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Red Dress Run 2013
August 10, 2013
Race Bib
First off, Hashing (or the Hash House Harriers) is technically a running club (with chapters all around the world) but they pride themselves on drinking and having fun also. It’s basically like another social club like the Moose Lodge or Lions Club, and just like those clubs. Hashing began in Malaysia it seems as a way for friends to meet up on Mondays to run for exercise to counter all the beer they’d drink during the weekend. Hashing groups quickly spread across the globe.
The Red Dress Run was started in San Diego a few decades ago after a female friend of a hasher decided she wanted to run with the group even though all she had for clothing at the time was a red dress. The hashers liked it so much that they made an annual event out of it in San Diego and it quickly spread like wildfire around the globe especially when they decided to do it for charity. Of course it didn’t take long for New Orleans to pick up on it. What can you not do in NOLA??? The Red Dress Run has been an annual event in New Orleans now for the past nineteen years and now it has become the largest Red Dress Run in the world with easily 10,000 plus people participating. Supposedly some 7,000 registered last year and it was estimated that more registered this year although the only count I saw said it was only 6,000 for this year. But there are the so-called bandits, who show up and participate but don’t register. There’s no way to stop them from being in the Quarter or being in the bars with the registered people, but there are some perks. Sure, the hash got rid of the pub crawl with free beer in the bars because too many unregistered people were drinking the free beer. So now bars have specials for everyone involved. The event itself is now blocked off in Armstrong Park north of Rampart Street and you have to be registered to enter. Once inside, there is actual free beer, free food and free music from some pretty awesome bands: Dash Rip Rock and Cowboy Mouth. So people on the outside really did miss out on a lot more fun. It’s kinda of a shame that people won’t pay because first off, it’s for charity. Not to mention you do get free beer, free food, free toilets and awesome entertainment. Just pay up dammit! At least the registered people get to see Cowboy Mouth and get to wear their race bib for the rest of the day that way people don’t look at us funny for wearing a red dress just to stand in the Quarter all day. I had a reason. Did you? Haha.
Start
Concerning the event itself, first off, packet pickup was sort of a mess. You had to take a cab or drive to the Fairgrounds and find your way around it to get to the pickup area. Then the lines got really confusing. You had to get into one line to get some paperwork and one initial, then move all the way across the room to another line to get another initial and your bib and bracelet. Then you had to zig zag around the room to these various stations to get beer tickets, free gifts, haberdashery items to buy, and yet another line for beer itself. It was like a medium size long hall way with X lines zig zagging across the middle of it for each line. I’m afraid that made little sense, although supposedly it’s because of the strict Over 21 policy, to verify that there is noone underage. My thought though is that once I get the packet and bib and bracelet, couldn’t I just give this to my 19 year old cousin in the parking lot and let him race and drink in my place? I mean, at the event itself, there was no real verification except for checking to see if you got your bib and bracelet. I think they need to correct that for next year. Otherwise, the trip up and back was painless and we even won $15 while at the small casino there.
a cheer squad
Friday night in the Quarter, I found a red sequin cap that I decided to buy because I realized that even though I had the outfit finally, I didn’t have any accessories to bedazzle it with. Haha. So as I was checking out with the hat, the guy at the counter knew exactly why I was buying it and said that a lady had come in earlier and bought three or four of them, I guess for a group. So anyway, I was proud that I had something now to bedazzle my outfit with, and I’m glad too because the next day I saw accessories galore, and many of them on the guys. Haha. I did change outfits twice. Now I see what girls have to go through. The first dress I bought I ended up hating because it really didn’t fit well at all. It was just, blah. I gave that one away and I’m glad too because it turned out not to hold water well at all (because it rained hard right after the run), so it was a pain to dry out. It didn’t look fun to run in. So I forgot where I had seen it but I decided to go for a more elastic outfit and found a full red cheerleader uniform that actually fit perfect, was short enough to reduce chaffing (because up until this point I had intended to run) and it surprisingly resisted water very well so I didn’t sweat in it or get soaked during the rain storm. So I think I made a great decision. Of course, it felt odd at first especially since this was my first Red Dress Run and I had no idea what to expect, but after running into more red dressers, it actually was way more comfortable than many of the other things I saw. At least I had full coverage. Haha.
The next day, Saturday morning and downtown, we wake up later than planned but still early enough. Supposedly beer is tapped at 9am. I’m not sure what else they do there before the run itself. No food is served until after the run. No live music, but plenty of radio music anyway. We didn’t leave the hotel until probably 9:45. This probably isn’t a great idea elsewhere, but in New Orleans, it’s no big deal for women to dress really provocative and slutty and for guys to dress in their best tutu, prom dress or cheerleader uniform and walk thru the CBD and across Canal Street into the Quarter. This really has become a huge event here. Granted, we didn’t see many red dressers in the CBD but as soon as we got across Canal, they were everywhere. By that point, I had already been called cute twice. Wow, that really is a compliment. No wonder women love to hear that. Haha.
Armstrong Park
So we stop off at Tropical Isle, going and coming. Going, it was around 10am or so and they had specials: Triple Crown and Sevens. I had one and a half. Goodness they were strong! I ended up staggering to Armstrong Park, just in time really to start the run. Needless to say, there was no running involved. Sure, the runners left first, but at that point, I had no desire to run anywhere, otherwise I might have run myself into a parked car along St. Ann. So I stayed with a friend and we staggered down St. Ann to Bourbon, stopping off at a few other places, including Oz. I have to say, that was my first time there and I didn’t even realize where we were until well after we got in. I’ve only heard about it from a girl at work, on many occasions. Let’s just say she really really likes that bar. Haha.
