Pic Of The Day - 01.17.15 - Runxpo

This past fall was a bit difficult. Nothing seemed to go as planned and the icing on the cake was the fall of December 2014. If I even had the slightest idea that I could run walk/run 13.1 miles on 1/18/15, it was squashed when I fell.

At that point, it was too late to turn in my entry. I even toyed with the idea of walking 13.1 but there is still some discomfort in my left leg from time to time.

So...I went to the George R. Brown to pick up my expensive t-shirt. Yep, this t-shirt cost me $100+ and nothing was going to stop me from retrieving it.

It's always a fun time to be at the expo. Some vendor will premier the latest gadget. There's usually a sale on running apparel and I scored a deal on some fitness attire at the Luke's booth.

So...there will not be a lottery for 2016 so maybe I'll pay my money again and get a finisher's t-shirt next year.

Saturday In The Park With Calvin

This isn't quite a Sondheim musical although at times my life does seem like a musical of some sort.

Saturday was too beautiful of a day to keep The Calvinator inside. First thing in the morning there was a bit of a nip in the air and I couldn't decide if I should go running or take him on a field trip.

Knowing that IFest was going to be happening downtown and knowing that there was probably something going on at the GRB, I decided to get to Discovery Green early; wanted to beat the crowds.

Discovery Green is a 12-acre park that opened last week in downtown Houston. It is by no means Millennium Park or Central Park but considering that parcel of land was previously two parking lots in front of the GRB, I think the City of Houston did good.

The park sits in front of the GRB and Hilton Americas. There is a brand new high-rise condo being built on another side with additional high-rise construction in the works. It isn't far from Minute Maid Park or Toyota Center. It is good to see this end of downtown coming to life.

The park has an upscale restaurant, The Grove, which is run by the Del Grande Group of Cafe Annie fame along with Taco Milagro and Cafe Express (yourself). There is a small lake (pond) where you can rent remote control sailboats, a nice concession stand, a reading room, artwork, a dog area, a 1/2 mile jogging track around the perimeter, a playground, wireless internet access, a performance area, and 100 year old trees that were transplanted.

I think Calvin was bored. He sniffed and peed and tried to stick his nose into the lake. I took him to the dog area and for a few minutes he ran around and sniffed and sort of played with another dog and then he just stood there. I took that as a hint it was time to go.

I hope that conventioneers will make good use of the park and people going to sporting events will use it as well as those people who work on that side of downtown.

I really am happy that the land wasn't used for more parking lots or buildings. I'm especially anxious to see how it used for the Houston Marathon. It will be great place for a post-marathon party.

Speaking of marathons...did anyone else see the Boston Marathon this morning? OMG! The finish for the women was nailbiting!

So here are some pics from our field trip.

Today I went downtown the George R. Brown (GRB to us Houstonians) to pick up my race number and packet at the Expo. Until today I didn't realize that the GRB was celebrating its 20th Annivesary. I remember the first time I saw the building I thought it looked like a landlocked ship.
The marathon will bring $30 million to the city. Not bad for a weekend event.

The expo has all kinds of stuff! Free stuff and stuff you can buy. There are people from other marathons there promoting their events. Hummer, Best Buy (The Geek Squad), Michelob Ultra were just a few of the major exhibitors. The Roger Clemens Institute at Memorial Hermann was the major sponsor.

This is where they divide the show offs from the slackers. Us slackers had to go to the right to get out packets. The show offs went to the left.
After I got my packet I had to get my chip activated. This chip will track our splits and also make sure that people don't cheat...like Rosie Ruiz.So after the chip was activated, it was time to hunt down my shirt.
I walked to the other side of the exhibit hall in search of my participant shirt and this is what I see! They're only going to give me half a shirt because I'm only running 13.1 miles? How rude.

As you can see, there's all kinds of stuff going on at the expo. I tried a new energy bar...well it's new to me. LÄRABAR According to their website:

LÄRABAR is a delicious blend of unsweetened fruits, nuts and spices - energy in its purest form. Made from 100% whole food, each flavor contains no more than six ingredients. Pure and simple, just as nature intended. 1 SERVING OF FRUIT * NO ADDED SUGAR * UNPROCESSEDRAW * NON- GMO * GLUTEN FREE * DAIRY FREE * SOY FREEVEGAN * KOSHER

The other cool thing that I found is a towel for The Cal Mobile. Well the driver's seat. It is an oversized white towel with an adjustable elastic band to keep it secure so that the towel isn't sliding down the seat while you drive. You can see a picture of it here.

It was time to mosey back to NoRO. The weather was really nice again and I would like to have enjoyed some time outside but I have some out of town visitors arriving tomorrow so I had to str8en things up back at the house.

Oh...I wondered about my 1/2 shirt. I opened up my blue bag that they gave me at the expo and it is a full shirt...not a midrif.