New Orleans weekend

I went to New Orleans for the first time this weekend!  It was really great!  One place of of my list of places to go.  I went to run the Rock n Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon with my friend Marissa (she ran the full!), her brother, sister-in-law and some other friends.

The trip did not get off to the best of starts - anyone in the NYC area will remember there was a blizzard that left about 16" of snow on Thursday and Friday.  My flight was scheduled to leave on Saturday morning...but of course if got cancelled Friday afternoon.  After some dealing with Delta, I was able to get on a different flight that eventually got me to NOLA (via Atlanta).  Unfortunately, this meant I missed the race expo, but was still able to get my race number on Sunday morning.  It did mean however, I missed all the race gear to buy!  We all know I love my race gear, so this was probably a good thing. 

The race was Sunday morning and went really well!  I set a half marathon PR - 1:51:22 (an 8:30 per mile pace!).  I was very pleased with it!  Marissa also set a PR in her marathon - 4:12:00.  Great job Marissa!  The course was really nice - for someone who has never been to New Orleans, I thought it gave me a great overview of the city.  We ran down St. Charles Ave (and there were still beads everywhere from the actual Mardi Gras).  We also ran through some of the French Quarter and City Park.  It was very pretty and very flat.  Some races call themselves "flat" and definitely aren't, but this one was definitely flat. 

We had some great food while there - lots of gumbo, po' boys, oysters, shrimp, etc.  It was all very delicious!  I also had some beignots from Cafe du Monde.  The line was semi long, but worth it in my opinion.  They were just as good as I imagined (and made for some pretty delicious hangover food on Monday morning).

Sunday night (after a delicious dinner at Bacco), Marissa, Landon and I went to Bourbon St.  It was crazy!  I still can't get over that there are no open container laws (yep, everyone just drinks in the open and in the street).  Being a first timer in NOLA, Marissa insisted I had to have a Hurrican from Pat O'Briens and a Hand Granade.  They were both pretty dangerous, but delicious. 

Overall, a great time!  Can't wait to go back in May for Marissa and Landon's wedding!