Nike Women's Half Marathon unofficial blogger brunch

A quick post to update since it's Nike Women's Half Marathon weekend in DC. The race is Sunday morning but the "Expotique" was going on today. In addition, Stephanie from Cat Lady Runs co-hosted an unofficial blogger brunch with Roaen from Love Life Logistics.

I knew that it would be crazy in Georgetown where the Expo was being held, not only because of the Nike festivities, but also because it was a beautiful day and a lot of people would be out and about around the harbor.

Beautiful day on the water with the crowds just out of view

So I decided not to bother with driving and to take the metro/bus instead. This would have been a great idea except for the fact that I had trouble finding the bus stop once I got off the train.  I finally found it but there was a bit of extra walking involved.  This also meant that I got to the harbor just 15 minutes before brunch so didn't really have time to check out the Expo.  However, I was able to take some photos in the 15 minutes.

There were separate tents for packet pick up, t-shirts, and the expo. This probably helped things move a little faster and everything looked very organized in spite of the crowds (there was a long line in the photo above to take a photo with the We Run sign). There were volunteers everywhere to help direct and I was impressed with the handling of the logistics from what little I saw.  It also looked like a lot of fun.  I could hear the music from the Expo tent outside and ether were clearly trying to make it feel like a party.

After the photos, I went over to Sequoia to meet up with the other bloggers for brunch.  We had a great table by the window overlooking the river.  This is the first blogger meet up I've been to and I really feel like Stephanie and Roaen hit it out of the park. They did a wonderful job organizing and arranging for sponsors.  They had little goody bags (which Stephanie stenciled herself with the runner graphic in "Tiffany blue") prepared for us with a lot of swag from some of the sponsors. After receiving the goody bags, we went around the table to introduce ourselves (I think there ended up being around 17 people). It was great to meet in person with some bloggers I'd been reading as well as meet a whole bunch of new bloggers. We ordered drinks and food and then the hosts told us about more goodies they had to raffle off. I got a pair of ProCompression socks as well as a tank top from Xracewear.  I can't wait to try both out!

All the goodies I came home with from brunch.

Sadly, there was some difficulty at the end getting separate checks and it took a bit of time getting it straightened out with the restaurant. We figured it out but that did mean I was running a bit late by the time I left. That wasn't helped by the fact that I got lost trying to find the bus again!  I used to go to college in Georgetown but that was a long time ago and the bustle today didn't help.  Needless to say, I had very tired feet by the time I got home and didn't make it out for my run this afternoon.  I am hoping to be able to fit it in tomorrow after volunteering.