The early moring parade goers in Mid-City were treated to some sweet F3 eye candy on Saturday for the 4th annual Mardi Gras Mambo aka Endymion Run. Our krewe consited of 22 PAX eager to start the day off right and get in the carnival spirit. YHC had stewed on some new ideas for the past month and decided to incorporate a “float” consisting of a jogging stroller and boom box to be pushed along the route blarring some good ole Mardi Gras music to get the juices flowing. Some festive chatter started as the Dr. John and Professor Longhair tunes came on. Here’s a recap of our parade:
Warmup near The Peristyle: IW, Lunges, WM, SSH with “bead wave” capped off with the tradional Mardi Gras Mambo song providing the guidance for 2+ minutes of syncronized planking, merkins, and plankjacks….always a crowd pleaser! We followed with a mosey to City Park Ave and N. Olympia and stopped to go over the gameplan for the run topped off with burpees x10, just because.
Route Run – Leg #1: Run at your own pace down Orleans trying to stay in clusters. The float/stroller acted as the kaboose and stayed in the rear, similar to the speaker trucks following the Dance Connection, minus the purple fishnets. Once at Carrollton, turn around and sweep the six. T-claps to the PAX for taking turns pushing the float and also to the guys carrying two F3 shovel flags….Merica!!! Lots of intrigued and possibly jealous onlookers wishing they were running with us.
Route Run – Leg #2: Right on Carrollton all the way to Canal, at you own pace, sweep the six. The motivational cheers from the spot watchers kept coming.
Route Run – Leg #3: Back down Carrollton to Orleans veering off to the neutral ground for a COP. Some grumbling was heard when YHC started with LSS x20, PP x25, ISW x20, and Plankorama w/Merkins. Everyone survived and the moseying resumed.
Route Run – Leg #4: Run back on Orleans to our starting point on N. Olympia, sweep the six. Good to see lots of other running groups out there…”Happy Mardi Gras” and high fives were being dolled out right and left. Might even try to work in some beads for next year.
Lagniappe Leg #5: Once back along City Park Ave, we had enough time to take the long way back along Marconi for a peek at the floats, before heading back to the Great Lawn. A few guys were able to modify the run with a shortcut.
Great Lawn: YHC wanted to make sure all PAX were ready for the rest of MG season and in stellar bead catching/throwing shape, so out came a bag of beads stashed in the bushes. All PAX grabbed a good bead to throw and parterned up for “Bead Burpees” consisting of throwing beads 15 yards away to your partner, alternating with burpees. This was not well received by the PAX, I’m guessing due to the sloppy terrain and the presumption that we were only going to run that moring. After a minute of some hideousness with Bead Burpees, YHC felt the need to cut it short and move on to something more challenging. Next up we did a bead throw and bear crawl circuit across the lawn, followed by a lunge walk and bead throw back.
Mary: After getting rid of the beads, we had enought time left to knock out LBC x20, Flutter Kicks x30, and Plankorama.
COT: YHC was a tad woozy and run-drunk at this point so not sure of all the announcements and intentions. We did pray for, among other things, a safe Mardi Gras weekened. We also called out Amnesty for yet again missing the annual event he co-fathered. YHC forgot to mention that we consider striving to avoid over indulging this Mardi Gras season and instead focus on making the most of our time with family, friends, or perhaps ourselves, whether that be at a parade or elsewhere. While pigging out and/or getting hammered may be something many of us have been guilty of during the carnival season, we should consider throttling that back on the guilty pleasures and possibly replace them with something more meaningful and healthy….just a thought.
Thanks to the PAX for going along with my antics and helping to bring in the 4th “F”….FUN!
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