Mardi Gras Marathon 5K

I know it has been a while--two weeks I think--but i'm still trying to get in the groove of teaching. Every morning I wake up with every intention of running in the afternoon, but between being exhausted and having random meetings, I just can't find the time. What a lame excuse!!

However, I did get my tired, lazy butt up this morning to run the Mardi Gras Marathon 5K in New Orleans (Thanks David for the suggestion!). Last night I wasn't sure if I was going to run it even though I paid the registration fee because there was supposed to be some bad weather headed this way. Fortunately, the Baton Rouge and New Orleans area didn't get hit too bad...well from what I could see.

So here is the breakdown of my first running/race day in two weeks:
Woke up at 5:00 am took my meds and vitamins (I'm trying Centrum Endurance for the first time). Left Baton Rouge around 5:15 and arrived in NOLA around 6:40. Parked in the Superdome parking garage--thank god for free parking--picked up my bib, chip, and tshirt and finally sat down on a curb and watched the marathoners and halfers take off. Took a short nap on same curb then took my spot amongst the small mass of 5Kers. I started the race at a slow and steady pace then decided that I would bust a gut for this race. Got about a little more than half way done and thought I was almost at the end so silly me took off sprinting only to find out I had about another 1.4 miles to run. When I finished I had that post run nausea you get when you try to run really fast when you haven't run in two weeks :-/ Managed to keep last night's dinner in its proper place while I returned my chip and sulked over my 30:00 finish time--man I thought I was flying...I demand a recount! Finally, I jumped in my car and was home around 9:30 with a cool race medal to show off to my friends...YAY!

Distance: 3.1 miles/5K
Time: 30:24
Pace: ???? freaking ipod didn't even save my info!
Calories: probably not enough
Tunes: Some Regina Spektor and a little bit of great 80's as always :)

Best Loop in Baton Rouge

The loop around the LSU lakes is probably the most scenic loop in Baton Rouge...that I know of at least. It was beautiful this morning and there were quite a few walkers/runners out. I brought my camera along to capture the scenery, but my pictures never seem to come out as good as they are in real life.

I wish I had more zoom on my camera--this picture would have been really neat if I had one of those mega cameras with 200x zoom. For all of you who are wondering what in the world those tiny specks of black are...they are birds on a log...wait isn't that some type of culinary dish?

And this is the Baton Rouge Beach...LOL! Yeah, for the longest time I always thought the BR Beach was some huge beach area near the river, but here it is. It is mostly used as a dumping ground for used condom wrappers, needles, cigarette butts, and other miscellaneous trash. Note the construction in the background...since Katrina Baton Rouge has had a major real estate boom...great for Baton Rouge, not so great for me--rent increases :(
And this folks is a pelican...our state bird. As you can guess, the LSU Lakes are filled with a variety of species of bird. Again, this would have been a much better picture if I had more zoom, but I can't fret over the small stuff...ehh.

There are more pictures from my run today, but posting pictures is tedious (this is an excuse of a LAZY person). If you want to check them out go to my Flickr account.

I did a slow 5.5 miles and made frequent stops to take some pics so this run was extremely easy. However, my legs are a little sore, and my knees felt a little stiff after the run. I guess my legs are in shock from not running all week. There was an article in Runner's World this month that discusses the complexity of the knee and how much stress runner's can put on their knees. Well, I don't put as much stress on them as some, but I'm always weary of minor knee pain. I would hate to have a knee injury and then have to do swimming or bicycling or some other cross training sport that is not as wonderful as running...blah!

Distance: 5.73 miles

Time: 1:03

Pace: 10:58 min/mi

Calories: 597

Tunes:

Reason is Treason-Kasabian

Hurts so Good-John Cougar Mellencamp

Mercedes Benz-Janis Joplin

Move Over-Janis Joplin

Piece of My Heart-Janis Joplin

Down on Me-Janis Joplin

Trouble in Mind-Janis Joplin

Centerfold-J. Geils Band

The Power of Love-Huey Lewis and the Newsboys

Samson-Regina Spektor

Fidelity-Regina Spektor

Weekend Warrior

The warrior part may not be accurate, but it appears that the weekends are the only days when I have time or even feel like running these days. I did a slow loop around the lake and somewhat in College Town. It was chilly (around the low forties) and windy, but that didn't stop me. Well, I did walk for a while, but only to enjoy the scenery--it was a perfectly sunny winter day in Louisiana.

