Ironman 70.3 New Orleans in Photos

Paratriathlete heading out to the water.  These competitors were very inspiring!

Female age groupers - my sister is just to the right of the girl in the pink top.

Organized chaos in the swim

Wet suit stripping - this volunteer was impressively fast - I think the athletes were surprised at how fast she could get them out of their wetsuits!

An elite athlete starting the run course

Another elite athlete on the run

My sister in black - heading out for her final 13.1 miles

Headed to the finish line!

Final thoughts on this race, from a spectator's POV.  Hope they might be helpful if you have a friend/family member considering this race and you'd be supporting them!

Pros:

• Its really easy to watch all of the swim because it is in a marina so there are several different vantage points
• You can also hustle around to watch swim exit and bike start, bike finish and run start
• Easy spectator parking near transition and the start
• Fun atmosphere at the finish line

Cons:

• It's humid!! (yes, I've become a humidity wimp)
• Not a ton of shade for the athletes on the course and in most spots to watch and cheer
• Host hotel and most hotels are all located across town from race site - approximately a 20-30 minute drive - so you definitely want to rent a car and note that parking isn't easy downtown!
• Not super easy to park at the finish line
• Not a ton of food options for spectators at the finish line party, didn't see any restaurants/food trucks close by if you want to grab something to eat while you wait for your athlete!
• Small expo

It was a fun weekend and I am super proud of my sister for committing herself to a challenging goal, sticking with her training and rocking the race.  She's inspired me to keep pushing myself in running and I hope we'll get to do another race together some day.  Now I just need to convince her to sign up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene!

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!