This is how we do it….

This is how we do it.
It’s Friday night, and I feel all right
The party is here on the West side
So I reach for my 40 and I turn it up
Designated driver take the keys to my truck

Uh huh, admit it…..you were doing the same thing when you read the title to this post.  I mean who can help singing along when lyrics are thrown out at you?

But that is not what I am talking about.  I am not taking you back in time with music.

             

I am talking about how we kick off football season her in LA…..specifically in New Orleans.  That’s right many of you know that I ran in a back to football 5k Saturday morning in NOLA (new orleans lousiana ).  The bestie and I hopped out of bed bright and early for this monumental event.

 

Don’t laugh it really was monumental.  You see I haven’t ran in two years, and the bestie has NEVER ran before.  A 5k was on her bucket list so we knew we had to give this one a go when we saw it!

Aren’t our outfits totally cute??!!  You must where costume when in NOLA…..like really it is required!  We left my house around 5:45 to make the hour drive into the city.  Breakfast and water was chugged down on the drive.  Once there we had to fight the mass of people to get registered, pick up our shirts, and potty. 

 

Which unfortunately means that we didn’t get to stretch as well as we would have liked considering the number of people that participated in the event, traffic, parking, and all that was required to be ready to run.

 

We started with the 11 mile a minute runners.  We both are pretty slow runners (and ok with it) so we knew to keep things realistic.  It was a slow start with such a crowd of people.  That and the fact that many people walked it mixed in with the runners.  I hate that!  I have no problem with people walking in the 5k, I just feel that they should have been respectful enough to go to the end of the crowd as opposed to jumping in with the runners.  But no problem we did it!  Our finish time was a little more than what we were shooting for, but considering the lack of stretching, lack of prep the week before due to sick/injuries, and the crazy humidity I totally feel like we rocked this race!

 

We started out running together for the first 1/2-3/4 mile.  At that point I did get ahead of her.  We made a pact that we wouldn’t slow each other down or push the other to the max.  We were ok with seperating and catching up at the finish line.  So I did run ahead of her at one point.  Now I wasn’t able to run the entire race without a walk break.  I think this is mainly due to the factors before the race, but Iwas totally cool with a little walking.  Which means that the bestie was able to catch up with me eventually (she saw me ahead and when she noticed I was walking she started sprinting to me), and we finished the race together.  We held hands once we hit the field and crossed the finish line together 🙂

 

Here we are at the finish on the 50yard line of the super dome.  We are literally on the field!!  It was awesome to experience being on the turf of the field.  We ran through the entrance that the Saints players go through when entering the ball games and sprinted to the end 🙂

 

Happy, sweaty girls with big smiles 🙂

Then it was time to celebrate NOLA style.  Which if you know anything about New Orleans then you know that means a band and free beer!

 

This is my lovely rendition of a ballerina, haha!  We had a couple of beers to celebrate our victory before heading back home.  I feel so proud of myself for this run, proud of my friend, and so happy that I was with her to experience it 🙂

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