Year in Review

I ran 180 runs this year for 907 miles in 128:06:52. My average time was 42:42 min. This was less than last year but I am training for a later race than before (Mardi Gras 1/2 vs. Houston 1/2). Overall it was a good year, I PR in Houston with a 1:44. I ran CCC in about the same time as last year. OK a bit slower but I was burnt from Houston. I tried to poster but that didn't happen. I didn't PR in a 5K but I didn't really run but one and I ran it with The BOY and The Wife.

Next years goals. PR in New Orleans with a 1:42. I have a stretch goal of sub 1:40 but not getting my hopes up. Poster in the CCC. Set a PR for a 5K.

No Boudin but lots of FOOD

We this week in running was one of highs and lows. After skipping out Monday, I ran intervals on Tuesday. I hit me goal pace of 3:15 four out of the six. This is the first time in a while that I reached the goal pace. Ran Wednsday. Rain Thrusday but was able to get a 7:40 pace on the dread-mill. Friday brought lots of presents but no running. Slept in Saturday but ran 6 after watching "The Blind Side" Great movies.

Another present, I won a pair of Yurbuds from Frayed Laces I can't wait to get them.

No Boudin but we did eat a lot of good food. I fried my first turkey on Christmas day. We decided to fry it becuase we didn't have the oven room to cook all the other stuff. I injected it with white wine, chicken broth and hot sauce. It turned out great.

Bourque's Superstore

Started the morning with an 8 mile run. I only needed to do 6 but since I skipped out yesterday I figured it wold be OK. Nice morning with temps about 40F. You couldn't ask for better weather. I will still be short for the week if I run 10 tomorrow but it will only be by a few. I got my 5 x 800 in on Wednsday due to rain but the pace run on Thursday was torpedoed by 5000 ft of elevation in Denver. I still got a run in, just slow.

Me and the fussy BOY went and picked up BIL at 9. We headed to Bourque's in Port Barre. We made our way around the store, picking up the famous jalapeno cheese bread. This stuff is very dense. I wouldn't want to get hit on the head with it. It is delicious.

We got to the meat counter and bought three links delivered as promised in the review. We checked out and at on the hood of my car. The BOY was supper excited that he got to sit on the hood. He was even more excited about the several packs of crackers that come with the boudin. BIL cut us some. The linksters indicated it was about an even mixture but I think what we had was much more meat than rice. It was good. Our favorite was it seems as if they used all most the whole green onion so you got part of the whitter onion so it gave it a nice crunch. The spice was warm. The BOY at his fair share and we headed on down the road to Lafayette. Well worth the drive. The linksters gave it an A+ rating and I tend to agree.

Boudin & Cracklin Express

The day started out too cold to run or hit the farmer's market. I actually slept till 7 on a Saturday. Plus I knew all my running folks were working at the Cajun Country 1/2 Marathon.



I picked up BIL before he headed out of town for his Santa Claus Pub Crawl in New Orleans. We decided to go to Boudin & Cracklin Express in Henderson via the Breaux Bridge Hwy. With THE Boy strapped in we were off. We passes the Pack and Paddle to see their newly remodeled front (someone put a car into the front window). It now holds lots of boats and looks nice.



We came in to Henderson from the South, we actually passed three other places that featured boudin. There was Kevin's, gas station, Landry's and then Express. Four places that The Linkster's have yet to evaluate.

We bought 2-1/2 links that came in a paper tray wrapped in foil. The boudin was about 50/50 mix of rice pieces and pork meat with a sprinkling of green onions. Casing was snappy. BIL commented that it was a bit light on liver but I found a few chunks. The liver was not evenly distributed. The spice was good, not too hot and not too mild. The BOY at all most all of his half. He says "mmmm dat's good". I think it is worth at least a B+ to A-.

The store has a drive through window for all the fat-so who can't walk but need their boudin. There is lots of jars of Cajun stuff you can buy. At the end of the day, it would be a great place to stop an pick up a link or two. I think if BIL and I make a few more run, we might have to check out the other place at Henderson.

As far a running, I ended up with 31 miles for the week but running 6 Sat afternoon and 8 on Sunday.

Gidroz Food Center and More

The running for this week has recovered. I was able to make it to Red's every day this week with no sleeping in on the couch. I was able to run intervals on Tuesday and a parking garage with my run on Thursday. I also topped out the running mileage at 25.2 miles. Lot better than last week. It was raining this morning so no running but I did get on the elliptical.

