Bob Mann: 2009 Mardi Gras Marathon

Sun Feb 1, 2009

On Sunday Feb 1, I ran my 9th marathon, and continued my quest to run a marathon in all 50 states. This one was in New Orleans. New Orleans was chosen because I was able to meet up with 3 friends from www.KickRunners.com.

Joe, Nettie and I managed to arrange our flights to all get in at about the same time on Saturday morning, and Tiff (the Louisiana native) was able to pick us all up at the airport in one fell swoop. We hit the expo and then had lunch at Harrah's Casino. Then Joe and I played a few hands of poker, rather unsuccessfully. Oh well. By this time we were able to check into our hotel, which was a bit of an adventure in itself. The hotel wasn't terribly organized, but at least it was cheap.

We wandered down Bourbon Street and around the French Quarter for a little while before finding a place for dinner. The requisite pasta dinner was had at a place I spent New Years Eve in 2000/2001. Soon thereafter, we all retired to the hotel for an early night's sleep.

It had been only 11 weeks since my last marathon in Tulsa, and only about a month since I actually made it official and signed up for New Orleans. That meant that my training was somewhat haphazard leading up to the race, and thus I knew I wouldn't be approaching my PR, which was set in Birmingham AL about a year earlier. And that was fine with me, since (as I've said numerous times) I'm now going for quantity over quality when it comes to marathons.

Nettie was running the 5k, and Tiff was on the shelf with an injury. Joe and I were running the full marathon. Joe's recent training had been very similar to my own, and our running histories are fairly similar as well. So we decided to start out the race together and stick with each other as long as we could. We said that if one of us felt like speeding up or slowing down, then we'd split up. But we'd stick together as long as we could. We started between the 3:50 and 4:00 pace group, since we both estimated our finish times within this range.

Our first mile was slow (9:10) because of the dense crowd, but we soon settled into a groove. We actually pulled ahead of the 3:50 pace group, even though the next five miles were all right around 8:48, the average pace for a 3:50 marathon. Around Mile 7, the 3:50 pace group went flying past us, trying to make up time. We got pulled along a bit, and saw our paces pick up into the 8:30s for a few miles. The 13th Mile became our fastest one (8:23), as we were pulled along by the Half Marathoners giving a final push to the finish.

The first half of the marathon was quite interesting, with a run through the French Quarter, including a jaunt down Bourbon Street. I took a number of Bobcam shots here, but almost all of them came out blurry. It's almost like my camera was drunk on Bourbon St. From the French Quarter, we ran an out-and-back to Audubon Park and Tulane University. St Charles Avenue was a fairly attractive neighborhood for the most part, and the run there was pleasant. The halfway point returned us to the Superdome, and then we headed north.

Once we passed the halfway point, the crowd thinned out considerably and our pace slowed quite a bit. Miles 14 and 15 were back in the 8:48 range, and from there things got continually slower, ever so gradually. The second half was less interesting, both in terms of scenery and spectators. At the far end of this out-and-back, we reached City Park, which wasn't bad. Around Mile 16 we encountered the only hill of the course, which was a bridge over a highway. I can't complain about that hill, after all the hills in Birmingham or the monster hill at Mile 22 in Tulsa. Overall, this course was quite flat.

By the last few miles, Joe and I were slowing into the 9:20 to 9:30 range. But neither of us wanted to be the one to give up and walk. Had I been out there on my own, I am certain that I would have slowed to a walk at some point. But here, I didn't want to force Joe to make a decision as to whether he'd have to either walk too or continue on without me. So we kept chugging along. Mile 26 was our slowest, at 9:34. We were both rather spent, and had only a little bit left for a kick at the end. I wouldn't say we charged thru the finish line, but at least we didn't stumble in. My final time: 3:54:18. I will happily take it.

This was the first time I ran an entire marathon with someone. It really helped pass the time. There were multiple times when we reached a new mile marker and one of us commented that "Wow, it didn't seem like that was a whole mile". That sure helps the mental aspect of it.

It also helped that it was a beautiful day for a run. The temp was about 50 at the start and maybe 60 by the end. It was also overcast most of the way, which I always appreciate. I find that the sun can be rather draining, even when the temps aren't too high. There were raindrops later in the day, but none during the race. I'd say it was nearly ideal conditions for a marathon.

Anyhow, I am quite pleased with it all. My slowest mile was 9:34, which is probably the fastest-slowest mile I've ever done in a marathon. I haven't really kept stats on these things, but I usually have at least one fairly slow mile in each marathon. The race course was very flat and fun. In fact, conditions were set up just about perfectly for a run at a PR, but my training just wasn't there for it. Oh well.

The race was well organized, even if the amenities weren't exactly off the charts. The race shirt was a rather boring white long-sleeve tech shirt. Frankly, I would have preferred the blue short-sleeve tech shirt given to the Half Marathoners, or even the green one given to the 5k runners. The goody bag from the race had no schwag other than ads for other races. No energy bar samples, or chachkis with sponsor's logos on them. That was a little disappointing. The finisher's medal was very nice, though. And the post-race food was fine. Subway provided sandwiches, although for some reason mine tasted funny. Red beans and rice were provided, as well as some other local New Orleans flavor. Perhaps most importantly, the beer truck was still fully in service four hours after the start of the race, and there was no limit on the amount of beer that could be had -- without a long line! That combination is a first for me.

Overall, I give the race a big thumb's up, even if there were little things that could be improved.

The remainder of the weekend was enjoyable as well. After resting for a little while back at the hotel, we went to a sparsely-attended bar to watch the Super Bowl and eat dinner. After the game, we wandered up and down Bourbon Street, stopping into any establishment that looked interesting. This was my 4th or 5th time in New Orleans, and this night was easily the least-crowded I have ever seen Bourbon Street at night. I don't know if that's some kind of post-Katrina effect, or simply because it was Sunday night. I ended up drinking a decent amount of beer throughout the day after the race, but never felt inebriated. I just felt more tired than anything. (Understandable, I think). I never got into a "party" mood while wandering around. Maybe it was because I was tired, or maybe I'm just getting too old for that scene. Heh.

After calling it a night, we went back to the hotel. We checked out in the morning, and luckily had arranged for our departing flights to all leave at about the same time as well. It was an extremely enjoyable weekend, and as always, it was great to meet up with some of my fellow runners. I hope to enjoy another meet-up before too long...

And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.