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New York City Marathon Expo

Nov 3, 2013 | Marathon Majors, Marathon Majors, Running | 6 comments

Let me give you one piece of advice if you ever run the New York Marathon or visit the expo… GO EARLY. Our plan was to be there before opening on the Friday morning, it opens at 10am, and when we arrived at 9.30am, there were over 100 people in front of us in the queue. However, by the time we left, the queue was snaking inside the building, out of the door, down the street and round the corner- just to get in to the expo, never mind picking up your race pack.

So, we arrived sensibly early, went through security- bring photo ID with you, and collected my race pack without too much trouble.

We then tried to sensibly navigate the vast number of stands and shops at the expo. We decided to go straight through the huge Asics shop and check out the smaller stalls while they were quiet. Whilst this was great for a while, when we returned to the Asics shop later, it was almost unbearably busy!

My shopping list included;

  • Headbands- I was really disappointed that there were no BIC bands there, even at RunningSkirts as they said there would be, however, I immediately felt better after finding the enormous selection of headbands at Sweaty Bands. I had fun trying on loads, and bought 3 bands, including a NYCM band for tomorrows race. 
  • Nuun– after seeing they had the watermelon flavour available to try, I tasted it, loved it and bought it. Also I couldn’t resist a Nuun NYC 2013 waterbottle and some Lemon Tea flavour. 
  • Brooks Ravenna 4’s- I was a little disappointed by the clothes selection at Brooks, as I wanted a Run Happy top and a new colour of the Ravenna 4’s, neither of which they had in store. I’ll have to scope out another Brooks shop or stockist in the city before I leave! 

  • Gu Gels– I love these gels (most of the flavours anyway) so stocked up on some new flavours- salted caramel and peanut butter. 
  • The Runners World Cookbook– which last time I checked was only available on pre-order in the UK, I couldnt resist snapping this up for $20 and getting it early, never mind the weight in my suitcase! The recipes in this look amazing, so I can’t wait to try them and share some! (edited to add- it does now seem to be on sale in the UK!)
  • ‘Stash’- obviously I needed to get something with NYCM 2013 written on it. Most of the tops featured at the expo were t-shirts, which I don’t wear to run or workout in, so I opted for a purple Asics vest top. 
I thought I was going to go more overboard at the expo than I did, and felt very restrained. This might have been helped by the fact that my bank blocked my card after my first transaction so my Mum had to come to the rescue! She walked around the expo getting excited by location races at Disney and Toronto and kept saying ‘I’d like to go there, maybe you could run that race?’
This was undoubtably the best race expo I’ve ever been to, although the London Marathon is pretty good too! What’s been your favourite or best expo? Also, do you pose at ALL of the photo opportunities, like me? 

6 Comments

  1. Leah

    I love your mum’s comments – can she be my race mum too?! Sounds like you were very restrained really, but got some GREAT stuff! Can’t wait to see these headbands too, they sound awesome!

    Reply
  2. Sarah Mcdonald

    Found an app that tracks runners I put your number in (as I don’t know anybody running) it told me when you crossed the start your 5k and 10k time so far and you are doing so well, I’m also watching it on TV. I managed nearly 8 miles this morning!!! Instagram really helps with motivation. I’ll check up on you in a bit to see how you are doing 🙂

    Reply
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