Mardi Gras Marathon Weekend Begins

I'm usually not one to put much stock in quotes, or even remember them, but this one by Martin Luther King stood out to me on a random commercial this morning during the 10 minutes I had the TV on:

“Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

Whenever I get myself caught up in trying to wrap my mind around one big task all at once, it just seems overwhelming to the point where it doesn’t seem possible and you don’t know where to begin.  In reality though, you can’t take the second step until you take the first, so why worry so much about trying to take every step all at once?  I guess the lesson learned for this weekend is to trust the training and not think too much about trying to run all 26.2 miles fast, but just begin and let it play out from there.

As for the trip so far, I made it to New Orleans this afternoon and I’ve already decided I really like the city.  Yeah it might be a bit rough around the edges to say the least, but it’s got a ton of character which works well for me.  It’s definitely not like any other city I’ve been to, and can’t say that about very many places.  First stop was the Expo to pick up my packet and meet up with my friend Ryan from college who lives and teaches here (and is running his first race in the half).  We met up with his buddy Brian for dinner, and even ventured down Bourbon Street.  Tomorrow will probably be a pretty low-key day…sleep in a bit more than usual, jog a few miles in the morning, and maybe see a bit of the town in the afternoon.  Ryan very conveniently lives about 3 blocks from the start, so it’s nice not to have to worry about race-day logistics and all.

Oh, and I’m loving this tropical paradise thing they have going on down here.  Ok, it was only like 50 degrees this afternoon, but sure felt toasty compared to the -10 I woke up to this morning in Minneapolis.  It should be perfect weather for a run.