Last year, I made my comeback to road running races after nearly a two year break from the pandemic and completed 10 races including most recently the NYC Half Marathon. As most of my industry colleagues know, this race took place on the Sunday morning of Vision Expo East. Many were impressed I took this on, knowing the busy schedule the 20/20 team had during this time, not only at the show but with all the surrounding events that took place. I’m pretty sure some thought I was flat out insane; in fact, a few actually told me I was. But it’s been a few years since I’ve ran this race, so insane or not, it was time to take my place again at the start line.

I had been training since the new year, but I knew the week leading up to race day was going to be tough. That week, my “training” consisted of four straight days of “running” to and from events such as the VM Summit, the OWA Champagne Breakfast, the Person of Vision Gala, anniversary celebrations for Marchon and Zyloware, and of course, appointments at the Javits Center and The Loft. As a lifelong New Yorker who rarely drives or rides in cars, I’m used to constantly being on my feet, whether it’s taking the subway or walking crosstown. The trick was switching up my footwear to preserve my feet—heels in the evenings for dinners and parties, and flat shoes or sneakers during the day (thank goodness for athleisure!). This helped, but I am human after all, and realistically speaking, when race day arrived, I was pretty exhausted both mentally and physically. But it was a positive exhaustion if that makes sense, those four days spent reconnecting with and meeting new industry friends along with the excitement of our two March issues and the positive feedback we received across the board truly energized me for this race. And that’s how I ran 13.1 miles from Brooklyn to Manhattan that morning—on pure adrenaline. Believe it or not, finishing this race was actually the perfect finale to a great week of show events and celebrations... that was my runner’s high.

To add to my running excitement, I’m thrilled to see that eyewear brands have stepped up their sport eyewear game, designing eyewear specifically geared for runners in mind but also with styling fit for the street and everyday wear. At Expo, I previewed some of these running sunglass styles from Oakley and Article One. I look forward to giving these a test run and will be sure to keep you posted with my feedback.

—Christine Yeh
Executive Editor
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