Crescent City Classic 10k

I ran my first 10k race today.  That is 6.2 miles, in case you didn't know.  Dan is a rock star and drove out to see me at the end and take pictures.  I really really wanted to carry my little camera on the run, but I could not for the life of me find it!  I know I put it somewhere safe, but I cannot remember where that might be.  So I was camera-less.  No photos of my 11 best running friends at the start.

I love my running group!  I run with the Stroller Warriors, a running group for military wives.  They are wonderful and have become friends to me.  We had a van of 6 of us, and several other cars going out to the race at 6am this morning.  It was fun to be with a group of friends and nearly all of us wore our Stroller Warrior Shirts.

The race started at 8.  I was a little grumpy, because I tend to run at 6am, and all this week, it has been 43 degrees at 6am when I run.  Today, it was 65 by 8am and the sun was bright and warm. It was a sunny 70 by the end.   So, not my best conditions for a run.  Running in the heat and sun gives me migraines. But I'd hydrated well the last few days and this morning, and I'd come prepared with salt tablets.   I thought I was prepared with my Garmin gps watch, but the darn thing said it had no battery charge.  AAARRGH!!  I was so cross about that. But I'm a punk, I can take it.  I used my stopwatch to guestimate where I was and how fast I was.  Definitely not as good, but better than nothing.

Our group was separated by our seeded times, and there were only 4 of us in the red "E" group.  I knew one of them was a lot faster than me, and the other 2 I was pretty sure were slower. I'm not sure I mentioned how huge this race is.  There were tons of people.  Tons!  They sent us off in waves by corral every 3 minutes.  We did a lot of walking before we hit the start, and it was slow and clogged for the first mile.  It never did clear out, but you had less and less dodging to do as you went on.  They had shut down the streets in the French Quarter and runners ran on both sides of the street, and needed the room.  

I so wish I had been able to find my camera!  We ran right through downtown New Orleans.  The race actually started at the Super Dome.   We passed the vomity smelling Bourbon street and splashed through the waterlogged gutters, due to the nightly hosing down of the streets to clear out the alcohol and vomit.  I avoided the gutters at all costs.  My running friends were excited about the free beer on course.  And it was there!  There several spots where folks were handing out cups of beer to the runners.

We started slow, which I like.  I like a slow start and a faster second half.  We couldn't go faster the first mile, but as things cleared up a bit, my friends got faster too.  I finally had to let my speedy friend go and I dropped back with the slower 2.  They, however, wanted to do miles 2-3 faster than I normally would have.  My shins were angry about it. I think we were hitting 9 minute miles because at mile 3 we were at 31 minutes.  

I was ready to step it up at mile 5, but my one of my 2 friends was running out of gas.  I decided I'd rather stick together, especially since the sun was hot and I was feeling it. I thought I'd rather be slow and feel okay at the end, then to push it and keel over.  We got progressively slower, but I was getting progressively hotter and I could feel my internal warning system telling me I was in trouble later if I pushed it.  But muscles and breathing for miles 5-6 were great.

So we slogged out the last mile and it was okay that we didn't sprint the end, because there was nowhere to go.  The second you stepped over the finish line, it came to a standstill.  My only complaint is that finish.  5000 people in front of you walking along at the end of a race is bad.  We spent 10 minutes working our way through the chute at the end.  It was frustrating.  We finally got our water and our medals, and could relax in the enormous crowd.  It took 2 phone calls to meet up with Dan.

I could have gone to the after party.  It was suppose to be fantastic- all the free food and beer you want. But I was tired and worried about a migraine, so Dan and I just headed home.  It was a decent race, and I was happy enough.  My time based on my stopwatch was 1:05:01.  Hopefully the official results will be up soon so I can see how I compared.

Dan brought Rylee to meet me.  And Dan is the one who took all the pictures for me! 

Check out this girl!  BAREFOOT! 

There were a lot of tutus.

I can't imagine a full bunny suit would be fun to run in, but this guy did. 

Yep, another tutu. 

Yikes, not sure why one would run in a mask. 

 And I'm really not sure what this is all about!

Man in a turkey costume?  Why not?  This is New Orleans!  And the costumes are my favorite part of the races here. 

 Another tutu.... wait, thats me!  Yep, my friend Blair made me a tutu and I wore it for my race, and I rocked it.  Well, I liked it better before I saw pictures.  In my head, I'm totally 25 pounds lighter and way more svelte.  But I had a good time, so its all good!

Me and my buddies at the end!  

Super awesome medals, too.  The little runner.... it spins!

Look what I found!  A Pre race photo from one of my group.  I'm the one in the tutu!

(And yes, we are standing in front of THE Super Dome. Or, as my kids call it, "The Mega Pie".)

And the results are posted.  I apparently can't tell how fast I am running for anything.  I so need my GPS watch!

There were 17,546 runners total.  I came in #6,051.  There were 9, 365 women and I was # 2070.  My official time was 1:04:57, and the pace was fairly consistent with times ranging between 10:13 (mile 3) and 10:30 (mile 1). So, we ran about the same pace, but it just felt better and worse at different times!  Bah.