Spectating Ironman 70.3 New Orleans

A couple of weekends ago, I had a blast cheering for my sister in her first Ironman 70.3 in New Orleans.

She did great and I loved being there - I am a total race groupie!  It was also my first overnight away from our toddler - that was a big deal for me!  I missed all of the stress of flying with a toddler, it felt so weird.

The day before the race, I got a short run in around the French Quarter.  It was already pretty warm and humid.  Honestly, New Orleans/the French Quarter is not really my scene, the streets are not the cleanest and I get easily annoyed by all of the drunks stumbling into me at 10, but that's just me!

The view from my morning run

 Saturday night, we had a delicious pre-race dinner at Mother's in the French Quarter, and we rode on this to get to the restaurant.

He was pulling us on a trailer bed carrying patio furniture!

Needless to say, it was not a very effective way to get through the busy streets!  We also went to the race briefing and expo, and I was shocked at how small the expo was - I had been really hoping to get a good deal on some running shoes, but unbelievably, no one was selling them!  Then we went down to the transition so Jo could set up her bike.  Someone had racked a beach cruiser - you know it's gonna be a long 56 miles on a beach cruiser!

One thing to note about this race: the start area and transition area are all the way across town from the host hotel, and it didn't seem like there were any hotels close to the start.  They had shuttles for the athletes to ride to the start on race day, but you were on your own to get there to set up the day before.  Thankfully we had Jo's car so my parents and i could drive out to watch her on race morning, but you would definitely want to rent a car if you were planning to fly in to do this race!

Also, we sadly learned that one triathlete was killed and another seriously injured while riding on the bike course before the race.  Car on bike accidents happen way too frequently and this was so very sade.  Be safe out there, y'all!

Race Day Pictures coming soon!