Around the Bay 30 K -- Bib Pick Up

In the past, I have left work once the school bell rang and then made the trek to Hamilton. It would take 2.5 hours to get to Copps Collesium for the bib pickup. Last year, the expo extended its Friday expo hours from 6 PM to 7 PM, which allowed me 1 hour to roam the expo; other years, I would have to run to the bib pick up as it was close to 6 PM, with no time to visit the exhibitors. In my new role as vice-principal, I could have left when the bell rung but there was so much "tidying up" that needed to be done - I like to organize my workspace at the end of the day and make notes which are then filed. I actually left work at 8:30 PM. So made the trek to Hamilton this morning, which took 45 minutes. Would have been there a bit earlier had it not been missing the exit.

After parking a few minutes away from the Copps Collesium (free 2 hour parking on the side street), spent an hour at the expo. Picked up bib #4098 without a wait. Each person gets to walk past each booth twice as you walk to bib pick up location and then back. I did spend some money:

- Running Room booth - bought 3 chocolate flvour gels - will take 2 tomorrow and keep 1 for training.
- Midsummer Night's Run - signed up for the 30 K race on Saturday, August 18th at the early bird fee of $55 until March 31st. There actually was a $6 discount a few months ago that I wasn't aware. The good news is I save on a postage stamp and got a free tech shirt from 2 years ago.
- One More Mile Running Apparel booth - bouth a sticker "42.2" for $3.00. Pricy but a good display on my office wall - to replace the small "26.2" sticker
- OPP booth - bought a $10 stuffed dog. How could I resist our heros?

Saw the finisher's medal for the upcoming Toronto Marathon. It's similar to last year with the runner coloured red. Majority of booths were races and selling clothes.

Oh yes, bought a Lotto 6/49 quick pick for $2 at the neighbouring variety store.




Looking forward to tomorrow's 30 K race. Longest training run has been 28 K (last week) so this will be great. Will be walking up hills. This is year #5 at this race!