Either we stand or we fall

Triple bonus points to anyone who reads this who can name the movie that lyric is from.  Mostly because if you can, then we need to be BFFs immediately.
Enough about my terrible taste in movies though. Today is Sunday Runday.  Some may even say Funday.  Some, may not.  Depending on the week, I fall in either category.  Today was a FUN Runday for so many reasons.  1) I got to run with my favorite partners and see the adorable Madilyn.  2) Flat courses. 3) 50 degree weather.  Bonus 4) Got to yell at my mom and aunt to get out of the way when we ran up behind them and got priceless dirty looks from the both of them before they realized who we were.  Not related to running so it doesn't get a number, I also got a giant sundae from Friendly's after lunch.  Sure, the amount of time spent at Friendly's was a bit ridiculous, and the waitress was obviously in over her head, but the sundae was pretty good.
The run today was 9 miles, in case you're wondering, since I didn't mention that above.  I got in a few short runs during the week too, so I guess Boston training is right on track.  I've also decided that I'm bringing back the 26 selfies for Boston.  After all, why not?  This might be my one shot at running it, so I intend to have fun and enjoy every second of it.  No point in speeding through and missing out on the experience, right?
Speaking of Boston, my team shirt arrived yesterday.  I've also got plans to go visit the respite center someday over February vacation, so that should be fun.  I'd love to meet the people who helped Morty when he was a little guy.  I think you can guess where this is going, but since we're on the subject of the respite center, don't forget to donate.  You can just  click right here to get to my donation page and help bring me up to the next level.  Right now I'm at 57%, but we could easily make that 60%.  Or get real wild and shoot for 65%.
Anyways, tomorrow is supposed to be another mid-50s type day, so since it's very rare that February 1 is 50 degrees, I'll definitely be hitting the outdoor running circuit.  And in a week or so, I'll probably remember to update about that too.  But I haven't had much else going on, so here's the map of the Louisiana Marathon, which I finally got around to uploading from my Garmin. Check out that amazingly steady pace!

When the dreams you're dreaming come to you

When the work you put in is realized, let yourself feel the pride, but always stay humble and kind.
I loved this song the second I heard it on Tim's new album and it's finally making it's radio rounds, which is fantastic because sometimes I just don't feel like digging around in my Play app to find/stream it.  If you don't know the song yet, get yourself acquainted because I'm sure it's going to be the next "I Hope You Dance".
But enough about Tim and his crazy country success, let's talk about why we're really here.  In case you're wondering, I took an entire rest week, which I never do.  Maybe I'm just over-worked, but for the first time in a long time I really felt like I needed the break from working out.  However, this also seems to be happening more lately, so maybe I'm just bored with my regular work outs and need something new to do.  It could really go either way.  Since I was on a rest week, I decided to make it a carb-load week too.  That was fun.  I made peanut butter chocolate chip butterscotch chip blondies, meatballs, and pretzels with queso.  My kitchen was the place to be last week if you wanted food. Sorry I didn't share that until after the fact, but I didn't really want to share my food anyways.
Because there was no working out last week, I don't really have much to fill in here.  So I'm going to use this as an opportunity to drop in another fundraiser reminder.  Right now I'm just over half-way there, around the 56% mark. Which means I'm closer to the end than the beginning, but I still have a long way left to go.  For a comparison, it's about mile 15 of the marathon.  Close enough to keep going, but far enough to still be in the double digits.  So if you're feeling extra givey today, please click on over to my page and drop off some sweet funds.  Morty will appreciate it, I will appreciate it, the center will appreciate it, and karma will too, which is always a bonus.  If you really want a story to help you believe in karma, one day I bought one of those high school team cards that gets you discounts at local places.  I had/have no intentions of using it, but it was only $20 and I felt like the boy deserved it for going door to door in this day and age.  So I paid the $20 and took the card.  Three days later, walking the dogs, what do I find in the middle of the road? A $20 bill.  There you go, karma at it's finest.  Or something.  Whatever you want to believe in, take that story and replace the word karma with whatever it is you think causes people to find money on the side of the road after doing something nice.  Whatever you do, this paragraph has long strayed from it's topic, so let's bring it back around nicely by ending with the link.  Click here to donate!!!
As a wrap up, you can enjoy these free photos courtesy of the Louisiana Marathon.  As if you needed another reason to sign up next year, they give you the race photos for free!!!! That's a rare occasion in the world of marathons, so if you can get them, take them.  I especially enjoy the finish line photos. They really captured the moment.

This is a good shot of Alison waving to Ryan

And of course Ryan's fantastic finish!

Pretzels and queso

Peanut butter blondies

What time is it???

I know you're all on edge waiting for this update, so here it is.  Final time by the finish line clock was 3:57 and 33 seconds.  BOOM! That right thar is a PR my frands.  Yup, my Gibbs training method worked out.  Sure, the weather was perfect for running and the course was super flat, but obviously my training played a roll as well.  The only real down side to the whole thing is that my quads are still very sore, even two days later.  Which is crazy because I actually stretched afterwards too.  And walked around for at least an hour after I crossed. I guess my legs just aren't used to running that long at that speed. But I've done it, so now they better get used to it.

