I've had this marathon on my radar for a few years now but dread doing it because of the hills. The profile looked daunting, and having been to the city several times and witnessed its hills first-hand (though not necessarily ones on the actual course), it definitely intimidated me. But I finally decided to take the plunge and pace it at a reasonable enough pace that managing the hills wouldn't likely be a problem (especially if I were to do enough incline work on the treadmill). A bonus for the weekend is the fact that my oldest godson is currently a student at Pitt, so I would be able to visit with him for a little bit, too.
After the slog of a drive, and dealing with the horrendous signage, confusing intersections, and construction EVERYWHERE, I managed to park at my hotel before walking the mile to the expo.
By the time I arrived -- about 12:30pm on Saturday -- the place was PACKED! Here's what the crowd was trying to get inside.
I was duly impressed by the size and scope of the expo. Even though I'm generally jaded on expos and tend to not get anything at them (save for some freebies that might be available), this one was pretty good. The only thing that would really improve it would be if they had some semblance of programs (speaker going over the marathon course, advice to first-timers, panelists of elites/former winners, etc.). But for those who are looking for various merch, this one was better than Boston since returning from COVID.
Unexpectedly, we were even featured on one of the directional signs (though the pace company's name itself -- OnPace Race -- wasn't specified). Nonetheless, it's nice to have acknowledgment by the race organization.
Upon entering, my plan was to get my race bib and shirt, meander the expo to see what was there, and then go to the pacer booth to help out. That plan was put on its head when I went to the correct area to pick up my bib and they told me they didn't see my number or name (despite my having a confirmation e-mail). Hmm... What's up with that? They point me to the Runners Services desk (a standard help desk type area where problems can get resolved). Alas, they had the same issue -- they couldn't find anything, and mentioned that there was a separate area that I had bypassed where any bibs that had been customized with a runner's name were pulled aside. (Strange method, but ok.) Rather than bother going there, though, I took a chance that the packets had been picked up by the pace team leads and were being held at the booth.
Sure enough, OnPace had picked up all of our race packets to add to the pace-team specific packets they had compiled for us (that contained custom pacer shirts and hats, thanks to Brooks, and our pace band and magnets and, for the first-timers, their pacer boards). Between the several pacers who officially signed up for a shift and me (and possibly others?) who didn't manage to sign up for a shift but did one anyway, the three signs that provided the lineup of pacers (for the marathon, the half marathon, and the back half marathon), and the two post boards broadly outlining the timing of the starts, the booth was VERY crowded. And that was before we had multiple runners at any given moment chatting with us, asking the standard questions, getting sage advice from the pacers.
Once I was there, I decided to stay at the booth and only deal with exploring the expo a little bit once I finished up a couple of hours chatting with runners.
By the time 3pm rolled around, I was a little tired from being on my feet the whole time, so decided to take a quick turn through the expo before finding a seat, prior to figuring out how to get up to the room where we were set to have our pacer meeting at 4pm.
Above is the set-up they had for what I think was supposed to be some sort of hall of fame induction, based on what I was overhearing from a couple of people in the row in front of me. I didn't get to stay for it, since it was starting at the same time as our pacer meeting. Having previously (and obliviously) walked past the elevators a couple of times earlier, I went back to the pacer booth in time for them to be wrapping up -- and I just joined the herd heading on up; I knew they'd know where to be going.
The team meeting was a good chance to briefly meet the team (where were a total of 78 of us pacing across the three events), find out some scuttlebutt about a few choice areas on the course, and get some last-minute directions on where to be meeting in the morning.
Afterwards, slightly later than planned, I headed out to meet up with my godson, to take him to dinner and drop off a few select things that I brought out from his parents in my car. It was a good time getting another update on his studies, efforts towards getting a film internship over the summer, and some other issues. Throughout the dinner, we each kept on noticing yet some other quirky bit of decoration.
These two were behind me, and just a couple of things that were drawing Logan's attention.
These were on the opposite side of the room behind Logan, drawing my attention:
At one point during dinner, he noticed a couple with their young daughter positioning a large Kermit at the fourth chair at their table. We hadn't seen them come in, so we just figured that the young girl brought along her own Kermit to join in the meal. Then, what seemed like not too long afterwards, I noticed they were gone and so too, I thought was Kermit. But, no... as I was going around after dinner and before we left, I saw him just hanging out on this chair on the side. Apparently, it's another piece of the eclectic decor.
Interestingly enough, there were a few medieval pieces on display, also.
Notice the small suit of armor next to the full-sized one? Well, with this being on the other side of the room from our table, we hadn't noticed it for quite a while. (I think the person sitting in the chair just next to it was in my line of sight. Someone else might have been in Logan's.)
And, naturally, there was this denoting the men's room. (The women's room had a similar figure depicting Wonder Woman.)
What kind of restaurant would you expect all of this to be in? It happened to be a family-owned Italian restaurant (Zarra's). Very good food. When getting the check, I asked our waitress about the varied decor. While she gave an interesting history of the place (it had been a small concert venue --
The Electric Banana -- that had hosted some pretty big acts back in the day), she never really answered the question, unfortunately. Definitely worthwhile checking out if you're in the area.
After dropping off Logan at his apartment and handed over the things I brought from Virginia, I headed back to my hotel. Despite trying briefly to find some street parking to avoid paying the exorbitant garage price, I was having no good luck, given the planned road closures and temporary tow-away zones, so I bit the bullet and parked in the hotel garage. It was late by the time I checked in, got up to my room, and laid out everything for the morning.
I only had a little time to wind down watching a little bit of TV before hitting the hay.
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