Race Weekend Already!

After a four-hour drive, we arrived in Roanoke, VA to pick up my race packet for the Anthem Star 10K. I was a bit apprehensive, because my last experience at this expo was not a good one. We moved easily through the pickup line, grabbed my packet and VIP band, and headed inside to get my shirt. I went upstairs to the shirt table, they had my requested size and handed it to me. I tried it on. It wasn’t the greatest fit, plus it was see-through. Definitely not the high-quality tech fit we’re used to. I asked a couple of young volunteers what the other table of shirts was. They said it was a shirt exchange table if I needed a different size. What a wonderful system Blue Ridge Marathon race administration! Definitely a great improvement to the race check in. That was a really great experience. I appreciated it so much. Not once was I made to feel awkward or embarrassed about getting a shirt that fit right. However, the shirts still weren't moisture wicking at all, but nice colors and great design.

We headed downstairs to get the free Farm to Feet socks. The woman asked my size, immediately turned and got a pair, and handed it to me. Again, no “oh, we don’t have that size” or apologies. Just quick and easy, with no awkwardness.

We stopped by a booth and my girls were able to get cute pens and I got a race bag. Great goodies!

We headed over to the other side of upstairs to look at other items for sale. I wanted a t-shirt to go with my race jersey. I was already cringing when the guy asked me what size I was looking for. To his credit and my relief, he didn’t bat an eyelash and began looking through finding my size in all but one item. He was superb. We found several items that fit and I was even able to take them into the upstairs bathroom to try them on. He and the lady at the table were both very helpful and friendly, and extremely professional. I was beyond thankful for this.

I love that they added stickers and magnets to the items available for purchase. Perfect for race scrapbooking and to add to the fridge race magnet collection. The artwork was great, but a little expensive. There were almost no Sweaty bands left, but there were lots of fuel samples, race skirts and recovery tools available.

One of my girls set her pen down and someone picked it up. We went to see if we could get another one, but they were out. So we headed out of the expo. As we were turning to head down the exit line, a worker rushed up and handed us a pen, saying they’d found one in the bottom of the box. Huge smile and thanks to her.

We went to Dad’s to unwind and get the girls ready for bed. I tried to get my race things together but kept getting side-tracked. I was still very nervous about the race. With the weather forecast looking gloomy, I thought about just not going. I decided to wait until morning to make a final decision.