4:30 AM—There are a lot of thoughts that race through your head as your alarm goes off and you get ready to embark on what is about to be the biggest race of your life to date. Some of these thoughts are in the form of questions, others answers. For one, What are you doing? This seems to be the big one. It is the question that plays on repeat in your mind from the painful minutes that exist somewhere between dragging your lifeless body out of bed at such an obscene hour and waiting for the hotel coffee maker to do its thing. Just 6 months ago if you would have told yourself you were going to be giving up your 4:30 AM late nights for this madness, you would have thought you were crazy, and well, maybe you are. But here you are, with one of your best friends from childhood/high school in your cruise-ship-like hotel room. After chugging down your coffee and suiting up in your NOLA SWAG you answer your question. You are doing this because you can do this. You are doing this because you want to do this.
5:35 AM—Soberly cruising along in New Orleans at this hour is an unfamiliar, eerie feeling in itself. As you step out of the car at the parking lot by City Park in the brisk air you feel the life gradually flow into your limbs. You board your tour bus and head toward the start. You feel almost famous. Almost.
5:50 AM—With a race involving nearly 20,000 people, the area near the start line mirrors a commune of sorts, a quirky sub-city of runners or better yet, a music festival. Where else would you find music blaring and a sea of energized people prancing around in very limited clothing and costumes at this hour? You rip your jacket off like it is a bandaid and place it in your SWAG bag to be loaded up in a UPS truck and taken to the finish line to await you. You jog around the park, hunt for the port-a-potty with the shortest line, stretch, double check your playlist to make sure no slow depressing jams crept in, watch the sun creep up, hit up the port-a-potty round 2 just to play it safe and settle into a bit more stretching.
6:45 AM—Upon walking over to your designated corral, the amount of people that are sharing in this story with you starts to register and sink in. As you pop your ear buds in and line up next to your running partner, someone who has grown to know you on a different level than most, you smile that you are able to share this experience with such dear friends. You find comfort here. You may be doing this for you, but you are undoubtely sharing in the experience with every runner here today as well as runners past, present and future. You start channeling what you imagine to be the sentiments of both your mom and your dad in their race days. This must be what it felt like for them. Now you understand. Now it is your turn.
7:00 AM—The race has officially started. Each corral is gradually released and walks in formation the 2 blocks over, 1 block up to the start line. The countdown begins. The anticipation continues to build as you wait. 10,9,8... another corral goes, and another. Finally you turn the corner. The moment you see the start line everything becomes real and every emotion you have ever felt during any given training run hits you at once like an electric shock. Your hands get a shaky and you tear up. It's time. You know it's time. You know it's time for you to run your race.
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