Student teaching is going great so far. I had a tough week last week, and I came home exhausted every afternoon--Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night I went to bed around 8:00 (sad, I know). I love all my classes, and I am looking forward to Monday when my students present their powerpoints they have been working on. Oprah was right, when given an opportunity, kids will never disappoint you. Most people might not have very high expectations for my students who mostly come from low income, single parent families. But so far they have proven that they have so much more potential than I originally thought. Oh enough of my cheesy teacher talk...here are my stats for today (sorry no pictures):

Distance: 5.31 miles
Time: 59:37
Pace: 11:13 min/mi
Calories: 553
Tunes:
Good for You-Third Eye Blind
I Need a Hero-Bonnie Tyler
We Built this City on Rock and Roll-Jefferson Starship
Me and Bobby McGee-Janis Joplin
Jumper-Third Eye Blind
All I Really Want-Alanis Morissette
Wasteland-Augustana
Call Me the Breeze-Lynard Skynard
Molly's Chambers-Kings of Leon
Welcome to Chicago-Kill Hannah
Highway to the Danger Zone-Kenny Loggins

5K Update

Just got the official results in....*cue drumroll*


I placed 35th out of 119 or so.

But don't get too excited because I was also informed that the course was actually 3/8 of a mile short. I knew something didn't feel right about that race. I was very shocked to say the least when I finished right at 30:00 when I even stopped to take pictures. Oh well, I'm still going to act like a did a terrific job...I need all the motivation I can get!

LRCE Big Apple 5K

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was ridiculously cold this morning when I got out...the water for my windshield wipers froze up so I had to wait for the fog to clear from my windshield before I could even leave. I hate when it is cold because I never know what to wear...I know I have to wear a sweater before I run because it is cold, but I know I'll warm up during the run, but then there is that few minutes before the run and during the first few minutes when I'm dying because I'm freezing if I don't have a sweater, but I know that I can't stand to have to take off a sweater mid-run and carry it the rest of the way...so you can see the delimma. I just wish it would be either really cold or hot that way I would just know what to wear.


So now that I'm past the whole clothing issue, I guess I'll move on to the race. It was your typical 5K fundraiser with the mix group of people--the serious runners who wear shorts and a t-shirt and never do the group warm up thing, and the fun runners who sometimes wear jeans or five layers of clothing and always get into the group warm up thing (these are the people who hurt themselves before the race even starts by jumping around like a lunatic to "Sweet Home Alabama"). Me, I am the in between runner. I never do the group warm up thing because I can never take it seriously and....well I'm just not to the point where I can consider myself one of those serious runner types.

I started off at a great pace, probably around 9:30. But that soon turned into 10:00 as I was approaching the half way point. I stopped a few times to take pictures of the sights along the way (see below), and I came in right at 30:00. I could have finished in under 30 minutes, but I stopped right before the finish line to take a picture of the finish line. I wasn't too worried about the time seeing that it was my first time running in almost a month. I knew I wasn't going to achieve a PR. All in all I had a great time. I love running races. For some reason, and this may sound crazy, but I would have no problem being consistent if all my runs were races. I just like the atmosphere and the people. I hope I'm not the only one out there who feels this way...that would be lonely. And right now I'm already lonely...I don't need more lonliness in my life. LOL

Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 30:06
Pace: 10:47 min/mi
Calories: 306
Tunes:
Wasteland-Augustana
All I Really Want-Alanis Morissette
Jumper-Third Eye Blind
Me and Bobby Magee-Janis Joplin
We Built This City on Rock and Roll-Jefferson Starship
I Need a Hero-Bonnie Tyler
Good For You-Third Eye Blind



People waiting for the race to begin at the starting line--I was freezing behind the camera

This picture was taken a little after the halfway point turn around.

The state capitol building...taken mid-race

The finish line...see I documented my "time"--I could have made it ;)

First run of February

And it's going to be a 5k race :)

I haven't run in what seems like a month, but this morning I am signed up to do a 5K race, and seeing that I already payed for it, I couldn't skip out.

So hopefully this will jumpstart my running; I have high hopes!

It is almost seven o'clock in the morning, and I have my new tights and my new nike bra (haven't worn either one of them since I got them two months ago). I think I've figured out what I will do now...because school starts at the ungodly hour of 6:50, I will change into my running clothes right after school and run around the football field or the block around the school. However, there are a few catches--every other Monday I have a meeting right after school and every Friday I have to go back to LSU for classes. Hmmmm...well I'll see how it goes and run as much as I can.

Wish me luck! I'm going to bring my camera today, so I'll have some pictures to post of the race. I hope I don't die within the first mile...I would prefer to die at least around the two mile mark.