 I'm sure you're very interested in the whole adventure, but I don't want to take up a bunch of space filling you in with mundane details, so I'll just provide the highlights of race day and fill in the rest with supplemental pictures at the end.  Sunday was actually really cold for Louisiana. The temperature at race time was 39.  However, I made the choice to wear shorts and a tank and once I was dressed and out the door there was no going back.  But getting out of those throwaway clothes was damn hard, that's for sure.  We met Brittany at the free coffee hut (btw, free coffee before a race = great idea...dunkin....ahem....) and then we walked over to the PortaPotties for a pre-race bathroom break, because those are imperative, as you well know by now.  Then we wandered over to the start line to freeze with everyone else for a solid 15 minutes.  That went by fast, but I really did hate taking off my sweatshirt before running.  Once we started running I figured I'd warm up, but that never really happened.  My hands were so cold at the first water stop that I dropped the cup I tried to grab.  The first 10 miles went by without a hitch.  I managed to somehow catch up with the 3:45 pacers, so I ran alongside those two and half listened to them talk.  I'm pretty sure they sped up for the second half, because there's no way the pace they were maintaining was a 3:45, we had times when we were in the 8:40s.  Maybe it does work out, I don't know, I didn't try to do the math.  I lost that group when I stopped to use the Porta-Potty.  This year though, I got smart and the whole thing only cost me about 30 extra seconds.  Even if I did smash the back of my head on the toilet paper dispenser when I stood back up after picking up my phone off the floor.  (Don't worry, it was in a bag, but man did that hurt!) In those first miles I saw the family between mile 4 and 5 at LSU, outside Mike the Tiger's cage.  No Mike though, I guess it was just too cold.  There was also a giant pack of pelicans hanging out in the lake, which was really cool.  I've never seen A pelican before, forget about a whole set of them.  FYI those things are huge.  

 There wasn't really anything wrong with miles 10 - 13, I just ran them as they were.  Miles 14 - 20 were the part that I really had to talk myself through.  Not that they were going poorly, I just wanted to make it seem like less than there was, so instead of worrying about making it to the finish in under 4, I thought about making it to 20 in under 3:00.  I figured if I could make it to the 20 mark anywhere under 3:00, I could run the last 6 in 10 minute mile splits if necessary, and still break the time.  Maybe that sounds crazy to a non-runner, but it worked.  Even though I still had 12 miles left at mile 14, it seemed like a lot less.  Even when my headphones died at mile 17, I didn't feel like it was going to be a problem to keep running.  After mile 20, I broke it down into 2 sets of 5ks and that really helped it seem a lot faster.  Plus I saw the family again somewhere between 22 and 24.  There were only two real disappointments that I experienced and neither of them caused any problems with my actual running.  First, I felt like I spent a lot of time running in a straight line and I hate that.  I like it when the road curves and twists, because it doesn't seem as long for whatever reason.  Second, there seemed to be a lot less people outside cheering this year, even at the finish line.  My guess for that one is that it was cold so a lot of people didn't want to come stand around outside, but it was a bit of a bummer.  I was hoping for more cheering at the end.  

After the race I met up with Ryan and his Dad and we enjoyed the finish festival for a bit.  Ryan ran the half for the second year in a row. Last year he finished in 2:37.  This year he finished in 2:15!!!  That's real speedy, if he keeps that up, he's going to catch up to me.  Then we could run together. Wouldn't that be romantic? Anyways, at the festival we ate gumbo, jambalaya, Jimmy John's, and of course, King cake.  It was definitely worth the run.  However, it was extra cold, as I said, and by the end of the race it was only about 54, so I really had to put that heat sheet to good use.  We also bought some finisher gear, because of course, and then we went and ate more food later that day.  

So there you have it. My race day in a nutshell.  Of course we did other stuff on Saturday and Monday, but this isn't a things to do in Louisiana story, this is a race story.  The pictures will fill in the missing parts for you.  I took a bunch of non-running selfies this year since I knew I wouldn't be able to take mile marker selfies on the course, so I hope you enjoy about a hundred pictures of me.  And another hundred of other things, because I just couldn't help it.  Until next time, here you go.  Picture central begins now.

The day before the race and I'm eating biscuit sandwiches for lunch.  Good choice/bad choice? Who knows.

Visiting Maw Maw Gibbs in NOLA before heading to Baton Rouge

Race day gear 

Baby Big Boy Beau. 

Uncle Fries and Gabs

Race day shoes and shirt, ready to go

Possibly the ugliest selfie ever, but I had just finished, it was cold, and I wanted to get the race clock in.  Too bad my hair is blocking the time....

Winners

I put this here to remind myself to keep moving. It worked.  I stopped once for a bathroom break and once to refill my water bottle, never for more than 30 seconds!

King Cake

Free hotel water. Yaaaa. Perks.

I just liked this little outdoor shopping area

Post-race lunch at Popeyes.  So healthy

Sunday night, mission accomplished

Monday drive into New Orleans

Super Dome

I liked this fountain

Of course we ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde.

Sadly waiting for our flight to take us back home to the cold.  

I spy two new additions to the wall of medals