Lululemon Seawheeze Half Marathon: Prologue

This past weekend I jetted off to Vancouver, Canada to run the Seawheeze Half Marathon. Actually the journey started back in January when I entered the lottery. A lottery I’ve been meaning to get in on for years, but always forget…except for this year. Lo and behold, I and 9500 of my newest running friends got in, which was completely unexpected.

It’s been a bumpy road to say the least. I made a hotel reservation months ago, but when I realized I never got a confirmation, I called to learn they had no record of me ever registering. They went so far as to admit some bookings were “lost” when they switched over computer systems. Of course by the time I rebooked, rooms were $500+. I bit the bullet. Hard. Thanks for nothing Hilton Honors.

Then we learned that Seawheeze weekend was also high school Homecoming weekend for my daughter. The teenager had planned to join me in Vancouver. Now she couldn’t. And I’d miss Homecoming. Of course we’d already bought her an airplane ticket too. Sigh.

I was up dark and early on Friday morning for my flight. After a 25 minute delay, I was finally on my way. It was pretty obvious I was not the only Seawheezer aboard that flight. Lulu apparel was everywhere. It was quite humorous.

We landed, I got some Canadian money and searched for the SkyTrain. According to my research this was the fastest and cheapest way into the city from the airport. Alrighty then.

I perused a map as I rode and realized there was a train stop fairly close to the Convention Center where the expo took place. Lulu had us “make online reservations” a week ago to get a time slot to hit up the expo, the pop-up store and a “Visions and Goals” seminar. I was nervous about getting there in time for my 4pm time slot so I went straight to the Convention Center from the airport with luggage in tow. The prime pop-store time slots were early in the morning so I’d already missed out. While I consider myself a Lululemon fan, I’m far from a rabid one. The thought of waiting in a long line then rushing in, Black Friday style to drop $$$ on Lulu gear repelled me. I didn’t care if the Wunder Unders were dipped in solid gold, I wasn’t going to play that game.

I was tired, rushed and frazzled when I approached the counter for my race pkt. The girl was pleasant enough, until she asked me for “the confirmation letter for HER packet.” HER packet? “In order to pickup HER packet you need this letter” she told me again, waving a piece of paper at me. Then it dawned on me where this was going.

I gave her my death stare and said “I’m not picking up someone else’s packet. It’s for ME.” Her eyes grew wide as she exhaled a nervous, embarrassed laugh. For a split second I questioned what I was doing here. I felt old. Too old. Except for my sister who assures me I look every minute of my 55 years, I don’t get a lot of “old” flack. Until now. Were there no runners over 25 here? I fought the sudden urge to kick her ass. I’d show her who’s too old.

I took my packet, which came in the nicest ballistic nylon race “duffel” I’ve ever seen BTW, and rolled my baggage to the “pop up store” to peruse the leftovers. Except when I got there the girl guarding the door got in my face and announced “no luggage inside”. Really? What next?

I asked her if she’d be standing out here if I left my bag for 5 minutes. “I may or I may not” she sassed back. I gave her another one of my geriatric death stares, turned on my heel and headed out. Screw the pop-up store. Screw the special edition Seawheeze gear. I hailed a taxi (no Uber in Canada) and headed to my hotel.

When I checked in and went through my race packet, I discovered there was a shoe timing chip but no bib. When have I run a race without a bib besides never? I headed back to the expo in search of my bib…and maybe I’d glance at the pop-up store…quickly…maybe…

Some look chic in Seawheeze leftovers, I’d look more like this.

Turns out Seawheeze doesn’t do bibs. Just the timing chip, so I was a-okay all along. And the pop-up store? No offense to anyone who bought the crazy, flowery bizzaro prints that were left, cuz of course some can pull off that kind of thing, just not me. Seriously the stuff that was left by the evening looked like Lulu designers holed up in a loft somewhere, swilling kombucha and scheming about how to make the ugliest athleisure gear known to mankind. They nailed it. I suspect they were gathered somewhere behind a curtain or up in the rafters, tittering as people paid $$$ for the stuff.

I got out of Dodge, for the second time that night, empty handed.

While the pop-up store took up a large ballroom-sized space, the exhibitors lined the perimeter of the Convention Center, some outside. There were heavy hitters like Garmin and Nuun. A new-to-me brand called Saje gave each of us an amazing 20+ ounce jug of the most soothingly fragrant bath salts. Getting it through airport security crossed my mind for a fraction of a second, but it was salt after all, not liquid. My attention moved on to the yoga going on, kombucha samples, manicures, temporary tattoos. It was a runner girl’s dream. As pissed as I was earlier when I had my bags in tow, now I relaxed and enjoyed. But I couldn’t stay long, since there was a pre-race dinner to be had, race morning bananas and water to buy and an early bedtime ahead of me.

The Olympic cauldron from 2010

Eventually I headed back to my hotel, booked a taxi for 6am the next morning and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

I’ve gone on too long already. Stay tuned for the race day recap. I promise it’ll be worth it.

What’s the best or most unique race expo you’ve ever been to? Have you been to Vancouver?

Remember to join us right here on Friday for the Runfession Friday Linkup!