Beer 1Meet at Le Bon Temps Roulez for a pre-game beer. I lost my M before the start of the race and couldn’t find her until the 2nd beer stop at TJ’s because she is too darn fast. I got to chat with a few of the guys before the start of the race. At 605 the horn and the first beer is pounded. It was a rather enjoyable Fat Tire.
Beer 2: Ran this leg with World Peas and Ecks. This is a short leg to Reginellis on the corner of Magazine and State. I was thinking life is easy for this leg. I passed a few running bananas and tennis outfit people and few tomatoes dressed up like a Japanese cartoon. I shared my first beer moment with Ecks Roots World Peas Amnesty and Tool. The race is crazy there is no route and the cars were freaking out wondering how long they would be stuck. At some point they just decided to drive and if a “dumb” runner got in their way- well…tough luck for the runner. Drank my second Fat Tire at Regis.
Beer 3: The 2nd longest leg from Regis to TJ Quills on Maple. A good 1.75 mile run. Roots and I started with the group but we left them to meet up later. My wife had ditched me and I was trying to catch up. Roots and YHC kept a nice 8.09 pace to the bar. We chose to run down ST Charles Ave. At Quills we met the gang but we didn’t stay long and we were off to Patois on Webster. The beer served was terrible. Lost the F3 boys until after the race at this point.
Beer 4: This is the longest leg at 2 miles. I thought I might have to give up due to the beer but I was able to push through the pain thanks to Roots talking to me through the pain. Arrived at Patois and had a beer with some nice Costa Ricans. Watched some runners in suits act like idiots. Drank a cold Miller lite here – which was fine at this point. The lighter the better after 3.
Beer 5: We left Patois for the short run to Dos Jefes. Dos Jefes had WARM beer. Were they trying to make us barf? Anyway we stayed only a second here. Too many knuckleheads smoking cigars and I couldn’t hang so we pushed it to the last bar stop – Grits.
Beer 6. Grits was great and at this point you know you are only 2 blocks away from the finish line and you can make that even with 6 beers in your belly. We drank our beer. Hung out a bit then pushed to the finish. Got to finish a race with M who is always too fast for me – so that was cool. I also got to the finish line with Roots and Ecks so that was pretty cool too. F2 baby!
Next year I hope to get more of the guys out for this event. It is one of my favorite races in NOLA. If you are a tourist this is the absolute best way to see the Uptown neighborhood. Maybe next year we can send an invite to the F3 pax and get some out of towners for this one.
At the finish line I collected my coozie, my tshirt, my poster and then had another beer. Not even a buzz – how is that possible!? I finished that beer with Ecks, Roots, Amnesty, and Tool. Whatever happened to World Peas?
Anyway at 830pm they brought out the Watermelon for the traditional sacrifice. And that was the official end of the 2015 (34th) Tchoupitoulas Barathon. Good times!
It was a good time. Definitely my favorite race. We will be more organized next year….with an F3 after party.