Race Review: 26.2 in the Big Easy & Celebrating a New PR! ⚜️ // Rock n' Roll New Orleans Marathon Weekend Days 3 + 4

This post is part of a series about my trip to New Orleans February 7-10, 2020. 

Make sure you check out my day 1 & day 2 posts first!

I'm so excited to finally be talking about race day at the Rock n' Roll New Orleans Marathon! The Cheer Squad and I were up bright and early to head down to the starting line. We were out the door by 6:15am and opted to take the trolley downtown. As I've found at other large races, there was definitely a delay in the transportation that morning. When thousands of people are all trying to get to the same location it's only to be expected, so make sure you're planning for travel time to the start the morning of the race! 

I believe we got on the trolley by 6:45am or so and were off and walking toward the start by 7. There was a big construction site in the middle of Canal Street during our visit due to the collapse of the Hardrock Hotel, so we had to walk the rest of the way to the start. The start was scheuled for 7:30am so the pressure to get to the start was a little stressful! But we made it in plenty of time. I missed the Maniacs photo by literally 10 seconds which I was kinda bummed about, but honestly I was just excited to be there!

I said my goodbyes to the Cheer Squad and headed into my corral. While I was waiting for the starting gun, I looked down at my watch and realized that even though it had been on the charger all night it was still at 18% battery. 🤦‍♀️ I rely heavily on my watch to make sure I'm hitting my paces, so because I wasn't quite sure how long my watch's battery would last I decided to load up Strava's record feature on my phone which I had never used. 😂 Naturally I had no idea what I was doing, but I managed to figure out how to get it to tell me my mile splits through my headphones. It would have to do!

I waited in the corral for quite some time. It seemed to be about 30 minutes or so before I finally got to the starting line, but once I did my corral got stopped *right* at the front! For the first time ever, I got to be right at the line when the gun went off which was super cool. I don't think it will be often that I will be able to be one of the first to cross the start when the gun goes off, so I tried to savor the moment!

Knowing that I was running Strava off of my phone, I didn't take a ton (or any) photos during the race. I didn't want my phone to die mid-run because I already knew that my watch was going to! Luckily the Cheer Squad took a few great photos to share with y'all and a ton of video for the vlog which you can find at the end of this post! 😊

It was an absolutely *gorgeous* day for a marathon and I was so thankful for the weather. It was a bit humid but not unbearably so, and running in the warmth for a change was so pleasant. The first few miles of the race was an out-and-back section through a neighborhood. (You can see the course map here.) The streets were full of spectators and a few live bands. I really enjoy out-and-back sections because I love being able to see the other runners on the opposite side of the road from me. I got to see the elites roll by which is always so inspiring, and having both sides of the roads filled with marathoners and half marathoners was so much fun.

The first 7 miles of the race seemed to FLY by. I was doing my best to not get too caught up in the excitement of the race and focus on my fueling plan, and eventually I fell into a good rhythm with my pacing. Unfortunately around mile 6.5 or so I really started to feel the impact of the roads on my feet. I know I was a bit overdue for some new running shoes but I wanted to stick with my trust purple Adrenaline 19's since I've been doing all of my training in them. Sadly I definitely felt the impact of having worn out shoes and have learned my lesson to buy a new pair mid-way through my training cycle next time.

At mile 9 we arrived in the French Quarter and I found the Cheer Squad in Jackson Square around mile 9.75! It is always so unbelievably motivating to see friendly faces mid-way through a marathon and know that they'll be waiting for you at certain points along the course. It gives you something to look forward to throughout long, lonely stretches of the course and also motivates you to work that much harder for the people who are there for you. I always love having my Cheer Squad with me and I'm grateful I have folks who are willing to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn to watch me run a lot of miles. 😂💗

This course has one of my *least* favorite features of any race that has both a half and a full marathon running simultaneously. They bring the full marathon right by the finish line of the half before the runners continue on for another 13 miles. It's always such a mood killer to know that the finish line is that close and yet you still have so far to go! 😂 As usual, as the half marathon veered off to finish, the course became quite a bit more open. However, the field to this race is so large that I never was alone on the course, which was nice!

