More Thoughts From WDS

(Edit: Hello, visitors from Chris and Tyler’s blogs! You really should read my previous post before reading this one. And [shameless plug alert] you can also visit my new WDS-inspired running-focused website, I Will Run a Marathon.)

In my last post, I focused mainly on the parts of my trip to the World Domination Summit that related to my new goal of running a marathon. But there were a lot of other things going on. I won’t write a book, but I’ll cover most of the highlights, in mostly chronological order.

On my way out to Portland, I got a nice scare. I flew from Charlotte (CLT) to Phoenix (PHX), then Phoenix to Portland (PDX). When it was time to board in Charlotte, the overhead bins were already full, so I had to check one of my bags. I told them my final destination was Portland, and they handed me a baggage claim ticket.

After we were in the air, I looked at the claim ticket, and it said PWM. In case you’re not up on your airport codes, that’s Portland, Maine. I think I harassed every US Airways employee in both PHX and PDX trying to make sure my bag ended up in Oregon, but in the end, it showed up on the baggage carousel in the right Portland, and I somehow resisted the urge to kiss my bag once I picked it up. So everything worked out, and though it wasn’t much fun at the time, I can laugh about it now.

Thursday evening, I walked from my hotel (The Paramount, very nice, very convenient, but niceness and convenience don’t come cheap) to the pre-WDS event at Punchbowl Social. While I was walking, I pretty much fell completely in love with the city of Portland. There was this vibe, like no other place I’ve ever been. Not just during that walk, but for the entire weekend I felt so incredibly comfortable. My family lives in North Carolina, and I don’t think I could live that far away from them, but if things were different, I would move to Portland tomorrow.

Friday morning, after my run, I participated in The Great Namaste. I’d never done yoga before, but I figured it was a chance to be part of a world record, and opportunities like that don’t come along every day. It was fun, although I was off to the side of the stage, which made it difficult to see. Also, I was very close to the base of the crane that they used to take the aerial photos, and any time the crane moved the motor started up, and I couldn’t hear anything from the stage either. Still, I enjoyed it, and now I have a yoga mat, so I might actually start taking classes.

Beer. Portland has lots of beer. Considering I walked everywhere, I didn’t really drink all that much beer while I was there. Two beers that really stood out to me were Bridgeport Brewing Stumptown Tart, a Belgian, and Laurelwood Free Range Red, an amber. The Free Range Red was especially good. Amber is probably my favorite style of beer, and it was one of the best I’ve ever had. Sadly, they don’t seem to distribute to North Carolina…yet.

I guess I should explain the cape and the blue face paint that I mentioned at the end of my last entry. The cape was first mentioned by Dee Williams in her talk. She talked about putting on an invisible cape to give yourself a confidence boost, but at the WDS Closing Party, they gave out actual capes, so of course I had to put on my cape. Also during the Closing Party, there was Bollywood dancing with DJ Prashant, and at one point, they had different colored dusts that they were throwing around at everybody. I avoided most of it, since I was wearing shorts that I planned to wear on the flight home the next morning, but I did manage to grab some and smear it on my face, because why not?

Finally, on Monday morning, while I was at PDX waiting for my flight home, I bought my ticket for WDS 2015. If you’re thinking about going next year, do it, you’ll have a blast.

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