Rock N Roll Mardi Gras Race Report

Race Expo
Fabulous. The Expo was rockin. Killer music & TONS of vendors. The only bad thing? The goody bags weren't consistently packed, so they contents varied a lot from bag to bag. Shelley and I didn't get all the same freebies & flyers. Otherwise it was a blast. After bib & T-shirt pick up, we headed to the race merchandise to stock up...

Shelley's gear!

I ended up buying a pair of capris to wear race day, as well as a long-sleeve technical T & half zip top. We spent over $150, so we were awarded Brooks VIP Potty passes (more on that later). Then we headed out to check out the rest of the vendors. A glamour band, and new tshirt for the race, and a stop by a few other booths, including...
Dan & Jackie from Biggest Loser!!
Did anyone watch the orange team on the Biggest Loser a few years back with mother/son team Jackie & Dan!? I did, and was excited to meet them and ask about life on the ranch. They are busy running 20 half marathons this year to raise money & awareness for Reach Out For Life

Race Day
The hotel was a quick walk away from the race start area. Shelley and I met near the Casino and walked over. By the start, they had an area set up with pre-race food. Bananas, snicker's marathon bars, water, cytomax, I was impressed, I've never been to a race with pre-race food. There was a huge area of porta-potties, but we had our VIP potty pass...

The VIP potty pass
Flushing toilets, running water, mirrors, sport beans, lotion, sunscreen. What a nice treat instead of a pre-race porta-potty! The corrals were set up with clear easy to read signs, and even porta-potties in the race corrals!

corral potties
We were back in corral 15, so we didn't cross the start until about 7:20ish with the wave start. Off we went! The miles ticked by easy, Shelley and I were cruising along thanks to a super flat course and interesting people and places to look at. We decided against wearing music for the race, and I was happy since there was a lot of on course entertainment. There were also a lot of cheering groups all dressed up, and some people with creative signs along the route. We were killing our times the first 6 miles, and slowed down a little by mile 7 & 8. Mile 9 we saw Kevin & Caitlin and they captured a good shot of us, still smiling!

Shelley left, me right!
Around mile 10, I really started feeling it. I slowed down quite a bit taking short walk breaks when I needed it. Mile 12, I started getting overheated. I shed my arm sleeves, but kept running out of fluids, and could feel my heart rate getting to high. I had to stop to refill water, but I still ran out before mile 13. A little after mile 12 I let Shelley go ahead and finish, and I did what I could to finish strong and managed to speed up a little for the last mile. I hit the finish line with an official finish time of 2:25:56, a new PR!!



Here's my Garmin split!


Post race was fun, my legs were incredibly sore, so we laid out in the sun to stretch out for a while. Eventually I headed to the beer tent to grab my free beers, Shelley got a sandwich, and we listened to a little music before heading back. The band was so-so, not really a Bowling for Soup fan, so we headed out early. The shuttle buses back downtown were speedy! We barely waited to get on one, then lucky us, it dropped us off right near our hotel! (big change for the wait at Disney last year for a shuttle)! 

Overall I loved the race, definitely my favorite half I've done so far! Did I mention Shelley and I signed up for RnR Providence at the Expo since they had a $15 off coupon code? I can't wait until the next RnR race, they really know how to throw a party! And the Medal was pretty bad ass too!


Were you at the race? What did you think?










14 comments:

The Green Girl said...

Whoo hoo! Congratulations, girl!

That medal is really awesome!

Alanna said...

Congratulations on your new PR!!!

Kayla said...

Congrats on a great race and a new PR! Sounds like you had a great time! Way to go!

Shawn said...

Sounds like you had a great time. I think the R&R puts on great races and love the expo.

Staci said...

Well done on your PR - great splits! Sounds like you had a really good time, the expo sounds great, and the medal is fantastic. The R&R sounds like a great series of races.

Penny said...

Great PR. Sounds like you had a great race. Good Job

RunningWhit said...

Congrats on your new PR! It looks like you guys had a great time during the race.

Suzy said...

Congrats on the PR! The medal is awesome.

Carly said...

Congrats again on the finish. Love the medal!

Leah F said...

Congrats on your PR! I am so doing this race next year!

Karen Seal said...

Awesome job! I agree...it was a fun race! Loved the recap! how neat the BL people were there! I saw that booth but had no clue who the people were...lol

Jess said...

Awesome job! I'm doing the RNR Seattle this year and am so excited! It'll be my first RNR race!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the PR! I would love to run this race. Carnival in New Orleans? It doesn't get too much better! :-)

Kellie said...

Great job on the PR! It was such a great day for a race - we really couldn't have asked for better weather. Love the outfits - I'm going to have to buy a skirt soon! I keep seeing all the bloggers rock them and I'm envious :)

 
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