RnR New Orleans 2012: The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good:
- I PR'd with a 3:06:12
- I was 9th female, breaking the top ten in a largish race (this got me in the paper this morning which pretty much made my life. I live a very unexciting life.)
- I won 2nd in my age group
- Not one single female passed me in the last ten miles, and I passed two

The bad:
- I missed my goal of 3:05
- I felt like death for the last TEN miles
- I squandered my "last good marathon chance" this season

The ugly:

My form. My form is ugly. Seriously what the heck am I doing bending at the waist. I look like I'm about to sit down. I wish this was just an awkward fleeting second caught on camera, but nooo, David took about 10 of these and in all of them I'm totally crunched up. 

- This was my most poorly-run race ever: I don't know what got into me, but I ran it totally wrong. I could have had so much better of a race (maybe not any faster, but at least not utterly miserable) if I had started slower and saved some energy for the windy and boring 8-mile section on the lakefront. This was a big disappointment but I am definitely going to try to learn from it.
Agonizing real recap later.

Blogger humble pie

3:06:12 at RnR New Orleans 2012. I did not make my goal of 3:05. In fact, I ran a very foolish race and paced like a complete moron. I am off to eat a huge slice of humble pie. Actually, I think some real pie sounds pretty good right now.

This is how I felt about this race. 

Getting ready for RnR NOLA #3!

Tomorrow is the third time I'll be running Rock n Roll New Orleans, formerly the Mardi Gras Marathon (back before Competitor Group bought the event, the route alternated each year, and at one time it was run across the Causeway bridge: a 26-mile span over Lake Ponchartrain. Talk about a boring course!).
What I'm wearing: You know the old rule about not wearing anything new on race day? I'm breaking that, because Varsity Sports was kind enough to give me a singlet so I can represent during the race. I run with the Varsity track group on Mondays and sometimes join the Saturday long run. I feel like this might have been a bad move on their part. What if I do poorly? What if I finish badly and everyone is like, "Who is that girl in the Varsity singlet WALKING at mile 24?" Also I'm nervous about the racerback because the shoulder area is actually pretty snug, and racerbacks tend to give me a neck ache. I don't even wear racerback sports bras.
Eh, I'll survive, it's only a few hours.

I love Varsity's slogan. Love. 

I'm also wearing some kind of shorts...whatever is clean...and of course, my lucky blue sports bra. I always choose light blue on race morning.
On my feet? Saucony Kinvaras, of course. I love this shoe.
What my goals are: Even though I've been sick and haven't done any specific running to make myself faster, I still hope to PR. A 3:05ish would be really nice but I have to be honest with myself here and say that I think that pace is too much for me right now. I turned the corner on my sinus infection, but I still feel kind of weak, and I certainly feel out of shape, too.
What my plan is: But since I'm bull-headed, I think I will go out at 3:05 pace for a few miles to see how I  feel. If I feel great, I will hang on to that. If I feel tired and winded, I'll slow down and resign myself to a bad race. It's a risky strategy, not very smart, but there is a slim chance that I will wake up brimming with energy and this could work. After all, the weather is still supposed to be high 50's to high 60's - good running weather.
How I'm fueling: Well, tonight I am walking over to Figaro's for pasta and the world's most amazing salad ever (this is not an exaggeration). Tomorrow, I'm bringing 4 gels. Even though there is gel on the course I would rather be prepared; I might miss it, especially if the course is crowded.

Two with caffeine, two without.

What I'm looking forward to: This year I will know many, many runners in the race. I can't wait to see them. I freakin' love seeing people I know on course.
What I'm kind of dreading: The new course has the last 13 miles on a very boring loop on Marconi and Lakeshore Drive. This is a sunny, windy area and is pretty boring (although it;s nice to run by the lake). If you are spectating, please line up on the lake or on Marconi. We runners will need your support!


Are you running this weekend? Tell me about your race! 

Record crowd for RnR NOLA!

In its inaugural year (2010), Rock n Roll New Orleans had 13,000 runners. This year? A record-breaking 22,000. And 7.000 of those runners signed up on a single day, the largest one-day registration Competitor Group has ever experienced. 
That's because RnR offers a $1 discount for every point by which the Saints win, and this year they beat the Colts by a cool 55 points, bringing the cost of the race down to under $40. The discount code is only good the day after the game, so that Monday brought the huge surge of registrations.

So what does that mean for runners?
Well, first of all, I'm not sure that RnR is ready for this kind of crowd. New Orleans isn't really that big, and many of our streets are narrow. Perhaps that's why the course changed this year - it sticks mostly to wide roads. That won't help the finish, though - it's bound to be crowded in City Park.
However, 22,000 is not a huge field. And not all those people will actually make it to the starting line. So I'm not sure it will make it any harder for runners, as long as everyone is properly corralled at the start. The only thing I'm worried about is that the half and full start together and don't split off until...MILE 10. At least I think they do. According to the map, they don't split until mile 13, but I think that the portion on Esplanade Avenue will be split onto either side of the divided street. So I hope.
My advice? Start in the right corral, practice good race etiquette, and watch out for sick runners blowing snot (me!). 

