Boston Expo and Meeting My Hero DEAN KARNAZES

After an early morning drive to Buffalo airport and two flights later we arrived in Boston. Along the way Kevin and I started spotting the traditional Boston Marathon jacket and this made for easy conversational flow with strangers. We learned their road map to getting to the Boston and their goals and excitement for their big race around the corner.

Already I was feeling inspired to hit my goal to qualify and be part of the running shannanagans. For now I was happy to be a fan/supporter to my husband and all runners.

Our first stop was picking up our rental car where the employees of that business met us with joy and laughter. Instead of being overwhelmed by all the people here this weekend to rent cars, they were on a high, and happy to help us understand the city better.

Next stop. Boston Run Expo.

Getting to the expo wasn't the easiest with Boston's one way streets, and many streets that changed names while you were on them...At the same time there were spectacular views of the water and thousands of individuals outside actively enjoying the sunshine. We found parking right at the expo fairly easy and followed the jackets to make our way inside.

Once inside we were directed right away in the direction we needed to go for Kevin to pick up his race kit pickup for the marathon and where we could also find our 5k racekit pick up. What an organized system.

We then went to the largest, and BEST expo I have ever layed my eyes on. The layout seemed intentional with the main run retail companies neighbouring one another. There were plenty of companies with fuel options, tech savy gear, recovery clothing, and other marathon options for your future.




My favourites were:
1. SKINS- the employees knew their product education and were so informative and helpful

2. YONANAS- delicious frozen fruit made into a dessert...Need I say more...We bought one as soon as we flew back in through Buffalo

3. BROOKS- they had awesome manniquins in the air running and I loved their fitting rooms...Thought it was strategic.

4. NORTHFACE-because they brought in Dean Karnazes for meet and greet singing autographs...Well played Northface

This now segways me into this experience. It was Kevin who noticed him first in the distance....I didn't even realize he was going to be there so what a GREAT SURPRISE it was to see him in reality. I was so giddy it was embarassing I'm sure for Kevin. Of course we got in line right away and shocking enough this line was quite short...I guess marathon runners that day weren't as into ultra runners. Many passed by asking who the guy was....SHOCKING! I wanted to jump into these conversations to educate them.... But I didn't!

Everyone in line received a poster of Dean. What a win! I started taking pictures from afar and Kevin and I spoke about his body, how lean, muscular and toned being affectionately known as the 'Fittest Man On The Planet'. Once it was my turn, I shared with him how much of an inspiration he has been for me. He showed modesty and humble qualities as he deflected my compliment. What I learned is that this truly is just him and his way of life. Dean's inspired my BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) of running with in the infamous 'Death Valley' ultra marathon. He quickly quipped "I recommend you think twice about that one". My over enthusiasm led me to share that I follow him on facebook, and with a sense of humour he mockingly replied by requesting security to escort the pregnant stalker out of the building. The last thing I asked was if he was running the Boston Marathon himself. As a runner purist he said since I'm here I will jump in after a 4 hour training run. No Big Deal!