Rock n Roll New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon

Traveling to New Orleans
I caught a 1am flight out of LAX on Saturday to save a few bucks on hotel costs. I barely slept a wink on the flight. My connecting flight was in DFW where I got to eat breakfast at McDonald's, which I have not done in a long time. The last time I could remember doing so was when I was taking a few classes at PCC in preparation for submitting my applications to Optometry schools. I landed in New Orleans around 9am and looked for the bus that would take me into downtown. It was a nice and easy ride for $1.50 but on weekends they only take you up to Carrollton Ave. When I got off the bus, I should've walked straight and catch the 39 Tulane bus, but I turned right and took a long unscheduled tour of New Orleans. After about halfway to the Mississippi River, I realized that I made a wrong turn. So I had to hoof it back the other way. I was hoping a 39 bus would show up, but that didn't happen until I got almost all the way back to where I took the wrong turn. Once I got on the bus, it was a nice $1.25 ride to the Central Business District.

The Expo
I stopped by a Walgreens to buy some water and OJ. I then headed straight for the race expo at the Convention Center to try and make it in time to meet Scott Jurek. The detour cost me about 1 hour. That worked out well since I barely perused the expo thus spending $0 at the expo. I just did the necessary stuff: picked up the race packet and said hi to the usual girl at the Rock n' Roll booth. Another girl at the booth confirmed that they were indeed trying to make the Vegas race a night race. The marathon might become 2 loops on the strip. They apparently need all of the casinos on the strip to sign off on the idea.

I then made it over to the clinic where I bumped into Marathon Maniac Mitch who secured the front row so we would be able to take unobstructed pictures of some great athletes.

Mike Morgan of Hansons Brooks Distance Project, Scott Jurek, and the Rock Doc.

I didn't know he was that tall. He's a vegan too!

Greg Meyer, the last American to win Boston.

Eating and Stuff
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, which has become my favorite hotel chain. Nothing too fancy. They're relatively inexpensive and normally have a microwave and a fridge in their rooms. I tried to check into my room early to drop off my stuff, but the rooms weren't ready. So I headed over to Mother Clucker's to eat some wings and fries. I went with the Caribbean BBQ sauce. It was good stuff, but not my typical meal the day before a race. The rooms were still not ready when I got back to the hotel. Check-in time was 4pm and I didn't check in until 3:50 or so. That was fine, I just sat and relaxed in the lobby. The first thing I did when I got to my room was take a shower. That's one thing I don't like about red-eye flights.

I took a nap. Then I went back out to buy some more water and to eat dinner at The Pearl Restaurant and Oyster Bar. I would've eaten some raw oysters, but I wasn't taking any chances the night before a race. Instead I ordered a muffuletta. But they were out of the muffuletta bread, so I ended up having a shrimp po boy. It wasn't that great, but it kept me from going hungry.

I got all of my gear ready and fell asleep while watching tv. Using public transportation and walking saves a lot of money, but boy does it tucker you out!

Marathon Maniac singlet debut

Pre-race
I woke up, got ready, and headed over to the starting area. It was about a 20 minute walk from my hotel. There was no lines at a cluster of portapotties when I got there. When I got out after doing my business, there was lines everywhere. I bumped into Marathon Maniac Mitch again. He was taking pictures with every single Maniac out there! We hung out until about 15 minutes before the start of the race.

The First Half
My plan was to run every mile no faster than 9 minutes. I did not feel fresh from the get go. That probably had something to do with the Pasadena Marathon. However my legs still wanted to run some low 8's, but I made sure to stay behind two girls for at least the first few miles. I think they got really tired of me running up their butts after a few miles because they veered off all of a sudden to let me go by. Yes, I'm one of those annoying people! Normally I go unnoticed because I'm following a faster runner. But that was the only way to slow myself down. Thank goodness I did... even though my right hip was starting to fall apart at around miles 12 and 13, I felt way better at the halfway mark than I did last weekend. Some of the roads were in really bad shape. You could easily roll your ankle or worse if you were not careful.
1: 9:20
2: 9:02
3: 9:02
4: 9:44
5: 9:07
6: 9:11
7: 9:19
8: 9:13
9: 9:14
10: 9:44
11: 9:16
12: 9:24
13: 10:36

