Friday, October 23, 2009

The Nike Expotique

Friday morning we woke up feeling great. There was no run scheduled for the day, so we were free to get our morning started. We walked down just a block from our hotel to the most charming little French cafe' for breakfast. We saw it the day before, but were certainly not dressed for such a place.
We fingered through the petit dejeuner section and enjoyed an omelet and pastries with coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. Now, I don't mean to be a snob by all means, but I have to say that I am disinclined to order orange juice from a restaurant because I actually do prepare it freshly squeezed at home. After having it that way, one can never turn back. So it was a welcome surprise when Karen ordered hers and it was as fresh as fresh can be.

The cafe' was the perfect place to start our day
Karen with her Anthropology top on... you know how I love that store

So it was off to a fantastic start for the day.
After filling our tummies with a good balanced breakfast, we were off to pick up our packets for the Nike Expotique. We were early so we hung out at an outdoor cafe for a while and did some people-watching.
There was such an energetic and up beat vibe at the Expotique
Look and see why we wanted to caption this photo "Run Like A Pirate"


It was very inspiring to see all of the athletes walking around with a certain "glow" about them. Then we realized that it was time for the Expotique to open and we wanted to get going and pick up our packets. Well, we should have known better, there was a line that had formed on the other side of Union Square all the way down the block.

So this was our first glitch of the trip (and I believe our only one). We got into the back of the line and accepted the idea that we'd be there for a while, and that was ok because we had the time. There was nothing on the agenda for the day.
Well, the line moved at record speed, and I would say that we were there for maybe 20 minutes tops and with all of the entertainment going on, it seemed like seconds. We went in, gave our information and bar codes, and received our packets. Then we toured the area. Nike was so organized and clever. This whole experience was to cater to women, and boy did it ever! You could get flavored oxygen, a margarita blended by a, let's say, "athletic" man spinning on a stationary bike all while getting a mani-pedi. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, you couldn't get them all done at once, but they were all available.
Karen and I tried some flavored oxygen (why not)
My oxygen flavors.
Karen reminded me of our childhood days when she asked me if I wanted to switch with her without telling me her flavors were gross. Karen, can you say "king"? "Make is smoother! No, now it's too runny" hahaha (sorry everyone else... that's so inside it goes back to childhood)
Me sporting my oxygen
And then we were off to Niketown to do some shopping.
This is the wall where our names were posted in Union Square
We walked through the doors as Lady GaGa blasted over the speakers (that paparazzi song is still in my head to this day) and rode the escalators up to a plethora of Nike gear.
Karen and I did some shopping and stopped off to explore all of the fun "extras" that Nike was offering to race participants and fans.
This shirt explains it all... how we got here
The race poster. Our names are all written into the background
Johnny Hollywood emailed me my playlist that I listened to during the run. As a matter of fact, Saturday Kings of Leon "Use Somebody" came on the radio in the car and I totally teared up from the emotion of being part of such an amazing event/weekend. Of course his version was some cool DJ version.
Karen "immortalizing" our cause on the Niketown wall
This is what it was all about

A picture of Karen hanging out at the DJ table to get a play list made.
It was a whirlwind experience, but we had to get back to our room for our noon check-out.

1 comment:

Lily Jane said...

I cannot wait until I run the NWM 2010! :D I wanna check out the expotique like crazy. :)