Spin to Win

This weekend couldn’t be any busier for me. Number 1 has a choir festival tomorrow which means a 6:30 rise and a 10:00 pick-up tomorrow night; thank goodness for car-pooling! Number 2 has a late morning birthday party in the next town to attend. Daddy gets home from work sometime tonight before 2:00 a.m., which will certainly leave him in bed until noon. Me? I have to get to the runner’s expo in Hamilton – in the complete opposite direction of everything else – sometime before 6:00 p.m. and I can’t wait.

I’m not excited about getting my race kit with my bib number, chip, t-shirt and all of the other swag that comes with it. Well, perhaps I’m a teensy bit excited about getting a new tech. shirt. I really can’t wait to get to the Runner’s Expo. Imagine dozens of running stores selling socks, shoes, jackets, running skirts…. And it gets better. Since it’s an expo, there are likely to be discount prices. My heart is pumping now as I write this.

Even #2 is looking forward to the expo. Last year, I took him to one in Mississauga and he was my usual adorable 3 year old who was also driving me crazy. All I wanted to do was buy a Running Skirt from the RunningSkirt.com girls but he had other ideas. Next to their booth was the Running Room’s display with a Wheel of Fortune type of wheel. Number 2 had a great time spinning it – but only managed to get me a 10% discount there. With all of the frustration he created, he really should have tried harder for the 50% discount. I was able to sidetrack him long enough so that I could pick up two Running Skirts; it’s amazing what you can do with a lollipop.

Tonight, while standing in line at the bank, a real estate agent had his own Wheel set up for entries to a raffle for a digital frame, radio, $100 gift card… Well, my little man now has a year of spinning experience under his belt and got right to it. Spin after spin, he constantly ended up at the $250 gift card! The agent said he had never seen anything like it and felt compelled to put my name into that draw; let’s cross our fingers and toes (maybe not toes; that would hurt to run).

As we left the bank, Number 2 stated that he can’t wait to go to Hamilton tomorrow because he’ll be able to spin the Wheel there too. Honestly! How can a 4 year old remember what was at a Running Expo from the previous year? All I had spoken about was picking up my race kit and looking for a new skirt and socks to buy (and he helped me preshop online tonight; what a good son!).

So, I will bravely bring my 4 year old to the Running Expo tomorrow afternoon to pick up my swag bag, purchase a thing or two (okay, maybe more) and I will let him spin the wheel. Depending on how we do, we may register for the Vegas Marathon in the fall.