Expo-nential Fun

Okay, just a quickie as I eat my toast with peanut butter and honey and sip on my hot coffee before heading out in the rain. It is April and you just never know what you’re going to get weather-wise. Today is the St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley Half Marathon and the Physical Therapy at St. Luke’s 5k. To all of you readers out there who are running it, are you ready? I know I am! I’m excited about this race despite the rain. For some reason this is a local race that I really love. It might be because I’m familiar with the course, the roads, the terrain. Perhaps it’s because I see so many familiar faces in the race. Or maybe it’s the fact that I live ten minutes from the starting line – so convenient to be able to sleep in my own bed and take my time in the morning.

While many of us are whining about the rain, admittedly it is not ideal, I am very happy that the sun was shining on all those little runners yesterday in Allentown. Us runners, well we can take it. We’re older and the majority of us train in all weather conditions. Those kids, they would have been miserable running in it. I’ll take the cold, wet conditions any day if that means the kids have a good experience and pick up a healthy, new habit.

There was such a great turnout yesterday for the Annual Kids Race. The children lined up so excitedly to pick up their race bibs and their free t-shirt. I never grow tired of learning that for many of them this is their very first time running a race. I believe we had over 800 children running, ages ranged from 3-14 years old. What is even more special were the kids who were so excited about their race that they would come back to the volunteer tables and tell us how they did.

I thought the Expo was extremely well done this year. The packet pick-up was very easy to navigate and went quickly with the help of so many volunteers. With so many venders it was easy to find whatever you were looking for. I felt so lucky to be able to meet so many wonderful runners at the Expo. Thank you for taking the time to stop and talk to me. And Rose, don’t forget to email me so that I can send you the photo I took of you and Chris McDougall.

I hope you were able to meet and talk with Chris McDougall, the infamous barefoot runner and author of Born To Run; Marc David, author of The Addicted Runner – he’s on a 27+ year running streak, hasn’t missed a day of running in all those years; Mark Remy who wrote The Runner’s Rule Book; Samantha Schneck from Girls on the Run; the list goes on and on. It was a great day to hang out in Allentown.
The time is drawing near. I need to head over to the starting line and begin my pre-race routine. I’ll see you over there.

Good luck!