Expo

Took a half day and went to the Convention Center to pick up my race packet and tour the expo. Needless to say, it's a lot bigger than either La Jolla (which was pretty small) or Carlsbad expos. With 30,000 or so participants in both the full and half marathon, that makes sense.

I almost switched my corral assignment since I was looking for a 3:50 pace leader, but the closest offered was a 3:40 pacer in corral 5. I think I have a shot at something close to 3:40, but I'd never catch that pace group from corral 7. (If I could, I'd finish a lot better than 3:40.)

The 4:00 pace group would be too slow, so I canx that idea and stuck with the spot they gave me. I picked up my bib, time chip, shirt and swag bag. Spent a lot of time at the booths, nibbling on a lot of different energy gels and protein bars. I probably consumed about 500 calories thanks to Clif, GU, Premier, JellyBelly Sport Beans, PureFit, PowerBar, Yakuit, Bazi and Larabar. There was more, too, but I was getting full. I picked up two boxes of the PureFit bars, since the expo price is such a great deal.

No Sambazon though. I wonder if they will be at the finishing line.

Met a fellow Dukie (Todd) who is the co-founder of a skincare company called Mission Skincare. I bought a stingless stick of UVA/B sunblock for use on my head, nose and ears. Fun to talk to him. He was only a few years behind me at school.

Speaking of skin care, I just noticed a suspicious abnormality on my right forearm. With Stone's recent passing due to melanoma, I'm not going to delay to have it checked out.

But back to the expo...visited the San Diego Track Club booth, and I think I'll either sign up with them or West Coast Road Runners (who I didn't see there). I've been solo-running and self-coaching, but I imagine I would benefit from some involvement with organized running groups. The SDTC guys were sure nice and helpful.

I also picked up a brochure for the 2011 Big Sur Marathon next May. I know the family would love for me to do the Disneyworld Marathon in January, but I don't think we can swing that kind of trip just yet. Carmel, though, would be a day's journey by car, and what a beautiful (and challenging) course that seems to be. I don't know if it's too much to bite off, but if I'm going to keep doing this marathon thing, I'd like to plan for Carlsbad (January), Big Sur (May) and Marine Corps (October) next year. And then maybe Disneyworld (January) and perhaps even Boston (May) in 2012.

Brooks had a huge presence at the expo, and I got to see the Green Silence shoe. I'd really like try that. The cosmetics are kind of out there, but what a light and minimal shoe it seemed. I'm planning on finally retiring my Sauconeys after the marathon and switching to the new K-Swiss K-Onas, but I'm nervous since I'm not sure if using them briefly correlated to my Achilles pain. If that does pop up again, I'll either go back to Big 5 for another pair of those cheap Sauconey Grid Stratos 3 shoes, or maybe I'll give those Brooks shoes a try, patronizing Laces of course. I want the K-Swiss to work out though.

That's about it. No run today. No workout, other than walking a little downtown at the convention center. I'm feeling well hydrated and fueled...maybe even a little bit of weight gain during the taper. Everything feels good. No excuses. Bedtime by 9PM tonight.

it wasn't too crowded, but it is Friday. I imagine it'll be swamped on Saturday. Glad I got there early. I would have liked to have taken more time