Mardi Gras Marathon - RunMarathon

This wasn't a terribly big marathon (especially compared to year's past) so I didn't have to spend much time working my way through the crowds at the beginning. I planned on doing the Austin marathon as my last 'A' marathon of the season before IMAZ so this race was just a tune-up. I planned on pushing myself until I blew up on the first half and then take things leisurely on the last half. Came out of the gates feeling great and did the first 5 miles through the French Quarter at a good steady 7:30/mile pace. I wasn't even tired in the least bit after that and wondered how long I could keep this up and what that would do to my times once I bonked.

At mile 6 I ran into a guy, Keith, who was wearing a technical shirt they gave out to the Houston Marathon finishers this year. I had just done that race so I used it as an excuse to talk to him for a minute and slow down to give myself a breather. It turns out that we was going for a 3:30 finish today and his slowest marathon was 3:52. Wow. This guy was alot better than me and I was about to fly past him. Okay, I thought. I'll just pace with him the rest of the race. If I can keep up with him the whole way then I'll have a PR. Why not? I didn't have anything better to do today. So we ran together at about an 8:00/mile pace and talked to help pass the time.

The abandoned neighborhood around miles 7 and 8 really gave you a sense of how bad the damage was here. You could see the water mark on all the houses and most of them had spray paint on them to indicate how badly they were damaged. Creepy. We hit the turn-around for the first half and were right on our projected pace. Picked up another woman who was aiming for a 3:28 finish and all three of us ran together.

Coming back past City Park I knew that if I didn't see Haley and everyone here then I wouldn't see anyone I knew until the end. Then at about mile 9 Laurie and Brandy(justalittletri) went by going the other way. They looked like they were having a great run. And just a minute after that I saw my old high school track coach and his wife waving to me as they went past! I also saw them at the Houston Marathon AND they were on my flight coming out to New Orleans. Passed mile 9 and knew that I only had a mile to go before they course stopped over-lapping. Then right before mile 10 I see this big Hershy's kiss running over the median! Haley was there to snap a picture of me as I went by and I let her know that I was going to be finishing a good half hour ahead of schedule.

Passed mile 11 and came to our first beer stop for the day. If I hadn't decided earlier to shoot for a PR today then I would have stopped for a drink, but I had to just run on through this time. Got near the half mark and started seeing half marathoners passing me as they made their final kick. It was tough to not want to run with them but I was on a good clip and wanted to hold it the rest of the way.

Hit the half way point just a bit ahead of 3:30 pace. However, my ankle was really starting to hurt me and I knew I couldn't keep this up the whole way. At least I had someone to keep pulling me for now so I'd go as far as I could like this. Running through uptown New Orleans the houses were really nice and undamaged, but the roads were in terrible shape. I couldn't find a flat section of road anywhere. So I did what I could to run in the middle of the street and take the pressure off my ankle.

By this point we started to walk all the aid stations and our pace had slowed to around 8:30 miles. Around mile 16 we saw the race leader heading back the other way. I was pretty surprised at how slow the lead pack was at this race. I know it's not a huge marathon but it's flat and at sea level so I expected a little more. By the small lap at mile 17 we had only seen 5 or 6 of the leaders go by. Once we hit mile 18 I was started to realize that we were the tail end of the front of the pack!

We came into Audubon Park and hit miles 19 and 20. Here is where we finally had to take an extended break. Both of us knew by now that 3:30 was out of the question but 3:40 could still be done. We came out of the park and watched the large groups in the middle of the pack approach the park. At mile 22 we made the little side-street loop and a few blocks later I saw Coach and Mrs. Perry slowly moving along but with huge smiles on their faces! That definitely helped perk me up a little bit.

At mile 23 they were handing out Mardi Gras beads and one of the guys had saved a special string of red, white and blue beads just for me! If that wasn't enough, knowing that I only had a 5K to go put a smile on my face. All I could think about was getting to the finish so I could get off of my foot. Every time we had to turn it would just send huge waves of pain through my ankle. I was going to need some serious recovery time after this race.

Turned the corner at 25 and saw the last of the marathoners making their way away from the Superdome. Finally we make the last turn and Superdome is in sight. Keith and I finally exchanged greetings and tell each other our names. Kind of forgot about that up until now. He had more left in him than I did so he pulled away as we hit the final stretch. Everyone was there waiting for me at the finish and I did what I could to run in the rest of the way.

PR'd by just over 4 minutes. Damn near killed me but I did it. At least I wouldn't have to take Austin as a serious race and could just enjoy that one. Less than a year since my first marathon and I've cut an hour and 6 minutes off my time. Now I just have to cut another 31 minutes off and I'll be on my way to Boston!

This was about as well as I could have run that day. My splits were very consistent. Nothing faster than 7:24 or slower than 9:54. That's still a fairly wide range, but much more consistent than usual for me.

Crossed the finish, got my medal, gave them my chip, and started looking for everyone. Congratulated Keith for pulling me those 20 miles. He definitely made this day alot of fun. Walked around the finish chute and wanted to rest so badly. I handed my flag and race stuff to Haley and laid down on the ground. I could hear people asking me if I was all right. I was fine. I could hear and understand everything they said, but damn it, I just wanted to lay there instead of saying, "Don't worry. I'm fine." over and over again!!! Didn't these people realize that I just ran a marathon!!!

After a minute or two I was back on my feet with a beer in my hand. Had to take a few group photos and it was a real struggle to stand there and smile. Finally we headed up the ramp to the post-race festivities. Said good-bye to Bear and the Mrs. since they decided to take off a little early. Found a nice spot in the sun and had some red beans and rice, Subway, and king cake with who knows how much beer.

Took me a while to really get back to my senses, but once I got some food in me I felt great. After an hour or so we headed back to the truck and Haley gave me a massage. (Thanks, BTW!) After that it was on to the French Quarter for some hand grenades! Great way to end the day.


Nagging ankle injury, not being mentally prepared to run this fast for this long from the start.


Great race, just a small field of runners and small crowds on account of everything the city has gone through in the last year. I'll be back.