We were up bright and early on Friday morning and headed to the visitors center at the historic Bethlehem Steel Stacks. This day was SO busy, but I want to at least briefly mention each activity we did.
First we met "Running on Air" author Budd Coates. Budd has been running marathons for over 5 decades and has been completing them in under 3 hours! Isn't that amazing? He did a brief breathing demonstration for us ( which I will talk about later) before we went out on our 3 mile shake out run with him and Bart.
Budd Coates shows us how to breath from our belly instead of our chest.
Then we prepare for our 3 mile run.
It was a bit chilly when we started but quickly warmed up. I stayed comfortable in my black compression capris and long sleeve tech shirt. ( photo on left courtesy of
Linda of Running4two)
Since the roads were still open, we all had to run along the pedestrian path as we crossed the bridge. It was a little tight, especially when there were runners (not from our group) speeding by us going the opposite direction.
When we got to the top of the hill, we stopped at an overlook and Bart told us some history about the Lehigh Valley! Then we had to get a group shot.
Photo courtesy of
Monica @ Runeatrepeat
The 3 miles that we ran was pretty much the same course that the 5K runners would follow the next day. It was pretty easy and really only had one incline that wasn't so bad.
When we arrived back at the Steel Stacks complex, it was time for the Running Skirt's Olympics.
Now I know why everyone loves
Running Skirts! Not only are their products great, but Cindy, the head of
Running Skirts is Super Sweet! We had a race were we had to run back and forth putting on running skirt products. Even Bart participated! Running Skirts put together a quick video of the event! Click
here to watch it.
Next was Breakfast and a shoe demonstration from the great people at Altra.
As you can see, I am debating between two different pair of shoes. Golden Harper, founder of Altra Drop Zero shoes, explains the difference between each pair. I ultimately ended up with the Pink and black shoes that I am wearing on my right. ( this photo courtesy of @janetober) After the shoe demonstration, we headed outside for a running demonstration also presented by Golden.
Next, we headed back over to the visitors center where the great people from
Icon Health and Fitness did a "Recovery for Runner's" Presentation.
We were each presented with a yoga bag full of products. Our instructor Melanie showed us how to use each of these products properly after our runs!
I think by the time this session was over, we were all ready for lunch!
Everything on the lunch buffet was from the new Runner's World Cookbook: Caprese Farro Salad, Simple Green Salad ( with either mustard and cumin dressing or nutty olive oil dressing) Mushroom Tacos ( that were gluten free), Spicy Fish Tacos with Pineapple Slaw, and for dessert Banana Oat Energy Bars. I'm not a big seafood eater, so this was the first time I've ever had fish tacos. I have to say they were not bad. The pineapple slaw was an nice addition to the taco. The banana oat bars were very yummy too! While we ate, we were introduced to the editor of the cookbook and one of the chefs who came up with some of the recipes.
As if we hadn't had enough fun already, after lunch we got to meet Olympian Summer Sanders!
Summer is a great speaker! I could have listened to her stories for hours. She talked about how she became interested in swimming and how her career had grown. She talked a bit about her children and the sports they are involved in as well. We got some time to talk to Summer one on one and I showed her the picture of her and Lacey( which I still had on my phone) at the Runner's World event at the Boston Marathon this year, and after looking at it for a moment, her faced lit up and she said she remembered (I truly think she was being honest too because she told me right where that picture was taken). Summer ran the 5k with her family on Saturday and then the half on Sunday.
The last thing on the agenda today ( before picking up our race bibs) was the Pro-Form and IFit demonstration.
These treadmills are super cool! The ones they had on display where the new Boston marathon treadmills, but they make other brands that are iFIT compatible (ex: Nordick Track, Gold's Gym, ). I can't wait to share with you more about a really cool app I experienced here at this demonstration! After the demonstration we each received a really cool Nike Running tech shirt from iFIT.
Now it was finally time to go to the expo and pick up our race bibs/shirts/etc!
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All the sponsors/vendors I had mentioned in this post have been extremely generous with their time and products that they gave to us! I will mention each one of them more in depth in future posts.
Thank you to everyone who made this day so much fun!
Click here to read
Why the Runner's World Half and Festival is great for runner's AND spectators.
Click here to read Friday night's blogger even at the Runner's World Headquarters.
