Pre-Parade Speed Work

Hello from New Orleans. Here for business again, it also happens to be Mardi Gras time. The coincidence! I won't be here on Fat Tuesday (Feb 5), but it's still great to be here for many of the parades and mayhem.

So Wednesday = speed work at the track. Instead of the track, I ran in Audubon Park. I've logged many many miles in that park. It's a 1.8 mile loop under the live oaks. I had a nice run until the catfish during lunch began to haunt me and I managed to hurt my ankle. Boo. As for the catfish, I generally avoid fried foods, but when I was running around the swamps with my client yesterday and that's where they wanted to stop for lunch.... that's the way it goes.

So, Mardi Gras. I lived in New Orleans & Baton Rouge (80 miles northwest of NO) for a total of 8 years. I came to Mardi Gras 3 times while I was in college. And I've visited the city many times since moving to DC. The Mardi Gras Guide has a list that states "You are a true New Orleanian if you find nothing odd about these statements..." (my comments in italics)

• My hairdresser, Bruce, will reign as queen of a Carnival ball - hmmmm... I guess referring to Krewe du Vieux, which tends to be quite satirical, off-color, and the one parade where I'd recommend not bringing children too- yes Mardi Gras is overall a family event.
• Float #17, upper deck, neutral ground side - The neutral ground is the road median everywhere else. I used to ride in the Krewe of Tucks, and rode on Float #15, lower deck, neutral ground side. You need to let your friends know where to find you to catch the good loot!
• My dogs are named Iko and Jockomo. Need to name the pets in true New Orleans fashion. I got my cat while I lived here. Her name is Socrates, pronounced so-CRATS as in Socrates Street in the Algiers section of New Orleans. That's how the street is honestly pronounced, and she was named by a couple friends of mine after the street. I also used to have some fish, named Comus, Momus, and Proteus after three old line Mardi Gras krewes.
• The men used to hold their balls at the Municipal Auditorium. Formal balls are part of every Mardi Gras krewe. There are many more krewes than the ones that parade. Many krewes used to have men-only membership; some still are. The Municipal Auditorium has not held a ball since Katrina.
• I caught these panties off a lady from Venus. Yes, you can catch panties off a parade float. I prefer beads. Beads are meaningless outside of New Orleans, but here, it's an exhileration like nothing else to catch a good pair in the air.

Run from Fletcher's Boathouse

Saturday was our last long run before the Myrtle Beach Marathon, a 20 miler. I, of course, since my knees were giving me a bit of grief recently, am doing the 1/2 marathon instead. Nevertheless, I wanted to get a long run in to essentially follow our Ironman training schedule and ran 16 miles. Running from Fletcher's Boathouse is fun, as I can say I ran from DC-MD-DC-VA-DC.

Carol "Camel" and I ran the first bit together, from the Boathouse all the way into downtown Bethesda, MD. We did the run-walk thing, feeling good. Coming back was a net loss in elevation, and we managed to negative split the 5 miles by about 10 minutes. Who-hoo!

We refueled back at our cars, said hello to those who ran shorter distances, and went back out to finish the run. Carol wanted to retrace her steps on the Capitol Crescent Trail, back into MD, whereas I wanted a change of scenery and be able to cross the Key Bridge to say I indeed ran into VA, so we separated. Besides, she needed to run the longer distance as she'll do the marathon.

There's something therapeutic about running solo, along the Potomac River and the C & O Canal. The canal had a sheet of ice, suspending itself in time. What I like most about running in Washington D.C. is the opportunity to observe and enjoy all that the city has to offer. All too often, people zip by, busy with their lives, and never have the chance to notice what's around them.

To Do List (in other words, future athletic endeavors)

Hmmmm.... Anyone want to join me?

• Hood to Coast Relay http://www.hoodtocoast.com/
• 24 Hours of Adrenalin http://www.24hoursofadrenalin.com
• 24 Hour Adventure Race, i.e. Odyssey Wild Wonderful http://www.oarevents.com
• Climb Mt Rainier http://www.climbmountrainier.com/
• Mount Baker Hill Climb http://www.norkarecreation.com/hcinfo.htm
• Ski to Sea http://www.skitosea.com/
• Chesapeake Bay Swim http://www.bayswim.com/

?????

A monumental run

I had the opportunity to venture on one of my favorite running routes today. I love exploring Washington D.C. on foot. Seems that each time I run through the city is a unique experience. The knees are still giving me a wee bit of trouble, nothing too serious, but do need to take it easy. I ran for the first 30 minutes, then switched to run 4- walk 1.

Take a View of the Skyline

Typical weekend... run, bike, eat, sleep...

