Today I finished the New Orleans Mardi Gras Half-marathon, which was the first major sporting event in New Orleans since Katrina. As a whole, it was... interesting. I've never run this one before (obviously), so I can't compare it to previous N.O. marathons. I was dissapointed in the lack of public support, which could be a result of two things: people in New Orleans drink Saturday night, so they sleep in on Sunday or the fact that not everyone is back in town.
But here's my mile-by-mile run-down...
Pre-race. Woke up really early. Last night Andy and I stayed awake until about midnight watching a movie. I don't function well on a lot of sleep, so last night I knew it was going to be a difficult run. But I was ok with it, because I ran such a good race in Houston three weeks ago. We left Baton Rouge around 5:25, got there about 6:30, fought for a parking space and lined up. It was fucking cold, by the way. Nice to run in, sucky to sit in. By the way, the Superdome looks normal again on the outside.
7am - the race begins! There are only 2500 people running the full, half and 5k. I left Andy since he was only doing the 5K (hee hee) and I lined up with the other runners.
Mile 0-1 --> Ran through downtown. It was amazing to see the skyscrapers with wood boards for windows.
Mile 1 - 12:45 minutes. Hmm. Need to slow down a bit.
Mile 1.5 - Cafe du Monde looks like it survived well.
Mile 1.7 - Ran in front of one of my favorite restaurants in New Orleans - Port-a-Call (home of the best burgers, baked potato and the Monsoon).
Mile 2 - 13:15 minutes. Where the hell is the water station?
Mile 2.1 - There it is. I discover that the water stations are about 2 miles in between each other, not the 1.5 promised.
Mile 3 - 14 minutes. What the hell happened? That's not going to stay long.
Mile 4 - 13:10 minutes. Haven't seen shade in a while and don't realize that I won't see shade again. Passing near a park and the theme from "Rocky" is playing. My fingers are still frozen.
Mile 5 - 12:15 minutes. Ugh. An overpass. Am passed by a guy pushing a stroller, only instead of children, he is pushing gus, water, and other running supplies. He's passing out stuff to runners. He's wearing skintight running shorts and a glittery boa tied around his waist, making him seem like he's wearing a tutu. Andy texts me - he's been done with the 5k and is now drinking beer.
Mile 6 - About 12:45 minutes. I hear someone yelling, "Hey Erica!" Lo and behold, it's John Walk. I didn't realize he was running this race. Stupidly I said, "Hey, what are you doing here?" Duh. We run through a neighborhood that was damaged badly by Katrina. Water lines are incredibly high and the walls are spray-painted with red, black and yellow x's with dates and numbers on them. Although I didn't see it, Andy's friend told him that he saw one that said, "1 db - Kitchen." It was very sad nevertheless, and somewhat unsettling.
Mile 7 - About 14 minutes. Am passed by a speedwalker - an old man wearing a rainbow clown wig, bunny ears and a bunny tail. Yes, this is the same guy who passed me 3 months ago at the Marine Corps Marathon. We chat for a second - he's from New Orlean. I see Andy's friend, and not remembering his name I shout out, "Hey, Andy's friend!" He doesn't notice me. I get laughs from those around me.
See an Oompa Loompa and a Hershey Kiss running behind me.
Mile 8 - About 13:45 minutes. Hell no. Time to speed up.
Mile 9 - About 12:45. Woo-hoo! Going down an overpass. Run with two girls for a while and we start singing, "Love Shack."
Mile 10 - About 13:45. I'm getting tired. See a sign, "Hell turnaround." Hmm. But after the turn was just a bunch of neighbors having one hell of a tailgate party for the runners, offering cocktails and food. Find a great water stop. Not only did they have water and gatorade, but they had beer, donuts (of course I didn't take any), skittles, peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, and twinkies. I just grabbed water for my gu.
Mile 11 - About 14. Getting tired.
Mile 12 - About 14:10. Getting really tired. I'm taking more walk breaks and am just not happy. I am tired. Going by the last water stop, and they are offering gus. It's a little late for that.
Mile 13 - I think around 14:25. Towards the end of the race, (as in the last .2 miles), my right foot falls asleep, which is the first time that's ever happened in a run. It didn't hurt, but then it did, and it felt weird. I was crying by the time I got to mile 13. I was miserable. Just on the other side of the mile-marker, Andy was there. He ran me in (thanks, Andy!!!) and lept away at the end so that he wouldn't get in my picture. He then helped me find a seat and gave me the much needed water.
Mile 13.1 I hurt. My calves tightened up worse than Houston. Hell, since the Houston half I had only run 10 miles. Yes, I can be a bit of a dumbass.
My final time: 2:57:05. Despite the lack of sleep, despite the slower times at the end, I finished only 1 minute 3 seconds later than Houston. Imagine what I could've done if I felt good.
After the race, Andy and I went back to Port-A-Call, which was one of the reasons I wanted to run in New Orleans. I felt very tired and thirsty and my legs cramped up. After getting back to Baton Rouge, I soaked and felt better. Good enough to go to Lafayette to meet Andy's family and enjoy an evening with them for the Superbowl!!
Oh, and Andy and I have a new contest. We're going to log our miles until December 31 and see who has the most. We both have advantages: he might run more days in the week, but my runs are further. That'll be helpful later on when he runs longer runs (but I'll still be doing really long runs).
We shall see.
6 comments:
Nice race and report.
I enjoyed your tour of New Orleans. I was just there last year, and I can't imaging what it must be like there now.
Rock on.
Keith.
Good run! I don't know if I would have been gutsy enough to run with one good eye. We'll have to start calling you "Mad eye Mooney" for running with one good eye!
Great recap! You give me hope for my first half next January! or maybe before who knows?
Loved the report! Some of the sights must have been heart wrenching.
Great report! I particularly liked mile 5 & 7. :)
Hi Erica. I also enjoyed your report esp. since I was at the race too (weekend trip from Colorado). Did you see Mark "Pinman" Perez, the dude running backwards with lots of pins? He's also from Houston, too. Anyhow, I sort of had a similar problem you had at the end, except that instead of my feet going numb, my hands were going numb. I posted a report here for another perspective of the race. Great event and both sad and uplifting at the same time to see New Orleans and the different states of the neighborhood. Anyhow, happy running and best of luck in your future events!
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