2011 IMT Des Moines Half Marathon, Des Moines, Iowa

I thought I was done running half marathons for the year, but my friend Tracy found this great race in Des Moines, Iowa, which is only 1.5 hours from her home. So I traveled to her house and then Tracy and I traveled together to Des Moines. When we arrived at only 10:30 in the morning we stopped at our hotel first to see if we could check in and to our surprise Holiday Inn Express said they had a room for us so we got to check in and dump all our stuff before going to the running expo. Soon after checking in we went to the running expo. This was a SUPER AWESOME expo. We received lots and lots of freebies there along with our race number, race shirts and timing chip for the race.  If you care about results then go here.   Here are some pictures to enjoy!

Tracy and I taking a picture of ourselves right before we left on our trip.

I had to have a picture of her little convertible car.  But this picture doesn't really show her car well.



We hadn't even been upstairs to the expo yet and I had to have a picture with a sign.



Tracy and I just outside the expo.

At our hotel you could order what type of pillows you wanted, there were soft and firm pillows. 



For lunch we went to an excellent restaurant call Dos Rios.  It was an upscale Mexican restaurant.  Loved the food, loved the service and I will visit this restaurant again the next time I'm in Des Moines, it is that great.



One of the booths had a great deal on socks and hats, only $2.50 each.  The black visor is for Jason.

Front of the race shirt.

back of the race shirt.

My race number

After the expo, Tracy got a picture of me with all my freebies.

A close up of all the goodies, along with my race number.

We watched the Hawkeye game on a huge screen tv.  Great game.

The timing chips and emergency information on our shoes.

We arrived super early for the race, around 6:30a.m.  It was still dark out.

Our spaghetti dinner with breadsticks.  It was great.

My race pace.  Maybe next year it will be 10:00

Massive amounts of port-a-potties everywhere, as far as the eyes could see.  Thank goodness for that.

One more picture before I checked in my camera with my coat at the baggage check. 



Tracy and I after the race with our finishing medal on.

A close up of us after the race.