Mardi Gras Marathon

This is not going to be one of my usual race reports.  But I will give you the mandatory information.  I ran the New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon last Sunday and I finished.  There.  That was my race report.  The rest of the story doesn’t have much to do with racing as it does with figuring out how I felt about the race.

If you have read my blog in the past, you will now that I was treating this race as something to get over with.  After hurting my leg last fall, any time goals and aspirations were thrown out the window.  This race became a date on the calendar that had to be passed before I could do something else.  Luckily, I talked with my friend Susan and I agreed to run the race with her.  At the very least, I would have someone to suffer with if things went bad.  So as Christine and I pulled out of our driveway at 4 AM on Sunday morning, I was excited because the next time I pulled into the driveway the race would be done.

As I mentioned earlier, I finished and made it back to my driveway.  And since then, I have had to answer the usual questions…..”Was it your best time?”, “Did you qualify for Boston?”, and my favorite, “Did you win?”.  Those are the usual questions I get after races from people who don’t quite understand.  And to avoid any suspense, the answers were……No, No Way, and Hell No!  For many reasons, this race was different.  I did not have a time goal or plan or competition or any other agenda than to just run.  And I was having a hard time wrapping my bald head around how to explain that after the fact.

Last night, I talked with my friend Bob Bourgeois who had also done the race.  Some of you may remember me mentioning Bob last year when he raced his first Half Ironman in New Orleans with us.  Unfortunately, he was taken to the hospital at mile 69.2.  It was a 70.3 mile race.  Anyway, he is going to tackle that bear again in April.  As we were discussing the race, he told me his about his race, his time goal of 3:30, and how things started deteriorating for him after mile 18.  He still finished with an impressive 3:44.  I told him about my race and that I really didn’t have any time goals.  And then he asked the question that put things into perspective for me, “Did you get out of it what you wanted to?”

Hmmm.  Well.   I guess I would have to say yes.  Actually, I can definitely say YES.  I got everything I wanted out of that race…..and more.  Because all I went into the race just wanting was to finish and get it over with.  But it was so much better than that.  I was able to run the race on a beautiful day in New Orleans.  I was able to run with some great friends, Susan, Kristen & Jeremy, for almost the entire race.  I was able to see many more friends, Chris, Will, Neil, Pat, and more along the course and not be too tired to say hello.  I was able to manage about 22 miles relatively pain free and the last four with only minor difficulties.  I was able to spend some time with Christine after her great race.  I was actually able to enjoy the run just because I was running.  Yes.  I got everything I needed out of that race.

Success can be measured in many different ways – placing, times, personal records.  My measurement this time was whether I enjoyed it.  And I did.  So I will call it a success.

Enter your comment here