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| Hehehe my BF is unstoppable! |
Last weekend we got to travel a few miles out of good ole’ Texas to Louisiana to run in the CCC10K (Crescent City Classic 10K). I’ve expressed here before how each race I’ve done has something about it that makes it super awesome, running my first ever 5K was awesome, it would have never matter what the course looked like or what the weather was like - it was just awesome because it was my first. After that almost every run has something pretty cool that makes it memorable :)
Even before signing up for the CCC10K, it was awesome. My best friend asked me to do this one with her a few months ago, when she asked me she had just started a running app, and had recently finished running/walking her first 5K! I simply answered her if you do the training to get to 6.2 miles I will SO run it with you. Over the past month I ran with her on the weekends working up her mileage as much as we could, we celebrated running past 3 miles with no walking and then running more than 4 miles. I don’t care who you are but the first time you do something you never thought you could be capable of you feel unstoppable :)
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| With our awesome tour guide!! |
So come Friday the 18th we set off on our mini-road trip to New Orleans! The CCC10K is part of a running series held by New Orleans throughout the year, and let me tell you it causes quite a stir out there. I am talking about hotels being booked like crazy within a few mile radius of the start and finish of the race. They have an expo that make you feel like are about to go out and run a full on marathon! You can tell people from all over come out for this run which makes it buzz with energy before the actual race day!
I would like to tell you about our whole experience out there in New Orleans, from the great company and tour guide, to the sights and the omg!! yumma food! BUT that’s not what you’re here for right?? Noooo we are going to talk about the race, and really the race itself was a great overview to how great trip was. In the race itself, we saw crazy people, with live music almost every mile or less - live music from bands and from random people with their own thing going on. You had people with grills set up and ice chest with beer to hand out to the runners. My very own phone died out about a mile into the run, so I ran the rest with no headphone and no music but honestly I didn't need it, there was too much going on along the way to keep us distracted and entertained. The course was setup through downtown New Orleans, past the French Quarter and up Esplanade Ave right into City Park- in other words you get a pretty awesome tour of New Orleans by the time you are done with your run. 
Clarissa did pretty amazing throughout the race, the plan was to start off nice and easy the first 3 miles or so and then pick up the pace toward the end. In the end, I think we kept up a pretty even pace throughout the whole race. The first two miles or so I had to keep pulling her back a little, if I’d let her go, that girl would have just flown through her first 3 miles!! I don’t know what that would have to done to her at the end, so I didn’t take that chance :) Around mile 4 we had pretty much gotten into a good strong pace and at mile 5 - Clarissa was running longer that she had ever run up until then!! Around the 5.4 mile or so Clarissa got a real bad cramp in her heel, we pulled over to the side and stretched out and then she said just what I would have said “I’ve gone this far not to run to the finish…” so despite the pain in her foot we jumped back in and ran!! The City Park in NO is beautiful :) it makes for a great finish but what makes an even better finish… looking out to the finish and knowing that my best friend was about to kick her first ever 10k’s butt!! HA!!
The run was awesome, it carried with it yet another moment together in our lives that we will never forget, it also seems to be the beginning for a long summer of training to come for us as we set our eyes on a full marathon! I can’t wait to see what this has in store for me, last year helped me get closer to Alma (my aunt) and Cindy as we learned just how much this running thing would change us and make us stronger women, sole sisters! This year we get to add to our sisterhood and I could not be more excited to see just how crazy we can be :)
