new orleans - whirlwind 1/2 marathon style

what. a. weekend.

this past weekend is one that i will never forget - whirlwind trip with my most favoritest sister with the most bizarre stories.

we sailed southbound and down on friday afternoon - into the sunset with high hopes of getting to the hotel, checking in, and hitting up bourbon street for some cultural flair.

not. so. much.

we supposedly had reservations at the best western on magazine street. like - 1 block from bourbon. perfect. walking distance from everything - very inexpensive. awesome set up. right? nope.

if it sounds too good to be true, it generally is.

as meg and i rolled our tired butts into NOLA, we were bedazzeled by the lights and sounds and could not WAIT to get out and take it all in. best western had other plans. like - plans to basically leave us homeless in new orleans. thanks, jerks.

it went something like this....

me: yes, i'm here to check in. mwood.

BW clerk: mwood?

me: yes. last name - wood.... like what trees are made of.

BW clerk: ma'am - we don't have any one by the last name of wood staying here.

me: (frustrated and pissed) umm, what? you have to.

BW clerk: do you have a confirmation number?

me: (not-so-nice-mwood-voice): no - the broad on the phone told me i didn't need it. (desperate) do you have any rooms for the weekend?

BW clerk: no ma'am - we're all booked up and so is everywhere else in downtown new orleans.

WTF.

in complete disbelief - i got back in the car with meg and we proceed to call EVERY. HOTEL. IN. DOWNTOWN. NEW. ORLEANS. literally. every hotel establishment from the ritz carlton to the la quinta were booked solid. nothing.nada.zip.

we were hotel-less.

homeless in freggin' new orleans.

we couldn't just stay any old place in new orleans. we didn't know the ghetto from the suburbs. i didn't wan to end up in district 9 and meg and i be-bop into a hotel and get stolen. i didn't want my body or my bags to get stolen because the flippin' best western screwed up.

what now? ughhhhh. 

at one point - i was in tears, meg was smoking cigs looking for a gas station to fill up and come back to nashville.

we rousted our mother from her slumber to give us advise, as she's familiar with NOLA and the goods and bads places to visit. she recommended metairie, which is near the airport. airports seem like safe areas so we nail us a spot in the holiday inn. done and done. kudos to holiday inn for not leaving us homeless in new orleans.

adapt and overcome. pass the heck out. but only after meg gets hit on in the hotel lobby by some dude that wants her to bring any extra bud lite to his room.

 dude - there won't be extra bud lite after the night we've had. try again.

we had no where to go but up from that point -

saturday was AWESOME.

new orleans has such an amazing culture and history. 

from the buildings to the music to the food to the booze.

i dragged poor megs all over that place! 

we had 1 day and we had to get it all - or at least we try!

our first stop was the expo - the only thing that could have been worse was to show up at the expo and them to say - mwood .......... we don't have a bib number for you. thankfully, they did and i was ready to go! the expo was nice - i signed up for free lettuce wraps from p.f. chang's at the finish. yes! i got my loot and we headed to the french quarter.

even the expo was decked in mardi gras garb.

we had shrimp yumminess for lunch at cafe beignet.

Shrimp PoBoy with hot sauce. don't mind if i do.

we toured bourbon street. 

HELLO, BOURBON!!

i couldn't get over how amazing the architecture was - or how cool mimes really are. ha!

the masks were awesome. 

cafe du monde - we didn't get begnets because the line was too long. 

(i was going to cheat on lent. oops.)

we hung our jaws in amazement at the art on jackson square -

 i bought a painting! 

this is the beautiful church at jackson square.

we shopped around the french market and just breathed in 

and soaked in all that is new orleans.

 meg got her palms read and we lounged in the park. the weather could not have been any better. it was upper 50s and sunny. what a tease....

my friend, john micheal, and a new friend bryce were running the full. 

we met up with them in the late afternoon for happy hour! yay for "big ass beers!"

 we had an amazing dinner and called it a day.

 hello, crawfish, shrimp, and sausage pasta with creole sauce. please and thank you.

meg figured up that we probably walked 10 miles that day. lawd.

 congrats to meg for completing a 15k on saturday! haha

it was a good thing that we left bourbon street for dinner when we did - it would have been reeeeeeally easy to just forget about the race and have a hand grenade good time!

but, we were early to bed because we were freggin' worn out and could not take another step  to get ready for the MARDI GRAS 1/2 MARATHON! yay!

we woke sunday morning to beautiful blue skies and projected highs in the 60s with sunshine.

YES!

meg dropped me off at the starting line and she took off to find parking at the finish. the only complaint i had about the race was that the starting line and finish line were forever away from each other. logistics were difficult. thankfully, megs is a smart girl and had no trouble. did i mention i have the best sister in the entire world?

i was in corral 10 and was surrounded by super people at the start. everyone was chit chatting and excited about the day and race ahead. i was trying to get myself all pumped and ready to go and get Baby G geared up. Baby G got lost. Baby G searched and searched and searched for satellites forever. garmie apparently had too many "big ass beers" and couldn't figure out where he was. i was so irritated. it didn't really start working until like 3/4 of the way into the first mile. so, i was clueless as to what kind of time i was making - i only was able to monitor my average pace. 

note to self: if you're running in a different town, 

turn Baby G on the day before to gain GPS location to avoid drunk garmie.

the race was perfect. the course was flat and the route was through the most amazing scenery. to borrow from our friend bryce, "this race is a guilt-free way to get an awesome tour of the city." we ran through the garden district, downtown, through some neighborhoods with houses that made me salivate and green with envy, by the mausoleums, 

and into the city park.

i was literally so angry with myself at about mile 10. the first 10 miles were perfect. i made good time and was just taking it all in stride. since i have half arse prepared, my leggies started to scream at me around 10.5. they were like - 

ummmm, this is all you're prepared for, jerk. 

what areeeee youuuu doooiinnnngggg?

shut. up. legs. we're doing this. you can yell later.

i rounded the bend into the park and was able to somehow find my sister in the crowd and she snapped this pic at mile 13 - only .1 to go....

i was so excited to be vertical and finishing my 2nd 1/2!

i did it!!! :)

stretching it out. yes - the legs were yelling.

i have the best sister in the entire universe.

we had time to play around the after race festivities - and get free lettuce wraps - 

while waiting on JM and Bryce to finish. 

we caught bryce at 26.1 - only .1 to go! he killed it - 3:45! 

this is what a post -marathon looks like, folks. 

JM's goal was under 4 hours.

his time: 3:59. whoop!

all smiles! 

i finished in 2:07:30. not bad for not really being up to par.

 i'll take it.... and the medal.... and the awesome tech tee..... and the lettuce wrap.... 

and the amazing memories! 

dear big easy,

thanks for treating us so well. (except for best western)

we love you.

we had a great time and we will see you again!

love,

very sore and tired and PROUD runner