Chip is our timing chip! |
My stalker photo of the Sea Wheeze fish and bear. |
The check in lines moved quickly. We had to sign our release forms and then got our cinch sacks, our timing chip and wristband, a coupon for our free flip flops, a coupon for 15% off the Sea Wheeze store, a coupon for free JJBean coffee, and a little cheat-sheet laminated card that indicates where the start corrals are and a listing of the weekend events. I like the cheat sheet card a lot. My husband helped work the check out, I think with the tall man pictured at the right of photo, and he was surprised how many people said it was their first time running a half marathon. I think that's pretty cool and maybe I'll have some company in the back tomorrow. ;-) I heard at the store yesterday that about 40% of the runners are lululemon employees and about half of the runners are from the US. I know a few girls from my local stores are coming up for the race.
Wristband and timing chip |
View from inside the store looking at the check in counter. The "trees" are where the clothes are. |
Keep On Running Duffel, $148 - so gorgeous!!! |
My very modest Sea Wheeze haul |
Close up of the dark plum/purple Swiftly pattern |
All the clothes were grouped by size - 2 to 10. The Sea Wheeze lung "trees" denote the size stations. Shorts were in cubbies or racks next to them. The striped CRBs were gone in the first hour. There were long lines for the dressing rooms and an ENORMOUS line to check out. I think I waited well over an hour. It was pretty crazy trying to run around to find sizes if you were buying for a few people. However, they had a DJ blasting out some pretty awesome music to help pass the time.
For my own personal haul, I bought the dark plum Swiftly tank, two Swiftly headbands in the lime and plum, and the plaid hat. I had the Lime Run For Your Life in my hand but figured I could live without it. However, I must say the workers got the coolest shirts of all and when lulu does this next year, I hope they make shirts like this for the runners:
The volunteers got Five Year Tees with the Sea Wheeze Trees on front and the Sea Wheeze 2012 Race logo on the back. I believe women got Every Yogi tees with the same. I am totally jealous because this is exactly the shirt I would have wanted - one with the race name and date on it. The lulu employees had two other flavors of shirts that I would have loved even more - a dark classic sport gray Swiftly with the same two logos. The other one, which I would have killed for, was a cream CRB with the Sea Wheeze Fish on the front and the Sea Wheeze logo on the back. I briefly considered offering a worker cash on the spot for one but knew they would never go for it.
My suggestion for next year is that employees, since they are such a large percentage at this race, get to shop later and/or have a separate check out line. Since they get to pay a discounted rate for their Sea Wheeze clothes I think the full-paying customers should get first crack at them. At least give us a few dedicated check out lines so we can get out of there faster. The guy at the checkout told me they did not expect to sell so much and were worried about having enough stuff for tomorrow. I can believe that because people were buying like mad. I also heard that later in the day they were limiting people to three of a style. I didn't really see people buying multiples of the same thing but I was busy and didn't look too closely. However, from what I saw people holding onto in line, it looked like people had a variety of stuff. I also think I was in the more casual-buyer group. My husband said there was a line to get into the place at 7 am, a full hour before opening time.
This was the Luon Lounge where you could get a massage and manicure or pedicure. I wouldn't have minded but my kids were fed up. They had spent three hours quietly playing their Nintendos and wanted to leave. Of course, that is the time I actually had time to chat and I was able to meet Lulumum (which was pretty cool since we chat behind the scenes quite a bit) and a reader/fellow This Just In Facebook board member, Ms. X. I'm sure I'll get to meet more people tomorrow.
This was the scene for the noon yoga.
And that was my morning. I didn't find out anything about the medal except that it's nice and "very lululemon" which I take to mean it's a bit on the wacky side, like the Shop Naked ad or the Poser bag. I'm betting there is at least a fish and bear on the medal.
My Sea Wheeze lulu haul - showing the cinch sack we got at check in |
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