Hey everyone! I hope you’re all having a great weekend! I’m guessing that most of you are reading this after I’ve already finished the Rock N Roll Half! Let’s hope I survived and it wasn’t too hot! On Friday afternoon I got to check out the expo, which I was really excited for since I’ve never been to a race expo before! I always just picked up my bib at a running store.
The expo was in McCormick Place, which is a huge convention center south of the loop in Chicago. I left from work early and then met my cousin there, who is also running. Before she arrived I went through to get my bib and “swag bag” and then headed over to the Brooks area!
They had contacted me to let me know about the gait analysis they were doing for runners! Brooks had a huge area set up in the expo with tons of fun games for families. I found the gait analysis area, introduced myself, and was led up to the top of this bus!
They had me run on a treadmill barefoot and taped it with an iPad. It immediately went up onto a screen where he looked at my running form. I found out that I have a mid-foot strike (good) and that I overpronate on my right foot. I realize I do this because my hips are offset and my right leg is slightly further down than my left.
Then he went over a couple Brooks shoes that would be good for me and wrote up my “prescription”
They even sent me the info from my analysis, along with pictures, to my e-mail!
Here are all the shoes they sent me in the e-mail that would work for my feet and stride:
After getting my gait analysis I went and looked at their shoes and tried on the pure connect, which he suggested. Very cool shoes!
I’d also really like to try the Ghost, since they seem a little more similar to the shoes I currently wear, with more heel support.
Once you walked out of the games area, and before entering the rest of the expo, they had a ton of their gear set up! Ahhh I was so tempted! The shorts looked adorable, and pretty comfy!
After going through the brooks area, I met up with my cousin and we circled around the expo. She worked in PR and works with companies who do things like expos and told me if they aren’t giving away something for free, they aren’t taking it seriously. Haha, it was great to walk around with her. We picked up a few goodies but a lot of things had gluten or soy so I didn’t get much. We actually had a fun time because she’s allergic to soy so we’d scoff whenever someone used soy in their product. Haha all in good fun.
We even saw some of the old contestants from the Biggest Loser!
I LOVE this show! Haha
Well, if you’re reading this before 8:30am central time, say a prayer for me because I’ll definitely still be running!
Oh, and before I go, Molly wanted to say hi!
Do you have any Brooks gear?
Have you been to a race expo?