Tomorrow’s the big day

Today I made my way down to the glass pyramid, a convention center kind of place near the beach in Konyaaltı, to pick up my press passes for the marathon tomorrow. The weather was gorgeous today— I love Antalya before the heat of the summer sets in.

I’d never actually been inside or even near the pyramid before, and I was a little bit surprised at just how un-glass-like it appears in real life.

In fact, it didn’t particularly resemble glass at all until I got inside and the sun shone through.

When I arrived, I was told that the guy who was giving out the press passes hadn’t arrived yet, so I decided to have a wander around the extensive grounds surrounding the pyramid. They have everything from restaurants to children’s playgrounds to this lovely park I found, complete with pond, which in turn was complete with ducks and fish.

And of course, once you reach the end of the grounds you find yourself at a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, with a clear view of the rest of the Antalya coastline.

After about half an hour of sightseeing I went back inside the pyramid to find that things had taken a decidedly surreal and feverish turn. I saw runners from many different countries picking up their numbers, and this fellow greeted me almost immediately. I can’t imagine what he’s supposed to be. He vaguely reminds me of some food mascot from the United States, but I can’t place which one. The Planter’s peanut? No, that’s not it. In any case, the press pass guy had finally arrived, so I got my passes and went home. Now I just need to have a good night’s sleep tonight, because I want to get out there early tomorrow morning and see what this marathon has to offer.