Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon - Run

Holy shit. Right from the start things felt awful. It was painful to run and hard to imagine I had 26 miles in front of me. I tried to stay in the moment and not get concerned on what mile I was at. The section along the trolley line was crowded and a good distraction. There were tons of racers and spectators out and the bands were great! I saw Brad and Jeff (missed seeing Kari), ate King Cake people were handing out and was trying to just enjoy the day and the city.

I saw LC at around mile 9 and I stopped to chat with her for a minute or two. I told her how awful it was/felt and she said Brad shared the same sentiments. I told myself I could start a run/walk at mile 10. I started out with a 5:1 interval and tried to keep it up, but it was challenging. I next saw LC at mile 13 and I commented on how much better it felt to walk. But I've done that before...walked a marathon or a 1/2. And it's slow and painful. I knew it would mean being out there for hours longer and I didn't want that. So I was motivated to run, dropping my run/walk intervals to 4:1. That was manageable and I was able to keep that up.

The part along the park was nice and shaded with a breeze which was welcome since it was sunny and getting warm. Actually most of the course is shaded which was great. I saw Jeff around my mile 18, his mile 22 and then saw Brad shortly after. I commented on how I would never fucking do this again and how painful it was. I am sure the people around me thought I was dramatic, not knowing I had run the day prior. The music along the stretch by the lake was great. They had a DJ with speakers along that part so you could hear music on that whole section. I saw Kari who looked great and said she was going to PR.
The miles kept ticking off and mentally, I just stayed within the 4 minute run/1 minute walk interval. It made the time fly. The portion within the park was beautiful. They had small lakes, little wooden bridges and the one part had these pretty Japanese lanterns in the trees. Made the final turn to the finish and was happy to be done running.

Maybe not run a marathon the day prior? But given my state, I feel I did well. I was happy to be able to run the first 10 miles and then figure out and stick with an interval that worked for me.

I got a lot of food through the chute. I made that mistake in Savannah. I ate a bunch after finishing so I wasn't feeling awful. That definitely helped. Found our crew, got my finisher's jacket and then took the shuttle back to the quarter.


Running a marathon the day before


This might be one of my favorite courses. The crowd support was fantastic and the spectators were so fun (offering up king cake, beer, beads and even mini martinis). There was a lot of shade and the course was interesting.