Hey hey, Kelsey here!  Revelrea had a booth last weekend at the Malibu Half Marathon & 5K race.

OMG, WAS IT A BLAST.  I'm here to tell you!

The event is on beautiful Zuma Beach (plenty of sunshine—hello hats!) and attended by mostly female runners. Logistics from DC to Cali were tricky.  First I booked a flight (Friday night, redeye Sunday). Then equipment (thank you fast shipping!). I decided to ship some of the hat inventory and pack the rest in a carry-on. After work on Friday, I hopped on the plane to LAX...

SATURDAY – EXPO DAY

Early Saturday I took off for Malibu. I drove into Zuma and setup.  It was intimidating, but the organizers were super helpful. This is our lovely booth. Look at that beach backdrop!

At 10am, the expo opened. It was awesome to meet the runners and rewarding to feel the excitement for Revelrea hats. 

In the afternoon, Kristin and Christina of Modish Digital visited and helped. Their photography has been instrumental to our launch, and they’ve also become friends. Revelrea cheerleaders, they didn’t require any training to start selling! 

That’s a wrap. Later that night, the expo ended and it was time to break down the booth. The day was a huge success. Tons of Revelrea interest! It was one of those days that will be forever etched in memory.  I packed the car and watched the beach sunset before driving to my friends' house.

SUNDAY – 5K & HALF MARATHON

Revelrea ♥ running. I laced up and left, even earlier (4:30am!). I called my new runner friend Aisha Zaza.  She lives in Santa Barbara and was also driving to the race. Doesn’t she rock the Yade cap so well?!

We said a quick hello then split up for our races. I floated around the grounds before my 5K started. There were SO MANY Revelrea hats in the crowd! Here are a few...

5K. Let’s gooooo!  The race started. I cried happy tears around mile 2. 

This is also when it was crucial to have a hat on—the sun was INTENSE!  

Finish line.  After finishing, Aisha and I met up, took some fun photos, and bopped around the expo.

Beach and pier time.  This is what's so amazing about the Malibu race...when you finish, just change into your swimsuit in the car and hang out on Zuma beach!

It was heaven. Around 3pm, I booked it to Malibu Pier for some fish tacos. 

Back to DC.  I drove back to my friends’ house around 5pm, then got ready for my redeye flight.

On the flight, I slept like a baby with the help of a few melatonin gummies. I woke to the pilot announcing we were 20 minutes to landing at Dulles.

Once home in DC, I changed into work clothes and went in to my day job as a lawyer. I drank a lot of coffee that day.

In the words of Biggie:

It was all a dream. ♥