The day started early with my feet hitting the floor at 4:30am. By 6, I was on my way to Calgary and at the airport by 7. By 9:15 Vancouver time, we were off the plane and ready to get this party started!
Luckily, we could check into our rental suite earlier than planned and were soon out on Main Street looking to get our shopping going and to eat. One of the MUST SEE destinations on my itinerary was Distance Runwear on Main. LOVE IT! This small shop has a small but unique selection of runwear that you can't find everywhere. I really wanted a Oiselle tshirt (especially since my Run Like a Mother tee is showing its age) and I was able to pick up this one in violet. I was also super happy to find coffee lipbalm there AND the Gu Brew tablets I've been dying to try since they aren't artificially sweetened. I really enjoyed chatting with the owner, Dave, and convincing him that he needs to run that half in 1:12 so I can win his contest ;)
After lunch - we hopped into a cab to hit MUST SEE #2 - the Lululemon Outlet in Burnaby. We decided to take a cab there and save ourselves the frustration of the train.
Because I have searched and searched for blogger reviews of the outlet and really had no idea what to expect - I figured I would share some pics and my description for those who've never been.
First of all - no signage. It is in a warehousey area and you don't really see it until you are on top of it. Being unfamiliar with the area, I was happy we had cabbed it. I could see us getting hopelessly lost trying to get there on transit.
On the inside - it is fairly well organized into racks by size. For each size there is about twice the size of the average clearance rack in a retail Lulu store. We knew it would be hit and miss, but on this day there was A LOT of the teeny sizes and not so many items in the average woman sizes. Not a huge surprise, since it is always kind of the same in a regular location. As for the pricing - no insane deals were to be had. It just felt like a clearance centre for Lululemon.
In the end, I only bought a sweatshirt, a bra and some arm warmers. It was all good, though. Frees me up to "invest" in a couple of pieces if I don't spend money on things I don't really want/need/look good in.
When we were done at the outlet, my best friend from high school, C3, picked us up and took us over to see her new condo. Then we all drove back into the city...it was Expo time.
As we drove up Cambie, it was cool to see the city dressed up for the Marathon. I loved seeing the banners over the bridges.
We parked a few blocks away from Canada Place and walked over. First stop was picking up our race packages and then it was time to explore the fun stuff and see what we could spend our money on!
Right inside the main doors was the Running Room booth. They had an assortment of Saucony Run Van merchandise. I came really close to buying a hooded soft shell...I still might go back and get it tomorrow...
There were alot of people there but since it was around dinner time, it wasn't as insane as I had heard it was a different parts of the day today and yesterday. I expect tomorrow will be busier.
Saw the stage where I will be on the Sports Blogger Q & A panel tomorrow. (1-2pm, in case you want to attend)
Got a pic of me there too...
Hit the iFitness booth to buy add on bottles for my new belt. I also asked them if they sold replacement caps for the bottles since one of mine seems to leak. They don't, but the guy at the booth was really quick to hand me a replacement bottle! Such awesome customer service!
The girl at the booth also gave me the most brilliant use of a gel loop ever! Lip balm holder! I am so doing this with mine!
As we were wandering around - I also recognized Nikki from Slow is the New Fast at the Fitter First booth and swooped in to introduce myself even though she was busy talking to the Travel Roller guy (yes - the one with the abs. Just google the roller - you'll see what I mean.) We're meeting up for dinner tomorrow anyway - but it was so great to meet someone in person who I already feel like I "know". Of course - I'd already interrupted her conversation so didn't bother her to take a pic...we can do that tomorrow!
JS and I then met John Stanton and stopped for a pic. She's probably going to kill me for saying this, but when I told her I wanted a pic - JS told me "We can't talk to him - he's a "celebrity"!" Yep - I totally made fun of her for it and made her take the pic anyway! It was awesome!
Then we were so hungry we had to leave...but not before taking this AWESOME shot of us outside Canada Place!
The banners on Burrard Bridge:
Race package:
Shopping and expo haul:
Overall - I think the expo was the nicest I've been to. There were a lot of vendors from all corners of the running world. While there weren't many expo specials, the merchandise was still awesome and I had so much fun exploring everything. I didn't buy much today, but I can see myself bringing home more stuff tomorrow now that I've thought about it.
Ok - now I am exhausted and it is super late. Time to get some sleep so I can start all over again tomorrow!
So so so jealous! I am wanting to go to a Lululemon store and a big race expo so bad. Looks like a runners paradise! Have final and good luck!
ReplyDeleteThe Lulu Warehouse sounds just like the warehouse sales that I've been to. Luckily for me I'm a size 4 so there's usually quite a bit. Tres cool that you met John Stanton! I've heard that he's super nice! Good luck in your race tomorrow!! And enjoy your blogger dinner out! :o)
ReplyDeleteGood luck tomorrow!!!! I was at the expo in the early afternoon. Make sure you stop by Sporty Jewels and consider treating yourself. Both the owner, Denise, and her expo helper, Rainy, are members of my run club!
ReplyDeletePS - let me know if you are still considering trading the short sleeve for the long sleeve!!
JS actually bought herself a medal rack there!
Deleteand I totally forgot about our talk about trading! I actually think I'm going to keep the s/s. It fits perfectly so I think I will actually get a fair bit of wear out of it.