Float
So I guess it was around that point that I finally sobered up and we continued down Bourbon and into The Marigny. This was wear we saw our first naked guy. Jezus!!! We found a pull behind wagon float that looked like the Eat Me Cake Float from Animal House and followed it for a bit before being distracted by more free beer, Red’s Apple Ale this time. That stuff was good (first time drinking it). We eventually made our way back to Rampart and back down to the finish line at the park. We ended up walking the route, about 1.8 miles, in about 52 minutes or so. Not bad for starting off feeling pretty drunk.
Party in the Quarter
Back at the park, there was free bbq, more beer, and then Dash Rip Rock started playing. This is about when the rain started. The canopies were full of people while everyone else either huddled under oak trees where we were or just said F-it and got soaked. Eventually the rain ended and then we made our way over to the stage to listen to Cowboy Mouth. They put on a very good show and I didn’t realize the singer was also the drummer. I guess I did, I had heard, but I’ve never seen them live so I just never visualized it. But they were excellent. I hope they become a Red Dress Run tradition. Needless to say, I’d definitely do this again. The whole thing was crazy fun. Who knew cross dressing could be so much fun. LOL!
Gleaux Run (Light Up the Night)
Race #10 Overall
I’ll start by saying that my diet (a.k.a. slight change in lifestyle) seems to be working just about the way I was hoping it would. I’m not one to go on hard diets and lose weight quickly as I just gain it right back anyway. Likewise I’m not one to go sign up for a gym membership since I tend to hate hanging around with strangers worrying about how I look. So for Lent this year, I decided to make small changes such as eating less fast foods (I still haven’t been to a Raising Cane’s (thank God)), not drinking soft drinks except for the rarest of occasions (I can still drink the total number of cokes I’ve had since February on one hand), and getting slightly more active such as signing up for an additional softball league, running a little more and keeping my name on the Bayou Corne response team which makes me spend work time outdoors in the heat instead of caged in an office… small subtle changes that were meant to drive me in a slightly different direction and to sort of ‘train’ me over time to stop bad habits. And it seems to be working as the results are becoming slightly more evident although lately I feel like I’m reaching another plateau point. Six months later, I’m twenty pounds lighter and still going. My hope is to lose at least another ten to fifteen. Then I’ll be back to where I was when I graduated college where I always had Tigerband to keep my weight in check. I also hope to continue to increase my endurance and get it back up to levels I used to remember. The thought of that has even made me consider the idea of getting myself ready to run the Louisiana Half Marathon here in January. Then I sign myself up for a evening race in the middle of July which makes me rethink the whole idea.
Starting Line
The Gleaux Run (Formerly the Light Up the Night Cancer Run) has been around for a few years locally at least. I’ve heard of it in previous years. The race is a ‘nighttime’ run where runners are supposed to wear neon or have some sort of glowing lights on their person as a tribute to fight cancer. I signed up for this race to cover the month of July in my 13 in 2013 Series. There just aren’t many races down here in the middle of summer and the few there are I have to schedule around between all of my other work and nonwork activities. But this race seemed perfect. I like to run. I like local. I like glowy things. Why not.
The race itself had about 250 participants. There was chip timing which sort of surprised me, before and after the race. Most people were decorated in some form or another, most simply were wearing glow necklaces. But a few were wearing bright neon or body pant or had other glow items to show. I wore two glow sticks around my neck and I decorated my shoe laces with neon bracelets. I ended up matching quite well as every glow stick I picked out ended up being either blue or green and I ended up wearing a blue shirt as well. By chance the night before for fun, I cracked on a purple and gold one, but without cracking them, it’s hard to tell what color they’re going to be so you just guess.
Glow Runners
Downtown happened to be very crowded this night. Originally the race was scheduled for 7:30PM I believe and I think we waited until 7:45PM because a wedding at a church down the street was letting out right around then. This was fine by me as ultimately, the race should have waiting until 8PM that way it was a little bit darker. Also, there was some music festival going on down by the State Capitol complex so we had to detour around it. There was also the Art Melt going on which brings out a lot of people dressed up and visiting the shops, bars and restaurants downtown. It was pretty busy.
So the race starts, and I basically bring up the rear since I was too busy taking a few pics and wanted the pack to take off without me just because it feels easier that way (no bumping up against people at the starting line area). In the second block, we passed by the church where the wedding had been and some people were still outside cheering us on. Another block and I passed up a group of ladies dressed up in glow gear but it was still just daylight enough you couldn’t get the full effect of it.
Capitol
Now that I look back on it, I really did do a lot of passing in this race which made me feel good. The course was a course that I had seen mapped before for some other races. Down 4th, around Capital Park and the Battery, then up 3rd to River Road and back into downtown and 4th. The detour around the music festival made no difference as we just made a block around them that met back up to where we were supposed to be anyway, so no difference in distance. Also, where we turned around, everybody was turning around, except for one person who ran all the way to the cop cars at the end of 3rd Street which was only another 250 feet away or so, only about a tenth of a mile or so.
So making it back in for the finish, I pick up my pace again, and within sight of the finish clock I can see that I’m under 30 minutes. That had me pretty excited. They had gun time and we had chips, so I crossed at around 29:45 and the chip had me at 29:02. I finished about 50th in the guys and 114th overall, which out of 250 is better than half, so I really did pass a lot of people (mainly in the first mile and a few more near the finish). But honestly, the pace of under 10 minutes per mile had me wondering. This race was kicking my butt. I felt worse after this race. I attributed that to running faster and running in July and not running a race since April because the Zombie Run really didn’t qualify as a real race, just an obstacle course. We slowed up and even walked a lot during that one. But regardless, I was somewhat skeptical but still excited. New PR and everything.
