Well I have a hard time believe that anyone is still reading
this, but according to the blog counter someone is. So, I guess I will keep
with it. So this week was another on the road. I got up Sunday, feeling
surprisingly good after the Switchbacks and boarded a plane for the Big Easy.
Now I have been to New Orleans one other time, and I have to be honest I was
not a big fan. Don’t get me wrong the food is incredible and the sites are
cool, but for the most part it seemed like a very dirty town and I dislike
walking down the street and having people hassle me. But, I needed to be there
for work so like it or not I was going back.
Right off, I knew this trip was going to be a little better.
First, I was staying at the JW Marriot right off the French Quarter in a nice
room with a very nice view. Second, a lot of cool people were in town so a good
time was going to be had. So I went to bed the first night sure that even
though my flights in were super delayed and I got to the hotel 3 hours after I
was supposed to be there, this was going to be a great week.
View from my room
Monday morning I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat
and that didn’t seem good, but I shook it off and found out that my meetings
for that morning had been cancelled (or at least they didn’t need me there). So
itching from not running Sunday I decided to hit the roads of New Orleans and
get some miles in. I talked with the clerk down at the front desk and he told
me that I would have to run on the side walk about a half of a mile to the
southwest of the hotel, but then I could just run on the trolley tracks. I
asked him if that was something I should do? It did not seem like the best idea
if I wanted to avoid getting hit by a trolley, but he told me the trolleys are
very slow and most runners in the area do this. It also had the bonus of cutting
way down on the street crossings and traffic. So I took his advice and when I
reached the trolley tracks found they consisted of a grassy median in the road
with the tracks buried in the sides. So it was really just a well worn grass
trail. Pretty sweet, oh and the trolley were super slow, in fact the one going
in the same direction as me took more than 3 miles before it passed and stayed
ahead of me. The view was very neat too; I guess the street I was on (St Charles
Ave) is on the parade route for Mardi Gras and they were already setting things
up as it was only a few weeks away. On the sides of the street there were all
these crazy old trees (to go with the old buildings I guess) that were covered
in this cool ivy with beads from parades of the past grown into them. It was
really something to see; plus it was warm, which was a nice change from the
freezing cold of the past few weeks and there were quite a few other runners
out there so I guess the clerk at the hotel knew what he was talking about.
When I got to the far end of my run I was at Tulane University and so I made a
loop around Audubon Park that is right in front of it, the park was full of
people and had this cool lake right in the center. All in all it made for a
nice ten mile run and I felt good the whole time. When I walked into the hotel
I was met with a welcome surprise, my friend Jeremiah had his afternoon
meetings cancelled and wanted to go to lunch. Jeremiah is the clone of Anthony
Bourdain and always knows the best spots in any town. I have learned over many
travels with him to not question his suggestions.
So Jeremiah said we have to go to Cochon, which is a cool
spot near the National WWII Museum. When we got there the lunch crowd had
already set in, but we were able to get a spot at the kitchen bar. Kind of like
sitting at the sushi bar but with these guys cook in the giant wood burning
oven that was way cool, and they also passed us over some samples of what they
were cooking which was much cooler. The food was incredible. I mean really
incredible, everything I tried was awesome but the whole time we sat there I
kept seeing these little cast iron skillets that they were taking in and out of
the oven. So when we finished up and started to leave I finally had to ask one
of the cooks, “What is with the skillets?” He told me that was the rabbit stew
and dumplings. I felt I had been cheated (or would have but the meal I had was
incredible) and swore that the next time I came in it would be rabbit stew for
sure.
On our walk back to the hotel I was talking with Jeremiah
(who is also a History Major) about how I had never seen the WWII Museum, but
heard it was very well done. He told me that he and his father had visited
almost every major European site from WWII in their travels, but the museum was
very well done and they have this crazy 4D movie that we very interesting. Then
he insisted that we go check it out. We got there just as a showing of the
movie was starting, so we had an hour to kill before the next showing. We
bought tickets and started to check out other parts of the museum. This was
good and bad; don’t get me wrong if you get the chance to go to the WWII museum
do it for sure. But don’t just give yourself an hour like I did. This is a
whole day activity. We were about halfway through the “Road to Berlin” exhibit
(which is one floor of one of the five buildings that make up the museum) when
we realized that we only had about 10 minutes until our movie started. So we
rushed through the end of that part and made it to the movie. Just like
everything else at the museum the movie was well done, powerful, and it snowed
in the theater (I guess that is what makes it 4D). So long story short go to
this place. Even though we needed to get back to the hotel and get some work
done we ran through one more building before we left, and agreed we would have
to come back when we had more time (unfortunately that time did not come this
trip).
