RNR NOLA tumblr meetup adventure recap
i left my house Saturday afternoon about 5:15 pm and drove to my son & daughter in law's house in Denham Springs, arriving about 7:30 pm. they had just returned from picking up some furniture for the baby they are expecting in July. i helped my son unload the furniture (chest-of-drawers (sp?) and dresser) and get it situated in the baby's room and also get the furniture out of the boxes. as soon as we were done with that, i helped him with a little project outside and then we took a break. about 10 pm, we started watching Ironman and drank a couple of refreshing beverages to regain our strength. about 11 pm, my daughter-in-law was getting tired and i also said i needed to turn in because i had to get up early in the morning. took a shower and went to bed about 11:30 pm with my alarm set for 6:40 am.
i woke up on my own at 5:50 am. got out of bed about 6:15 am and decided it was close enough to time to get going. i quickly dressed and checked my tumblr dashboard (always a good way to start). i left their house about 6:30 am and drove to Starbucks to get a medium dark coffee and yogurt. well Starbucks didn't have yogurt, so i had to make a quick decision to eat something sweet (i love sweets) or something with some protein. my tumblr fitblr training stepped in and told me to get the protein, so i ordered a bacon, egg, cheese sandwich thing and ate it in the car on the way. the sandwich was a little greasier and saltier than i would have liked, but it was satisfying and i did not get hungry later. i arrived in New Orleans around 8:15 am and parked near the race route and as close as i could get to New Orleans City Park which is where the race finished.
i walked down to the race course and could see the police and a few super fast runners cruising by. i walked toward the finish and snapped a picture of some of the runners. as i got close to the finish line, GEICO was giving away some small cowbells and small poster boards with markers to make a message for the runners. i took a cowbell although i didn't ring it much. just a few cowbells is enough. i did mark up a poster with "tumblr" on it and with the names of the 3 ladies (pharmkitten, runningbeautiful, and thisfearlesslife) that i knew were running the half marathon and i walked a ways past the finish line, but where the runners were still in the roped off areas. i waited by the side of the roped off area looking for familiar faces. i ended up seeing 3 people from my previous place of employment come through the run. i was also helping a lady that was tearing off mylar cover-ups that the race had supplied to help keep the runners warm. i was surprised when i looked up and there were thisfearlesslife and runningbeautiful. they looked great for just having gone 13.1 miles. they were looking for a place to sit down and i motioned to a cement bench that was a little ways away, but there were several people on the bench. i waited just a bit longer and pharmkitten and her husband found me. :-) i followed them out the roped off area to go get their bags. then we found the family area and camped out on the ground near the "I" for internet. we had super nice conversation and it was so good to meet such lovely people in person. after we sat for quite awhile, they needed to go get a shower and i needed to get on the road back home.
as i drove, i listened to LSU baseball clobber another team from Louisiana and i stopped in Baton Rouge and ate at one of my favorite college hangouts.
for me, a great day of memories made by doing some things that i wouldn't normally do. grew a little and thankful for the friends.
