New Orleans Eats!

Part of the fun of going to New Orleans is eating all the yummy food! And when you're running a half marathon you can afford to eat...right y'all??!! So here are some of the yummy things I ate when I was in New Orleans this past weekend! Enjoy! And try not to drool too much! ;-)

Friday night after the expo, Donna and I ate at The Cheesecake Factory. I've never eaten there but have heard how amazing it is so I was excited. Well....the experience wasn't the best for me. First....the waiter spilled the neighboring table's bbq sauce on my foot and on the floor under me. It also got on my purse. :-/ Second, the waiter had the worst breath ever. I had to hold my breath whenever he was talking to us because it was seriously that bad. Third, I ordered the Mushroom Burger with no onions and no mayo....and they brought out a burger with onions and no mushrooms! So I had to wait about 10 minutes for them to bring me some mushrooms and by that time my burger was cold. So...I didn't take a picture of my burger because it wasn't the right burger! But even though it was cold it was still very good.

We ended up ordering cheesecake to go. And that made the whole experience well worth it! We got the Red Velvet Cheesecake (OMG)! I LOVE red velvet cake so I was so excited about this! It was DIVINE!!!! And oh yes we totally ate that in the hotel room! Yum! The picture just doesn't do it justice but trust me it was so good!

Before we started our day on Saturday we headed to Manny Randazzo's for some King Cake! And yes...we stood in a long line in the freezing cold for our King Cake...and bought lots of them! Some were for later that day and some were to bring home!

My trunk was full of King Cake!!!

And I promise it was super yummy!

We also had to visit Cafe Du Monde! Beignets...if you've never had one then you are totally missing out! They are heavenly!!!

For our pre-race dinner we went to an Italian restaurant called Venezia. There were about 40 of us there! We filled up one whole side of the restaurant! And of course I got my traditional pre-race pizza!!!

Some of us after dinner!

After the race on Sunday, Donna and I were craving hamburgers! So we went to New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co. before we headed out of town. I got the Big Ch-Easy Burger with their Garlic Herb Fries...deliciousness!!!

Yes..I did a lot of eating in New Orleans! And I ate a ton of stuff that I normally wouldn't eat. But it was worth it! And yay....the scale didn't move! But I'm back to those healthy choices this week for sure! ;-)

QOTD: What is your favorite food/restaurant in New Orleans?

Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Half Marathon Recap!

The night before the race I didn't sleep very well. It took me forever to go to sleep! I think I was excited! Once I finally fell asleep I was very restless. So the alarm came early that morning! But I was ready to go!

This year I didn't stay in a hotel downtown. I stayed in a hotel that was close to the finish line. So instead of walking to the start line and being shuttled from the finish line back to downtown, this year we drove to the finish line first. Then we caught a shuttle that took us to the start line. The whole process was really easy and we made it just in time to get a few pictures with my Sole2Soul Sisters. There were about 40 of us there running this race! For some it was their first half marathon and for others it was their first full marathon. Then you had the ones who had run tons of races like me!

The plan was to meet at corral 15 for a group picture and prayer. Not everyone made it for the group picture but we got several of us in one! I'm so thankful for this group of ladies!

My friend Katrina, who has moved away, was there for this race! I was so happy to see her!!!!

After lots of hugs and pictures I headed to the port a potty one last time. Can you believe this? There was NO LINE! I had to take a picture because I've never been to a race where I didn't have to stand in line to use the restroom before the race! Way to go Rock 'n' Roll! You obviously had plenty of port a potties for everyone!

And of course here's the traditional right before the race picture! (Sorry it's blurry...I would've taken another one if I'd known it was blurry).

One of my sisters was writing "Be Strong, Very Courageous" on our hands. I LOVED this! It really helped during the race to look down and read this.

Before I knew it the time was 7:10. The race was starting at 7:30. So I said goodbye to my sisters and started walking to my corral. Oh yeah...did I mention I was put in corral 4 for this race????? I was so shocked to be in that high of a corral! (I guess that sub 2 time helped!)

Andria was meeting me at the corral and I couldn't wait to see her! Luckily she was standing right beside the corral number so she was easy to spot!

We stood shivering in our corral for about 10 minutes. It was soooo cold! And the wind didn't help. We knew we would warm up as soon as we started running though.

Since we were in corral 4 it didn't take long to reach the start line. In fact I could see it the entire time I was in the corral. That was new to me since usually I'm way back and can't see the start line until I get closer to it. So it was pretty cool to see it right away!

One last picture before we were on our way!

Hello Start Line!!! We were at the front of our corral so we stopped right on the line waiting to go! I felt pretty important lol!

And then....it was our turn!!! At first it was pretty chilly running. But before long I started warming up. I ditched my throw away jacket around mile 1 as we turned onto St. Charles Avenue. This part of this course is my least favorite. You run down St. Charles until mile 4 and then you turn around. You stay on St. Charles until almost mile 8 before you turn and head to Magazine Street. St. Charles is not the best of roads. There are tons of pot holes and you really have to watch where you are running. Usually it's very congested but I guess the earlier corral helped because everyone was running about the same pace. I didn't have to weave in and out of slower runners or walkers at all...the glory of being in your correct corral!

