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Comments: Mile 1 - Since I got there late, I had to use this as my warmup, quite success too, (first mile was around a 16min/mile) I'm running along, some fool shouts out "great job! only 13 miles left", and then I feel a slight tug on my braided pigtail. I turn around to what turns out to be my saving grace, Laurie! I was happy to see her, and we ran together a little, then we were both like 'if you want to drop me you can' We ended up running the entire race together and that was way cool. I don't feel like either one of us held the other back, if anything she pushed me further. Mile 2 - Mrs. Bear ran along with us and we all talked and were all feeling good and getting into the motion. Stopped a sec to stretch the knee out. Took off the jacket. Mile 3 - Just very pleasant conversation. Mile 4 - Shot a Powergel Mile 5 - Mrs. Bear dropped back somewhere in here, and Laurie and I kept on truckin' This is where we went over the big huge bridge for the first time. My plan was to walk the bridge both times, but Laurie had other plans for us. It also occurred to me that if I ran that bridge both times that I could possibly beat my goal of running the whole time except the bridges. So I ran it. HR got a little high but came back down soon enough after we leveled out. Mile 6 - Loop, so we could see all the people behind us, and the end of the race aka Derek(Willy Wonka), Haley (Hershey's Kiss) and Noot (Oompa Loompa) They had already been drinking the first 6 miles and looked quite well I must say. My left hand went numb. Figure it was from having my elbow bent and blood flow was low. Mrs. Bear ran across the median and took a pic of Laurie and me. Mile 7 - Realized that I could actually finish and run the whole thing. I felt great. Mile 8 - Shot 2nd PowerGel Mile 9 - The second crossover of the bridge. Definitely harder the second time, and I stopped for a mere second to stretch my knee out. Laurie was so nice as to run in a circle while I did that. Mile 10 - Still feeling very good. At the turn on Moss St. Some of the nearby residents had hung a banner that read "Turn for the worse" They also had signs that read "Cigarettes --->" and "Cocktails --->" It was neat. Mile 11 - Hands down the hardest mile. By this time Laurie and I had quit talking, can't speak for her but I was concentrating on my breathing. Kept telling myself outloud 2 more miles, just 2 more, 2 is nothing. Mile 12 - SAW MY MOMMA?!?! I look up and my mom is standing right there, I told her to wait at the finish line, not sure if she couldn't get there because of road blocks or what, but I scream out, "HEY MOMMA!!!!" and I get this big ol' grin on my face, and she smiles and says, "wait come here, let me find my camera so I can take a picture of you" I tell her "uh, i can't really stop right now, I'm kinda running a 1/2 marathon right now, you are supposed to be at the finish" She says okay she will go there. Mile 13 - Oh sweet, sweet mile 13. It was good. Mile 13.1 - Rookie mistake, BIG rookie mistake, There is a timing mat before the finish line, I don't see the one at the finish line, I think the one I see is the one that does my finishing time. I literally jump on this mat all excited that I'm done, and I stopped and turn around to cheer on Laurie (I sprinted to the finish) Then I realize that that is NOT the finish line. All well. This was just a good fun race. Lots of people on their porches having parties for us. I had a really incredibly great time. It was great to meet everyone at dinner Saturday night. (Laurie (tri_it_cajun_style, Derek (DerekL), The Bear and Mrs. Bear, Haley and her mom (Tricomet), and Aaron (JeepFleeb) What would you do differently?: Leave the house earlier  Post race
Warm down: Got my finisher's medal, walked around got some water, cheered in the rest of the 1/2 marathoners. Watched as the crazies came strolling in, right in front of the car. It was great, You guys are awesome. Waited about an hour for my mom, but didn't see her, so I gave up, but at least she did get to see me in action :) Event comments: Good race, I would do it again Last updated: 2005-12-29 12:00 AM
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United States
Premier Event Management
Overall Rank = 1273/1426
Age Group = 20-24
Age Group Rank = 63/70
MY FIRST 1/2 MARATHON, FIRST REAL RACE!! I had only done a 5k and 9k before, never did a tri, so this was it, this was my first real race.
The night before I'm looking at all of my race numbers (all 3 of them), from Ole Man River 5k, Jackson Day 9k, and MGM 1/2, and I notice something. All my numbers end in 6. 106, 86, and 2666 How cool is that, and I'm thinking, this must be a sign. Then I'm driving to the race and I look down at my mileage and it says 122666, my freakin' race number. I knew it was going to be a great race.
Figured out that something funny was going on with my mp3 player. Could not get it working, I could do a complete erase and start over but I wouldn't have time to reload all my songs, so I accepted that I would have to do this race sans-music. I was not happy about that at all.
Ate a banana and a handful of plain cheerios to start the morning, Left the house on time (1 hour drive to the race site)
Something happened on the interstate and it was CLOSED!! Huge traffic jam because they were diverting all traffic off the interstate at Metairie Rd. I start to wonder if I'll be late. I am getting into the turning lane and I see this cop with his lights on drive to the right of me. I shoot behind him without using my blinker and kinda, just a little, cutting off the guy that was behind the cop (all this while I'm on my phone), the cop in front of me stops his car and I'm thinking oh my god he is pissed. I get off the phone. This cop gets out of his car, and I'm thinking, oh no oh no oh no. I try to stay calm and not think about being late to the race and I hope that he isn't too mean to me, and I'm smiling and all he says is "this truck behind you is trying to follow me to the police station downtown, can you please let him through" I'm thinking oh my god, score one for the race skirt!! I smiled, said, "oh my, i'm so sorry, I didn't realize"
So I get to the dome, finally and it took me forever just to get into the one garage that they had open. I pull my car into a spot at 6.45, the race starts at 7, and I still have to walk all the way down there and pee. So I get down there and the lines for the bathroom are crazy. So I'm standing in line, watching the seconds tick away thinking again that I was going to be late for the start. I get out of the bathroom at 6:59, and run over to the start just in time to hear the end of the national anthem and to see Haley (tricomet) and Aaron (JeepFleeb). Haley looked great in her hershey's kiss, and aaron, well, I've come to the conclusion that Aaron is just crazy. I've accepted that this will be hard without my music but overall feeling pretty good and happy that it's all here.