Capitol 3rd St
Once I got home, I did two different mappings and got a similar distance, 2.8 miles. AGAIN! And this race was sanctioned unlike the Dieticians one in March. So what’s up with 5K races being able to advertise 5K but only run 4.5K? And I blame the group because like I said, the detour we made shaved off zero distance and the turnaround which was clearly unmarked, assuming if we went to the cop cars would have added another 0.1 mile, still under 5K. Even the pace they quoted me wasn’t right. They gave me a 9:22 min/mi pace for a 5K but it was only 4.5K, so my pace was really about 10:22 which felt more to my feeling of the race I had run. Still a PR for sure, but I didn’t shatter it like I had originally thought. It’s not a huge deal and I can work around it, but I do not like the false advertising or short cutting. Not to mention the reason it made me mad at this race was because the whole organization of this race seemed to be seriously lacking. No info on the website. No course map until I picked up my packed an hour before. (I could have known that it was less than 5K before.) But I like I said, I’ve seen this route used for other local races in the past so I had no reason to doubt its accuracy until after this race. The water was within the first mile but none afterwards to the finish. And I never found the water at the finish, only pizza, which I really didn’t want and didn’t get. Just overall unorganized. Would I do it again, sure, especially knowing what I know now. But I can understand how newbies might be confused with this race. I certainly was.
So now we’re off into August where I have two races planned but only one really counts. The 10K in Dallas will cross Texas off my list. The Red Dress Run in NOLA is more or less a glorified pub crawl so not really anything special there. I just get to dress up as a woman, run around the Quarter and drink beer during the hottest part of the day and listen to Cowboy Mouth afterwards. Sounds worth it. 🙂 The 10K at this point could really kick my butt but I’ve already started a slightly more vigorous regiment to get myself just a little better acclimated to running longer so hopefully that helps although if I don’t see results in time for this next race in less than a month, I wouldn’t be surprised either.
Race: Gleaux Run (Light Up the Night)
Date: July 20, 2013, 7:45PM
Place: Downtown, Baton Rouge, LA
Time: 0:29:02
Charities: American Cancer Society
Zombie Run NOLA
Race #9 Overall
Start Line
Zombie Run Special Effects
Field Zombies
Forgetful May
So May started off being a month much like all the others, sick. I had one of the worst sinus infections I’ve probably ever had surprise me early in the month and it kept me from going to Dallas for a run and a Jimmy Buffett concert. I ended up taking a steroid shot, which I never take (so you know it was bad) and felt better that Saturday but the local race was canceled that Saturday due to rain. Afterwards, I felt bad again for another two or three days and then finally recovered for good.
Going into the rest of May, I got pretty greedy with work. I’m on a rotating list of people who inspect anything and everything related to the sinkhole in Assumption Parish and it seemed that everyone else wanted off one day or another for various reasons. Well, the k-time for weekends worked is very generous, so I opted to take any and every day I could for anyone that wanted off. It wasn’t long before I realized that I had volunteered for every weekend in May. It wasn’t much longer that I realized that I had inadvertently blocked myself from signing up for any sanctioned race/event in May since ever race in BTR and NOLA was on a Saturday or Sunday. So before I was even finished with the third week of May, I knew I was going to finish the month empty handed with regards of races.
Kinda makes me glad I did two in March and April. So I’m nowhere near worried about doing my 13 in 2013. It’s just it won’t be as originally thought out: one race in every month plus one extra. Oh well, such is life.
So I enter June on a mission to not do that ever again in future months. I’m picking races out ahead of time now and blocking off the day or weekend just in case. I’ve got it on my phone too that way if someone asks for me to switch with them, I can say no. So far, that hasn’t been an issue for June. I did switch with one girl already for an entire weekend (15-16) but my scheduled June race is for June 23 in NOLA. I’m also thinking of going down for the bridge run this saturday but it depends on a few other things going on at the moment. But I do intend to run the June 23 race with coworkers so that one is a lock. I’m also looking at runs for July and August. I’m actually considering traveling out of state for August, the dog days of summer. What a ridiculous time to run a 10K huh? Haha.
See you on the hot and dusty trail.
Colon Cancer 5K
Race #8 Overall
After returning from San Francisco with my toe still intact I felt I could easily handle this race. This was the race I really wanted to do anyway since it had a direct correlation to my late father who spent nearly two years fighting colon cancer. I was hoping to have my aunt with me but some family emergencies kept her from coming up to the city.
The day started off interesting enough though. I didn’t sign up early enough and I couldn’t make to the packet pickups due to work and traffic. I had an hour to get from downtown to Perkins Road and on Thursday I couldn’t even do that thanks to constant construction on every other street in southdowns. Sometimes I really hate Baton Rouge traffic. So I just signed up Saturday morning. I knew I didn’t have the cash as I had forgotten to go by the ATM anyway, so I took my checkbook. Then as I open it up to write a check, I’m reminded that I didn’t replace my checks, so I had no blank checks remaining to use. Wow, I thought to myself. That’s what I get for rushing. But they were able to take credit cards too so I just used it. It’s a sad time where I don’t carry around $30 anymore.
The race was set up fairly well, lots of booths, snacks, water/juice and a band from Angola. Wow, we got our own prison band. They actually were pretty good. But the whole Dept of Corrections van and cops constantly watching them just felt strange.
The starting line wasn’t very pronounced and they had to remind people several times that runners go in front and walkers in back because it seemed they didn’t order a chip start, and only bibs with numbers less than 800 were getting chip finish times. So it was a gun time. It turned out to not be that bad. I probably crossed the start within 5-10 seconds. The finish line was orderly however. It just took a while to get our official finish times although I did notice that I was around 34:04 when I got to the finish.
They had 540 people in the 5K which was pretty impressive for this race. Way to go everybody! There were so many teams also that were raising money for various people. I honestly had no idea you could take the race bib and flip it over and write who you were honoring. No idea. I didn’t realize until I started seeing a few while on the course. I’ve never thought about looking on the back of a bib before. I guess I will from now on.
