Eugene Half Marathon: Expo

At the end of July, I headed west to do the Eugene Half and check another state off the list.  But before you can run the half, you must head to the expo!  The expo was held at University of Oregon's arena.

We went to the expo early and wanted to get it done first thing, arriving about 5 minutes before it opened.  Unfortunately, they were a bit delayed (the shirts hadn't arrived yet), so we got to spend some extra time waiting. 

Eventually, we did head in.  It was well organized with number pick-up right at the front.  A quick check of number assignments and I picked up my number and gear check bag.  Time to head to the main floor! 

The vendors were housed on the floor of the arena.  There weren't a ton of vendors, but a good variety.  You had your standard races and gear (gu's, body glide, etc).  The race shirts and official merchandise was all the way at the end, so we walked all the way through to get that first.  When we got there, we realized the shirts hadn't arrived yet (which was the hold up to open the expo). 

Since we were there, we figured we should look at the official merchandise now and then head back into the full expo.  I liked a couple of pieces of official merchandise but it all said "Eugene Marathon" and since I was only doing the half, decided not to get anything.  While we were looking, the race shirts arrived!  Perfect timing!

I really like the race shirt - it's a soft Nike drifit shirt with a really cute design!

Once we got our shirts, we headed back to the expo starting at the beginning.  Our first stop was the Oregon Track Club booth.  Even though I'm not a member, I still wanted a shirt.  I figured it was a perfect souvenir of a running trip to Oregon.  They also had a $1 bin which some old race shirts (which I picked one up for as a throwaway) and some awesome 80s styled bags.  I have no need for it, but it was only a $1!  I couldn't resist!

Most amazing bag ever.

Next, we made a stop at the Picky Bars booth.  I've been wanting to try them since they are gluten free (and that makes my stomach feel better).  They were really good!  But the best part was my total fangirl moment when I met pro runner Lauren Fleshman.  She and her husband created Picky Bars and she runs for Oiselle (I love their clothing!).  She was super nice and even posed for a photo with me.  You know what made me like her even more?  I tagged her in the photo on Instagram and she even commented!  Love that she took the time to do that. 

After that we wondered through the rest of the booths, checking out races and seeing what freebie's there were.  I also picked up a cute (non-running) shirt from Run Pretty Far.  They had a bunch of cute sayings and I got one perfect for Wine and Dine weekend.

 

Despite our best effort to not stay too long, we ended up being there for close to 1.5 hours so it was time to head back to the hotel. 

Up next, the race!