Gasparilla Classic 2012 Expo

A mad house to park!  First, I was planning on going during my lunch break, but something came up at work and I needed to be available for a noon meeting, so I thought I would simply go earlier.  Mind you, its 14 miles away, but all highway miles (I'm literally a half mile from the highway).  It took me 29 minutes to get into the parking lot.  There was no traffic.  It was because the parking garage was prepay and only ONE booth was set up, so there was no way that more than one car could enter the garage at a time, then they had to swipe/pay and then wait for a ticket, and then so forth.  Ridiculous (for Tampa...would be amazing for LA or NYC!).  At least by the time I left, two booths were operational and there appeared to be no delay in entering the garage.

So, I walk the entire 4-5 minutes to the expo.  Hmmm....I'm mixed on my perception of the expo.  I was a bit bothered by how many people (who had nothing to do with the run) were trying to scoop up all the freebies.  I hope there would be more left for the runners who attend tomorrow.  Maybe its simply because a lot of people came on their lunch hour from a nearby office, even if it was a tad early for that?  There are a ton of businesses there, since it is pretty much in downtown Tampa.  I suppose what annoyed me is how the few ladies behind me in the Publix line (none of them knew each other before this line) were telling why they couldn't run, but they wanted to do so some day.  Seriously.  They had no intention.  So, if they felt the need to justify them being there....they didn't.  Just say you wanted to check out the wellness information available...then, I could respect it!  Just don't lie.

As for the merchandise, there were a lot of the regular expo participants, as well as some of the deep discounters.  I'm surprised that the deep discounters had some corner space.  I don't care for the visual clutter of the deep discounters.  I know that they probably have some decent items in there, but when you don't NEED anything, I just can't justify the time to search for a deal.

Free samples included detour bars (the one I tasted was JUST LIKE a reese's peanut butter cup), which were not bad at all for 15 grams of protein and 170 calories....quite impressed with these.  There were also packets of olives, sargento cheese, popcorn, pretzel chips, car magnet, salad shaker (these were quite nice, thank you Publix).  As for the SWAG....shirt and a publix reusable bag.  Not too impressive there.

But, I did check out the Sports Authority Gasparilla-themed section...nice.  I loved the red shirt, but can't really justify another t-shirt.  I did, however, need more singlets...so that was my purchase today.  Suppose I need to determine tonight what the proper garb will be for tomorrow morning...come rain or shine!