I <3 Swag

Spent several hours checking in, wandering the sponsor booths, and then racking my bike today. I freaking love swag.

Technically speaking not everything that I came away with was swag. Swag is the free stuff, and I did buy a couple of things: bright yellow Crocs and a couple of those little doo-dads that you pop into the holes (a pink crown and a big round shiny diamonoid), and a pair of open water goggles. Regular swim goggles are a huge pain. They are small, they tend to leak, if someone bumps you they pop right off. Sally Edwards, world class triathlete and paid final-finisher for the Danskin triathlon series, pushes these goggles at her "first-timer's talk," so I finally tried some on today and they seem to be pretty sweet. They are not off-the-rack prescription like my other ones but I'll manage. Maybe it will be better if I can't see properly...

But I did get some swag, which I swear is half the reason I do these things. Okay, maybe more than half. Every participant gets a tank top which this year turned out to be an unfortunate raspberry pink. We each got a red nylon and mesh bag which will be quite handy for the stuff we have to take to the race tomorrow. And at the sponsors' tents, oh the goodies! Water bottles, carabiner key chains, little first aid kits, baseball hats, packets of sunscreen, and pocketknife-style bike tools with Allen wrenches and screwdriver heads. And little single-serving peanut butters. And water. And "Sport Beanz" jellybeans. And Soleil razors.

Tomorrow morning I have to be up early to be there on time. So I'm getting up at like 5am... Ugh.