The run itself was very comfortable for about the first half. Then the sun came out for the second half and it got hot, especially hot for me because I was still recovering from a decent sunburn I got in California. So when the sun came out, I literally began to feel my skin sizzle. Great, I thought. I’m at a colon cancer run getting skin cancer now. What are the odds. Ha! Actually, I’ve been burnt so bad as a kid, I’ll be surprised if I don’t get melanoma sometime in my life. Hopefully God continues to watch over me.
So all in all, a very fun race. The course at Pennington is partially off-road however. But I’m already getting used to it, except we ran it in reverse from the Dietetics race back in March.
Change of plans again. Turns out I’m working over Memorial Day weekend out at the sinkhole, so no Mississippi run that weekend. I’m thinking of making that one up in December with the Pass to Bay run in Pass Christian. I’m also probably not going to do the run in Fort Worth this weekend while in the DFW Metroplex. Wouldn’t be fair on the parental units making them get up so early to drive nearly an hour from our hotel to downtown Fort Worth for a 10K race before the festival even starts. Nevermind it couldn’t be much more convenient and the weather in north Texas for early May couldn’t be more perfect, possible 50s in the morning, mid 70s in the day. That’s unheard of for Dallas in May. I’m not sure when I’ll make up the Texas race yet, but there are many good runs around Houston and perhaps I can find another during a cool month. There is a night beach run in Galveston and on Padre Island, just to keep my options open. I’m also still eyeing Alabama for sometime this year. So potentially five states in one year still isn’t bad. I just don’t know what I’m going to do when everywhere I have left to go is a three hour flight away. Do I just take off a month and travel around the country? I wish!
Race: Get Your Rear In Gear
Date: April 27, 2013, 9AM
Place: Pennington Biomedical Center, Baton Rouge, LA
Time: 0:34:04
Charities: Colon Cancer Coalition
Presidio10 – Golden Gate Bridge
Race #4 of the 13 in 2013
Race #7 Overall
Race Bib
So it seems that if it isn’t one thing, then it’s another. After fighting a bronchial infection for 6 weeks, I feel better and sign myself up for this run in San Francisco and in the same week I go out and break my right big toe. Do you want to know how? Ants. Yep. Ants! Damn ants broke my toe! And damn kickball too! Seems all my foot injuries (typically toe related) revolve around kickball as well. So on this particular occasion, I was at the kickball fields watching an earlier game when I noticed I had a shoe covered in ants. And ants certainly aren’t a huge deal. I’ve been bitten by many ants in my lifetime and I could be bothered less by them. I’m not bothered after I’ve been bitten by them. Same thing with wasp stings and spider bites. But if I see some crawly thing on me that hasn’t bitten or stung me yet, then I seem to go all girly over it. I freak out and try to shake it off as quick as I can, and obviously without thinking too much about it. So with the ants crawling around my shoe, I immediately initiate kicking my foot, toe head on, into a concrete curb. Well, I’ve kicked curbs many times in my lifetime also, to shake bugs or dirt off. But for whatever reason on this occasion, I kicked my foot in such a way that my toe immediately felt the impact. By the time our game started, I could barely walk on my right foot. I kicked with my left and hobbled around. I was still able to kick in a runner left footed which was a small victory.
Crissy Field
I have another blog on travelpod with regards to the trip to San Francisco itself. This blog will concentrate on the race event. Likewise the travelpod blog references the race on this blog. As for the race event itself… The Presidio10 is an annual event held in Presidio (the area along the south bank of the Golden Gate) with support for The Guardsmen, a group of people who help at risk city youth. They’ve also partnered with the Ashlyn Dyer Foundation, which supports neurological research for traumatic brain injuries. Ashlyn Dyer was an avid marathoner and a Presidio resident who was hit and killed by a hit and run driver in 2006 while running along the streets of the Presidio. She died from severe head trauma.
The event itself seemed set up well. There were plenty of tents with all sorts of information, including a check
Starting Line
area for sweats (or anything really), just place it in a bag and label it. They seem to put their food and drinks stands together though so that made for long lines afterwards. The band played right in the middle which was perfect. The race started with the 10 milers. They went in three waves. A few minutes later, the 10K runners left, in similar waves. Sometime after that I think the 5K runners went. I ran with the 10K runners. The 10 miler looked interesting but I wasn’t sure about the hills. I come from such a flat geographical area and hills as steep as those around San Francisco just seem to be unrelenting.
This particular race basically started with a steep hill. About half a mile in, you had to run up to the bridge itself from sea level. That seemed to hurt many people (at least slower people near the back). I heard people near the end complaining about it (uphill at the beginning to get tired and then downhill at the end). I ran up well more than half of it but by the last third or so, I slowed to a walk knowing that it was still just the beginning and I needed to be able to make the remainder 8.5K or so.
Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
Another factor was the turnaround spot across the bridge near Vista Point. The path turned tightly 90 degrees to the right a few times. At the first turn was the first water station. That was not the best place for a water station because you basically ran right into it. Then you turned immediately again to run down some ridiculously steep stairs to cross along a very narrow passageway underneath the bridge to the other side. We ran northbound on the east sidewalk. The run back was on the west sidewalk which were both closed to the public during the race. But the transition between the east sidewalk to the west sidewalk was not easy. This is another sign that this race is more meant to be for fun although still competitive. It’s just that road runners typically aren’t used to narrow sidewalks, sharp turns and steep steps down and back up. That certainly had an impact on final time as well.
The swimmers
Golden Gate Bridge
Once back across, there were more tourists around to watch or to shoo us out of the way because they were beginning to reopen the eastern sidewalk. Once back underneath the bridge heading toward the finish, there was the winding downhill stretch through wildflowers and eucalyptus trees. It’s amazing how those trees smell. They have a pretty unique and pleasant aroma. We don’t have these in Louisiana, certainly not native at least. The downhill did hurt more than expected; I’m guessing because of added pressure on the end of my toe. But all-in-all the toe held up very well.
