Rock N Roll New Orleans weekend...

I HAD THE BEST TIME EVER THIS PAST WEEKEND...

WHERE DO I START?

We packed up to leave for New Orleans on Friday!

We left on Friday so that we could spend the WHOLE weekend down there. Also because from past experience I knew we needed to go to the expo on Friday, mainly to avoid the crowd of Saturday. So off to the expo we went...

We got our bibs and swag bags and headed on into a runners dream. If you cant find something at the expo, then you just need to go home. Its crazy. we spent about 3 hours there and still didnt see it all and decided to some back on Saturday. So we had dinner at Rock N Saki, then headed to the pizza and beer place then went to bed!

So we wake up on Satuday and get ready to head to the expo. We walked outside and OMG the wind was sooooo bad. I started praying the weather would get better for the race on Sunday morning. I was not looking forward to a head wind, been there done that! Anyways we got ot the expo and went a test drove a Dodge challenger and let me say this car was a BEAST. Dodge is one of the official sponsors of The Rock N Roll series and they had a promotion if you test drove or rode in one of their cars you got a free $25 AE gift card and so of course we were ALL over that.

Then we hit the expo and hit the streets of New Orleans. We had about 4 hours to burn before meeting everyone for a runners prerace meal at The Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, my favorite place in the world to eat! So we had beignets and walked the french quarters with my new friends Jon and Lindsay.

 Then met everyone for dinner

We ate and went to sleep

Race Day

WE lined up at corral 19 for some pictures and friend time.

Our shirts were designed by my friend Darlene over at D's sporting goods in Semmes, she did an awesome job and everyone was complimentimg us on them. Wow my legs look like freaking toothpicks in the picture, hmmm! We had a blast at the start line, our actual corral did not start until like 7:35, so we had plenty of time to chill and socialize. And I got to hang out with this guy longer

my wonderful husband who retired from running after 2 5k's, yeah I know! lol

And these people

Sara and Justin, the future marathoners, it was nice to have friends there supporting our craziness and cheering us in. Love you guys!

After that our corral was up and off we were on our way to 13.1.

 Jennifer and I had decided to run together and pace each other and it worked, we had a blast. The only thing I can complain about is that the amount of bobbing and weaving we did around all of the people walking was a little ridiculous. People really need to estimate their finish time better. We lost alot of time trying to get through the crowds of walkers. Other than that the weather was perfect, the wind was gone and we just ran, ran, and ran.

Look theres Ray, The Man About Town

We came to Mile 12 and I knew we were almost done and Jennifer and I actually picked up the pace, we came through the finish line at 2:41, It was very emotional esp for Jenn. Her momma had drove over to surprise her at the finish line and it was very emotional, I even teared up.

Its a great feeling to accomplish something a year ago you thought was never gonna happen. We can now call ourselves half marathoners. YAYA

So we got our medals

And found our friends

And realxed the rest of the day before coming home. All in all, it was great weather, great friends old and new, and a great race. I can now say...

Until next time, keep training and keep running, the skys the limit.