This past weekend I drove down to LA for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon — it being the 5th and final California RnR race, I was excited to have done them all. It was also Halloween weekend and with that being the theme and my costume planned, I was pretty excited for a relaxed and fun weekend of running and meeting new/old friends.
I drove down late Friday night so that I was fresh and ready to hit up the expo early on Saturday. I planned to meet Lisa of RunWiki.org and admittedly, was a bit nervous. What if she thinks I am weird? Which I am… but I was relieved to find out that she was as sweet in real life as she is online. She was incredibly nice, down to earth and we jumped into conversation and clicked right away. I could tell running together the next day was going to be WAAAAY fun.
With Lisa of @RunWiki
I made the normal rounds of the expo, checked out some running glasses (which I am still on the look for — but that’s another post), spun the Jamba Juice wheel (won a free smoothie), sampled a Power Bar, and came across some familiar (and new) faces.
I ran into Linzie of @SeeSharpRun first, rockin his @InkNBurn and we chatted for a bit… come to think of it, I’ve seen him at my last 4 of my last 5 races (San Francisco, Disneyland Half, RnR San Jose and RnR LA), we are pretty much race twins. We were then joined by Dre of @ReNewedMe… imagine that, two SF runners/bloggers have to come all the way to LA to meet. Next up was Dani of @IrishEyes1982 who is way too much fun. She has so much energy and I love it… of course, four bloggers in one area immediately means bust out your phones quickly followed by take a funny photo and tag away on social. That’s how we do.
Linzie caught me and posed, two seconds earlier he was on his phone. Ha.
What’s a RnR race without a silly picture in costumes?
Walking around the expo a bit more, I came across Nadia of @IrongirlNadia – you may have read about her in a recent issue of Runner’s World, or read about her being the youngest woman to run 100 marathons (story here). We’ve been at several races at the same time (including her 100th in SF this summer), but we never seem to get a chance to chat. Again, I guess LA is the place to catch up. We chatted for a bit, I congratulated her on the record and wished her luck on what would be her 45th half the following day… yep, that’s 45 halfs, plus 100 marathons and we aren’t evern talking about her ironman distances. Putting in work.
After picking up the bib and the race shirt, it was off to the meet up spot to have some drinks and food with fellow runners and bloggers… massive amounts of tweets, instagram posts, tags, shares and introductions were made. I think we spent almost 2-3 hours there. It was fun.
Walking over to the meet up, we ran into RnR rock star @swappyjoe
Group shot!
The three best friends that anyone could have! @runninghutch and @irisheyes1982
Met @jmattos who will also be doing RnR San Antonio and Las Vegas with me and @thatgirlshaun as well.
Met @gillianbcn who ran a stellar race the next day.
Because we are THAT COOL!
I had a really great time at the expo getting to meet so many fun and inspiring people. It’s nice when you can meet so many people that just love to hang out, have a good time, introduce yourself quickly followed by your twitter or IG handle, run a little, drink a little and never find it rude to bust out your phone, take a picture of your food, and immediately post.
RUN ALL DAY shirts:
available here in various colors on men’s, women’s and kid’s sizes.
Orders will close mid-November that way they can print and ship in time for the holidays.
Tomorrow I’ll share a recap of the Rock ‘n’ Roll LA Half Marathon with plenty of photos.
Do you enjoy meeting other runners/bloggers?
i love how many people you meet at all your races and how my pictures you take!!! and lisa is the best :)
Looks like it was an awesome time! I love race expos and hope to meet some Twitter friends at the Wine and Dine half next weekend :)
Karen @karenlovestorun
SO FUN!! the St Louis RNR was this past weekend, as well, and i was going to give you trouble for not coming up…. maybe next year?? ;)
ok I AM a misfit as Im totally distracted by your friend who is wearing MY :-) INKNBURN skull tee :-)
Love it! I think meeting other bloggers is the best especially the fun ones!
some day i will get t come be part of these meet ups!
Looks like a blast meeting so many people! Looking forward to your race recap
This looks so fun!! Some day I’ll come join in on the other coast!!
Fact: anywhere you go there is a party. I love it!
I think these meet-ups may be my motivation to get my running life together and train for a marathon!
JEALOUS!!! So many amazing people all in one room! That’s it I am moving to California!
YAY – so much fun. I haven’t been as lucky to meet nearly as many bloggers. Tiffany is a sweetheart. Apparently I need to move West.
Love this, you were really lucky to be able to meet up with so many great people! I enjoy meeting bloggers, especially those that I read frequently because I feel like I know them already!
Looked like hellafun…ill be at the #RnRSA again this year, so youre gonna have to make your way over so I can get in some of these great pics! Good luck on your next run… (do you know where it’ll be yet?)
So fun to follow on IG by you & all the others – LOVE the pics!
Looks like a lot of fun and the meetup must have been a blast. Wish I could have been there. Maybe Vegas?
It was such a pleasure to meet and run with you!! I have the blues today, missing our adventure. What great memories we have! I will cherish them and we must plan something else in the near future! Laughing that you’d think I’d think you were weird… Have you not noticed that I love weird, goofy, strange, clever, and creative??? You are wonderfully all of those things! I hope you thought I was the same! You’re the best! xoxo
Such a fun weekend! I am inspired by your ability to run a race just for fun — I think that’s next on my list!
Looks like a wonderful time, I expected no less :)
OOOOOOOOOOOOO Now I am mad at you!!!!!!!!! You did not reach out to me!!!!! I was even downtown on Sunday! No No No! :(
Surely this wasn’t as much fun as our Toronto Tweet-up, right? RIGHT?
So awesome and so much fun. So glad that you had a chance to meet up with so many people and especially Lisa! Love her.