A night alone

Last night the Intergalactic krewe of Chewbacchus rolled in the ghetto down St. Claude. I was not present. I have little interest in Mardi Gras, no interest in a rinky-dink walking parade, and negative interest in anything Sci-fi, which is the theme of Chewbacchus (although, hats-off to their name. I do so love a clever pun!).
David wanted to go, though, so I cleverly arranged to meet with friends and then backed out at the last minute, leaving me with a pleasant night alone. What did I do with my time?
- Read a book at the park

Audubon Park: my favorite place.

- Did a long series of exercises purported to help runner's knee
- Made chocolate brownie cookies, because I haven't made anything but king cake in weeks
- Cut my hair, including bangs. I haven't had bangs in years, but I think they make me look slightly less ancient and haggard.

Make-up free picture is gratis. I think my wrinkles give me...character. 

And then I indulged in a big-time guilty pleasure, which is eating loaded quesadillas in front of the contestants of The Biggest Loser. I know this is dreadful, but I like eating good food while they can't.

I take out the fine china when David is gone.

I don't follow the show, but my dinner did taste better while they ate water and a Kellogg bar.

This year's Louisiana Marathon review: rendezvous number five

I didn't enjoy this year's Louisiana Marathon as much as I have in past years. I'm sure a lot of that had to do with my own poor race leaving a bad taste in my mouth, but there were other things - signs of growth - that made the race less fun than it's been.
There are still some things the race does wonderfully well:
- beautiful course
- lots of course support
- very organized pre-race, and always a lot of bathrooms
- meaningful charity partnerships
Some things were even better this year, like the T-shirt, a soft bamboo technical T that I will be wearing around just because it's cute. I think this is my favorite race shirt ever!

Gender-specific; full and half got different T's

But then, I didn't love some new developments:
- The price. The cost for this race is astronomical: the half was $140 at the expo! That's just completely unwarranted.
- This year, post-race, half the vendor booths were empty. So you get a wrist band for a certain number of food or drink punches (I think it's 6 punches), but besides the Vegan Village of cold, gross quinoa and a salad booth (it was in the 30's, no thanks), there were only a few people serving food. I ended up giving my punches away at the beer tent!
- The way the race handled the DQ of the first female finisher was a little unsettling. Granted, that's a tough call, and again, I know she was warned. But I feel like that move was done more to benefit the race (which would like to bid for the 2020 or 2024 Olympic trials) than the runners (who were expecting a family event, which is the image the race portrays). The lack of consistency in the rules and the level  of professionalism expected is confusing. It doesn't welcome elite runners, and it intimidates the local fast set.

So I'm on the fence about registering again for this one. It's still a great race, but I've run it before, so I might sit it out in the future.

Thoth ball

Eh. A lot of people in gowns. A lot of tuxes. A lot of pageantry. Some bands. Not enough utensils.

I bought black and white gloves and it came down to a game-time decision - white gloves won.

White gloves win

So tired my eyes are closing

The ball starts with TWO HOURS of introducing the court, which is always interesting for about 15 minutes. We have kings and queens here? They take themselves seriously? I'm supposed to rise for the king's entrance? You know, all that. Then they start introducing seven dozen pages and ladies in waiting, and I lose interest. After that is the ball, with dancing, open bar, and food. It doesn't even start until ten! I wasn't drinking, and it's hard to eat while wearing opera length gloves, so not super thrilling. Basically the whole point of the ball was to dress up, though, so we accomplished that. 

It's Carnival Time!

An early Mardi Gras this year means that we've been cramming all our Carnival activities into just a few weeks.
Like, making my ball gown for the Thoth ball. This year it's a muted teal satin halter. I bought the fabric a long time ago - I grab fabrics I like whenever I see them - but now that I'm working on it I'm discovering that it's really cheap and thin. It's very hard to work with.
Whenever I use satin, I use it inside out: the sheen is so much more elegant on the back of the fabric.

We're also eating plenty of king cake. Last week we had a king-cake tasting party to go to, and of course I made a cake (this was traditional filling; nothing fancy to confuse peoples' palates).

The party was small, and some guests brought drinks or savory food instead, so we ended up with just three cakes to taste - and I GOT THE BABY IN ALL OF THEM. What are the odds?! Do I have to buy three more cakes now?!

David's been busy with last-minute parade details. The other day I took his car so he could bring mine in for a brake tag on his lunch (because, you know, when you're a lawyer you get to eat lunch. If you're a pharmacist you just have to starve to death). I stopped to do groceries on the way home, and when I opened his trunk, it was full of hundreds of nerf footballs, all blowing out in the windy lot! I had to run and chase foot balls down (while clutching a loaf of bread).

Next up? Parades, our block party, Thoth, and our newest Mardi Gras hook-up: friends with a balcony on St. Charles!

Post-race track

I didn't feel sore this week at all, despite a Sunday half-marathon. It just wasn't a race effort, for whatever reason. Much to my disappointment! I'd rather be sore and have a fast time versus feeling fresh as a daisy and racing a slow time.

