New Orleans running report
Just spent a week in New Orleans and had a blast. My wife publishes a much better blog (artyfartyblog.com), which will give you a recap about our trip, so since I just write about rock 'n' roll and running here goes. The running scene is actually WAY better than I thought it would be. We were staying downtown on the corner of St. Charles and Poydras. St. Charles is actually a prime running spot as there is a grass/dirt path that runs down the middle of the street in the neutral ground in between trolley car lanes. The area is also very shade which is essential in the south. Be careful of those cars though! They even have PSAs on TV there.
While I was there I got in several nice runs on St. Charles and also did some running in the very beautiful Audubon Park, which is across the street from Tulane and Loyola. It's interesting that the two main universities in the city are literally next door to each other.
I also ran in a 5K race this past Saturday, which started at the rather unusual (at least in these parts) time of 5:00pm. Never mind that it was well over 80F, I had a lot of fun. The post-race party had an amazing spread: jambalaya, pulled pork, burgers, gumbo, you name it! I grabbed what I thought was a lemonade -- turned out to be a mint julep! As for the race, I was second overall and the first master with a modest time of 18:20. Factoring in the heat and humidity, I feel like the effort was much better. I went out slower than usual, passed a few kids who went out too fast and picked it up a bit the final mile. The winner was way ahead like 16:30s so it was a no man's land a bit in the second half. Really nice course: out on a scenic road, back on a bike path on top of a levy on the Mississippi.
The start. Number 238 won the race. He ran a 32 minute 10K at another race in the morning and came back to win this race in the afternoon!
Post-race:
