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