So I rolled out of bed and went to the stupid cold track on Tuesday. It was ten degrees warmer than Sunday, but I layered up - short sleeves, long sleeves, jacket for the drive, hat and gloves. I ended up shedding the long sleeves and hat for the workout portion, but I kept the gloves on.

The workout wast 5x1k with jog across the field between each rep. I felt ok, but I was, again, pretty slow - running between 4:03 and 4:09! That might be residual race fatigue...or I am actually just getting slower.

My cute little track at 6:45 am.

I stayed after for a cool down, drills, and stretching, so I got to see the sunrise.

Advice, please: muscles feel strong, joints feel like they usually do (dreadful), endurance is good, speed is nonexistent. What should I do? Coach me! 

Louisiana Marathon - not really racing the half

Boy, did I have a crappy day Sunday. I just couldn't get anything going at all, and had a pretty bad race.
The day started at 4:30, because for some reason I thought that was plenty of time to get up, get ready, drive an hour and a half, park, warm-up, check gear, use the bathroom, and start a race at 7:00. No, it actually is not enough time for all of that.
So I ended up frantically hunting for parking pre-race (mostly because I refused to pay and wanted street parking), finally finding a spot quite far away with just 25 minutes to the start. I couldn't run to the race, because I needed a port-a-potty SO BAD OMG, which also means I was totally dehydrated (halfway through the long drive I was regretting all the coffee I drank, and didn't dare drink a sip of water).
Arriving late has some benefits: most people were already done with gear check and bathrooms by the time I arrived. I easily checked my bag, but the national anthem was playing before I even got to the front of the port-a-potty line (which, props to the directors, was not long thanks to the adequate number of units). I ended up vaulting over the fence into the corral, into the waiting arms of a total stranger I talked into catching me (poor dude).
I was freezing cold, I wasn't warmed up, and I was having tummy issues already. It was in the 30's with a "feels like" temp of below freezing; I knew the sun would warm things up, though, so I was in tights and a sleeveless shirt with gloves. I had to take the gloves off early because, oddly, the volunteer at the very first water stop poured Powerade all down my arm and soaked my glove - and then high-fived his friend and said, "Baptized!" - uh, calm down, fellow.

Louisiana Running Company once again providing great photos! 

The gun went off and we started running downhill. The first miles are a slight decline, yet to my horror, my Garmin beeped WAY WAY WAY slower than I thought I was running the first mile. Like, fifteen seconds slower. Huh? I just was working way too hard. My muscles felt fine - although cold - but I was struggling to get any speed at all. I hammered the first six miles away at 7:06 pace, which was already a little slower than the 7:05 I'd need to run a 1:33, and then I just gave up. I started really just jogging and I felt so tired. Around about mile 11, I realized that about a million people had passed me and thought, "Well, that's not cool", so I ran a 7:04 and a 7:03 for the last two, but - ugh. I just struggled the whole way. 1:33:53.
Worst part: I wasn't sore later, so you know I didn't do my best!

I am really annoyed that I ran basically the same time as last race - and it actually felt much harder. Am I getting slower? Honestly, my fall half (1:37) was a much tougher course, so I kind of feel like I haven't seen any improvement at all since I got back to running this year. I am sort of wondering if it isn't time to hang it up. Yes, I can have a great long run, but honestly - what good does that do without the speed? And the speed is what's missing.
And I still have runner's knee - not that bad, but nagging and annoying.

What happened at the Louisiana Marathon

A quick follow-up, now that the story is all over the news (local and otherwise, including the Pace per Mile podcast) -
What happened at Sunday's race was that the women's first finisher was DQ'd because she took outside aid on the course. Apparently she had a biker who gave her drinks and nutrition several times on course, even after a course marshal told her that the practice was not allowed. Plus, runners apparently received five emails about the new policy prior to race day (I didn't, but I registered late). She was shooting for an OTQ, and I think the race directors realized that Sunday was the last day to run an OTQ time, so they tightened up on the rules (as far as I know, this rule was never explicitly stated in the past, and in fact, I asked permission to pace David at this race for his first marathon - just a few final miles - and my requested was granted).

There is a bit of a debate about the DQ online, and I can see merits to both sides of the argument:
1. She broke a clearly stated rule; she gets DQ'd.
vs.
2. If the race is going to have USATF regulations, they should also provide elite nutrition tables. The race currently has no elite program, and these policies will discourage elites from choosing this race as they can receive better support at other races. I hope in the future the Louisiana Marathon does make these changes, or they simply won't get a quality field.

But the bottom line is, she broke the rules and she was warned about them and yet continued to receive outside aid - so DQ it is. I'd waver a bit, perhaps, if she hadn't been warned, or if she'd actually hit the OTQ standard (she missed it) - that would make me feel pretty terrible for her! She DID state to the marshals that she'd spoken about it to the race director, but the director says this did not happen.

Meanwhile, in more positive news, I saw that the actual winner did get to break the tape - it just wasn't announced or anything, so she was more confused than we were! But good for her.