The Crescent City Classic- Part 1

After my first week of conferences I had an exciting weekend. Kalon, Lauren, Cindy (Kalon's mom), Mimi, and I headed to New Orleans for The Crescent City Classic 4-Mile Run. We left Friday morning and headed South to pick up Mrs. Cindy. She eagerly hopped in the car and off we went. Lauren planned this trip for us, because she said that it would be a "fun run". Well, we will talk about how "fun" it was later...... 

We got to New Orleans just in time to pick up or race packets at a fitness center. When we left the center we decided that we would try to figure out where we would be running the following day. We thought we had a pretty good idea of the surroundings and headed to our rooms. We got to the Wyndham to be pleasantly surprised at the location and how nice everything was. They were actually filming the next Planet of the Apes movie a block from where we were staying. At night, you could see them filming.

We made it!!! 

Besides the run, food was the most important thing on our agenda. We didn't care what we did; we just wanted good food! We lucked up every single time that we picked somewhere to eat. The first night we were there was my favorite by far. Kalon and I split Mardi Gras Pasta, fried turtle, and some divine cheesecake. To. Die. For.

Heading to dinner! 

Of course, we had to stop and be tourists at the shops we passed on the way to the restaurant!  KK and Mrs. Cindy thought they were something, didn't they? 

Mrs. Cindy and Laurie. 

Mrs. Cindy bought this VooDoo doll. It was her very first purchase. I am pretty sure she has already tested it out. 

The first Bloody Mary of the trip! 

Our fun little group!! 

No words needed. 

After filling our bellies, we took Mrs. Cindy down Bourbon Street. She hadn't been to New Orleans since she was 18 years old, so she didn't have much recollection of how the city was. We wandered up and down the street and ended up in Pat O's.

The waiter at Pat O's rubbed us the wrong way, so we didn't stay long. We each had a drink and called it a night. It was the right decision! We didn't need to get too out of hand before the big event Saturday.

We decided that we wouldn't do too much Saturday before the run, so we had a very late breakfast (we all slept in) at the cafe in our hotel, and then strolled around Canal Street and some of The French Market. We had to go back to the room pretty early to get dressed for the run.

Our little cafe downstairs of the hotel rooms was awesome. It was great every single time we ate it! 

We begged Laurie to wear a matching tank too, but she was far too cool for that :) We had a friend applique' the state of MS to our tanks for us. I think they turned out adorable! 

We were ready!!

We did our research and read the itineraries that they sent us about the run, and decided it would be best if we parked at the finish line and shuttled to the starting line. Mrs. Cindy and Mimi stayed at the finish line to wait for us to arrive. We stood in a looooong line to squeeze onto a school bus to be taken to the starting point. 

Some of the line.... 

Lauren, Kalon, and I got off the bus and headed for the Port-A-Jane line. Any bathroom that can be moved to a different location within an hour is disgusting, but add New Orleans heat, a bunch of drunk folks, and humidity.... it is a recipe for G.R.O.S.S. After dealing with all that we were ready to start. The first mile and a half (approx) was running UP the Mississippi River Bridge. Running up was definitely grueling, but it was nothing compared to what was coming. After 1.5 miles, the run that Lauren said would be "fun" was whipping my white tail! Usually, after about 2 miles I am fine. I think that is the hardest part to me. Thankfully, around the half way point I started just rolling with the motions and the pain started going away. Kalon and I stayed with each other for the most part, so we got to stop in the middle of the bridge to take a picture (we weren't concerned about our time in this event).

We had finished half of the four mile run by this time, I believe. 

The uphill was the hardest part for me, but Kalon and Lauren said that going down the bridge was the hardest part for them. Lauren actually hurt her knee pretty bad coming down, so it slowed her down a lot. We all three finished it! I couldn't believe that my tail even crossed the finish line. I didn't think I'd ever see it. June heat in New Orleans at 6:00 PM  is nothing I want to run in again (or at least anytime this year)!

Waving to Mimi! 

We needed those bananas BAD! We replenished while we waiting on Laurie!

Mrs. Cindy was the photographer again (she was for The Color Run too). My mom and her listened to the major athletes as they were crossing the finish line (waaaaaay before we did). They said that everyone was complaining about how hard that run was. I am hear to tell ya, IT WAS HARD. 

Lauren crossed the finish line and was heading to sit down. She was in  major pain! I had to stop her. She never even saw us! 

She wouldn't let us take any pictures after the run. She just was not feeling up to pictures. We got ONE!

Bless her bones! She stopped there to catch her breath then started stretching that knee out. She got up looking everywhere in a panic for her sunglasses...... see if you can find them...... She apparently just chunked them down when she got to a place that wasn't to crowded to take a breather. 

 After the run, we had to go wait in line for our t-shirts and such. While waiting a boat came by spraying this! Isn't it pretty!!

We left the venue and headed to a Shell station that we spotted as we were pulling in to NOLA. All we wanted was a HUGE fountain drink and some cold A/C. When we were in there, the store clerk asked if we had run the race. We explained that we had and his exact words were, "hell, I done walked that bridge and that was hard, so I know damn well running it would be hard"..... Those were the words of someone who felt our pain!