2010 Great Lakes Multisport Expo

Yesterday, Jason and I venture to Milwaukee for the 2010 Great Lakes Multisport Expo. We had the Expo on our calendar for the past month or so. I'm a very (like to be) scheduled person and try to schedule at least one date with my hubby each month. So, we arranged for daycare and drove to Milwaukee late morning. We went to the expo, had lunch at our favorite "Milwaukee-area" salad bar, did a little shopping (and purchased little to nothing) and indulged in Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, before picking up the kids at dinner-time.

The event was promoted as a way to cure our January boredom in Wisconsin and to forget about the crummy weather. It was a way to get fired up about the upcoming racing season of 2010. The event featured multisport, running and cycling gear, information and events all weekend long.

Jason and I donated last year's running shoes (three pairs each), as they were asking for old running shoes and racing shirts, to be sent to victims of the tragedy in Haiti.

There was an individual 20K bike time trial, a 6-hour time trial bike competition and the winter Series 5K championships taking place. You could also swim and give the endless pool a try. We just spectated and walked around all the booths.

We received the free goody bage with our $10/person admission, which mostly included a lot of flyers and advertisements for races. We did pick up some nutrition (below) and a sweat band at some of the few booths the offered free goodies.

A lot of the booths were free opportunities to try out equipment, massage or training programs/coaches. We didn't really find there to be much for those interested in buying gear, clothes, nutrition and the expo lacked giveaways and goodies. We did sign up for a lot of drawings for giftbaskets and gift certificates, but we'll probably just end up on 25 more distribution lists!! :-)

Jason purchased nothing and i purchased this long-sleeve technical shirt from I Run Like a Girl for only $10 (tax included!).

The expo was larger than those at most races we go to, however we think it could have the potential to be much larger ... especially if were placed in Madison at the Alliant Energy Center.

Even though the event didn't quite meet our expectations (even though I'm not exactly sure what our expectations were!!), we were glad we went and paid the $20 to get in. It give us some time together without the kids and let us get away for half of the day and be "us". It also got us geared up for racing season and we had a lot to talk about at lunch afterwards ... racing, my upcoming half at Disney and all that we had planned for our fourth family trip there, and goals for ourselves this year. I find it so funny, because whenever we usually do go out on a date, it's like, "What do we talk about???!!!", and we end up just talking about the kids.