2014 Wine & Dine Half Marathon Expo

Race expos are one of my favorite things about running any event. The crowd is excited, anticipation is in the air, and shopping is always a possibility! Sounds like my kind of day!

We arrived at the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Expo on Friday, the day it opened. Unfortunately, our plane didn’t land until 12 noon, which put us arriving at the Expo around 2 p.m.

One of the things on my list were the New Balance runDisney shoes. I’ve searched on eBay for months and even bid a few times  before losing them right at the end. However, I never felt comfortable paying big bucks for a pair of shoes on eBay that I could possibly purchase at the W&D Expo for much less. Since the New Balance online queue was full by 6 a.m. (central time) and we weren’t arriving at the Expo until 2 p.m.,  I knew my chances were super slim.

We arrived at the Expo and were starving, so we ate at the (used-to-be) All Star Café, then made our way into the Field House for our race numbers and packets.

I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn’t think to - the runDisney merchandise area in the Field House was completely empty…which made me kind of glad that I wasn’t in the middle of Disneyland sized crowds again! (Never fear, Disney World Expo’s have two locations of rD merchandise – a smaller one in the Field House and a larger one in the Josten’s Center.)

The main item I wanted from the Expo was a coffee mug and my sweet friend Jen offered to purchase it for me earlier that morning, just incase. I knew that was taken care of, so I wasn’t worried at all.

After picking up our packets, we walked over to the Josten’s Center for our race shirts and Expo Merchandise.

When we walked into the Josten’s Center and saw the small-ish crowd around the New Balance area, I knew that my chance for a pair of shoes had passed.

Ah well…cest-las-vie…and back to eBay!

One of my favorite Walt quotes! I loved that this was here!!

As we passed the NB tent, I told Jason of my plans for the shoes – and I also told him they were on my Christmas list. He asked if I had even checked at the area to see if shoes were still available and I told him no and to look at the lack of people around…

I continued on to pick up our shirts and browse through the rD merchandise area and Jason disappeared.

After only a few minutes, he returned holding a bag. Inside of the bag was this….

My SHOES! I couldn’t believe it!!

I might have jumped up and down in enthusiasm right there on the Expo floor. I also might have scared the people around me just  a tad…whoops.

My friend Kelli and I stopped by the Transitions Lenses booth for this picture and enjoyed re-creating a moment from our Louisiana Half-Marathon experience a few years ago. The W&D half was Kelli’s first runDisney experience, so we had a good time looking around and goofing off!

I was able to purchase everything I wanted with the exception of a roll of red and white polka dot (Minnie style) KT Tape. I recently started using KT Tape for my IT Band and I love it! I hope they have that style again at Princess…guess we’ll see!

We also had to stop by the rD booth to say hi to Jeff! No rD experience is complete without saying hi to Jeff Galloway!

Before leaving, we took one final picture at the rD instagram table in the hallway, then said our goodbyes.

We had yet another fun Expo filled with lots of happy moments and great shopping experiences. I can’t believe Jason snagged a pair of NB shoes mid-way through the day! He said that they sounded as if plenty of shoes remained – when he told them the style and size, they asked if that was all he needed.

The moral of the story here – never assume, always check first!

What’s your favorite part of a (any) race Expo?