Hamilton Marathon Road2Hope Expo

This morning Kevin, Iyla and I ventured off to Hamilton to pick up my race kit from the Expo.

Before going to the Expo at Confederation Park we decided to drive the race route. I took my 'Wins' map along as a reference point. 

Close to the start line is a park that has a sheltered, warm gym I can go pre-race. This is key because Kevin will be dropping me off an hour before the race and it is somewhere I can go to keep my muscles warm. The race starts at Green Mountain Road and First Road East. Along the way I snapped some pictures of the race course from the car (they give me a mental picture for my visualizations).

Race Start Line

1k @ First Rd. E. (slight uphill)

2km marker @ Ridge Rd.

Km 2-8 provides beautiful scenery along the Niagara Escarpment

Little ups and downs along kms 2-8

Slight right onto 8 Rd. E

Km 8-10 on 8 Rd. E is very flat

Km 11-16 is very open country on Green Mountain Rd. E (Kev's least favourite section) This will be deadly if windy

Left here on First Rd. E. 

Passing the start line in the opposite direction

Right on Mud St. E. just after the 17k mark

Km 18-21 starts to get more commercialized before going onto the highway, still flat

Veering off onto Red Hill Valley Pkwy (Downhill begins woot woot!)

Loving the downhill and fall coloured trees from km 22-27.5

Exited the highway @ Barton St., Crossed over the highway to join the trail (Unfortunately I didn't get to drive this ha!)

Km 30-42 is along the water. Here we are driving to the expo (Confederation Park), where the race ends!

The Expo is held in tents that were set up outside. The first tent was to pick up your bib number and/or to register. This process took quite a while in the marathon area because there was only one individual working it. The line therefore grew very fast. After that we were away to the next tent to pick up my t-shirt. What was cool about this was the shirt was printed in 4 different colour options. I went with a classic black and white. They had red, white, and a black shirt with lime green writing. The tent had a few vendors present such as 'Running Free'. There was technical gear, shoes and hydration/gel options all for sale. Because it was quite chilly and we had Iyla we were on the road back home fairly quickly. 

Overall I'm very grateful to have driven the route and I'm excited to now run it. Expo wise, I think there is lots of room for growth but the weather kinda killed this experience being outside. All the volunteers were great!! My top expo experiences are still Boston and St.Louis!

Check It! My race bib for Sunday, I'm also sporting the t-shirt from the race! I won't be wearing it come race-day....Big No No!