For me, marathon expos are half the fun of a race weekend. Sure the race itself is the highlight, and the finish areas are usually pretty great… but I still get excited about seeing the vendors and picking up my bib and swag bag. Irving dropped me off as soon as we got into Phoenix (around 1:30p or so) and I stayed there til almost 6! But it was fun and I’m glad I could take my time.
First stop, pick up bib! I’ll be starting in corral 19! I think they base it on speed, so I’m definitely towards the back. Oh well. I’ll pass all those speedy people in the last mile, you watch…. hey, it’s good motivation! 
Brooks had a cool display. It was set up like a carnival with fortune tellers and games. It was cute. Everyone won a ‘prize’. I ended up with a pretty cool ski hat. holla! 
There were TONS of people milling around, it was kind of hard to get around. I saw one dad pushing a double wide stroller, I felt bad for him.
But for the most part, I got to see everything I wanted. B it was kind of lonely to walk to walk through alone. I love taking pictures with my friends in front of the signs and sharing the race excitement with someone. Oh well, I made the most of it by bugging strangers to take my pictures for me. 
Remember the time I ran a marathon in 2:03? hahaha
The highlight for me was definitely meeting Meb Keflezighi. He is a running legend. He won the NYC marathon in 2009 and was on the US Olympic team. I waited in line to buy his book and I told him that I ran the 2010 Boston Marathon (Meb came in 5th!) He said “Oh, so we ran Boston together!” I told him I was just a few minutes behind him. And he said “Oh, I saw you coming, so that’s why I ran a little bit faster!” 
He signed his book for me, I love it! 
I also saw Kara Goucher! She’s one of the best female runners in the world right now! 
Her husband is also a runner and they just had a cute baby! 
Later, I attended a panel with Frank Shorter, Arturo Barrios and Meb. It was fun hearing their stories about the victories and woes of professional running. They had some great advice that I’ll have to remember for the race tomorrow.
On my way out, I saw my high school friend Scott, who works at Nuun now! Hi Scott!! I love seeing hometown faces on the west coast. 
On the way out, I grabbed some garlic knots (it’s all about the carbs, right?) 
Off to chug some water. I’ll be back with a rull race recap soon!!
Kelocity.com 