The National Running Show 2018

My son and I both got free tickets to the first National Running Show at the NEC in Birmingham. We set off before breakfast to drive down the M6 to try and get there as close to the start as possible. In the end we arrived half an hour after it began. 

First stop for me was the Run Mummy Run stand. With 54,000 members online it was no wonder I had to wait 30 minutes to get to the stand! At least some of the lovely members were keeping us entertained with the selfie frame:

It was lovely to be able to have time to chat in real life to other runners from the community which I am part of online. Eventually I had purchased by Run Mummy Run hat and was able to try out the alcohol free beer from Erdinger:

I missed the talk from Dame Kelly Holmes but saw her in the VIP Meet & Greet section:

Another exciting meet was with Susan Wheatcroft from Virtual Runner UK who has helped us to fill our medal racks and raises thousands for charity every year:

We were in time to listen to the inspirational Jo Pavey talking about training after having children and winning her first gold medal at 40:

The rest of the show was mostly stands from suppliers, races and people offering advice or even physiotherapy! Unfortunately I was broke and my son was bored so we only stayed in for a couple of hours.

I then arranged to meet a friend at Resort World on the far side of the complex. We seemed to walk miles to get all the way across and then outside through the landscaped grounds:

We have been told that next year the show will be bigger and better. Hopefully we can be more organised and stay somewhere nearby to make it more of a weekend and less stressful for me as a driver!