Rockin' and Rollin'

Traveled to New Orleans over the weekend to run the Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Half-Marathon! Every second of the trip was so much fun, especially because of my awesome travel companions, Kristen and Regina, my parents, and Eamon! The three of us girls all ran the half and we were all really happy with our results. I ran over five minutes faster than I'd hoped to (and felt really great almost the entire way!), Regina set a 12-minute (!!!) PR and Kristen ran her first-ever half--not to mentions she's 13 weeks pregnant! Big accomplishments all around.

And there to support us each, uh, step of the way were our Super Fans...M, D, and E! I saw them at mile 10 and got an instant energy boost. My parents were so helpful with E--he slept in their room each night and they watched him for two of the evenings and most of the days so we could go out and explore. I LOVE New Orleans and see now why people are so enamoured by the city. There's culture and color oozing out of every corner, and there's so much more to it than just Bourbon Street. Yes, you may gain 10 pounds for every day you're there, but it's totally worth it (the food is SO good). Plus, we ran a hard 13.1 miles on Sunday so we could afford a few extra desserts. :-)

Originally, I'd planned to do the marathon in NoLa, but eventually decided to enter the half because my training had suffered after being sick, plus all of the cold weather and snow. Definitely a good choice. I've never felt so relaxed in a race and actually ran smart (though, as Bec pointed out, I could probably have gone faster considering my first three miles were pretty pedestrian). I held an even 7-minute/mile pace for most of the race with relative ease. It wasn't until the last mile and a half when my legs started to feel heavy, and even then I only slipped to 7:16 pace. I'm thinking I might stick to half-marathons and shorter races, just to see if I can keep bringing the times down. As my mom says, I've always been a middle-distance runner, not a marathoner!

Thanks to everyone for your good luck notes and for checking in after the race! It feels great to have such amazing support.

Here are some more pics from the weekend...

New Orleans