Complaining

Here it is. The complainy post.
Rock n Roll New Orleans is this week, and it's my last chance for a good marathon this year. I have Publix and Boston coming up, but I don't expect either to be much good for me - mostly because I am so bad at hills.
After the Louisiana Marathon in January, I didn't really have a goal for RnR NOLA, but I wanted to PR. I mean, I always want to PR. It doesn't always work out, but generally, that's the plan. The problem is, I have been sick all winter.
I am usually very healthy, so this long, drawn-out cold - it started Christmas Eve and has been off and on since then - is most unusual. I don't know what the cause is.

Is it because I work in a hospital? When I worked in hospital pharmacy before, I was sick a lot. That could be a problem again. I'm constantly exposed to resistant bacteria.
Is it the temperature changes? This winter has been the worst weather, with many abrupt temp fluctuations and lots of warm, wet days followed by cold.
Did I overtrain? Although I haven't been running very hard, maybe I didn't allow myself enough recovery time after races and sicknesses, and my immune system and body are just tired.

Whatever the reason, I am exhausted. I am sick of being sick, and I'm not in prime marathon shape. I missed quite a few days of running, and I didn't do any "key workouts" like marathon pace runs or speed work (we did some with the Varsity group for Monday night track, but I missed some and didn't put in real effort for others). I can tell by how much effort I feel when running that I'm not going to be great this weekend. Running just feels like too much effort: even easy paces. Tell-tale case in point: I felt like I was struggling at The Wall, and my pace was 7:10. I ran 8 miles farther at a 7:15 pace at the last marathon. That doesn't sound like improvement to me! 

Can I still run this Sunday? Of course. And I'll still give it my best. Maybe I can still PR, but I'm not getting my hopes up. The only bright side is that this isn't a race I poured a lot of training into: it was tacked on 6 weeks after another race. If I'd put in 16 weeks of diligent training I'd be a lot more upset!

If you've ever been sick for a race, how did handle it? What changes did you make to your race plan? I think I'm more concerned about fitness lost while sick than actually running sick.

What's your Body Age? Mental Age?

Why is it that I find a comic strip about two old people so apropos of my life?

This could definitely happen in my kitchen.

The sad truth is, hubby and I are getting older. I can tell. Besides our similarity to comic strip old people, we are starting to do things like go to bed early and read the newspaper.
According to a test on WikiHow, which is a reliable font of knowledge since anyone who can wield a keyboard can throw their two cents in, my body age is 20. This is very close to my actual age of 21.
But what about my mental age? I mean, I know I feel old, but do I act old? I decided to create my own mental age test.
Just take your age and add or subtract years based on your answers.

1. I clip coupons:
a. Never, mommy buys all my food for me (-4)
b. ?! You can't clip Groupons, you just print them out (-3)
c. If they are for items I buy (0)
d. Religiously (+2)
e. Every Sunday, and then I tuck them into one of those coupon sorters that are specially designed to slow down supermarket lines (+ one decade)

2. I typically drive ____ mph _____ the speed limit
a. 21, over (-as many years as required to make you 16)
b. 19, over ...duh, if you're going 20 over you can go to jail (-4)
c. 0-5, over (0)
d. 15, under (+8)
e. I don't care what the speed limit is. 35 is my max speed (+12)

3. The last time I ate at a buffet was:
a. Does the school cafeteria count? Then...today at lunch (-5)
b. Does the college cafeteria count? Then...today at lunch (-3)
c. That stupid sushi over-eating fest last year. Mistake. (0)
d. Last Friday over at Picadilly's. Mimi and I always meet there at 4:30 pm for girls' night. (+8)

4. My idea of a night on the town is:
a. Having my parents drive me to the dollar movies (-6)
b. Sorority party!! Complete with high pitched squealing at all hours of the night and sugary drinks in Solo cups!!!! (-4)
c. Booze and live music at a classy bar (0)
d. Wine and cheese in front of Frasier re-runs (+5)
e. Taking the senior transport bus to the casino (+10)

5. Whenever I see kids playing ball in the street, I:
a. Intercept the ball and run for a touch down! (-3)
b. Kind of wish I was playing (-2)
c. Drive around them (0)
d. Tell them to get out of the street, they might get run over, and if they don't I'll tell their mom (+2)
e. Beat them with my cane (+3)

6. My hips:
a. Don't lie (-1)
b. Reflect my love for cheese (0)
c. Are titanium (+1)

7. I take ____vitamins
a. Gummy (-3)
b. Zero - I am indestructible (-1)
c. A multi (0)
d. Seventeen different, including those special fish oil capsules that were buy one, get one free last week at Walgreens (+2)

8. My phone:
a. Is paid for by my daddy (-3)
b. Was the free one that came with the contract (-1)
c. Is touch-screen (0)
d. Plugs into the wall (+5)

So, how's you score? What's your body age? And what's your mental age?

PLEASE HOLD!

I'm talking to you, weather! Please hold for Sunday's RnR New Orleans marathon!

Weather like this in March is kind of rare: humidity only in the 60's and a beautiful, calm, sunny day with a high of 61!
This is ideal running weather, especially considering that we have hit the 80's just last week and that Thursday and Friday are supposed to be hot and stormy. I'm praying the weather holds this week: I already feel sick with this annoying sinus infection; humidity would just compound the misery.
If we have good weather, and if I turn the corner, maybe just maybe...I can go for another PR! Here's to hoping!