Though I have been an active long-distance walker for about 10 years, I have never been to the Arnold Sports Festival before this year. It’s held in Columbus, OH annually and draws a huge and varied crowd.

The expo was quite a bit different from any marathon expo I’ve ever attended. First of all, it was much more crowded than any expo I’ve been to. There is no way you could even get to a booth you wanted to visit — there were way too many people! We spent a lot of time stuck in the middle of a crowd not moving.

Second, I felt fat and tiny at the exact same time. A lot of the body building women wore very little clothing showing off the fact that they had absolutely no body fat and amazing bodies. At the same time, many of the men attempting to walk by had really huge shoulders. I was trapped behind these huge people with no way to squeeze by!(Marathoners do not get that big!)

Another thing different is the type of people who attended the expo. At races, you will see some of the most fit people you would ever want to see walking around and the vast majority are participants in the race.

At the Arnold, there were a lot of people who obviously do not participate in any sport — ever. Because there was a lot of info on “fighting,” like cage fighting and WWF, there were a lot of fans who like to watch, and lots of opportunities to get autographs from celebrities I did not recognize.

The majority of products being hawked were for bulking up and building muscle. At marathons, you see a lot of products for endurance, maintaining energy, electrolyte replacement, speed and injury prevention.

So, though very crowded, I found the day interesting. (I also found out after the fact that attending on Sunday is a better idea — much less crowded!) Still, I can tell I definitely fit in much better at race expos.

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