Inside one of the buildings
After we got back and got some things done a group of us decided we would
meet for dinner. Well the first place we had planned on going was booked up. So
the other guys we had in our group said “how about Cochon?” Well you can guess
my answer, and in a diet destroying move we headed back to Cochon. As I set
down Jeremiah asked what I would be having, I promptly slapped him in the face
and yell rabbit stew and dumplings of course. It was spicy and wonderful, a
great end to a cool day.
The dish in question
The next day I had meetings for most of the day, and I felt
like crap (the sickness was upon me). But at the end of the meetings I talked
my boss into going for a run with me, which was cool. How many people work for
someone that would be willing to run in a strange city with you? We did a short
four miles and then went to dinner with a good group in the French Quarter.
On Wednesday was the start of a conference that I was
attending in the same hotel that my meetings had been at earlier in the week.
As I knew the conference and the obligatory after party would destroy any
chance of running, but I had backup and my good friend Stephen from Denver agree
to meet me at 5am in the lobby for a 6 mile run. It was so nice to be able to
go run in the dark and not freeze to death. I almost didn’t know how to handle
it but managed to refrain from way overdressing. The conference was pretty
good, and after the first day wrapped we headed with a group to a place called
Jacques-Imo’s. This place was also amazing and I had some good local beer as we
waited for the other of the five taxis to arrive (not sure what secret way our
driver knew but we were the last to leave and got to the restaurant way before
the others). I got a fresh fish dish with the hopes I could pretend that it
would somehow make up for the day before, but everyone said I should have got
the fried chicken. The fish was great, but when I left I texted Brynna a photo
of the sign outside (pretty funny) and immediately I got a text back saying
“you have to try the fried chicken there” guess I missed the boat again.
The sign out front
Local Brew
Upon
getting back to the hotel I was trying to find a group to go out. Most everyone
was going out Thursday night, but I was flying back that night so this would be
my only chance. Luckily I was with a group that doesn’t take a lot of
convincing to push them out the door so we hit the French Quarter in search of
live music and good times. After a while of trying to stay away from Bourbon
Street we ended up at the back entrance of Pat O’Brien’s, I mean it is a famous
Bourbon Street bar but since we did not go through the Bourbon Street entrance
we decided we were in the clear. It was a good time with dueling pianos and
some old guy playing a tray (don’t ask), but before I could leave I was told I
had to have a hurricane. Now I do not drink hard liquor, or soda. I am a beer
guy, but I figured when in Rome. So I got this drink and felt like I poured an
entire pack of Fun-Dip in my mouth. Well that was enough to call it a night
(reminder I was getting sick this whole time) and I returned to the hotel room
with every intention of getting up at 5 for more miles with Stephen. The night
ended up being horrible, and the creeping crud had me hacking up all night. So
when I got a text from Stephen at 4:50 saying he was out for the run, I decided
Thursdays are supposed to be off days anyways and went back to bed. I think it
was a good call.
Best I can guess this is 100% sugar
Thursday after Stephen gave his presentation at the
conference we decided to sneak out before the break and go to Café Du Monde,
this is a happening little (not little) place just on the boarder of the French
Quarter that only serves Coffee (with Chicory) and Beignets (kind of a French
Donut with tons of powdered sugar). We no more than sat down and Stephen tells
the waiter we need a dozen beignets and two coffees (they normally sell the
beignets in orders of three for a table). So they brought all of this stuff to
the table and Stephen looks at me, then all of this food, and then back to me
and said “I might have got a little over zealous with that order”. We did some
damage though and put down 5 a piece before the called it good, and spent the
entire walk back to the hotel trying to get all the powdered sugar off of us.
