November 2, 2011

Jazz Half - The Details

I always enjoy running in New Orleans.  The people are fun - usually so many creative costumes.  The food is delicious (yes, I put back the 2 pounds that I lost over the last 2 weeks).  The routes are scenic and very flat.  The weather is usually warm.

Saturday, the weather was cool (51 degrees ) and windy.  I was smart and brought my trash bag which kept me very warm.  I also had threw a pair of running gloves in my suitcase before I left - VERY good idea.  Scott, Victoria and I walked to the start which was only about 1/2 mile from our hotels.  There were several other runners that we knew running - so happened to pick a warm corner to wait for them.

Victoria was ansy and wanted to get to the start - but the wind was blowing - so we just stayed in our little corner until about 5 minutes before the race.  This was a nice size race - about 2000 for the half marathon and about 400 for the 5k.  Victoria and Scott are super fast - so they needed to be up front.  (Victoria ended up running 1:34 and Scott finished in 1:29, Scott ran the 5K in 22:13)

I was very happy finding a warm spot in the middle of many runners.  I took off my trash bag - but was very happy that I had the gloves.  I ended up running with the gloves for about 6 miles until it warmed up a little more.

Garmin was charged - but with buildings and some tight U-turns - it didn't read very accurate.  Here are my splits:

Mile 1:  9:18                                                 Mile 8: 9:22
Mile 2:  8:54                                                 Mile 9: 9:30
Mile 3:  7:50 (I don't think                            Mile 10:9:16
Mile 4:  8:52                                                 Mile 11: 10:11
Mile 5:  9:24                                                 Mile 12:  9:58
Mile 6:  9:14                                                 Mile 13:  10:16
Mile 7:  9:42                                                 .36 - 3:26

Garmin Distance:  13.36

Obviously, the Garmin got off a little at Mile 3 - probably tall buildings or trees.

Overall, very good race.  Afterwards, ate some great food including Gumbo from Mulates and creme' brulee'.  Now it will take me weeks to work off the calories.

2 comments:

  1. Great race! And Gumbo at the end ... amazing!!! I have trouble with my Garmin running in downtown areas too. But who knows, maybe you just smoked mile #3!!! Great job!

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  2. I would love to get a flat half marathon that would be nice. Sounds like fun, and way to rock that mile 3 - buildings or no buildings it's on you Garmin so it's official - right? Great job!

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