This is the fourth year (3rd year medaled) that I have ran the Crescent City Classic 10k in New Orleans with 17,000 + of my closest friends. Why does everyone love this race? I'm not sure, but I might be able to show you why. Crescent City Classic 10k recap...
One of the things I love about the ccc10k is that it is a point to point race. So it starts by the Superdome at the Hyatt and ends at City Park. The only down side to a point to point race is that you have to decide to park at the start or at the finish. Either way you are riding a bus. LOL! We had decided that we would get up early and get ready to go and take our car to the finish and ride the buses back to the start. Because we were meeting the other bloggers at the start line at 7am for pictures, we needed to get the car to the finish line as soon as the buses started rolling at 5:30am. YES 5:30 AM! AHHHHHHHHH! It was a super early wake up for an 8 o'clock start time. LOL! Luckily we were lucky enough to have a VIP parking pass so we were able to park close and get right on a bus back to the start. However there were plenty of parking spots that were not VIP that were close too. So the key is getting there early. While we were on the very dark and quiet school bus there was this very sweet woman that got on the bus by herself and was so excited about the race. She was trying to get the party started. After getting off the bus, we found her to thank her for waking us up and getting us in the New Orleans mode. She was a teacher and loved people. The people of New Orleans are amazing...
We headed to Champions Square at the Superdome. This is kind of the hub for the runners. They had Community Coffee, Smoothie King, and lots and lots of bathrooms set up for people to use. After finding our way out of Champions Square we headed to the start line to meet up with the famous George Melichar.
We also met up with the some of the other bloggers for a quick picture at the start line.
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| Jason, Joe, Gina, Fred, Heather, Allyson, me, George, Lisa, and the CCC10k race owner Richard Thomas. |
The elite and seeded runners started to line up for the race. This is the start of 17,000 runners about to go under that START line.
The Crescent City Classic attracts elite runners from around the world. It is really cool to see all of the professional athletes warming up at the start line. The athletes in the picture finished 3rd overall female (32:51 5:18/M) and 7th overall male (29:57 4:50/M) Crazy fast!
At 7:45 they had a soft start for the group Ainsley's Angel Team Chris.
At 7:55 they had the Boy Scouts and the Military band come out and play the National Anthem.
And then one of my favorite race announcers whom also happens to be the Gulf Coast Half Series race director got the crowd pumped up and the race started. For all of you guys who want to run an epic inaugural race on the Gulf Coast. Check out the Battleship 12k, coming to Mobile on November 15th, 2015.
At 8 a.m. they were off...
Before the race George and I had decided in order to give you guys the full race experience we would stop and take a lot of pictures along the course. So Jennifer and Tiffany ran ahead.
So with out further ado, the Classic course...
We decided that starting the race after the nun and the Pope was only fitting because after all it was Easter weekend.
Oh yeah and in true New Orleans fashion, of course the CCC10k was also having a costume contest during the race...HEEHEE!!!
The race started on Poydras St where right off out the gate there were these awesome people handing out jello shots.
YESSSS! remember this is New Orleans...
Then we took a left by Harrahs Casino on to Decatur St where you hit Mile 1 right in the heart of the French Quarter.
Then we headed toward every ones favorite New Orleans landmark, Cafe Du Monde. We may or may not have stolen someones beignets, shhhhh!
We had to help out this lost Storm Trooper (another costume contest entry)
After running through the French Quarters you head towards the French Market and take a left on Esplanade Ave for the last 4 miles.
Esplanade Ave is a gorgeous tree lined street with some amazing New Orleans style homes.
I mentioned before that there were over 17,000 runners in the race. A lot of people race the ccc10k but for the most its a race to have a lot of fun with friends. These ladies were just off to the sidelines cheering other runners on while they were taking a break.
This guys was giving people power ups...
And of course Summertime Santa was giving people shots of margarita out of his water ski. (Normal right? Only in Nola!)
Then there was this Saints Fireman, He was fully suited, oxygen tank and all. I must say watching him run with full gear was very inspiring.
We also stopped and had a little Jager and a beer with this wild group of firefighters...
And played in the bubbles with this group...
Then we partook in a little Easter Saturday Mimosa...
By this point we had had made it all the way down to City Park and took a left to run the last mile in the park. Kudos to the firefighters and police that helped make the course safe for us.
After a short run in the park you head towards the front of City Park and around the New Orleans Museum of Art Building and head towards the finish line...
CCC10k Finish line does not have a finishers chute, so when you are done you walk and around and collect your finisher medal.
Then make your way to the finish line party entrance. You can enter the party with your race number or by purchasing a ticket at the booth close to the entrance.
Inside the finish line party, Winn Dixie was passing out fruit...
And Michelob Ultra was keeping the ice cold beer flowing...
They also had a kids area and tons of bathrooms...
We had a blast hanging out at the party
You could also check out all of the sponsor and team charity booths, like the NOTC New Orleans Track Club...
You could hang out and party all morning with the Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes. (Picture cred: @ccc10k)
All together CCC10k raised $500,000 to donate to 15 different New Orleans Charities. Its amazing what this group does for New Orleans.
Loved meeting up with the other bloggers at the finish line. The CCC10k is all about friendship and fun.
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| Joe, Fred, me, Jenn, Heather, George, Allyson, Gina, Jason, and Nicole |
And last but not least I had a blast with 2 of my best friends in the Big Easy...
I would love for all of you to come and run the Crescent City Classic next year with us. I promise you it will be an experience you will not forget. To all of you out there that PR'd at the Classic, great job. And to those of you who just had a blast and enjoyed the Nola experience, I hope you had a blast. Until next year...
As a 2015 Official CCC10k blogger, I was given a free entry, VIP parking, and finish line VIP passes and no other compensation. All opinion of course are my own.
