the king reigneth

Marathon day dawns early in the Big Easy...
royalty or not...
7:00 a.m. is the start of the 26.2 mile race.
But the day begins waaay before that!
The King, Mr R this year,
the Queen and their runners,
meaning my hubbie and youngest daughter,
rode upon a rented Mardi Gras float
to the start of the race.
What a cool way to reign!!!
King R then welcomed all the participants to
the Mardi Gras Marathon start line.
But guess what?
Sadly, no photos of it. None of it. I could weep.
The very early pre-dawn hours included a ride
in the back of a police car for Emily and me
but that story will remain unposted.
But we have plenty of other pictures!
So much easier to spot them amongst the days
19,000 runners versus
in New York mingled with 43,000 entrants
or Boston's 38,000 runners.
As a spectator, I loved this race!

Yea!
Our first spotting!
Mile 4
Whoo hoo!

Again, we cheer them on...Mile 17-
sans the neon gloves.
Woot woot!
What was super fun about this marathon were the bands
playing every two miles, enlivening the day
and the runners way.

It was such a beautiful day, 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Not too many spectators were at the six mile loop around
City Park so we had our choice of huge trees to sit under.
Emily and I loved cheering and clapping for all the runners!
You may laugh but it is hard work being a spectator;
walking two miles to the car, rushing to get to the next spot
which is tricky as so many streets are closed and blocked due to the race course,
walking two miles into the park then back out,
moving the car again, etc.
With my knees I felt I had my own mini marathon.
But I know it is nothing compared to the real runners!

Our runners at Mile 23, after the loop in the park-
who dat?!
It had rained very hard for days prior to the race;
therefore, there was a lot of standing water.
Another great thing New Orleans did for the race?
Filled many (most) of the pot holes in their streets.
This city has crazy uneven roads!
Ask J about them at Mile 13.
{an injury at mile 13 and then to continue running
while enduring so. much. pain. for 13.2 more miles
shows stick-to-it-ness!}

Finished and refueling.
What is so funny about this is we didn't realize
there would be table upon table of catered food in the VIP tent,
including king cake.

Floral arrangements on each table; again, Royal treatment!

But the best perk of the entire Royal weekend
with these VIP passes?
Not the gorgeous hotel room they provided us for the weekend,
nor the dinner in a mansion; no, not the
exclusive super swag Mr R received, which is outstanding,
not even the ride upon the float;
no, according to the runners, it was...

the VIP port-a-pots!
No lines--very important;
fully stocked {toilet paper, wipes, powder,
hand sanitizer, really anything a runner would need,
including a sink to wash ones hands!}--all very appreciated.
If you are a marathoner you know many of these facilities
can be filthy and out of TP,
so this was a luxury indeed!

Our Runners with their medals!
Congratulations!!!

After, we feted our King with his own king cake from Sucre!
{Girls, you are sooo fabulous!}

And then we had to say a loving au revoir to our daughters
and this Muffaletta.
What a wonderful, whirlwind of a weekend!
Congratulations to Jessica for running her first marathon!
Mr R, you reigned wonderfully over the
2010 Mardi Gras Marathon.
You will always be my King!