Race towards the finish
Race: Presidio10 (10K Race)
Date: April 21, 2013, 8AM
Place: San Francisco, CA
Time: 1:20:15
Charities: The Guardsmen, Ashlyn Dyer Foundation
Crescent City Classic 10K
Race #3 of the 13 in 2013
Race #6 Overall
Race Bib
This bronchial infection over the last five or so weeks has really led me on some highs and lows. I thought I was over it two weeks ago but I ended up having a fairly nasty relapse. Luckily, that relapse only seemed to last about a week. Things seem to be much better now. The downside however was that with the sickness, I didn’t run in several races I wanted to in March. So that meant another determined race with little to no training or preparation I seem to be getting good at this.
Sunrise Lake Ponchartrain
I’m glad I started feeling better again just in time for this race. The CCC10 is a huge race. Last year they had over 16,000 participants. This year, they ended up having about 1,500 more. That’s a lot of people. With the race being at 8am on a Saturday, I opted not to stay in NOLA the night before and just drive in from BTR the morning of. That meant being up early and making the 70 minute drive down, but with Saturday morning traffic being minimal, It really wasn’t a problem. In the deal, I got to see a spectacular sunrise driving into Kenner. I don’t think I’ve ever see such a large and red sun. It was easy to look at and it was huge. It was rather brilliant. By the time I got to the 610 split though, that soft red glow turned into a piercing yellow blinding light.
Starting on Poydras
Once downtown, I ran into a little bit of traffic getting off at the Superdome exit and into the parking garages adjacent to the dome itself. The start line was at Poydras and Loyola with corrals lined up Poydras to the dome. The starting corrals (the small distant group highlighted in yellow in the picture) were for ranked and qualified racers (i.e. Kenyans and high school track and Olympic stars). The rest of us lined up in various corrals behind the lead pack based on our projected finish time. I’ve been running 5Ks at about 35 minutes now so I figured I could potentially do a 10K in 70 but decided to go with the 75 to 90 minute pack to be safe which worked out perfect because it was the corral right in front of the walkers (not the zombie walkers from Walking Dead). Of course this ended up not really mattering as right before race time various people started ending up in various corrals. Several times I noticed walkers in front of me and higher seeded racers behind me. I figured they were just trying to be near friends or other people they knew. In that regard, the corrals behind the lead pack weren’t managed extremely well. That led to the bottleneck that I had read about prior to the race. I read a post about how racers had to dodge walkers and strollers and coolers being pulled behind walkers and I couldn’t imagine how this was possible since I was under the impression that walkers were last to cross the start line. Well, I found out why real quick. After the lead pack left, it seems they let some of Groups D and E go and then someone must have let out Groups F, G and the Walkers simultaneously, because all of a sudden we were all moving and when we got to LaSalle (a block before Loyola), we were heavily merged together in one huge walking jam. At that point, we inched our way forward to Loyola and the start line. We got up to the starting booth and the MC announced the youth run NOLA group that had seemed to sneak in all of a sudden right next to me.
Start Line
They were a relatively large group of various kids perhaps ages 9-15 all in bright yellow shirts. I ended up pacing with many of them almost all the way through the Quarter. The MC called out the youth group, had us all cheer and noted that the first ‘float’ was passing by. This was one of those ‘coolers’ I had heard about. Seems it is very popular with some groups, especially walkers, to pull behind coolers, or make push cart type deals fully decorated with signs and filled with alcohol generally. I saw two guys walking at one point merely with a six pack of beer around Mile 3. This ‘float’ comment would come up again later.
At the point we crossed the starting strip, many people continued to walk, and some people behind started complaining. So it was hard to determine what to do next. I didn’t want to run over anybody and we were packed relatively tight still. So I stayed behind some walkers until it finally started to clear out (slightly) closer to Baronne or Carondelet. Then I took notice of the runners hitting the sidewalks running past the walkers. This was probably the most narrow part of the race, on Poydras because it was near the start and it ran thru the CBD. I nearly forgot about the group of tourists that nearly tripped some of us. A few people were stationed in the CBD part of the route to cheer, but at one particular intersection some tourists decided they didn’t want to wait for the runners to pass anymore and decided to start making their way across Poydras with their luggage pulled behind. Mind you the pack was still relatively tight, so these people basically just took a chance and started darting out around people. I nearly hit the first guy. He was obviously the ringleader who decided ‘let’s go honey, we can make it’. I’m glad I didn’t actually hit him, but I kind of hope someone did. It quickly reminded me of Tigerband and that one unwritten rule that you were expected to follow or you got heckled by your peers: NOBODY BREAKS RANKS! And if someone did try to sneak thru the band, depending on who it was you were expected to stop them. If it was a girl, you pushed them back politely, but if it was a annoying drunk guy, you laid him out. Simple as that. Well, this wasn’t Tigerband. This was probably 7,000 serious runners and 10,500 not so serious ones running around the streets of New Orleans, thankfully with their clothes on.
St. Peters
Once we turned on St. Peter’s, I found it more manageable except for another slight bottleneck in the Quarter close to Cafe du Monde past Jackson Square. Then we started running thru the passageways paralleling St. Peters. The Quarter was much more fun. The tourists here were much more fun. Instead of being cheap, these people splurge and stay in the French Quarter. These people drink all night and then get up mid morning for bloody marys, mimosas and beignets. These people will cheer a row of ducks crossing the street let alone a parade of runners. So it was much more fun. I wonder how many runners/walkers stopped to get a beignet, never mind the line was probably long. The cafe did look pretty packed when I ran by. In front of Jackson Square was also our first live jazz band playing as we ran by. Also nearby was the first mile marker with split time checking and water.
