I had a GREAT time in San Antonio this weekend. We made the drive down around lunch time Saturday. This was my second year doing Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio and once again the expo didn't disappoint. There was a slight snafu at packet pickup, my bib was missing. I stopped by the resolutions desk and was quickly handed over my bib. Because I had originally registered for a full but now planned to run the half I needed to move up to a speedier corral. There was virtually no wait for corral change and it was super easy.
We then went to pick up our shirt. I LOVE that the race now had a 'womens cut' shirt option and the silver design this year is great.
After picking up our swag it was time to do some expo shopping.My first stop was the RunningSkirts.com booth where I picked up the Super Star Capri Skirt (along with a couple other items) for my "A" race in January.
Then I tracked down the nuun booth. I was SO happy to see Caitlin and Kim, two fellow Hood to Coast Nuun Platuuners. Of course I was sporting my Nuun HTC Blogger shirt.
We then made a quick stop at the Marathon Bars booth. They had been kind enough to send me some bars our earlier in the week so it was nice to meet the faces behind the emails.
High in protein,vitamins and yumminess, I ate one of these bars race morning. They made a great travel option.
As we went to leave, I spotted Marshall Ulrich. A few months ago I reviewed his book, Running on Empty, so we walked over to say hi.When Charles saw him he said "I know that guy." I said "Um yeah, he's a famous ultramarathoner and author". Charles insisted he knew him outside of that. Sure enough,when Marshall looked up he said "Hey man, nice to see you again" to Charles. Neither can remember where, but they both agreed they had met previously. Strange.
We left shortly after that and went to check into our hotel. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio.I can't say enough good things about this hotel. The staff went above and beyond to welcome and accommodate us. Their facility is gorgeous and well maintained. The hotel was sold out with the marathon and yet we never once felt they were harried or unprepared. If we ever run San Antonio again, or happen to be in the city we will definitely stay here again. Bonus:its stationed at the start so you can sleep in.
After dropping our bags we headed to the River Walk. For those of you unfamiliar with San Antonio, that is exactly what it sounds like. A river running through the town with walkways,shops,restaurant and historic features on both sides. There is always a festive feeling in the air on the River Walk, we checked out some sights and sat down at a waterside restaurant for a snack. Soon my knee was aching from climbing all the stairs, foreshadowing of the day to come.
We headed back to the hotel, Charles took a quick nap and I twitter stalked the hashtag #RNRSA to see what everyone was up to. :) Often when we go to races we plan large blogger meetups, but this weekend we wanted some alone time. Figuring I'd be stressing the race we decided to take in a movie. We went to Alamo Drafthouse which is a theater/drafthouse/restaurant. You can eat and drink while you watch a movie. Its a great concept and was a nice way to pass the evening. And yes, I believe in pre-race beer(s), Blue Moon to go along with my artichoke pizza.Yum!
After the movie, we went back to the hotel, pinned our bibs on and fell fast asleep.
To be continued... ..