How to dress was a bit of a concern. It was supposed to get into the 60's and be somewhat sunny during the race, but that's not how it was that morning. It was cold and really windy. Of course, every runner knows to dress like it's 20 degrees warmer than the actual weather, but it's hard to put on shorts and a t-shirt when it's 40 degrees out. So I split the difference and went with the EN t-shirt and capris. And speaking of the EN shirt - is this not one of the coolest running shirts ever? Love it. Kudos to Duane for the design.
The front...
and the back.
So we all head down to the race start, which was only a few blocks away. Again, I'm a huge fan of being able to walk to the start. Makes it so much less stressful (remember our Metro debacle from the DC Rock & Roll Half last year?). It was SO COOL to see all of the East Nasty shirts at the start.
Cheesin' it before the race. I still look asleep.
Me Vannaing it outside of Corral 5
I'm the green shirt in the middle. Hi Dudley!
The original plan was to have Ashlee pace me, Alicia and Allison. Ashlee is THISCLOSE to qualifying for Boston, so today would be an easy day for her. Unfortunately, while we saw Alison right before the start, we immediately lost her in the crowd and we didn't get to start with her. However, Duane (designer of the EN shirt) and Gunjan joined our group.
The cars kind of block him, but winner Mo Farah is in the black singlet.
I also want to know what the deal is with Mr. Green Shirt who jumps into the race at the end of the clip.
And here is my start. I'm in the second group of squeals you hear after Dudley yells "East Nasty!" Allison, who we lost earlier, is in the first group. Turns out, she wasn't that far from us!
I always feel like I'm going faster than I look.
So we start running what feels like a good pace - nothing too crazy but decent. Ashlee wanted us to start out at around 9:30 minute miles and then ramp up at the end. I was following Alicia for about the first half-mile when I looked down at my watch. WOW- we were running 8:00 minute miles. WAY too fast for us. Then I looked behind me to find Ashlee, Duane and Gunjan and they were nowhere to be found. Yep - a half-mile in and we were already off the plan. Heck - I don't even see those three in the video above, so we pretty much blew the plan from the get go. So Alicia and I kept slowing down until we finally saw them, when we got BEHIND them so we wouldn't be able to run off again.
Unfortunately, the problem with running behind someone is that if you need to stop - they don't know and keep going. Duane, Alicia and I all slowed down to get water at the mile 2 water stop. Ashlee and Gunjan didn't. Bye-bye Ashlee and Gunjan. Didn't see them again until after the race. For the second time in two miles, my race plan was blown. Oh well.
Duane, Alicia and I continued on at a pretty good pace. I wanted to break 2:00, but I really didn't feel today was that day. The 10 miles or so of walking Dudley and I did the prior two days really tired out my legs. They felt like lead. I was still hoping to PR though.
The course was an out-and-back for the first 9 miles. This was awesome because we got to see Mo Farah, Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher on their way back. So cool. I was a complete germ and cheered and yelled for them. Whatever. How often am I in a race with Olympians?
Our little trio continued on for a while. It started getting hot though. The sun that had avoided us the entire weekend decided to show for the race. Fantastic. The only time I want it to be overcast, and it's bright sunshine. I tried to stay in the shade as much as I could and drank water at every stop. Alicia dropped back right after mile 6. Duane was still going strong, and I was still in contention to PR, so we kept going. I was hurting though. My legs felt better than they had, but they still were really tired. I'm so happy Duane was there to keep me going. He was all "you got this," when I KNEW I didn't. But it's nice to hear.
Unfortunately, I needed to take a pit-stop right before mile 9, which is where Duane and I separated. I was hot, tired and pretty much ready for this race to be over. I hit the wall earlier than I thought I would. I figured it'd be around mile 11 before I really started to fade, but no. Mile 9. I slowed down a bit without Duane pacing me, but I still knew I could PR if I could tough it out.
My Garmin was killing me because it was about .2 miles off of the race mile makers. It would beep and I'd think "YAY! Another mile!" but it wouldn't actually be true. So frustrating! However, four-point-one miles later, I was done - WITH a new PR! 2:07:05.
DONE!
Me with pacer extraordinaire Duane
ENFL!
The bling
Two random comments about the course. 1) I was surprised that more spectators weren't out cheering. There were some pretty dead spots with no bands, cheerleaders or spectators. However, after thinking about it - these people have Mardi Gras. Random strangers running through their streets isn't anything new to them. But I do want to give a shout out to Jesuit High School who dressed like KISS for their water stop. That was awesome. 2) NOLA streets are terrible. They were pretty dangerous to run on; potholes and uneven pavement for the entire race. I actually stepped in a hole and somehow didn't break my ankle. You really couldn't take your eyes off the road to look at the scenery because of this. I'm sure I missed out on some cool sights.
But even so, this was a great race and an amazing weekend. I ate great food, hung out with some really fantastic people and saw an authentic New Orleans wedding second line through the streets of the French Quarter...
Seriously, how cool is this?
And sure, Mo Farah might have won the actual race (in a BLISTERING 60:59!), but did HE go home with Elroy the Solar-Powered Corgi? No? I win.
Mo is British after all. He probably digs Corgis.
Loved the race. If you're at all thinking about racing New Orleans next year - do it. You won't regret it. Good chance we'll be back. Thank you, Dudley for the pics and for being just awesome in general!
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