After the Memphis Marathon, I began researching nearby marathons within a reasonable time frame. New Orleans seemed to be the best option. My mom-in-lawlives an hour outside of NOLA, It was 3 months after Memphis... enough time to maintain mileage but hopefully keep from being injured.
My friend Esther agreed to run with me, and so we planned a fun girls' trip! We left after school on Friday and headed south. John had the shrimp ready and waiting for us when we arrived!
On Saturday we all headed into New Orleans to be tourists and go to the race expo. We were so thankful that Kay worked in downtown New Orleans... she knew her way around well, and that made the day much more enjoyable for us!
Hannah and Kendra pose by a table of earrings in the French Market.
The girls had never seen so many "interesting" people! A man dressed as a statue was different... but not as strange as the wolf man playing the violin!
The corn in the French market made a delicious snack for us when we were starving!!
Eryn, Mycah, Sarah, Hannah, Myriam, and Kendra posing in the French Quarter.
The girls all got masks in the French Market, and then had a lot of fun with them back at Kay's.
We finally made it to the race expo and walked the red carpet into the entrance. As we walked into the entrance, I saw that I had missed several phone calls from home. I walked back out into the lobby to see what was going on while the girls checked out the race expo.
Unfortunately, Will and Josh had been playing on a round hay bale in Starkville, and Will took a tumble. (They were spending the day with Sharon visiting Kevin at MSU.) He landed just wrong on his arm and broke it in a very difficult place. I was thankful that Sharon was in charge... she took him to the Starkville ER and did her best to keep him comfortable.
While I waited to hear what was going to be done about Will's arm, we got our race numbers and everything we needed for the race. Kay took the girls back to her house in Kiln, and Esther and I went to my friend Sydney's apartment right in downtown NOLA. Jessica Moeller brought us the key to Sydney's apartment (Sydney was out of town), and she went out to dinner with us. We enjoyed the dinner and then went to get frozen yogurt afterwards. Jessica helped us map out our way to the race start, and even helped us find parking lots to look for!
In the meantime, the ER doctor decided that Will should be taken to LeBonheur to be looked at by a pediatric orthopedic doctor. The break was going to need surgery, but they didn't know if the surgery would be done Monday morning or right away. Sharon headed to Memphis with Will and Josh, and Scott was going to meet them there.
I was torn. Stay or go home? Scott said absolutely stay... even if we went to pick up the kids and got on the road to go home, we would miss his surgery (if it happened). So we stayed, but I did not sleep at all that night. Around 11pm, Will went into surgery. About 1:30am, I got a text from Scott saying that the surgery had been successful and that all was going to be fine.
We got going well before dawn and headed down to the race. It was much bigger than the Memphis race... starting corrals lined up all around a city block!! The morning was beautiful, and the race took us through all of the pretty parts of New Orleans. One great thing about a marathon is that it is essentially a running tour of a city! I enjoy looking at houses and architecture, and an 8:00 pace is slow enough to do that!
After the half marathon turn off, the course went out by the lake. Things seemed to start dragging on here........... It had gotten hot, and we were on this T turnaround....... but we never seemed to be reaching the turnaround points!! Esther was hurting and told me to just go on. I knew I could be close to my Memphis time, and the thought of Will being in a hospital bed while I was out running was just killing me. So I went. That might make me a bad friend. But Esther is a good friend, and she was very kind about it. I picked it up and started to pass the women who had been steadily passing us after the 15 mile mark.
By about mile 25 I was starting to fade. The last 1.2 was a never-ending path through a park... there was a little foot bridge going over a creek, and it felt like a mountain-sized hill at that point in the race!! Finally, I made it to the finish line! The end time was 3:33:24!
The worst part about the whole race was the 1/4 mile walk to the shuttle bus! We were shuffling to say the least!
We finally got to the car, and headed back to the Kiln to shower, pick up the girls, and hit the road for home. The girls had a wonderful time with Kay and John. They were so hospitable, and everyone was already planning their next trip down before we even got to Hattiesburg!
Will was recovering nicely but still in quite a bit of pain. By the time we made it home, it was bedtime. Will would be coming home the next morning, so Scott asked me and the girls to stay in New Albany and get things ready for him. We got everything picked up, cleaned the house, and got him several books and favorite snacks.
It had been a long, tiring weekend, and I was glad to be home with my boy!
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