Nissan Quality of Life Expo in Chicago

I spent a little time in the afternoon at the Nissan Quality of Life Expo at Chicago’s Navy Pier. I have so much to report back, that I think a list might be the way to go:

• The best t-shirt is a tie between Montees “In My Mind I Am A Kenyan” and the official Chicago Half-Marathon & 5K shirts that read simply “I Run This City”.

• Chatted with Bobby Overton of Overton Fitness about his Spibelt. Loved the product, and bought one in olive after trying it out by shoving my BlackBerry and all sorts of other crap in the pouch and hopping around. I’m keen to also pick up one of their reflective Spibelts, too. I’ll run with it for a week or so and give it a proper review here on Bonkless after. Spibelt seems to have addressed the age-old issue of having keys, ID and mobile device flopping around during a run.

• Talked with a guy associated with both the Geist Half-Marathon & 5K and the Indianapolis Marathon & Half-Marathon. The Indianapolis Marathon is of particular interest, folks, because it’s a marathon, half-marathon, 5K run/walk, and marathon relay, which is cool if you’ve never done a marathon relay. Also, it’s got low crowd numbers, is really a pretty flat course so it’s a good Boston qualifier.

• Talked with two women associated with the Disney Endurance Series. I have it on good authority that the Disney Marathon is a fun race. Plus, say the words “Florida in January” to a Chicago resident and our eyes turn to pinwheels. Their Tower of Terror 13K night race sounds kind of fun, as well. Speaking of escaping to Florida when it’s cold in Chicago, I also chatted with both the ING Miami Marathon and Publix Escape Miami Triathlon guy and entered to win free race registration, and then met a rep from Team Challenge, who, much like Team In Training, trains runners of all skill levels to run the ING Miami Marathon and others while raising money for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America, and you know I’m all about combining endurance sports and philanthropy whenever possible. Then, I met the ladies from the ING Georgia Marathon, which is not only a pretty race, but one of historical interest, as runners pass civil rights landmarks and the birthplace of MLK.

• I met the wonderful ladies of the Chicago chapter of Girls on The Run, a program that uses the skills and confidence of running to help young girls develop healthy habits and a positive self-image. They offer a coaching program for women that I’m really keen to do at some point. They’re behind the Wonder Girl 5K races, too.

• The guys behind Tru02 gave me a sample can of their oxygen-enriched air to test out post-run. Will report back on that a little later, too, once I’ve had a chance to try it out.

• Chatted with the Chicago Endurance Sports folks for a fast moment, about their running programs from beginner to fine-tuning the intermediate runner, triathlon programs, cycling clinics, yoga and pilates for runners, and core performance for athletes programs. Now that is awesome. I’m a big advocate of core strength as a foundation, so I’m glad to see the yoga, pilates and core strengthening programs being offered. Also Illinois Runs was on hand with info about their runner training programs, with emphasis on the Chicago Half-Marathon and the full Marathon races next year. And, CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) was around, too, of course, with info about their training programs, clinics and injury prevention hotline.

• I met and talked for a while with Erik McClain, director of development for Pancreatica Running Team, and found the work they’re doing to be of great interest. They’re a small organization, to be sure, and so they make the absolute most of their budget, devoting almost all funding to research, as opposed to say advertising, public awareness and research. What I found particularly cool about the organization, aside from it being an organization supporting pancreatic cancer research is that athletes can do whatever events they want to raise money for them, not just participate in certain designated races. Sure, some races are on their website, races in which several other Pancreatica team members are participating, but any race is good in their view. And, I think that’s really cool. Apparently, a guy in Arkansas thinks this is very cool, too, and he is sleeping to raise money for pancreatic cancer. Hey, whatever works.