Sunday, April 12, 2009

New Orleans Rapport de Course


This is how it all begins - training in Bayou Teche in Oma's backyard with the Morgan City crew. It's great to have a local group in our area - we all work together to schedule workouts where we go our own pace and encourage each other.



Along with training I've been installing an invisible fence for our dog, Sandy. Signe helped me put out the flags after I had buried the lines. Our lives are very busy this Spring with track and tennis, so planning for our NO's weekend was hectic before we left and has been crazy ever since we got home, hence the delay in my race report.


Lisa and I took off for our NO's weekend on Thursday at noon. We didn't actually leave home until around 3pm after packing the car with all of our tri gear, clothes and food for 4 days. When we arrived we met up with Stu, Chris, Michelle, and Robbie and headed to Deanie's for seafood and beer. Then on to the French Quarter for drinks where Chris rode a mechanical bull in a bar called "Bourbon Cowboy"! The photo above is our lake swim on Friday morning where Michelle and Chris were cut up on the barnacles on their way out of the water.



Saturday we interviewed the Zipp pros in our condo. They were modest and easy to talk to - Lisa was drooling over their bodies, even going as far as begging the professional photographer, Steve Stenzel, to please shoot Linsay's legs (red shorts above) She deemed them "Perfect"!




He knew better than to deny her request - here he is in action.



When our four girls arrived on Saturday we took a stroll and ran into Regis and Kelly - I think Kelly might do tri - check out that bod!



New Orleans is known for it's French and Spanish architectural influences - lots of wrought iron work - I snapped a few shots because I'm hoping to build a gate for our house one day.




This is a shot of the French Quarter - local artists sell their pieces along the park (on the left).


Unfortunately I don't have any race photos yet - I'm hoping to post some soon.


The day of the race Lisa and I woke up at 5am and made our usual peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the race. We ate bagels, drank coffee and walked 2 blocks over to catch a bus to the lake (15 miles away). Transition was great - we were located very close to each other - perfect because we were planning to race together. We've never done that before and decided it would be fun to run together, so I waited in T1 for her.


The water was perfect - not much chop and the 150 person waves seemed very manageable. During the swim I couldn't believe when I saw the red buoy indicating the 1/2 way point - crap this thing is long.


The bike was nice on the way out - not much traffic and the wind at my back. It was the way back that made me a little crazy. Lisa was about 1/4 mile back and I'd see her at each turn around - she was suffering, so we decided to take a break at the last water stop. She took off her shoes and was nauseated - we ate rice crispy treats and talked about the constant wind and how uncomfortable everyone looked.


T2 went fine and we settled into our run groove - then we saw cousin Miles - that's where the bad idea began. We had instituted a team rule that if you pass someone you could and should spank them. So, Lisa and I each took a cheek and swatted Miles. 1/2 mile later he spanked me so hard I had a perfect handprint with welps and bruising - thanks, dude.


I'm not sure what we were thinking at that point - maybe that none of us wanted to be spanked anymore, but we decided to take it in nice and easy. We met cool people along the way from all over the country - then we saw Wil - with a huge smile she ran the last mile with us and got some photos. Seeing the kids, Oma, and all of our friends at the end was the best - a safe day on my home turf in beautiful weather - a day to remember.



The finisher medals were excellent - they have the traditional water meter cover imprint on one side - a memory that NO's is sub sea level - and inagural finisher on the other, a reminder that this is the first time I raced this way - with my family!

Laissez les bon temps roullez !!

5 comments:

Tracy said...

What an excellent fun weekend! Thank you guys again for all your hospitality, and Miles is just the sweetest. Will he be able to come up for WIBA too?

It was so great to hang out with you guys, thanks again for the dance on Bourbon Street!! You and Lisa are the best, and NOLA rocks!

Chad said...

Must have been fun to race together! I wish I would have had someone to run with. Would have made the misery much more enjoyable.

Did you check out the one anamoly on your medal? It says New Orleans, L.A. One too many periods...Only in LA.

Unknown said...

I had a great time hanging out with you and Lisa. Fun, fun! Really looking forward to seeing the two of you again at WIBA. I loved your finisher pics!

Ken said...

Keep up the training - see ya at WIBA!

Jen said...

Nice post, cowboy!