ING was not to be...

Oh well. No ING for me this year. I waited too long and couldn't get in. Just as well, judging by the yucky weather. I got to sleep 11 hours last night instead! (I even forgot about/missed my last opportunity to go to a Thrashers' practice today! Sad) I didn't even make it down there to cheer all the KRs on.

Yesterday was a lot of fun, though. I got to the expo about 8:45am and reported for duty! Got all signed in and got my volunteer orange shirt (kinda threw a wrench in the whole "I'll be wearing my KR shirt to help stand out!" plan) Started at the registration/packet pick up tables. Yea!! Fun! Then someone came and and asked me to go to the children's area to help monitor the kids in the play zone! WHAT?? But, I didn't get up at 6:30 this morning to go babysit! Grf! I was promised a replacement soon... Took about an hour or so (an hour too long), but I finally got to go back to the registration table. I stopped at the Nike+ area and chatted with the woman for a good 30 minutes or so and told her all of the issues/ideas I had for nike+!! Finally! I could remember them at the right moment. She even videotaped me giving some of my suggestions! Pretty cool! Now when all those things come to the site, you can thank me personally! ;) I told her about needing a way to put in runs manually. I said they don't have to count for challenges, but it would be nice to have a back up when something goes wrong with the sensor/ipod (low battery, etc...) I also (finally!) remembered to suggest that the online run graphs include all of the information you hear on the ipod during the runs (time at that point, etc....) She told me about her suggestion of adding in a monthly calendar type function where you could chart out your planned runs. She also told me that others had thought of adding a projected weekly mileage function that would show under your my runs area. The bar would then turn green as you met the goal and show clear if you didn't. Nice! I look forward to seeing some of these improvements!!

Anyway, the rest of the volunteering went well. I was with 2 really nice folks. One was from the Cayman Islands originally and even knew an old college friend of mine, Annie Briggs! Small world! (Ala)Michelle came by and we caught up a bit. She couldn't make the dinner later, due to staying with friends (and needing to visit with them instead). Still great to see her! One of the parents of a student I took to France last year came by as well. She recognized my name from my name tag! Random! Chatted with some Chilean runners, South Africans, a nice guy from Guinée (he seemed pleased I could speak French! :) ), a guy from Brighton, UK and many more. I loved seeing the excitement and anticipation in everyone's faces. I will definitely do this again next year!! Perhaps next year I will actually register on time myself, and run the darn thing, too!!

After my shift, I played around at the expo- did a cool Mizuno foot analysis thingy. Pretty much told me everything I knew, but I got a print out of my feet! :D Listened to Grete Weitz speak. Very very cool! Finally found Tithers/Sherry at her Tri booth. Chatted a bit with her, then got back on the Marta (in the rain) and headed back to Lindbergh- the dinner meet up spot. I was a good hour early, so I hung out at Taco Mac for a bit. Sherry got there first and we went over to the Chili's and waited for the rest of the group. All in all it was a great dinner. Got to meet Aimee (luckylily) and her husband and the twins!!!! I'm definitely in love with the boys! Such cute sweeties! I also met Lloyd (Roots), Becca and Brian (Snooze and Toejam) and Sarah (Stitcher) who drove in all the way from Auburn, AL! Beth/Crazyfrog and Heather/QN were also present!

It was long, exhausting day, but well worth it. Now it's time to focus on next Saturday's 10K in Charleston, SC (Cooper River Bridge Run). I will be running after work tomorrow for sure. Stay tuned. I will also upload some photos from Saturday here, once I've dumped them from my camera!