Once I passed mile 16 and took the turn onto the section along Lake Pontchartrain, the wind SIGNIFICANTLY increased. After doing some research on the wind conditions, it looks like there was 20+ mph wind gusts and they were mostly ALL headwinds! There were certain points where I felt like I was getting blown backwards. It was crazy! Definitely not something I was prepared to experience so it was a challenge to keep myself pushing through. I was also feeling off stomach-wise for most of the day so this additional challenge really made me have to fight even harder mentally to keep pushing as hard as I could.

Around mile 17.5 I pulled over to refill my Camelbak. As y'all know, I like to run with a pack as I drink a ton of water while running. One of my favorite features of this race was the fact that there was a water stop at almost every mile, and each stop featured an ENORMOUS water jug that you could use to fill up your own water supply if you wanted. I was able to take advantage of that which I was super grateful for. Unfortunately my stop reflected on the GPS tracker Erin, Brett, and Cullen were using to see my progress and they were a little worried if I was okay or not. Brett called me right before I passed mile 18 to check in, and hearing his voice gave me a boost of energy. He let me know that they were waiting for me around mile 20.5 which I was so looking forward to!

As promised I saw their three smiling faces midway between miles 20 and 21. Erin ran with me a bit of the way until we met up with the guys where they were camped out. I was still on track for a sub-5 race so I didn't want to linger too long with them but again, it was so good to see them and get good vibes and high fives all around before heading into the last portion of the course. I would see them at the finish!

Unlucky for me, I started getting some serious leg cramping about 5 minutes after I saw them. I started to have to take stretching breaks which I hate having to do mid-race, but I needed some relief from the cramping! The wind + the old shoes + the exhaustion of running that far was really taking its toll on my body, but I kept my race goals in mind and kept pushing hard. I took a pattern of Run → walk → stop and stretch over the next few miles in order to give myself some relief every so often.

Around mile 23 we finally started to get some relief from the wind. I wasn't totally sure that I would be on track for a sub-5 anymore at that point, but I still was fairly sure I could PR. My watch had been dead for about 10 miles and I wasn't sure how accurate Strava was, so I really had no idea where I stood. I just kept myself moving forward at as quick a pace as I was able to. Once I hit mile 25 I just sucked it up and kept myself running. I was close enough to the finish that I just wanted to put my head down and get it done! The race volunteers and police that were staffing the course were smiling and enthusiastic toward every single runner and I am so appreciative of that. There's nothing worse than being a back-of-the-pack-er and seeing volunteers look annoyed at the fact that you're still running and they can't go home yet.

Eventually I turned into City Park and I knew the finish line was SO CLOSE! As you turn toward the finish chute the energy and crowd was unreal. The music was pumping, every member of the crowd was cheering for every runner, and it just felt so good to be able to be welcomed to the finish line in that way. I saw the Cheer Squad to my right, waved and blew them a kiss, then gave my final push across the finish line. Another state done! ✅

The volunteers at the finish were great. You were given your medal and had a couple opportunities to take your photo with them. You were handed snacks, water, and Gatorade, and congratulated left and right. When you're super delirious after 26.2 miles it's really hard to think coherently and the volunteers at the finish line made it so you didn't have to. That way you could just reflect on what you just accomplished. I took my medal and a handful of snacks and drinks and met up with the gang so I could finally sit on the ground. 😂

We didn't think to take finish line photos of our own for whatever reason (maybe because I was dead 💀) so here are some close up shots of my medal!

