Rocking and Rolling in NOLA - The Day Before.

I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Saturday morning. 

I haven't packed for the half marathon trip! Gasp! 

It didn't take too long - about 1 hour for me to get ready and get all the packing done and ready to get on the road.  The boyfriend surprised me by telling me that he is coming with me! 

After making a detour to his office, we were officially on the road to New Orleans, La.

The drive was good. He drove and I enjoyed the ride.

Approaching the Mississippi River bridge

On the Mississippi River Bridge

We got into town and headed straight to the race expo that was held at the Convention Center. 

After that, we headed to what regular tourists would do ...

driving around looking for the Lower 9th Ward.

We saw a lot of "TFW" spray-painted on some of these destroyed houses.
"TFW" stands for "Toxic Flood Waste." 

Then, we drove down the French Quarter. 

We poked around and got hungry.
So we went to Cochon for dinner. 

 Fried alligator in a really good spicy, creamy sauce.

 Hot rolls with butter.
Hello!!

 Mac and Cheese.

 Catfish over a bed of rice with a tomato-based kinda sauce.

Beef brisket with horseradish potato salad (yummo!) 

We didn't finish all the food! 

Took it back to the hotel to relax and get all the race gear ready.

 Sock in shoes.
Tag on shoe.

 Race bib on shirt.

Somebody is ready to rock and roll this first race of 2011!

Don't forget to check out my race report, a blogger meet-up and more food over here!