Jackson Square
The CCC had split timing and water set up for every mile (except for the 6th since it’s so close to the finish). I somehow missed running over the split at the second mile mark, but it was still evident that I was averaging a slightly slower pace with every mile, from around 12 minutes at mile 1 to nearly 13 minutes by the finish. I’ve noticed also that giving a cup of water to more than 17,000 runners makes the ground very wet. I couldn’t tell at first if it had rained or if it was the typical liquid nastiness you sometimes get in the Quarter, but I feel confident that at least most of it was Kentwood water spilled on the ground.
I nearly lost my key here too. I had forgotten I had my spare key in my pocket and a small towel, so I went to pull the towel out here for the first time and about a second later heard the sound of metal hitting the ground. I knew immediately it was the key. Luckily someone behind me picked it up for me and handed it to me so I didn’t have to spend any time looking for it.
This is probably a good time to mention all the different costumes and getups there were represented out there. Of course, with the race being on Easter weekend, many people were dressed as rabbits/bunnies, with bunny ears and such. A select few even wore the whole bunny costume.
Chasing Rabbits
Also once again (a reference to the Mardi Gras Mambo), lots of tu-tus. I saw what appeared to be the Pope and Cleopatra (not at the same time of course, that would be sacrilege). There were several super heroes, supermen, superwomen, batgirls, a guy wearing dive fins (you could hear him a block away [flip, flap, flip, flap, flip, flap]). On several occasions I was chasing or fishing for rabbits. I’d find a bunny in front of me and usually reel them in (them? It was usually a her, but there were some guy rabbits out there to, don’t want to misrepresent).
After turning onto the Esplanade, we were passing by the Marigny district. This is mainly where the race took a turn for the more silly and fun. First off, the boulevard was wide. You could race in either the riverbound or lakebound lanes, or the neutral ground even if that’s what you favored. I sort of went back and forth at times, started in the riverbound lanes, then switched to the neutral ground when traffic got too tight, then danced over to the lakebound lanes as we passed our next band, sounded like Rebirth but they were dressed like military and playing “Do What You Wanna”. I had to be in one of the roadbeds for split time. This is probably where I missed my second mile split. I was too busy eyeing the lemonade stand in front of me on the lakebound lanes while the riverbound lanes had some group of people offering to basically funnel beer down your throat while offering you donuts. Only in New Orleans can you do this sort of thing right… run or stagger a 10K and be fed donuts and drink beer? This city is so awesome! Meanwhile another band in the neutral ground is playing Springsteen’s “Baby We Were Born to Run”. There were more spectators, mainly local residents who would do various things, hold up various signs, perform various antics. Like the girl jumping up and down on one of those small fitness trampolines holding a sign that read “Why do all the good guys run away?” The best yet was the sign that read “This is the worst parade ever!” That had me rolling.
By the time we got to the fairgrounds, there were more bands, some outside clubs and others outside houses. Then there were the “fans and bystanders” sitting down in lawn chairs along the route here offering you water, orange juice, powerade, and of course… jello shots. I’m sold now. I’ve already marked this race on my 2014 calendar. Don’t expect me to beat this year’s time though. It was funny listening to one woman asking if it was shameful that it took her some 30 minutes to make it between Mile 3 and Mile 4. Yes, ma’am, that was most definitely the best mile ever. LMAO! I want to be like that next year.
Finishers Medal
Finally, towards the end, we end up making a circle around a portion of City Park and then it’s on to the grand finish. The finish was slightly confusing. People would stop way too short of the finish and just sort of walk. So over time, that seemed to stack up people before the finish, although when I made it I was able to make it across in stride. But they were handing out water and medals way too close to the line. I guess I thought there would be a chute where you continue on for a short distance to get that stuff. Speaking of, this finisher medal looks great. It’s my favorite yet. From what I gather, it’s not typical of the CCC handing out finisher medals, but this year is a commemorative year and supposedly that’s why they did it. I feel lucky.
After party
Now after getting out of the end debacle with some water and the medal, you were able to continue to the festival area where you got powerade and then all sorts of goodies along with being treated to live music from Papa Grows Funk. The festival area had the feel of a mini Jazz Fest. It was great. People were laid out on the lawn and on the track, with their coolers and attached totums. They didn’t have as much food selection as I had read they would but it wasn’t a huge deal to me. I was happy with the jambalaya. They had Subway as well but I didn’t feel like subway. Cajun food is perfect for post race meals. There were plenty of options for drinks, including more alcohol if you preferred. There were also various booths with items such as race posters, pictures, sunglasses, health and fitness and others. The music couldn’t be beat. People were still finishing the race. Who knows when they started or crossed the start line, but I did notice that some of the latest chip times were over 2:45:00. I don’t believe I saw any over 3 hours unless those were the two that got DQ’d. I imagine they got lost between Mile 3 and 4 and the beer soaking booth.
So overall, well… this goes down as my favorite race to date. It’s well worth any registration price, any hotel price, any traffic congestion, and school bus shuttle ride. It was that fun. No wonder it’s so popular. There were several Kenyans in the bunch, one who won, and there were also tourists from Australia and students from the UK. I never had any idea of this race. I can’t believe I’ve been so deprived. I say: no longer! I have found my new Easter tradition. 🙂
State #1 is officially off the list now and three more are registered/planned. It’s funny how plans change so quickly. Originally I was planning for Alabama and Mississippi in March, but instead I got sick so I canceled. Now I’m planning to stay busy. I’ve got two local races planned for the next two weekends. Then I plan to hit my first 10K outside of the southeast in California. I’ll be racing across the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m excited for that one, but after yesterday in NOLA, well, I’m not sure if even SF will surpass the CCC. But it’s still a once in a lifetime opportunity. Then I’ll come home to some more local races and then 10Ks in Fort Worth, Texas in early May and Ridgeland, Mississippi for Memorial Day weekend. So I still intend to knock out four states as quick as possible. There’s still time to meet me in San Francisco. See you there.
