Have you ever had so many thoughts of something swirling around in your head that you can’t seem to form one sentence about it? That’s where I’m at right now thinking about the 2016 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon and Challenge Series since there was so much going on in such a short amount of time.
THURSDAY MAY 12: I flew from Florida to Cleveland and right from the airport, I headed straight to my grandson’s house. (Well, okay, I stopped at Mr. Hero and picked up a Romanburger since I haven’t had one in 20 years and saw a billboard enticing me to stop in. As a side note, the memory of Mr. Hero was better than the actual taste of Mr. Hero.)
FRIDAY MAY 13: I headed downtown Cleveland from my grandson in tow and hit the Race Expo to see everyone, to pick up my bibs and to shop. Unfortunately for me, little Dylan was not happy there weren’t any toys at the expo and that the only thing there was “race stuff” so my time there was very short lived. (I picked up my race bag, but I think I forgot to get my 10k shirt, now that I’m looking at the pic of my “SWAG”.)
I was able to chat with a few of the other race ambassadors and I did hit a few of the booths, but according to my parking pass I was out of the expo within two hours. That’s probably a serious record for me!
and then Friday night….. it’s the VIP Reception held at the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade downtown. Basically it’s the gathering of all of the lead players associated with putting together with the race, along with us race ambassadors. Since we are allowed to have a “plus one”, I brought my son, Mike along and he agreed that it was a really nice event with great food and great people. It was fantastic to see all the other ambassadors since we’ve really connected over the last couple of years virtually, so we wanted to connect “live”. When we were talking about the upcoming races in the challenge series, one of my fellow ambassadors warned us that the shoreway would probably be closed for tomorrow’s 5k /8k, but he did provide us with an alternate route. (I will admit that I went to bed worried about traveling the alternate route and trying to find my way around to get to the race.) Here’s a little video showing what the VIP Reception was all about:
You’ll have to read “Part 2” of this post to learn about Saturday and Sunday though! I didn’t want to drag this out too much and bore you!!
It would be great if you would stay connected with me!! You can follow me on Twitter @DebiL1611, like me on Facebook at 2014 and Beyond, circle me on Google+, follow me on Tumblr, Instagram and Bloglovin’, subscribe on YouTube, or connect with me on LinkedIn and Pinterest.
Please make sure to visit my homepage and subscribe to my blog for more great posts on running, fitness and lifestyle topics as well as food, product, music and book reviews, and more!