Saturday's run along the W & OD trail from Arlington. Joanna and I, the walking wounded, opted to run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute for our workout. It actually went well, and we unpredictably passed some who were running the entire time. Maybe there's some true logic behind the Galloway method for marathoning? Hmmm... she and I went for over 2 hours, a total of 12.2 miles. At that time, Joanna went to use the elliptical trainer, and I went out for another 1/2 hour of run-walking, for about a total of 14-15 minutes. Good news that the knee was pretty much in check the entire time. Wha-hoo!

Sunday... ride from Marshall, Virginia. The ride is called Skyline Views, but I'd like to call it Winery Views. We passed by Farfalu, Rappahannock, and Oasis Vineyards. And several others were nearby. May have to open a bottle of cabernet sauvignon tonight!

The ride started out awfully chilly (thank goodness for the toastie toes and hot hands that Santa put in my stocking!), but I warmed up by about mile 5. The ride was pleasant for the most part. Scenic, relaxing, rolling hills... My knee was bothering me a bit, but at the rest stop, I raised the saddle a bit, which helped alleviate troubles.

During the second half of the ride, it began to cloud up and became downright chilly. Carol Camel and I made the best of it, both suffering a bit. Neither of us can imagine ramping up our mileage quite yet. Ug. My pedal cadence began to go down the tubes. Goal is to have a pedal cadence of 90+ rpm; I was at 60-70. It was depressing when this elderly man, wearing knickers (he looked like he was dressed cheesily to play golf vs ride a bike), riding this sorry ass bike with a load in back, passed me by. I kept telling myself that hopefully he was just at the start of a quick commute down the street and I was nearing the end of a 40+ mile ride.

Check out the route:

Geaux Tigers - part II

WOW! After an absolute crazy season of college football, LSU is on top. And gladly, this time, it's not a split National Championship Title. We're #1 all the way around.

I watched the game with McKinney and several others, primarily from the Kingpin in New Orleans. (On a side note... I love the Kingpin. It's a couple blocks away from my old place in New Orleans-- and of course opened after I moved away--- but I feel part ownership of that place. I know the owners, painted the ceiling with one of them, and have had many happy times there.) The place was wild last night. It's truly a locals' bar. There were a couple of sad looking Buckeye fans there, though. I kind of felt for them. About midway thru the game, they just gave up and wound up playing darts.

So, now bleary-eyed, but back to reality, I'm here pounding CC's Coffee once again, prepping for another day at the office.
I love LSU. I those those Tigers.

Geaux Tigers - part I

Good morning from the CC's Coffee in Baton Rouge. I certainly wish we had a CC's Coffee in the Washington DC area, but alas, I guess having it only available in Louisiana makes it all the sweeter.

I'm visiting Baton Rouge/New Orleans officially for work (heading to the consultant's office in a bit), but anyone who knows me, knows why I'm really here: tonight's BCS Championship game. I received my master's degree from LSU and was a university employee for 3 years, so although I was not born with purple & gold blood, I certainly have made up for it and cheer just as loudly as any other Tiger fan. I've got my purple and gold on today for work.

I arrived into New Orleans Saturday night, with plans to run the 101st annual Jackson Day race Sunday morning. Recovery week.. easy run. Fun run, and great to see lots of old faces from New Orleans and Baton Rouge. It's a 9K, sort of an odd distance, about 5-1/2 miles. I finished in 53:44. Not bad. Best thing was that knees did OK. Actually, my limiting factor was the heat and humidity. I'm certainly not used to it. It actually hit a record high of 80 in Baton Rouge yesterday! I started to feel a little dizzy about midway through the race and had to take it a little easy. I finished just fine. Here's a picture from the post-race party... McKinney and The Braz (my former commanding officer from my Navy days) drinking several beers at the post race party.

You see, it's unheard of to have a race in New Orleans and NOT have beer afterwards. No one would come. And there's lots of beer available.

Off to work....

Geaux Tigers!

Happy New Year!

2008...

I started out my workouts of the year at the Rotary Resolution Run all the way out in Leesburg. Carol Camel has made it a tradition of hers for the last few years and talked me into joining her. I was signed up for the 10K, but with the new knee troubles, I wound up changing to the 4K fun run.

I did ok running, experiencing little knee pain, so that's a good sign. I think my limiting factor more so was the NYE shenanigans from the night before!

I'm going to take off from running and biking the rest of the week and do extra swimming in the hopes that I fully recover rather quickly. My next run will be in New Orleans on Sunday at the 101st annual Jackson Day Race. (fun time!)

So, off to New Orleans. My official reason is business, but everyone knows deep down that I'm really heading there to be in town for the BCS Championship. I'm not going to the game, but it will certainly be fun to be surrounded by fellow LSU Tigers as we take on Ohio St for the title.

GEAUX TIGERS!