Bill and I started our morning with a hike to Cascades Falls.  It’s a beautiful waterfalls not too far from Blacksburg.  I can’t believe that I hadn’t been there since my freshman year, and Bill and I had never hiked up there together.  I’ll write more about our hike next week…

CascadesBillDeb

Once we got back to Blacksburg, we met Julie and her roommate Cassy at a local sports bar to watch the VT vs ECU game (it was an away game).  It was a slug-fest (the game, not our lunch), and had us nervous until the very end.  We ended up eking out a win, but barely.

VTvsECUChampsBar

Now on to the race expo…

HokieHalfExpoSign

There were lines when we got to packet pickup, but they moved very quickly…

HokieHalfBibPickUp

Once we got our race packet, we checked out the race expo.  It was pretty small, but it is a first time race.  They had a pretty wide assortment of things to buy from a local running store, and local chiropractor was performing active release on anyone interested.

HokieHalfExpoSales

Swirlgear had a booth set up.  I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about them recently, and I was happy to see their merchandise in person.  I will definitely be looking into this more closely!

HokieHalfExopSwirlGear

This little rack of maroon and orange running clothes was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen certainly caught my eye!  Don’t faint, but I didn’t buy anything…

HokieHalfVTRunningClothes

Cassy and Julie showed off their race shirts for me.  I kind of like the 5K shirt better…

HokieHalfCassyJulie

Here’s the half marathon shirt and bag.  The 5K runners got an orange bag…

HokieHalfSwag

Here’s a close-up of the shirt logo.  I give it a resounding, “Meh!”  My long sleeve shirt fits, but the sleeves only come to the middle of my forearm.  Bill’s shirt barely comes down to the top of his shorts.  We have not had very good luck this year in getting the right sizes for our race shirts.

HokieHalfShirtLogo

For dinner we played the ultimate lazy card!  We ordered carryout from Zeppoli’s Italian Restaurant (they don’t deliver), and ate in our room while watching more college football!  That’s my kind of night!

ZeppolisItalianDinner

It’s bed time since the race starts at 7 AM.  See you tomorrow evening with a race recap!

  • Questions:
  • What’s the best race expo you’ve ever attended?
  • What’s your favorite Italian dish?  ~ I get spaghetti and meatballs because it’s pretty easy on my stomach.
  • Who’s racing tomorrow?