Rock āNā Roll New Orleans is one of my favorite races, and not just because I grew up in the area. The weather is usually nice, the course is flat, and the after party is so much fun. I have run this race about five times, and have some great memories from it. The New Orleans expo is always a lot of fun!
This year was a little different because I was heading over by myself, but I still hung out with friends and had a great time! I drove down from my house with Emma Kate on Friday and stayed the night with my parents (they live about 40 minutes from downtown) and then left the baby with them Saturday and headed into New Orleans. I first went to the hotel, ALOFT New Orleans, to check in. The room was ready, so I unloaded my stuff and waited on my roommates to arrive.
The rooms at ALOFT are huge, and the beds are really comfortable. They have a pool and fitness center, and they are located right in between Canal street and Poydras Street, we just walked everywhere we needed to go!
Once Joe and Brooklyn arrived, we walked to the Convention Center. I was pleasantly surprised when we were not in Hall J per usual (a LONG walk) but in hall B or C if I remember correctly.
My sister flew in from Houston for the race, and happened to be at the expo at the same time as me, so we were able to meet up for a few minutes.
The expo was pretty crowded, so I just wandered around and went to a few booths where I knew the workers to say hello. Then I texted Jen and found her amongst the chaos. We had planned to meet up for dinner later, so I said goodbye and headed to the VIP booth to pick up my packet, and do a little more looking around.
I love how Rock āNā Roll has all of their heavy medals out!
We were having a Rock āNā Blogger meet up at the expo entrance at 3:30, so I made my way over to the front and met up with some old and new friends.
We chatted for a bit, and then saw that there was a film crew out front. Iām not sure who approached who, but before I knew it I was signing a release form to be on camera.
I still have no idea what the footage will be/was used for, but it was a lot of fun! They asked me questions about running in New Orleans, why I love this race, etc. I really canāt remember what I said, ha!
A couple of other people were on camera, and then we all realized how hungry we were and decided to walk a couple of blocks over and get pizza, and apparently a Larisa photo bomb.
We sat outside and ate, but sadly were at three different tables. We got really frustrated when we were told if there were more than 5 people eating together we had to put the food all on one bill. Huh? it really made no sense. How about just 3 separate checks even? No one wanted to put 9 peopleās food on their credit card. New Orleans thrives on tourism, and this kind of thing is a major turn off, and if I wasnāt so hungry I would have just walked away. We decided to just sit near each other at 3 different tables and get some food in our bellies.
Love that girl. She was running the full the next day!
The pizza was decent but the beer I had (NOLA Blonde) was really good. The weather was perfect for sitting outside, and we had a lot of fun.
Since we are all boring old people, we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel and go to bed.
As we were walking back to our hotel, we heard some music and saw a wedding party coming down the street doing the second line dance! We may have stopped to do a little jig and do some yelling and cheering.
When we got back to our hotel, we noticed the Oscar Mayer Weenie mobile was sitting outside of out hotel. Ummā¦ok? Still have no idea why, but of COURSE we had to document the occasion.
It was off to bed, it was going to be an early morning. I had a great day in New Orleans seeing friends, hanging out, and getting ready for the race.
QOTD: What do you eat the night before a race?
Looks and sounds like a fun time! š The pizza/ticket thing sounds crazy!!