon on Monday has really messed up my understanding of time and dates. It’s already Thursday?! That means I have to drive up to North Carolina tomorrow morning to pick up my Tar Heel 14-Miler Double Down Challenge packet.
And then after that race on Saturday, I motor back to Florida for the Star Wars Half Marathon (Dark Side) on Sunday morning.
But in order to be ready to do that, I needed to pick up my runDisney bib today at the Star Wars Expo.
As is typical of these affairs, it was a bit of a madhouse. But my Mom, braving the expo throngs once again to keep me company, was good enough to snap a few photos along the way:
Post bib pickup, in order to get my complimentary race t-shirt, I needed to visit the building next door and the expo proper. Besides the shirt pickup stands, this place housed various 3rd party vendors and official merchandise opportunities. There was a line just to get inside only to then have the chance to wait in another line to buy more stuff.
Call it Race Expo 2: The Search for More Money.
I missed meeting Kathrine Switzer in Boston, so I took the opportunity to say hello to another running legend, Olympian Jeff Galloway:
On the way out, we snagged a few other stray serendipitous photos:
But as we were leaving I sensed a great disturbance in the force. Any time I’ve had to go to a runDisney race expo in Florida, there’s always been a Chiquita Banana stand, complete with a photo opportunity with Ms. Chiquita Banana. But alas this year Chiquita must have decided to spend their marketing cabbage in some other places, at some other races. My heart, I’m not ashamed to say, was a little broken.
Yes, we have no bananas… although Mom did find a discarded Chiquita sticker in the parking lot. She said it was as close as I was going to get this year. So I snapped a selfie.
Nonetheless, I’m ready to start my (trench) run.
Gold Leader: “Red Leader this is Gold Leader. We’re starting our attack run.”
Red Leader: “I copy, Gold Leader. Move into position.”