no finishers medal, but an almost free vacation?

the friday before the marathon, I went to the expo with Terron to pick up my race kit, where we wandered around a while checking out the vendors... filled in a few ballots and bumped into a few running friends and bloggers.

Last week, I got a phone call from one of the vendors at the expo (I went back to their website to check the list of vendors as I didn't remember them there), where I had supposedly filled out a ballot telling me that I had won a trip for two to a list of places.  Me being the skeptic that I am, was hesitant. Confirmed it wasn't timeshare, but yes, I did have to go listen to a presentation. I told her right off the bat that I was not interested in high-pressure sales, and would NOT be buying anything, so if that was the catch, I wasn't interested, but she said that the trip was mine regardless of my answer at the end of the presentation.  She also mentioned that for my time, I'd be given a $50 prepaid Mastercard. Hmm.  By the end of the conversation, I had agreed to go to the presentation booked for this morning... Terron had overheard everything, and said "...but mom, you never win anything!"

Jay knows that I have a hard time saying no and am typically a people pleaser, so he was worried that I was going to this thing alone. But I also know my current employment/financial position, so this was a no-brainer.

I've been disappointed a lot in my life, by other people's lies and promises, so I seem to put up a protective wall when things seem too good to be true. I also tend not to get overly excited by things until they materialize to avoid setting myself up for further disappointment. But seeing as how it was only 10 minutes away from my house, and I was told I'd at least get the $50 Mastercard, why not.

Basically, I walked in there, had a brief conversation with a girl, went in for the presentation and video, was then led into another room where they would begin their sales pitch. Her first question was what I thought, and I told her right off the bat that while I found it interesting, it wasn't for me at this time. With that I was given my Mastercard, and the mail-in certificate for my mini vacation, no further questions asked! I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the high-pressure setting that I anticipated, and was out of there in less than 90 minutes.

Trip is a 3day/2night hotel accommodation and flight for 2 to Orlando, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Anaheim, San Diego, Las Vegas or Washington, to be taken within a year. When the destinations were rattled off during that initial phone call, my immediate thought was -- Perfect, I'll take Terron to Orlando so him and I can both see Disney World for the first time during summer break!!  

But now reading the rules and regulations of the trip, it's not quite that easy.  

First, both traveling must be 21 years or older. Crap. (I'll just look into buying his flight separately). Secondly, I need to send in this registration form, they'll send back a "guarantee" letter requesting my preferred travel dates, which must be at least 60 days in advance... so it won't be happening during the summer, but no biggie.

So, while my marathon experience itself came filled with lessons learned, pride, disappointment, pain, tears, frustration, several weeks of no running, and no finishers medal, I'll still appreciate the trip and where it came from :)