I was feeling great! The only thing that was bothering me was my right quad right above my knee was getting tight. I would adjust my stride for a few seconds and it would get better. I am in the need for new shoes so I am pretty sure that was the reason it was doing this.

Finally we turned off of St. Charles! I was ready to enter the French Market and see some sights! First we had to run through some of downtown. I love the buildings!

I tried to take a selfie while running...it's a lot harder than it looks! I'm gonna have to work on that lol!

I kept looking and looking because I knew that we should be seeing the huge Brooks inflatable of the guy with the guitar. But he was never there. I was sad because I've stopped to get a picture in front of him every time I've run this race. Not sure why they didn't have him on the course this year.

Finally we made it to my favorite part of the course...Decatur Street! We passed Jackson Square and Cafe Du Monde!

Before long we saw the 10 mile sign!!! Only 3.1 more miles to go!!! We turned onto Esplanade Avenue and I knew it was straight shot from there. Of course this part of the course always seems to take forever! Around mile 10.5 Andria slowed down some but I kept going. I was feeling good. I knew I wasn't going to sub 2 but knew I had a shot to come in under 2:05 if I could keep pushing. So that's what I did.

When I got to mile 12.5 the course split...the marathoners were turning left and the half marathoners were staying straight. I was happy to be going straight! I saw the Museum of Art in front of me and knew we only had to circle around it and then I would see the finish line. We circled the museum on the left side which was a change from the previous years when we circled on the right.

I saw mile 13! I only had .1 to go so I kicked it in gear! I did it! I met my B Goal and finished under 2:05!!!

Oh yeah for the record on my new Garmin!!!

My official time was 2:04:31! I was super proud of that time coming off of a calf strain injury!

I waited in the finisher's chute for Andria. I knew she wasn't far behind me. She finished in 2:07!!! I was so proud of her! It was her first half marathon and she did amazing!!!!

We were walking out of the finisher's chute and we saw Larisa! I didn't get to hang out with her this weekend like I'd hoped so it was great seeing her!

She was kind enough to take a picture of me and Andria!

Andria's family caught a picture of us walking through the finisher's chute!

But not before we stopped to grab our low fat chocolate milk! One of the best things about Rock 'n' Roll Races is the chocolate milk at the end!!!

Then we found Andria's family. I was so happy they came to watch her complete her first half marathon! It was such a special day for her and I was so blessed to be a part of it!

I was super happy with this race! It's always so much fun! And I was pretty happy with my time too! The only thing that was missing was the bands! There weren't as many as I remembered playing that day. I'm not sure why. But the after party was fun! Kongos played and they were awesome!

Will I do this race next year? Absolutely! After all...this was my 5th time running it!

And the medal is pretty awesome as always! :-)

QOTD: What is your favorite Rock 'n' Roll Course?

Disclaimer: As a Rock 'n' Blogger I was provided a free race registration in exchange for this post. No other compensation was received. All opinions in the post are mine and mine alone!

#RnRNola Expo!

I had an amazing time in New Orleans this past weekend! I hope you're ready for a week full of New Orleans inspired posts! ;-) Today I'm talking about the expo for the Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon!

I left home for New Orleans on Friday afternoon. It takes me about three hours to reach this awesome city! My friend Donna and I drove in together. After about 30 minutes being stuck in traffic we finally made it into downtown, parked, and headed to the convention center where the expo was being held. There was only about an hour left until the expo was closing so we decided we would just grab our bibs and shop the next day with our other two roommates for the weekend.

As always, Rock 'n' Roll put on a very organized expo. Picking up your race bib was super easy. You just went to the section that had your bib number, handed them your confirmation sheet and I.D., and then they gave you your race bib. Then you took your bib over to get your gear check bag and shirt. Easy peasy!

We had to take a few pictures in front of the countdown clock! Not much longer and we would be running the streets of New Orleans!

We still had a little bit of time so we checked out the official race merchandise. I found a super cute tank but didn't get it. I was on a mission to not spend too much money this weekend since I have Disney Princess Half weekend in three weeks.

After looking at the official merchandise we headed into the expo with all the vendor booths. There was so much to look at but they kept announcing they were closing. We headed quickly to get my VIP parking pass and wrist band. Then we were out of there with excitement about returning the next day.

Donna and I were starving by this point so we stopped at The Cheesecake Factory for some dinner. Yum, yum!

The next morning we went back to the expo with our roommates Jennifer and Jessica. They got their race bibs and then it was time for some expo shopping!

There were a ton of vendors there and we had a blast visiting each one and getting some free stuff! ;-)

We had so much fun at the Got Chocolate Milk booth! I was so excited low fat chocolate milk would be at the finish line waiting on me!

And you know me....I can't resist a character photo! ;-)

After the expo it was time for some lunch and exploring New Orleans! But I'll tell you all about that in another post! :-)

Of course it's tradition that I lay my outfit all out and take a picture the night before the race. Here it is! The only difference come race morning was that I added a long sleeve shirt under my tank. It was cold out there!

A little before lights out one of my friends tagged me on Facebook asking if I'd seen this post. Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans had used my outfit picture from last year's race to wish everyone good luck on their Facebook page! I felt like a celebrity!!! ;-)

Stay tuned all week for more #RnRNola posts!

QOTD: What is your favorite thing about race expos?