On the way back we walked through Jackson Square and checked out the statue of
Andrew Jackson that they were about to remove. I guess it went to a public vote
and it was decided that they didn’t want it around anymore. Seems kind of
strange to me, but glad I got to check it out before it was gone. The rest of
the day went smooth until we got to the airport and then had the normal last
flight of the day drama getting home, ending up with me getting in after
midnight but I got there and was grateful to be back home.
All that remained of our battle with beignets
Even the horses are crazy in NOLA
Before Removal
Cool view on the other side of Jackson Square
Friday I got my run in and headed to the Executive Club to
discuss the weekend running plans. The decision was made to meet Jeff at 96th
and Riverside for our 16 miles on the Creek Turnpike trail. But got a call from
the “Cat Master” that morning that he was having a pet emergency and couldn’t
make it for the run. So Sarah, Pip, and I regrouped and decided to change our
plans to meet with the Runner’s World group out at the fairground. The group
was only running 11 so I hoped to get out there early and get 5 in so we could
be done when the group wrapped up. Pip did not like this plan as he wanted more
sleep but when I pulled up in front of his house and laid on the horn, he
finally conceded to my way of thinking. We had a nice easy 5 mile run and
finished up just about right so that we only had to stand around for a minute
before taking off again with the Runner’s World gang. With the group this time
I got to share some miles with Troy and Kathy Moore. These guys are great and
have been running with Runner’s World for a while, but the last few years have
been really getting into Triathlons. They have already done some Ironmans and
have just been looking incredibly fit lately. So it was cool to get to talk
with them about their plans for the year and of course getting to talk about
bikes is always fun. When we wrapped up Pip, Sarah, and I grabbed Brynna from
the house and hit Dilly Diner for breakfast with Bowie. Then we went our
separate ways to prepare for Pie Day.
The photo in our booth at Breakfast
Around dinner time I was still not feeling 100% with this
stupid head cold, but everyone was meeting at Pip and Sarah’s for a pie party
and I was not going to miss that. It was a blast watch what everyone came up
with for their dream pies; I of course went overboard with this vegetarian
shepherd pie idea. So I took a bread baking tin and wrapped pie crust around
it, filled it with sweet potatoes, black beans, and a bunch of other veggies,
then topped it with this crazy mash potato and broccoli concoction that I made.
It sounds crazy, and it was, but it came out alright and I ate way too much. On
Sunday I was still feeling out of it, so I put my run off till in the afternoon
but I finally got out there and did my 11 miles. Maybe not the best plan but I
actually felt pretty good the whole run, so that was nice. All in all I felt
like it was a good way to close out the week, and I am looking forward to the next
week of staying in town.
Pie a la Stormy
Over the past few months I have been focusing on my diet.
People tell me all the time that with how much I run it must be nice to be able
to eat whatever I want. Well that is just not true (believe me I wish it was).
Running, or any working out for that matter, is great for being healthy but the
only way to control your weight is to focus on your diet. Years ago a friend of
mine Kurt Egli turning me on to a calorie tracking app “My Fitness Pal” and
while I am sure that there is a million apps like this out there the point is
the same. If you think about everything you put in your body throughout the
day, and keep track of that where you can look back on it you will be amazed at
how it will affect your eating. I find myself drinking a lot less of my
calories, and eating a lot more fruits and veggies just for the sake of getting
to eat more. If you haven’t taken a good look at your diet I suggest you
consider it. Now think about what I am saying here, not go on a diet. A “diet”
is often a temporary thing; your diet is a whole approach to food. While we
tend to get side tracked and sometimes end up in New Orleans for a week,
continuing to make small changes in the way we eat can really get you to where
you want to be for whatever event you are getting ready for. Since October when
I weighed in at 206 this past week I got below 180 for the first time I a
while. And not surprisingly I have already seen my ankle issues go away and my
shin that has been bugging me since the beginning of the year now feels great.
But most importantly I feel a lot better. It is crazy how much we get stuck on
eating thinks that for the most part make us feel like crap after we eat it.
Anyways, I will get off my soap box and say “Go Run” and have fun.