The Aftermath

Immediately after crossing the finish line I collapsed in a heap on the grass. I was exhausted. That lasted for about 2 minutes and then I realized how flipping cold it was so I rolled myself over and hobbled back onto my feet. My first instinct was to hop onto the shuttle that was just across the street. But, The KoB was already making his way to the beer, so I followed.

Beer did not sound good. But, I did get a Dr. Pepper and managed to slurp down 1/2 of it. We then wandered over to the food tent where The KoB got a sandwich. It sucked that the weather was so miserable, because NO ONE was sticking around after the race. The food ladies were BEGGING us to take food. We waited about 5 minutes for another shuttle to come and we were back in our hotel room probably 20 minutes after I crossed the finish line. Another PR, I suspect.

We checked out of the hotel and Melissa, Jeff, The KoB and I all headed to find some grub. We chose Fat Cow. And it was DELICIOUS. So delicious, that we all ruined our appetites for the rest of the day. We drove down to New Orleans and checked into our hotel there.

We decided to get out and wander around. We walked down Bourbon Street and then quickly found some other streets with shops and art galleries that were much quieter. (I'M OLD. OKAY?). We tried to snag a seat at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone. But, of course it was full of people. We eventually plopped down at another hotel bar where I had the most amazing wedge salad and a mediocre dark and stormy. We were all still too full from lunch to really venture out somewhere for dinner.

I have to say... I did not really enjoy New Orleans as much this time around as I have in the past. Mainly for two reasons... 1. I'm old, deathly afraid of hangovers, don't like drinking when it's cold, and am not apt to throwdown when no one else is, so I just don't drink as much as I used to.

More like: BORING these days.

And 2. I'm a vegetarian now and New Orleans is like anti-vegetarian. I never order salad when I'm on vacation, but that's pretty much all I fucking had. Sadz. So, instead of enjoying rich, delicious food like I had on past trips to New Orleans, I enjoyed eating a ton of carbs at the free breakfast at the hotel and overpriced salads at restaurants.

Anyway, the trip was fun, because it involved other favorites of mine: wandering around a city on foot, hanging out with the KoB and friends, lots and lots of carbs and gluten-y goodness, and sleeping. So... I definitely can't complain. I'm sure all the walking around helped my legs recover and while my left calf was tight the whole time, nothing else was really all that sore after the race.