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shoulder to shoulder


Headed down to San Francisco after work today for the Nike Women's Marathon and Half Marathon "expotique." Race organizers described tonight as the night to attend and promised "cocktails, appetizers, smoothies, special raffle prizes and appearances by Nike athletes."

I found nothing but lines. A huge line down the block just to get in to the expo (which was in a fluorescent pink and neon yellow tent in Union Square -- good location and cute set-up, but the tent was way too small). A huge line for the cocktails and appetizers (which I for some reason thought were going to be passed by hot men in tuxedos or something, not set up at a table -- I guess maybe I've been spoiled by too many wine events). A huge line for pace bands. A huge line for Facebook updates (if you sign up, Nike will automatically update your status with where you are in the race -- cool idea, but not really worth standing around for). A huge line for sports bra fitting. A huge line outside Niketown, where all the runners' names were posted on the wall in hot pink letters.

After awhile, I gave up, sat on a bench and started eating my way through my race bag. (Mmmm -- Luna Bars and Ghirardelli chocolate squares.)

I can only imagine how crowded Sunday's race will be.

2 comments

Amber said...

Oooh the Nike woman's half is on my list of races to do! We were going to actually do the full instead of Portland but didn't want to risk one of us getting in and not the other!

Michaela said...

I did the same thing! But I went with PDX because I love that city so much -- the food scene there is really amazing. Also, I heard the Nike full is not great -- spectator support dwindles drastically after the 13.1 mark. If you do it next year, run the half marathon.