Philadelphia Marathon Race Expo

Tomorrow I am fighting a monster in brutal hand to hand combat. Today I prepared for combat by going to the Health and Fitness Expo.

I arrived early so that I could sign my son up for the Kid's Run. This was his first and he was excited to do it. That excitement turned to nervousness and then to fear as the crowd grew larger and we moved down to Arch Street for the run. He wanted to back out and was crying, but luckily one of the volunteers said I could run with him since he was scared. I am glad I could, because if I didn't go, he would not have done it. We reached the finish and he got a kids medal and that was it. He didn't want anything to do with pictures or anything else, he just wanted to get away from all the kids.

After that we went back up to the expo so that I could get my packet. Names are printed on the bibs, which is the first for me and a little exciting. The goody bag is not a plastic bag, as was the case last year, but a light re-usable canvas and mesh bag. Very nice and one that I will be using a lot in the future.

The shirt is a little disappointing. It is nice and high quality, but I was expecting a looser tech tee that I could wear around for everyday use. This is a snug shirt with tight fitting sleeves. I will be wearing it when I run, but I only like to wear snug or tight fitting clothes while running or cycling. For everyday wear I prefer a looser fit.

As far as the marathon merchandise, I have mixed emotions. I bought a nice pair of arm warmers with the logo on them. Plain gray ones, not the ugly argyle ones. These were only $20 so I think a good deal. I also got ear warmers made of the same material. Both of these are very warm and will come in handy this winter.

I wanted to get a Philadelphia Marathon jacket too. Something I could wear everyday to show what I have done. Again, they had a very nice jacket that looked really good. Very nice quality too. But it was similar to the shirts in the fit. Snug and tight in the sleeves. I can do that for shirts every now and again, but I need my jackets to be loose.

I got a few other supplies, my kids got some balloon swords and we looked around rather quickly.

Only one other event was noteworthy. We passed a blind lady in the expo. She had a seeing eye dog. My kids are scared of dogs, even if they look nice. So as we are walking by I am saying to the kids that "the dog will not bother you" and "its a nice dog." The lady turned directly to me and pulled her dog away and said (in a very mean voice) "DON'T BOTHER THE DOG WHEN HE IS WORKING."

Now I am sure the lady gets sick of people bothering her dog. Many people probably do not even realize it is a seeing eye dog, because they are too ignorant to take notice of the harness. But damn, give me a break.

Anyway... all in all a good day. I am scared and nervous about tomorrow, but really looking forward to it!