The 2014 NYC Half Expo!

The NYC Half Expo is being held at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street (between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue) today from 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 15, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (if you need an easy way to remember, download the app!)

I went after work last night and it was a tad crowded, which was to be expected. Somehow I forgot to bring my waiver (even though it's been printed and sitting on my desk for weeks!). As I looked at the ginormous line to look up your bib number and print, I got nervous. I still had a ton of errands to run and I didn't have a lot of time. Good news: A volunteer announced, I just had to pull it up on my phone and that worked! Phew, crisis averted.

FYI: Race shirts run small. The women's XL was a joke and I just couldn't stomach not being able to wear the shirt (bc I LOVE the design!) so I settled for a Men's Large. But no worries, the $25 XL women's cut shirt I could BUY fit perfectly. Go figure ;) The merchandise is super cute but I couldn't justify buying the same exact shirt design in a different color.

I really wanted this adorable pink zip up, but after careful consideration, I decided I didn't need it. It would be a GREAT fleece-lined winter training jacket though. Hopefully, if I change my mind NYRR will put the leftovers on their site (which they're pretty good about doing. IN FACT, they even had all of this stuff on sale before the expo, which was nice!) and it will still be available in my size. Again, I noticed the merchandise to buy ran a little big.

I didn't spend too much time will the vendors, but it looked like a lot of the usual suspects were there. I took advantage of Nuun's expo promotion- buy 2 tubes for $10 and get a free water bottle. I was just on their website trying to justify needing 4 tubes of the iced tea flavor. This worked out perfectly, and I even got another water bottle (much to B's chagrin since my water bottle collection is a tad obnoxious).

I also took advantage of the Sparkly Soul expo promotion- most of their green headbands (thin or thick) for $10. I forget how much I love their headbands- they really are the most comfortable and do not give me a headache. 

Can't leave an NYRR expo without replenishing the lip balm supply!

PS- wouldn't that rectangular branding look AMAZING as the actual medal?! 

I'm sure it will get crowded later today and tomorrow, so I suggest going early if you can. There's not a lot of room in there, but there are a ton of awesome volunteers who can help point you to where you need to go.