flying solo

with the hub stuck having to put out fires back at home, my nike half weekend in san francisco instead turned out to be a all girls' trip. the girls and MIL came with him to drop me off at the airport, and we had time to stop off for a breakfast treat first here:

carb loading at its best. 

getting through security was a breeze, and i was sitting at my gate with plenty of time to spare before boarding. i grabbed a magazine, found a comfy spot next to a charging station, and curled up in a chair. 

i'd managed to remember to check in online the day before and secured a spot in the A group for boarding. I shoved my bag into an overhead compartment and plonked myself into a window seat in lucky row 7.

i'm not accustomed to flying alone and take-offs are my least favorite part. but i didn't think the random dude next to me would have appreciated me squeezing the life out of his hand. heh. but once we were safely up in the air, i was able to appreciate my bird's-eye view. 

an hour later, i was here:

i've heard from numerous sources that getting from the airport to the city is a snap using the bay area transit system (BART).  except, of course:

i'd been watching this, though, and made alternate arrangements for myself. despite the dire warnings from the dispatch desk, i boarded my shuttle not even ten minutes later. 

of course, i wasn't the only one. and with a crazy amount of traffic due to both the strike and the 30,000 people descending upon san francisco for this run, it took two hours for me to finally arrive at the hotel. 

kelley was already sitting in the lobby, and not long after that lilcee arrived to get us checked in. after getting settled and relaxing for a bit, we took a walk out into union square so that i could pick up my bib and goody bag from the expo. 

grabbing my bib and bag was the easy part. while lilcee and kelley got in line for a fun photo op, i checked out the expo tent. it was insanely crowded, with some pretty cool perks from paul mitchell and neutrogena. too bad the lines were so stinking long. 

i decided to turn in my little ticket for a free pair of shoelaces at the nike rewards booth. 

when i walked by the giant marquee, a sensor apparently picked up a signal from my bib's timing chip, and i was excite to see this:

outside, i couldn't resist taking this.

by then, the girls had gotten to the front of the line and i joined them in time for these:

as we headed towards the nike store across the street, we passed one of the corrals, all set up for the next morning. 

the store was packed with crazed runners trying to get their hands on some commemorative merchandise (me included). because lilcee had already been, she knew all the ins and outs to get through it quickly. before we left, with our precious souvenirs in hand, we got a little silly. 

and we got a better look at what was in store for us the next morning. 

back at the hotel, i surveyed my loot from packet pickup. 

looks like a good time to me.