Nike Women's Half Early Packet Pickup

Even though the race is still 10 days away, I picked up my Nike Women's Half bib and race shirt today! It sounds like there were long lines and frustration at the Expo last year, and this year they added the early pickup option at three local running stores.  I was really happy to be able to go to Potomac River Running (=PR=) in Fairfax today.  They promised that there would be fun stuff to do and race gear to buy - and there was!

I was intrigued yesterday when =PR= posted a picture on facebook of some of the race-themed gear that would be available at the store:

I shared it on my timeline and many of my supportive friends worked hard to come up with good excuses to enable me to make a purchase.  Cameron noted it is good luck for the race to buy something at the expo, which seemed pretty compelling to me.  I promised myself I would try to keep it to one item.

I had the morning off and arrived at Fairfax Corner a little early.  =PR= wasn't open yet, but they were starting to set up:

I came back a little while later and was thrilled to see there was no line and lots of friendly volunteers eager to help me.  I entered a raffle for some door prizes and then picked up my bib:

from there, I was directed to the t-shirts, and I loved the design and color:

they had gray shirts for the charity runners who were part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training:

Then I saw my running buddy Christina and we headed over to shop the race gear:

Christina got a cute gray dri-fit shirt that says "Streets to Strut, Goals to Crush".  I was tempted by both the yellow and the fuschia shirts that are behind us, and by the hats, but ended up with the turquoise and navy short sleeve v-neck that has a picture of Nike, winged goddess of victory, on it.

Then my twitter friend Catherine showed up!  We've both trained with =PR= but not at the same time so we hadn't actually met in person before.  I was so excited to finally see her.  We are in the same corral for the race and may be able to run some of it together, which would be really fun. 

We had some snacks and some coffee.  I have to go off on a tangent about this coffee because it was the best coffee I have ever had.  It was from Commonwealth Joe, a small company that roasts locally in Virginia. I usually put a lot of sugar and milk in my coffee.  I drank this coffee black and it was delicious without anything in it.  I was impressed.  I'm glad to hear they will be making an appearance at future =PR= races and that they are sold in some of the stores.  Thank you Robert for the delicious coffee!

Catherine and I made our way over to "the wall" and signed it and got our picture taken there.  While it isn't exactly the same as doing it at the Nike store in Georgetown next week on their giant wall, I was really appreciative of having the symbolic opportunity to sign the wall and get my picture taken.  I'll add the photo when it gets uploaded to the =PR= flickr page.  In the meantime, my awesome friend Laura was thoughtful enough to take a photo of my signature for me:

photo courtesy of laurentinaphotography.com

I got home and looked in my race packet.  There was a Luna bar mini (chocolate peppermint stick), Paul Mitchell tea tree special shampoo, Mariani new england crunch (trail mix), and lots of good coupons.  Mixed in with the good coupons I found a $25 gift certificate to =PR= and it said "packet pickup winner" on it! Good thing I didn't know it was in there while I was still at the store or I might have bought a second shirt!

I am so appreciative of =PR= hosting this packet pickup and saving me the trip to the expo next week. Thank you =PR= and Nike for a smooth and fun pickup experience.  I am getting excited for the race!