The Second Half
Since I was feeling discomfort in my right hip, I decided to slow things down and extend my walking breaks. When we reached the City Park, the roads were nicely paved. No more having to check to see where your feet was landing. Between miles 16 and 17, I got to see the front runners heading on home to the finish line. I tried something different in this race to see if I can prevent being light-headed at the finish. I started taking my gels at mile 16 and then one every 2 miles. It came out to almost 1 every 30 minutes. I used to space them further apart. Coming down the finishing chute was fun... it reminded me of the finish in Seattle.
14: 10:58
15: 10:21
16: 11:19
17: 12:13
18: 12:12
19: 12:11
20: 13:24
21: 13:02
22: 12:38
23: 12:32
24: 12:13
25: 12:58
26: 12:49
26.2: 1:45
Finish: 4:42:58

26.2 miles is a long way to go to collect 2 items I've paid for :)

Post-race
I ate a banana and picked up my drop bag from the UPS truck. I then went and picked up my 2 beers (if you can call it beer, tastes horrible). I drank 1 can while walking to the bus line and left the second one in my hotel as a gift to the maid. It was a short walk to the hotel from where the bus dropped us off. This was very much a typical marathon for me. The first half is usually fun and games. Then I go into crisis management mode in the second half when a body part fails on me. The race was really well organized. I've probably said it before, but the Competitor Group really has figured out the formula for a successful marathon experience. There's no doubt they're making a lot of money and thus buying up so many races. They're able to attract so many participants to their races while their predecessors couldn't.

Eating
I showered and took a nap. I woke up to go eat at Mulate's. I ordered the Cajun Boudin and the Cajun Seafood Platter. On that platter was their famous stuffed crab, fried crawfish tails, fried butterflied shrimp, crispy fried catfish, and fresh fried oysters... all served with jambalaya and french fries. Ironically, the crab was gross. Everything else was good. This place was pretty expensive for New Orleans. But that was understandable since it was across the street from the convention center and part of the reason that I was there was to help out the economy.

More Eating
I checked out of the hotel the next day around 11am and went to eat a muffuletta. My second attempt was successful since I went to Serio's Po-Boys & Deli, which was kind of known for them. When I ordered it, the guy didn't think I could finish the whole thing. He even brought out the bread to show me the size. Yes, it was huge, but my stomach and appetite was legendary when I was in my prime. Anyways I promised him that I would take my time and finish it all. It is really good if you like capers and lots of olives. After I finished it I walked over to the take the bus to the airport.

Muffuletta

Flight Delays
I love traveling, but getting back home was a hassle this time around. First the plane was delayed for about 20 minutes, no biggie. Then when everyone had all boarded, they announced the bad news. The plane had been struck by lightning on its way in, so per regulations, they needed to inspect the entire plane. There was a pretty big rain storm, so they were unable to do the inspections. They then had everyone deplane. The power went out twice in the concourse. But almost 4 hours later, we got back on the plane. When we landed in DFW at about 10:20, I had to run to try and make my connecting flight to LAX that was to leave at 10:25. The American Airlines folks all said to go to gate A25. There was no one there when I got there. So I kept walking until I saw a manned gate to see what my options were and most likely reschedule a flight for the next day. They told me that the flight was still boarding over at gate 35! I had already walked to about gate 18. So I hoofed it back the other way as fast as I could with my carry-on bag. My quads were burning up but I was able to catch my flight, but only because they were busy transferring stranded passengers bound for SNA (Orange County) to my flight. The poor folks had to be bussed from LAX to Orange County at midnight. By the time I got to my car and drove home, it was about 2am. Fun stuff.