My husband gave me the green light to do this and so I registered and then paid half of what was needed for the Airbnb and had another month to come up with the remainder.
This was definitely going to be a whirlwind trip. We would leave early on Friday and arrive around 8:00 PM. Saturday the group would explore NOLA and go to packet pickup. The race was Sunday morning and although everyone else was staying a little bit longer, I would hit the road in the afternoon. I'd stop in Grenada, Mississippi for the night - about a 5 hour drive and then drive the remaining 8 hours Monday morning. It was about as exhausting as it sounds. But I met some of the most amazing women on this trip and we are all still friends.
ES arrived at my house, we loaded her stuff in my SUV and we were on the road. We weren't gone 5 minutes (THANKFULLY!) when I realized that I left my cell phone at my house. Well at least we hadn't gotten too far along on our trip.
We made pretty good time and stopped when we needed to but usually it was only for gas and that was our bathroom break as well.
The best thing to see on a trip to a new state is the "Welcome To" sign.
The house that we were staying at was changed into a duplex. 4 of us girls were staying on one side and the 2 couples were staying on the other side. 2 other girls were down there as well but they were in a hotel elsewhere in NOLA. After ES and I got mostly settled in, we called an Uber and headed out to find food and drinks. This would be a tough weekend for me with regard to food but I would at least venture out with everyone to have fun.
The next day after enjoying some coffee on the porch, we walked to the trolley stopped and headed to the French Market for brunch and sightseeing.
After dropping our stuff off back at the house, we decided to drive over to the New Orleans Museum of Art. That is where the race was starting and finishing.
We wanted to get beignets while we were there but the place closed early because they were catering a wedding. The race was still in the beginning stages of setting up once we found the correct area.
It was getting later in the day and we needed to start thinking about finding supper/dinner. I don't like to eat anything that my system isn't familiar with the night before a half marathon so once the other girls found a place they wanted to go, I drove them there (in Downtown New Orleans) and then looked for one of my tried and true favorites - Applebee's. It wasn't super close but I eventually found one.
As my husband's cousin would say, "Respect the streak."
An interesting twist to race morning was it was also the day of Daylight Savings time change. I was so worried that I was setting my alarm incorrectly and I'd over sleep. We had to plan the morning carefully since there were four women and one bathroom...but it worked out.
It sure was dark when we left and we had a little difficulty finding where we should be dropped off but Al did a great job. Obviously it was so much warmer here than it was in Indiana and HUMID!
This race had 3 substantial bridges/overpasses that we had to cross and they sucked! Not the most scenic course but there were some enormous & gorgeous homes that we could see on the other side of the water (not sure if it was a river or what). We ran up to the University of New Orleans - UNO 🤣 - and then headed back to the New Orleans Museum of Art.
This was my first half marathon of 2019 and since January & February were packed with dealing with moving my Mom and her first month in LTC, I had zero training under my belt. But I finished.
After the race we walked back over to Cafe Du Monde and finally had those beignets! I'll be honest...I was not impressed with them.
Then it was back to the house to shower and rest. We all put on our race shirts and took a group photo on the balcony.
I was pretty tired after the race and since I knew I had a 5 hour drive ahead of me, I stayed back and took a nap while everyone else went out to lunch. Luckily they all arrive back at the house as I was loading up my car so I got to say goodbye and give everyone a hug before leaving.
It is interesting how when you're going somewhere new, the hours in a vehicle are so much more tolerable. While the 5 hours to Grenada, MS weren't too bad...the 8 hours back to Indiana seemed to take forever.
Looking back I'm EXTREMELY grateful to have done this half marathon. The friendship that I made here mean the world to me. But I wouldn't necessarily recommend this race to someone as a destination race to cross Louisiana off their list. There are better races out there.
Until some other time Louisiana. 💛💜💚
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