Again, I wasn't sure what time I finished in. My watch was dead, I wasn't sure how accurate Strava was, and I guess the Rock n' Roll tracking app said I arrived to the finish line WAYYY before I actually did. Strava said I finished in 4:58 (and later said I finished in 5:01?) and my unofficial time from Rock n' Roll was 5:04:13 but because the app said I arrived several minutes before I actually did I was worried that my time was much longer than that. It wasn't until later that evening that we got official results, and it turned out my unofficial time of 5:04:13 was my official time! I HAD SET A NEW PR!!!! 🎉🎉🎉 Regardless of what my time would have been I was super proud of myself and how I performed that day. I knew my training had made me a much better runner and had made my marathon experience much better for it. I was super happy and ready to celebrate!

One of the *only* things I would criticize this race on is that the finish line festival was SO. FAR. from the actual finish! City Park is a huge place and the organizers opted to put the finish line festival all the way across the park from the finish line. I was really confused by that decision because there was so much empty space at the park much closer to the finish line that could have easily been used for the after party which would have made it so much easier on the runners. I can speak for myself when I say I am definitely not up for walking super far after running 26.2 miles, and I'm sure other runners could say the same for any of the race distances that were offered. Unfortunately because it was so far from the finish I had zero desire to check it out, even though I'm sure it would have been really fun! If it was closer to the finish and I didn't have to go as far, I likely would have gone and checked it out. 

But if that's the only thing I'm criticizing the race on, I think that it's a pretty damn good race! 😉

For real, this race was great. The volunteers were so helpful and friendly, the pre-race communication was excellent and I knew exactly what I needed to do as a participant, the on-course experience was so vibrant and fun, and I just felt happy the entire race! This was my first Rock n' Roll race experience and I am so happy it was a positive one. I've heard really mixed things about this race series and I'm glad that my experience was one that makes me excited to come back to it. I'm really looking forward to heading to Seattle and Savannah with Rock n' Roll later this year!

After the race, we went back to the AirBnB to chill for a couple hours. The Cheer Squad needed naps and I needed a shower and a place to sit down. 😂 Eventually, though, we needed to venture out for food because I had burned a LOT of calories that morning! We opted for my fave - PIZZA. We hit up Louisiana Pizza Kitchen in the French Quarter and like all of the other food we had that weekend, it was BOMB. All I need in my life after a long run is some cheese pizza and I absolutely devoured it. I was excited I was able to eat whatever I wanted again, and partake in some cocktails! Erin and I opted for a carafe of peach sangria and it was delicious.

It was Brett's first time in NOLA so we had to spend some time on the world famous Bourbon Street. I was really hankering for a post-race Hurricane so we headed over to Pat O'Briens to grab a few! We got a table in the courtyard and it was a beautiful night to sit and chat about the day with pals.

After wandering Bourban Street for a bit, acquiring beads, dancing to street performers, and enjoying a couple of Hand Grenades (you can see all of that on the vlog below!), we knew that our final stop of the evening had to be to snag a couple order of beignets! We were going to go to the famous Cafe Du Monde, but we opted to stop at Cafe Beignet instead (because it was closer and we were tired lol). I'll tell ya that the beignets were *incredible * and good if not better than Cafe Du Monde - there's more than one place to get beignets, folks! 😍

Sadly Erin and Cullen had a super early flight so we woke up around 3am and sent them on their way to the airport. We were able to hang around in our AirBnB until 11, so we relaxed and gathered our things before heading out midday on Monday. Before heading to the airport we went to The Ruby Slipper for brunch and it was super delicious. I had this amazing vanilla iced coffee that I had so snap a photo of. I'm not sure why (maybe I was still hungry from the day before haha) but it honestly tasted SO GOOD. Everything tastes good post-marathon. 😂

After brunch we headed to the airport to catch our flight home. This was such a fantastic trip and I feel like this is one of those cities that I will definitely be back to again in my lifetime. There's still so much of this city to eat, drink, and explore and I look forward to experiencing more of it in the future!

For more marathon & NOLA adventures, check out the vlog from days 3 & 4 of our trip below!

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