On Friday afternoon Paige and I headed to New Orleans for the expo and to pick up our race packets! We had a blast traveling. It takes about 2.5 hours to get to New Orleans from where I live so it's not a bad trip. We love to talk so we did a ton of that!
We also had Paige's two boys with us and so a stop for a Snow Ball was an absolute must! (Ok I admit that even if we didn't have her two boys with us we would have STILL stopped for a Snow Ball lol!)
We arrived in New Orleans and headed to the Hyatt Regency New Orleans where the expo was being held. This hotel was gorgeous!!! And they were all decorated for the Crescent City Classic with race signs and the logo everywhere! It made you feel right at home as a runner!
We had to go up and down a few escalators to make it to the expo but they had plenty of signs pointing us in the right direction. I was amazed how big the hotel was!
I was amazed how big this expo was! They had a ton of booths there! I saw some familiar ones like PSI sunglasses, SPIbelt, Newton Running, Gatorade, and One More Mile. They had a ton of booths advertising other races. They even had a rock climbing wall and a face painting booth (Paige's boys had fun with those)! They also had free beer and red beans and rice.
My most favorite part of the expo was meeting Patrick House from the Biggest Loser!!! He was the winner of Season 10! I LOVE that show and was so excited to meet him! His transformation is amazing! He was such a nice guy!
The expo also had guest speakers. Bart Yasso from Runner's World Magazine was there but unfortunately I didn't get to hear him speak.
I was very impressed with this expo! It was just as good as some of the bigger races out there. I could have spent hours in there shopping!
I can't leave you without sharing my routine bib picture!
After the expo we headed to Paige's Mom's house. We were staying there that night and she was going to watch Paige's boys while we raced the next day. Our pre-race dinner was a fish fry at the neighbor's house. Man those cajans know how to cook! We had fish, crawfish sausage, cornbread, and some fried green beans. Probably not the best pre-race fuel but it sure was yummy!
Race attire for the next day included my running skirt (of course), compression socks, Asics, Huma Gel, and my Fleur de Lis Claim Your Journey shirt! I also forgot my Garmin!!! I was freaking out but Paige let me wear hers...what an awesome friend!!! :-)
Stay tuned tomorrow for the race recap!
QOTD: Have you ever met one of the Biggest Loser contestants? Which one?
