I actually slept really good the night before this race! Yay! We woke up early because we needed to pack all our things and get checked out of the hotel. We also chose to park at the finish line and take the shuttle to the start line. So we had to get up earlier for that.
We made it in plenty of time...or so we thought. When we got close to the parking areas traffic was at a standstill! We were all panicking that we weren't going to make it on time. Luckily, despite the traffic, we made it onto a bus and to the start line with time to spare. We still had time to potty and take plenty of pictures before heading to the corrals.
Where the bus dropped us off had us walking straight to the start line. So we were able to stop for a few pictures! Yay!
I wanted my standard before the race picture....but I could tell something was wrong! Larisa was behind me!!!!! It was great seeing her!!!!
And don't worry! I still got my picture!!! ;-)
We left the start line and headed to meet our Sole2Soul Sisters for a group picture and prayer.
Then it was time to head to our corral. We were in corral 4 but there were people that were supposed to be in corral 20 that were in our corral. Very frustrating. Rock 'n' Roll definitely doesn't enforce the corrals like they do at Disney.
It didn't take long and we were standing under the start line! It was time to Rock 'n' Roll!!!
We were off! And it was very crowded! We had to weave in and out of runners everywhere. The first mile we turn a few times until we end up on St. Charles Avenue.
Jenny needed to adjust her sock because it was hurting her calf. So she stopped to do that and I took a selfie with the first band!!!
We kept on running down St. Charles. The course never got any less crowded. I forgot how big this race actually was. Luckily we were still able to keep a fairly decent pace. But the coolest thing about this race is as you are running down St. Charles you can see the elite runners heading back on the opposite side of the street! They are so crazy fast!!!
We turned around and started heading back around mile 4.5. We started looking for our Sole2Soul Sisters! We yelled at them as we spotted them!
I loved seeing all the Mardi Gras beads still dangling from the trees!
And beads on the power lines!
Around mile 7.5 we turned onto Magazine Street. We could hear the bagpipes playing before we saw them! They are always out front of The National WWII Museum in kilts playing the bagpipes! It's one of my favorite parts of the race! Gives you chills!
I just love running in New Orleans!
Around this point in the race I decided to SnapChat a quick video. I told Jenny what I was doing but I don't think she heard me! Isn't she just the cutest??!!!
Around mile 9.5 we made it to Jackson Square!
And we passed Cafe Du Monde! Yummy!!!
We then made a left hand turn onto Esplanade Avenue. This road would lead us straight to the finish line! There were tons of spectators out cheering us on! We even saw this lady who was dancing under a disco ball! We couldn't resist a selfie with her! She was so awesome!
Before long we had made it to mile 12.5! And they had the huge Brooks inflatable guy out this year!!! I missed him last year!
We ran under him and then turned left to go around the New Orleans Museum of Art. The finish line was now in sight!!!
We did it! We ran the Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Half Marathon the weekend after Princess!!!
My Garmin time was 1:58:27! My official time was 1:58:23!!! I was so pleased that we had finished the half under 2 hours on Princess legs!!!
We took our finisher picture!
And then we headed straight for the chocolate milk!!! I LOVE chocolate milk after a long run! And yes...we took TWO lol!
We then headed to a sunny place to sit and wait for our friends! We had to take a few after pictures of course! I LOVED my shirt and wanted a picture of the front and the back!
As we were sitting there we were chowing down on our food! We got lots of yummy food coming through the finisher chute!
I looked up at one point and guess who was coming towards us? Heather!!!!
It was great seeing her as always!
Not long after Donna, Susanne, and Susie finished. It was then time to head to the marathon finish line and cheer for our Sole2Soul Sisters that were running the full. I always love cheering at the finish line and seeing people run in! There were several times I got teary eyed!
And I LOVED seeing my friends all running in together! I was so proud of them!!!
After all our runners had finished it was time to pack it up and head home. But first we were starving and needed some food! This steak definitely hit the spot!
Rock 'n' Roll put on another great race! I always love running New Orleans and will definitely run it again next year!!!
QOTD: What is your favorite Rock 'n' Roll race?
