Thursday started off a little different than planned.  I was going to go to work until noon and Ashley was going to meet me at my office and we were going to head up to the Runner’s World festivities .  Life doesn’t always go according to plan and when I got home on Wednesday, little Fin was incredibly sick and needed a trip to the emergency vet. After a very long night, I ended up staying home from work all together Thursday (and poor Fin stayed at the vet until Saturday!!). I’d like to blame the stress from the night before for the fact that after I picked up Ashley in Dupont, I got super lost…but that happened about 281 times over the course of the weekend so it’s just me haha.

So we headed up to Bethlehem to our hotel without incident, once we were on the road.  I make that trip a lot, since it’s so close to my parents’ house and this was one of the easiest trips ever.  It was so nice to have company!

Nice view of Bethlehem, PA where the race was. Perfect fall scenery!

We were greeted by these swag bags when we got to the hotel

The swag bag included SWEATY BANDS! My favorite!

After we traveled to the Runner’s World headquarters in Emmaus, in a party bus…no big deal… (picture from Alec at Pop Fit Life ) 

Sweet ride for the bloggers!

Smores Pit!

We were greeted by Bart Yasso when we got off the bus. We all totally geeked out and took pictures. By the end of the weekend we were all like “Hey Bart!”

Sign in the Runner’s World Cafeteria

Everyone there was so nice, regardless of how well known they were.  We were treated to a cookout (fact: we call cookouts “barbecues” in the Lehigh Valley. But this BBQ included hotdogs and hamburgers and no barbecued meat!), dessert and then a shoe fitting by the awesome people, and title race sponsors, from Altra . More about the shoes in a later post…but I promise you they’re awesome!

So many boxes of Altra Zero Drop shoes!

Golden Harper from Altra Zero Drop

While we were eating, we had a special visitor come sit down at our table. The one and only Amby Burfoot !  I’m not going to lie… I got so nervous when he sat down I started to get hives!

Taking a total creeper shot of Amby as he talks to the Neon Blonde Runner, Kat

Just hanging at dinner with Amby Burfoot. NBD.

He was so interested in blogging and how it worked for us.  It was so weird to think that he had questions about the things we do!

Runner’s World Bloggers – Elena, Lynda, Sara, Larisa, Me and Mark Remy

Of course, no trip to Runner’s World Headquarters is complete without a tour! After everyone was done eating, snapping pictures, and getting fit for shoes, Bart Yasso took us on a tour. Seriously guys. I just can’t get used to talking about Bart Yasso like he’s a normal person…but he really is. So approachable and so accommodating to guests!

A wall of photos of the Rave Runs from Runner’s World Magazine

Runner’s World December Covers

Runner’s World Bart Yasso’s Office

More from Bart’s office

After the tour concluded, we were treated to SMORES! It was such a fun treat! I had a hard time getting my marshmallows over to the graham crackers and chocolate. I kept pulling them off the stick and eating them right away!

Delicious Smores at Runner’s World

We had such an amazing evening, I couldn’t imagine how we’d be able to top it in the coming days…but we did! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post about our Friday in Bethlehem -Running with Bart Yasso,  Altra Zero Drop  demo, hanging with Shalane Flanagan, expo and the blogger dinner.

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