Be sure to read about the race expo and pasta dinner the night before!
I slept pretty well the night before this race. We woke up early since we needed to park at the finish line and take a shuttle to the start. We wanted to have plenty of time in case we ran into traffic. Luckily we had no issues and found a parking spot pretty quickly. We loaded a bus that took us straight to Champions Square.
We had plenty of time before the race started! We went to the restroom. And then we got free coffee from Community Coffee!!!
All the bloggers were meeting at the start line for a picture. I had plenty of time to make it but they weren't letting anyone through to the start line. The only other option was going through the host hotel...and I didn't have time for that. So I missed the blogger start line picture...again! :-(
Before long it was time to head to our corrals! All that coffee had me needing to use the restroom again so I said goodbye to my friends and headed that way. But y'all! The line was soooo long! I decided to skip it and headed to my corral. But that meant that I needed to pee the ENTIRE RACE!!!
Before long....we were off!!! I didn't remember this race being so crowded! Especially in the corral I was in. But then I remembered that the first corrals were the seeded runners (super fast) and then they had the corral for the charity runners (all speeds). Then came my corral. So I basically did a TON of weaving around slower runners and walkers.
About half a mile in we made a left hand turn onto Canal Street. I had to take a picture of all the streetcars sitting there!
And then....there was mile 1! That mile seemed to fly by!
Shortly after mile 1 we made a right hand turn onto Decatur Street. We passed Jackson Square on the left and I took a picture as I ran by!
Then on the right was Cafe Du Monde!
We passed the French Market. And then we made that left onto Esplanade Avenue. Shortly after the turn was mile 2!
We stayed on Esplanade the next few miles. But it's a beautiful street so I didn't mind! The trees are pretty and the homes are gorgeous! Plus the course was still so crowded so I had plenty of entertainment around me! And the spectators that were manning "water stops" with alcohol shots and beer were fun to watch!
All this kept me pretty entertained as I reached mile 3!
And mile 4!
Right before mile 5 I could see the finish line and see the Museum of Art. The course was different this year and instead of having to go around the Museum of Art we would be finishing right in front of it! But it was torture to see it and not head towards it. I still had about 1.3 miles to go!
Luckily mile 5 changed up the scenery some as we entered part of City Park.
This part of the race brought back memories of my first full marathon when Andy was waiting for me at this part of the course which was around mile 25!
In what seemed like forever I finally reached mile 6 and then the finish line! I was glad to be done because it was humid and hot!
My official time was 52:06! Not a PR like I was hoping but not too shabby either. I just didn't have a PR in me that day and that's ok.
I received my medal and took a finisher picture!
And then I headed to the Race Fest! Remember how I didn't get to use the restroom at the beginning of the race? Yeah...I needed a potty quick!
I headed straight to the VIP tent where I knew there would be real bathrooms and not porta potties. Boy was it great to use the bathroom and then wash my hands with soap and water! Heavenly!!!
Then it was time to enjoy myself! Chocolate milk was the first thing on my list!
I just LOVED the decorations at the tables! So cute!
Don't mind me....just hanging out in VIP!!!
I also enjoyed a sandwich from Subway! And I might have had some frozen yogurt as well! ;-)
I enjoyed hanging out with Larisa too!!!
I love all my blogger friends!!!!
We were having a blast and then all of a sudden it started POURING down rain y'all!!! I felt so bad for my friends that were still on the course! But they were having some fun on their own! When it started raining they just went into the cemetery and got under a tombstone lol!!!! My first words to them after hearing that story was..."Did you get a picture?" They didn't disappoint me! I'd like to think that I taught them well lol!
Before long all my friends arrived in VIP. It was so much more fun having them in VIP with me this year!
Way too soon it was time to walk back to the car. Luckily our hotel gave us a late check out and we were all able to get showers before the drive home! But first we stopped for coffee of course! I ordered a yummy King Cake Velvet Ice! So good!
We clean up pretty good! And of course it's race tradition to wear our race shirts home!
On the way home we were all starving so we stopped at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co! My hamburger and onion rings were AMAZING!!!
I absolutely LOVE running the Crescent City Classic 10K! I'm so thankful to be a blogger for the race and get to run it each year! It's so much fun! If you haven't run this one please consider it next year! You will have a blast!!!
QOTD: What is your favorite post race meal? I always seem to crave hamburgers!
