As promised, I rolled through the NYC Marathon Expo at the Javitts Center. My mission: not to spend a dime. I’m all for stimulating the economy (goodness knows I’ve done my fair share via Apple), but this time (1) I don’t need any gear (2) whatever gear I think I need, I can find it cheaper online and (3) my wife would shoot me. Obviously, #3 drove my behavior. Was I successful? Yes. GU was selling gels for $1 each vs. $1.25 at my local running shop. Since I use one every weekend now, buying 5 for $5 made economic sense. I can justify that with my wife.
Even though I was not running the race, I was still excited to peep the scene. I wandered around checking all of the exhibits. I made certain I complained to the New Balance folks about discontinuing and not adequately replacing the NB 826. Since I was being disciplined with spending, I went looking for free stuff. Plenty of junk … key chains, food samples, etc. I was not signing up for free running t-shirts … I have plenty of those. Unless you like multiple booths of running products and races, there was not a lot of visual stimulation.
I know The Kitchen of a Runner recently ran the Chicago Marathon, so maybe he can offer a different perspective of a pre-marathon expo. Suffice it to say, it was like a mall for running gear. Not a slam, but that’s what I found it to be. And I believe that is the point. I guess given that you can find 100% of the same gear on the Internet, I was fairly surprised that people were gobbling this stuff. However, knowing the suffering all of those runners will be doing on Sunday, maybe shopping therapy is a good thing. Also, if such spending generates revenues for NYC, I am a BIG fan!
Probably the coolest thing about the Expo was the excitement runners experienced as they picked up their bib and goody bag. I could feel it. I could also feel a twinge of jealousy. I wish I were in their shoes.