The Day Before The Day Before

Breakfast at the hotel consisted of pancakes, bacon, and a discussion over the nationality of the waitress, which we finally agreed was an Eastern European nation of some description, then it was time to head to the Health and Fitness Expo in downtown Phoenix to pick up our numbers and goodie bags.

This was not the "Gobbler Grind Packet Pickup". A huge convention hall was packed with booths, apparel and other merchandise and celebrity guests signing books and giving speeches. I thought that the KC Marathon's expo was a decent size, but this one was easily three times as big, and although I'm sure we went during one of the less busy times (noon on Friday, when the Expo would be running for two solid days until the end of Saturday), the place was hopping.

First things first, we picked up our numbers and timing chips. I liked that the backgrounds are different colors for the marathon and the half. Jill said that was probably because that made me think I was cool and more of a badass for doing the full, and, well, she's probably right. My number had a yellow background, Jill's blue. The chips were actually Chronotrack disposable tags, rather than those plastic Championchips that a lot of races have. So that'll be an extra souvenir when all's said and done. One thing was immediately apparent. There are far, far, far more people doing the Half than the full. There were probably thirty different lines for half marathon packet pickup, and maybe ten for the full. (Stop it, you're a badass, we get it.)

The t-shirts were next, and they were pretty good, again different for the marathon and half - this is the first race I've been to big enough to have two different t-shirts for the different races. Not race shirts; they were 100% cotton, so just a souvenir, but nevertheless, I'd read some comments in the past that they were a bit lame, so either those people were extra-picky or they'd upped the quality this year.

We meandered through the booths, picking up free samples (the freebie of beer was perhaps my favorite of these), and eyeing clothing and shoe. Jill actually ended up buying a very nice pink New Balance shirt she's decided to wear for the race, which she tried on in a booth made out of curtains and velcro.

We passed by a celebrity signing. The Olympic gymnast, Shawn Johnson, even tinier in real life, was dutifully signing for a long line of people, a lot of whom were clearly too young to be marathoners, or even, I'd venture to suggest, half-marathoners.

Finally, we sat in on a Q&A with a panel of experts, including former marathon champions, running legends, and writers Frank Shorter, John 'The Penguin' Bingham and Steve Scott. I was particularly pleased to see John Bingham there, whose column I've found frequently hilarious and often inspirational. At the end of the Q&A Jill and I actually introduced ourselves to him and picked his brain for about 10 minutes or more. He's as pleasant in real life as he seems in his columns and very funny. He gave us tips on shin splints (my topic du jour), marathon recovery and pacing. He's also completed the London Marathon seven times, counting it, with Chicago, as his favorite of all, so was quite interested in the fact that this was my home town.

After, we listened to Bart Yasso, the Runner's World editor, runner, and inventor of the now-famous "Yasso 800s" - an interval training workout that has been used for years as a way of predicting marathon race times. Jill was keen to buy his book, so after the talk, we went to his booth and bought one, having him sign it for us right there. Great stuff.

After the expo, we decided to drive the marathon course. I'll talk more about this - and the Half-Marathon course that we're going to drive today - in another post, but for now, I will say just one word.... "flat".

The phrase "We're not in Kansas any more" resonated time and time again in my head as we headed home (via Dick's Sporting Goods and Ikea, which Jill badgered me into checking out). Not only is Phoenix as different to KC as knives are to jelly, in terms of both terrain, infrastructure and landscaping, but the marathon is clearly big time. The organization, the quality of the goods on sale, the people hired to talk, the sponsors. This ain't your momma's marathon. Well, it ain't the Gobbler Grind, anyway.

I ran a mile on the treadmill, which I documented in the finaly daily log, then another unhealthy dinner, this time at the Cheesecake factory, followed, and we were once again spent. I've been happy to get two good nights of sleep, because I have a feeling tonight won't be as smooth. I woke up nervous and part of the reason I'm blogging now, before Jill is even awake, is so I can get rid of some of that energy. This might be one of the longest days of my life. :-)

The Packet Pickup

When you run in an organized race, you're usually required to attend a "packet pickup" a day or two before. Packets usually consist of your race number, some sort of timing device (usually a chip or an electronic tag), a few flyers for racing products or future events, some product samples, and the official race t-shirt, which these days is pretty much a staple of any reputable run.

For bigger events, packet pickup is usually accompanied by an "expo" where multiple vendors try to sell you run-related gear at booths and stalls, and guest speakers are hired to motivate and advertise. The bigger the event, the bigger the expo, and the bigger the venue. The Arizona marathon has a convention hall booked for two or three entire days to accomodate the traffic.

For something like the Gobbler Grind, while not miniscule in size (between the three events, I believe there will be something in the region of 2,000 entrants), packet pickup is basically just that. No frills. It was held in a hotel corridor and meeting room, and the "goody bag" consisted of the usual stuff; no more, no less.

Still, while the ra-ra extravagance of the big-marathon expo may not have been there, the process was efficient and well organized. The t-shirt which, happily, I had no trouble getting in my size, was a bright yellow long-sleeved tech shirt I was fairly impressed with. The chip-test went fine, and I even got a couple of bonus items - A Gobbler Grind running cap, which I received for bringing a toy in for a toys-for-tots charity program; and, as reward for adding my email to a mailing list, a Hospital Hill Run tech shirt from the one and only "booth" present. It proudly states that "I conquered the hill" in 2008, when I don't even know what hill they're talking about, but if it wicks sweat, I don't care if I misrepresent myself.

So there it is. I am trained, I have my t-shirt, and tomorrow I will line up as runner #945 for the 12th Annual Gobbler Grind. I will admit that, even though this race is just the "opening act" for the main event in January, I am nervous and excited. I've never run 13.1 miles in any setting before, nor have I ever run for two straight hours, which, even if things go perfectly, I will come very close to doing. It's a brand new experience, and has all the butterflies and anticipation that the unknown brings with it.

Wish me luck!

The Twist

Just heard from my pal who was (note past tense) to run the first leg. Apparently, both he, and the third leg runner, have decided that spending their Saturday morning plodding through Kansas City isn't high on their list of wishes, and have found replacements to run their segments. This means that I will actually only know one of the other relay runners, an odd situation.

I had been hopeful I might be running one of the faster relay segments, but I'm informed that the third leg runner is a 7-8 minute/mile runner, and the first leg runner, while he will pass off the chip to me at the designated point, will continue to run for another three miles or so (because evidently the first leg isn't enough running for him). So now I've turned from being potentially the fastest of the four runners to maybe one of the slowest.

Dented ego aside, I'm still looking forward to the experience and the atmosphere, and my legs feel pretty good today, so I'm quite excited. Also, the reward for running hard tomorrow will be 2-3 days off, so it's all systems go.

The expo and packet pickup is tonight, so I'm sure I'll write more later.