The Louisiana Marthon

What a crazy busy weekend! Saturday morning was the 5K for The Louisiana Marathon. When I first registered for this the plan was to run it & the Half on Sunday. When you do both you get the Deja Vu award. Since my leg had been bothering me I decided to walk. Let's back up to Friday. I went to the Expo after work & met up with a friend that is a Physical Therapist. The company she works for is a huge supporter of the race. We were talking & I mentioned my leg had been bothering me & she took me into her "tent" & worked on me. She "scraped" with something that looked like this.

It kinda hurt but it felt good if that makes sense. After she finished scraping she did a few stretches & showed me some things I can do to keep it from getting bad again. When I stood up & walked away I had zero pain. It was the strangest thing ever. She showed me how to tape it with KT Tape too. I understand that stuff about as much as I understand the Cloud which is not at all. People swear by the tape so I bought some.

Back to Saturday. I walked the 5K in 46:05. It was cold. 

Karen ran & she just knew she was going to do awful because she hasn't been running as much but her time was the EXACT, I mean down to the second exact time from last year. 

After the 5K we went to the finishers fest & had some food. Ruffino's was there with braised pork cheek & butternut squash which was delicious! Community Coffee was there too with free coffee which was great because aside from it being cold, it was windy too. They even had the king cake coffee. After that it was time for the kid's race. 

Logan had a great time. All those kids are so cute. One poor kid ran by with one shoe on his foot & one shoe in his hand! I saw him cross the finish line the same way! 

Sunday morning I was up bright & early at 4:30. I got dressed & ate my usual breakfast of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, chia seeds, blueberries & honey. I still had zero pain in my leg. The race start is only about 10 minutes from my house but I left a little before 5:30 in case I had trouble finding a parking place. I ended up getting a great spot. It pays to get there early.

 First stop was Mass at 6:00. The Cathedral is only a block from the starting line. The Church was packed. I got a seat but by the time Mass started it was standing room only. Father Michael joked that he didn't get this many people at Christmas Mass. Later he said that there were 800 people there. All either runners or people there to support their runner friends & family. His plan was to do Mass in 26.2 minutes. 

One of the readers - I did not take pictures in Church. I borrowed this from Fr. Michael's Facebook page. The clock was a great touch! He was soooo close to making his time BUT as he said "Too many people came" so Communion took longer than expected. He's such a great Priest. He has lots of energy, he's young & doesn't take himself too serious. His sermon's are easy to understand too. It was a great way to start the day. The extra blessings didn't hurt either. Another great perk is we got to use the bathroom at Church so no porta potties!! 

The view approaching the starting line.

The tall building is the State Capitol.

I've talked about my leg & I talked about how I didn't run for about a week and a half leading up to the race because of my leg. I think sometime during my training I talked about a 2:15 goal. Well, it seems like after the Disney race everything went down hill. First that race was changed from a Half to a 7 miler, then it was the holidays & cold & rainy & just a lot going on. I managed to get some  runs in but they were all slower than they had been & I wasn't really sure why. Needless to say when my leg started feeling worse I pretty much kissed 2:15 goodbye & was thinking about being able to do it in October at the Gulf Coast Half in Mandeville. That's a super flat course & the site of my last PR. 

I started this race with no expectations. My longest run this training cycle was 11 miles so I was just hoping that those last 2 miles wouldn't kill me. Especially considering the overpass is at mile 11. 

I always start slow. Nothing new there. When I had to run up the overpass the first time (yeh we get to do it twice) after a mile I checked my watch & I was going faster than normal at that stage. I was under 11:00. That was good to see. At that point I was hoping for 2:17 something because that would be a new PR. 

I'm running along enjoying the scenery. There are a ton of spectators for this race. People were handing out jello shots, shots of champagne, pancakes. Yes, pancakes. There were also a lot of people along the route playing music. It was great to hear Snoop at mile 2! Not long after that I heard a familiar voice. Cindy is the BEST cheerleader because she squeals & screams & you can hear her before you see her.

Running selfie!! I never stopped, she just ran a few feet with me. See the commotion behind me with the man bent over? He is a very nice man. When I saw Cindy I started taking off my sleeves because I was warming up a little & I was going to give them to her so I didn't have to carry them or fight to get them in my flip belt. While I was doing that I managed to take off my finish fest bracelet & didn't know it. That very nice man was picking it up for me. He could've kept it & had more food & drinks for himself or he could've just left it on the ground. Runners are very nice people. 

I saw Cindy again a few more times along the route. She took my gloves later. It was great. I had no idea she'd be out there. 

When I saw my 10K time I got excited. It was 1:02. I've never ran a 10K that fast. I've barely run 6 miles that fast. I start calculating in my head which also helps get your mind off the actual running. I knew I was going to be close to 2:15. 

Then mile 11 hit. It was tough. At that point I was ready to be done & I kept thinking about the dreaded overpass. I managed to speed up before getting to it. My thinking was maybe some of my momentum would help get me up the hill. Yeh, not so much. I thought I was going to die. I wanted to walk so bad. I yelled at myself in my head. I did not get to 11 miles & that close to a PR to blow it all & walk when I was almost to mile 12. I kept going & I saw my friend Denese at mile 13. Dean was standing right next to her but somehow I didn't see him. I was expecting him at the finish line I guess. When I saw the clock I was so excited because that's when I knew not only did I beat 2:15, I was in the 2:10's!

Official time: 2:10:46!!! A PR of almost 8 minutes! 

Next up was time to wait for my sister-in-law Lydia. The race had an app this year with live tracking. 

After Lydia finished we went to the porta potty & to find coffee because we were so cold. Surprisingly, the porta potty wasn't awful. People who know me & are still shocked that I run are even more shocked that I'm using a porta potty! 

It was in the 40's & windy but as you can see from the pictures, it was a gorgeous day! After running my first Half in 40 degree rainy weather I will never take for granted the awesome weather we seem to always have for the Louisiana Marathon.

We got our coffee & headed back to wait for my my brother Scott. We had a great spot to watch from but it was also in a wind tunnel.

Freezing!

Here he comes!

3:48:48 for his first Full Marathon! He said it wasn't as bad as he expected & he didn't say that he wouldn't do another one.  

All in the family!

My haul from the weekend! Not too shabby!

It's a pretty good day when you get over 30,000 steps.

Toodles!