Race: CCC10
Date: March 30, 2013, 8AM
Place: New Orleans, LA
Time: 1:19:48
BR Dietetics Association Race
Race #5 Overall
Race Bib
I picked up this race sort of at the last minute as a fill in since I opted not to do the Run Thru History the previous weekend in Vicksburg. I hadn’t been feeling myself with a persistent cough and sore throat. Turns out that bronchial issue I had starting around the Mambo was indeed Bronchitis. Guess I got lucky not picking it up from mama in New York but after my stepdad got it before my birthday and then they visited around the same time, I did contract it from that visit. So the fact that the RTH was in Vicksburg along with them was a most definitive factor in me canceling the run. I can’t go to Vicksburg and stay in a hotel. And I didn’t want to risk reinfecting them or myself. The week before the race I nearly talked myself into doing it anyway, but I’m glad I backed out. Turns out I’m not completely over this mess yet still. Also it also turned out to be extremely cold that weekend. That certainly would not have helped.
So for this race, a week after the Run Thru History, I felt the need to get back out and try to run this bug out of my system. Well, bug’s still present, and the run certainly hurt like hell at various parts, but I’m still alive and not worse for it at the moment, so no harm done.
This race is very small, maybe 60 or so runners total with varying talents so that actually helped. There were fast runners, medium runners, run/walkers and then a handful of mainly walkers. So all-in-all this race could easily be for anybody. The weather for it was nearly perfect. It was mainly cloudy, which later turned into mainly haze. The sunlight was soft and the temperature started off around 52F or so and worked it’s way easily into the 60s. You can tell spring is on us now. The course is a little odd though mainly because the Pennington Biomedical Center campus has about as many sidewalks around it as the LSU Quadrangle. And sometimes the race just went straight out onto the street. It also went off-road a bit behind their lake, went gravel or limestone and then into a small set of woods. That was unexpected. The track to me was the worst part of the race if I had to declare the worst thing about the race. And it wasn’t bad because of the gravel. It was bad because they advertise the race as a 5K but I felt my time was short for a reason and every measurement I did indicated that this track really was about 2.80 miles or about 4.5K. Still a great race. But if you’re keeping up times and pace numbers for training or something, it could mess up your stats. Not to mention, since this wasn’t a full 5K, I won’t count it towards my 13 in 13′.
I’m not mad though. Initially I finished at 31:11, which blew my previous personal best out of the water. I was now on the brink of running a sub 10min/mile. And I was wheezing through the last half of the race. I ran the whole first mile and then dry mouth set in. Luckily they did have water on the course twice. If they hadn’t had the water, I would not have finished. The first water helped my dry mouth as it seemed to not really come back during the race, but it set up the coughing fit I had in the last mile. I was mainly walking with light jogs in between coughing fits. So even though I ran pretty hard the first mile (Again! as it seems I prefer to start off fast and then limp to a finish), I was only slightly unconvinced about the 31:11 time. It wasn’t until measurements later in the day did I come up with 2.8 miles. So I redid the math and came up with a predicted 5K time of more like 34 minutes and a pace of a little over 11 minutes per mile. Still that would be a personal record for me, but it’s a lot more realistic since my previous was slightly under 37 minutes and a nearly 12 minute mile. Kind of makes me wonder what would I have done if I was in full health and caught up on running. Of course then I would have done the RTH also.
The race was managed very well for as small as it was. They had chip timing. Plenty of water, drinks, fruits, and goody bags for everyone. They also had door prizes for randomly picked runners. It was a very fun event and I’d be tempted to do it again next year. I’ll add that besides from the obvious bronchial problems, I really didn’t hurt at all after this race after I put a lot of water back into me. Seems this mucus problem drains a lot more moisture from me than I give credit.
I’m still scheduled for the Crescent City Classic Easter Weekend but as of now I have work duties the day before and the day after. Hopefully they don’t extend into race day itself. If not, I still intend to race in NOLA and let that count officially as my 10K for Louisiana. As of now, I was supposed to already have LA and MS completed and planning on AL. Seems plans easily change. I’ll have LA done soon. I also plan to do MS and TX in May now. There’s a race in Ridgeland, MS on Memorial Day weekend and there’s one in Fort Worth, TX in early May which I plan to do just because I’m going to be in town for it that weekend anyway. As for AL, I think I’m going to hold off til next year for the Azalea Run, just because of this sickness and other factors. I have no doubt I’ll make it there eventually real soon since it’s only about 3 hours drive away, so I have no worries about postponing it for now.
I will add also that the whole Lent thing seems to be working to a degree. No cokes, no fast foods… I’ve certainly lost a few pounds and gained some running speed. Let’s see what I can complete before Easter, and then the real test will be to continue to lay off the cokes afterwards. It also helps that a few spring sports seasons are about to kick off. Yay for recreational sports. Boo for bronchitis.
Race: BR Dietetics Association
Date: March 9, 2013, 9AM
Place: Pennington Biomedical Center, Baton Rouge
Time: 31:11
Distance: 4.5K or 2.8mi
Updating for Clarification
It wasn’t until after I got a few races under my belt and I started blogging about a few of them that I realized that I had a little problem with my initial format on grouping the races. I saw where another person was numbering their races straight through from the beginning and I liked that. They were already up to race number two hundred and fifty something. Recently, I labeled the Mardi Gras Mambo as #4 since it was my fourth race under this new run initiative I began. It was also my second race of 2013, my second race of the 13 in 2013 campaign and my first race in the 500K across the USA (one state down, forty-nine to go). Afterwards I realized that this blog is meant to focus on the 50 state campaign. Even though I’ll blog about other things, the main focus is the 50 states. So to avoid confusion, that means I need to rethink my numbering logic. It means I need to remove the #3 from the Advocate Cypress 5K and change the #4 Mambo to #1. Actually, scratch that. I walked most of the Mambo. So I’m not even going to make it number one. I believe I will focus on the Crescent City Classic to being my delegate from the great state of Louisiana. Makes more sense to me. I also need to get a map ready because I intend to complete state number one in less than two weeks and possibly state number two three weeks after that. The Crescent City Classic follows right behind that, so I’ll be busy. I’m also still working on my first run outside of the region. It really depends on when I decide to go, but if I plan for Memorial Day weekend then I think I’ve narrowed it down to Boulder, Co and maybe Portland, Ore. The Boulder 10K is a huge event while the Rum Run in Portland sounds interesting. If I decide to wait until mid summer or Labor Day weekend, then it could be somewhere in the northeast. I’d love to pair it up, run a race on Saturday in one state, then drive to a neighboring state on Sunday and run in a second race on Labor Day Monday. Long holiday weekends will be a great and easy way to knock out two states in one trip. I’m looking forward to knocking off some new england states very quickly that way.
