"Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body"

Uh oh...

Friday after work, Linda and I stopped in at the Polk County Convention Center to pick up our race packets. Among the first things we saw when we entered the exhibition hall were three Marines wearing tee-shirts with that slogan across their backs. It was not the last pain related message of the day.

We got in the first long line we saw and verified that it was for packet pickup, not the 30-second Marine Pull-up Challenge. Suprisingly, there was no line for that! Our line moved well and we were soon routed to the appropriate table to pick up our materials.

The packets included our racing bibs with our numbers, a neat poster, a breakfast cookie, two packets of pain relief gel, a "Peanut Toffee Buzz" bar, some chewable electrolyte tablets, a sample Band-Aid bandage, an excellent course map, promotions for three other marathons, a water bottle, and a two-for-one ticket offer for two Stars hockey games this week. Hmmm... The shirt that came with the registration is made of an excellent material and has a very cool map of the half-marathon course we'll be completing. (Word selection was not an accident.)

We got our packets and learned that our scoring chips were not yet available. They were expected to be ready Saturday evening or at 5:30 Sunday morning; I'm thinking I'll stop by Saturday evening. (For those unfamiliar with these chips, they're a small electronic gizmo in a plastic shell that, in my prior races, is attached to you shoelace. When you cross sensor strips at the start, finish, and certain points on the course, the chip responds and the scoring system records your time and verifies your presence. The chips I saw for this race look to be more like the picture, mounted on a strap that can be worn around the ankle... Martha Stewart style!)

We roamed the Sport and Fitness Expo and saw souvenir shirts, energy bars and drinks, pain relief items, and promotions for local attractions. There were a couple of massage offers. (I'm guessing that's to relieve the pain.) Drake was there giving out vouchers for tickets to a basketball game. It was a decent little expo with lots of little freebies and ideas for other things to do.