#rnrnola

This was a big change for me. I took what normally would be a long weekend and actually took a week long vacation to enjoy a place and really get away. 

The days before the race my friends and I stayed up late, walked up and down Magazine Street, danced down Bourbon Street and ate all the things. To be honest, going into this race I knew I had a 4 hour limit and I was not going to be upset if I thought I would get pretty close to it. 

On Friday, we got to the expo early and waited in line for it to open. This was a first for me. Liz (the other lovely lady that was running the half marathon) and I chatted about different stretches I could to to relieve my achy glutes because we had been walking since we got their Wednesday evening and I had been tight the week before. We finally got into the doors of the expo- bib, shirt and bag were quickly obtained and then we went to the rest of the expo... compared to Rock and Roll Savannah? This was a tiny expo. The normal Brooks and Toyota  displays and the large Rock and Roll display towards the back of it. Not alot of tangible product giveaways, mostly just showing off of sponsors. Liz and I did test drive a Toyota to get a Starbucks gift card. I’m still a little salty they didn't have a vendor with a foam roller because I would have bought one just for the week. Oh well! 

Fast forward to race day on Sunday- we are staying less than a half mile from the race start which means a quick commute, after I remember my water bottle and have to go grab it from Kelsey (the friend that is along for the trip). Even though the start area was only a couple blocks wide, I really struggled to find the porta potties. Once I found a line, I wish I had come down a little earlier. Lines were long and by the time I got into bathroom- there was nothing. Not even the cardboard tubes were there. My panic mode started to increase and then I remembered “It is a half and I have 4 hours”. I calmed myself and walked to another line and got the last remnants of toilet paper and ran to my corral. 

As I walked further and further, I realized there was no reason to rush to the bathroom. I was in corral 19 out of 24 (or so). So I stood in the corral, did some deep breathing, made some friends from Maryland and eventually made it to the start about 25 minutes after the initial gun. This had to be one of the larger races I have done in a while. My corral rivaled the corrals at the Monument Avenue 10k. Yeah, that big. 

The first couple miles were through the French Quarte/ downtown area and then slowly made its way to St Charles Street where there was an out and back portion. The St. Charles part of the route (3-7 miles ish) was the parade route of the city. It’s cool to say you ran the Mardi Gras parade route right? Lots of nice houses, fairly flat and you could see the faster runners on the other side and get a preview of the course which helped me plan for the miles ahead. 

After the turn around at 4.5 miles, I was starting to feel the heat a little but could see the shade for about 3 miles. I talked to people, met someone doing their first half marathon at age 70, a Vietnam veteran and a nice man from Ohio (more about him later). Overall the good vibes and music sustained me until about mile 8. 

Mile 8 I decided to walk a little and get my heart rate down. The temperature was climbing and I could feel the heat on my back. 

A little after mile 10, my pace had completely fallen off, but this man I had noticed before caught up to me and told me he had been chasing me for a while. I engaged him in conversation (not normal for me after mile 8, I usually just suffer in silence) and asked him all about how he started running and the like. One thing I didn't get, his name. I’m still kicking myself over this. 

Talking to him got me through the next couple miles and one we got to the finish line chute, he sped to the finish. I honestly had nothing left but I did find him at the finish and told him “nice finish” as I floated away.

After that I sat on a bench, got on a bus to downtown, got a smoothie and went back to my hotel to take a little time to myself and then meet up with my friends.