So to recap, I’m editing my posts to renumber, so that it makes more sense. Sorry for the confusion.
Mardi Gras Mambo 10K
Race #2 of the 13 in 2013
Race #4 Overall
Race bib
In the middle of battling some bronchial infection (bad sinuses, bronchitis, a bad cold… don’t know for certain even still), I set out to complete my first 10K with minimal real training. I felt that I could easily walk it because I had walked a few 4 milers recently with the cold forming, so worst case I would just walk the entire thing. That was the plan going into it especially if the going got tough. The tough start walking.
The event is operated pretty well. They had two days of early packet pickup on Perkins Road. On race morning they are handing out fruits and performing organized stretches inside the Atrium in downtown Baton Rouge. It was chilly this particular morning but not seriously cold… yet. It was about 40 degrees and I didn’t feel much wind.
Start of the race
So by race time, we organize outside on St. Phillip St, grouped by finishing time but no real corrals. I’ve heard about corrals but I haven’t really seen them yet (or maybe it’s because I’m looking for actual cattle corrals). I made sure to start towards the very back this time, basically right in front of the walker group even though several people started ahead and ended up finishing behind. All the groups still started together even though it took about 90 seconds before I actually crossed the starting line. It made logical sense not to run at all before the starting line. Why waste that 90 seconds of running. Haha. The beauty of starting towards the back for me is that I have more room. I feel like I can create my own pace more quickly instead of running up behind other people or holding up someone behind me who wants to pass. The road opens up a lot quicker so I find it easier to pass and stay out of others way. Not to mention, since I can’t run fast for long anyway, I find it a lot less intimidating. This race had a total of 1,372 participants who finished although supposedly 3,000+ were registered the website said.
Many people were decorated in one way or another. Mardi Gras hats, tutus, shirts galore (I wore the race shirt, long sleeved). I ran for the first half mile (less than the last race since I had to keep reminding myself that this race was twice as long as the last, then I started splitting it up between songs, I’d run thru a song on my iPod and walk thru another. We went down Nicholson towards the LSU campus and all seemed fairly well. I even felt hot for a few moments since there was plenty of sun.
We passed Mike the Tiger’s cage around Mile 2 and that’s where I ran into a friend who seemed to be content with walking most of the distance. I don’t know if I caught up to her or if she passed me while walking, I wasn’t paying much attention until she stopped and turned around and starting smiling and saying something and I pulled my earbuds out like ‘What?’ At that moment, I basically stopped running. I only ran three additional short instances after that. Me and Vivian basically stayed together and talked about school, work, life and anything else that came up for the remainder 4 miles.
This is also the point where the wind really picked up. I kept hoping it would die back down but it basically got super windy and stayed that way the rest of the day. It was a cold wind too. It was then that I was very thankful to have that long sleeved shirt on. We continued thru the LSU campus, bypassing South Stadium where they are working on the most recent Tiger Stadium expansion to enclose the south endzone (awesome!). We ran across Nicholson again because traffic was getting backed up pretty bad and we didn’t want them to think they were waiting solely on us. We also got across the railroad tracks about a minute before a train came across. That would have sucked for sure. I wonder what happened closer to the start where the train crossed probably 15-20 minutes earlier. I guess I figured they would have stopped the train traffic at least for the race, and perhaps they did for the earlier finishers. Some people did finish in the 30ish minute mark.
Levee path
At the River Road, we ran across the road again because traffic was stopped (mostly people trying to bypass Nicholson I’m sure). Then we went up the levee path and walked along the levee path back towards downtown. I ran one last time right before the finish line because I turned the corner and saw the clock and it said something like 1:29:45 and instantly I was thinking 90 MINUTES! Even though I knew chip time would be less than the gun time, I was determined to make it for 90 minutes. I must have crossed right around 1:30:03 but chip time was easily nearly 2 minutes shorter. So I finished in under 90 minutes. Vivian said her time last year was 1:34ish so she made a new PR as well. At that point we hugged and went our separate ways.
The Mambo Medal
Oh, I got another medal. This is becoming fun, collecting finisher medals. I need a case to store them in now. I intend to get a lot. Not to mention I intend to get a ton of new shirts also. I guess I can get some smaller sizes and hand them to friends and family because what am I going to do with a bunch of new shirts that I might only wear once or twice? I’ve already had to buy some new hangers to hang some of them up (the ones I’ve gotten since last November).
So, all-in-all, the Mambo was a blast. I look forward to next years run where perhaps I’ll run more. I look forward to perhaps shattering that PR, unless I run into Vivian again. Haha.
I didn’t really hurt at all after this race, but of course I can attribute that to the fact that I walked more than 2/3 of it. Next year I’ll suffer more. In the meantime, I’ve got another 10K scheduled for two weeks in Vicksburg. That one is gonna kick my ass for sure. Do you know what kind of hills they have in Vicksburg?
Race: Mardi Gras Mambo 10K
Date: February 16, 2013, 9AM
Place: River Road, LSU Campus Baton Rouge
Time: 1:28:19
500K Across the USA 