We picked up BIL for the boudin run. We stopped at Home Depot to pick up some pipes for BILs since. We decided to take a journey to Guidroz Food Center on E. Simco. It was just as good as the Linksters said. There were big whole grains of rice mixes with good meat and specks of green onion. The Boy at some along with some "gratons" (don't tell his mom!). We decided that Guidroz would make a good place to stop on the way to see the Tiger's play. M&S Grocery is also on the way but this is a much better link.

After Guidroz, we journeyed West down I-10 to The Best Stop. BIL's wife wanted boudin as did her friends and they are a bit picky. Not a big deal. While BIL was picking up boudin, tasso and frozen boudin, the BOY and I shared three Boudin Balls. They had a creamy texture that was melt in your mouth. Once we got back to BILs house, the BOY helped finish off the remainder of the boudin from Best Stop.

Despite the rain it was a successful run.

Recent Activity

Well the boudin runs with BIL will come to a stop after the first of the year, he will be moving to Houston. We might have to go on charizo & egg runs if I go visit. Oh well, I guess as the boy gets older we can continue to go together.

We picked up Johnson's before we went to the game this weekend and as all ways it was great. Congratulations to them for winning "Best Un-linked Boudin" at the contest held by the linksters. I am not sure why un-linked boudin would taste any different than linked. Maybe the casing concentrates or changes the flavor. I don't know.

Running took a dive last week. I had been managing +20 for the previous two weeks but cut that in half last week. I did take a trip to Houston but had a chance to run there and several more a home that I did not take. I am on a better track this week as I have run Monday and did some 800s today. We started a wellness challenge at work this week. My goal is to get ten extra workout classes in before the end of the year. While it might not seem that hard to do in 6 weeks time, it will be a stretch since I am currently doing none. Hopefully it will also result in a bit of weight loss.

I am still on the fence about running the New Orleans Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon. Last year the 1/2 went by Audubon park but I think they are going to send it up toward City Park. Not that it would not be a great run, going toward Audubon is much better. Oh well, hope to have a boudin report for this weekend but I am not sure if BIL will be in town or not. They might be heading to NO.

Comeaux's Boudin

We we finally made it on a Saturday morning boudin run. Football season makes it hard. BIL leaves early for the game, we are trying to get our stuff ready. This weekend we both skipped the game do get some things done. He had to work on the house and we had trick-or-treat with the boy.

We decided to hit someplace close so we chose Comeaux's on Kaliste Saloom. This used to be my favorite boudin. It was right where I lived so I could all ways pick some up. Unfortunatly it was not as good as I remember it being. The boudin was very pasty as everything was very mashed up, you couldn't really tell the rice from the pork. It had a stronger hint of liver than what I liked and we even found a few chunck of liver. The BOY had fun mashing it flat and then cutting it up. He ate some but I don't think it was his favorite. He did get mad when I wrapped up the last bite for the trash. Overall it was OK but I don't think it was deserving of the linksters A rating.

I did run this morning. We ran in the awsome weather to River Ranch and back.

Running in the Rain

Ran two miles yesterday around the house after I didn't get up in the morning. Got rained on for half of the time and decided to run one mile barefooted (yea I am reading "Born to Run"). Ran 4.5 miles this morning at an easy speed.

Did get to ride my bike part way to work since I dropped The Wife's car off to get new tires.

84 Interval

The weather outside was a nice damp 54 deg F. I say damp because it was cool and you could still feel the humidity. We headed out to the track to run 4-800 & 4-400. I have been averaging 15 measly miles the last month or so with little to no track work so I mentally prepared myself for stopping early.

So the 1 plus mile to the track too 10:56, then the suffering began.
800 3:18 (Way fast)
800 3:23 (Better)
800 3:24 (Hurt, I am going to quit after the next one!)
800 3:27 (That really hurt)
400 1:27 (Rode Glen's coat tails)
400 1:29 (I can do one more)
400 1:34 (Hurts!)
400 1:24 (Done)

As usual I was the back of the pack with the guys and girl that I run with but I am OK with that.

LSU and The Boy

Pictures from the LSU football game against ULL. They are a bit late but it was to test how to insert pictures from Picasa. No boudin reports latley because of football and other early Saturday morning obligations. Hopefully soon.

No Boudin!

Got up and ran 7 miles to top out the week at about 30miles. Largest weeking in a while. Hot and humid with a bit of drizzle.

BIL headed out early to the LSU game so we didn't go on a run. The Wife and The Boy decided that the rain today was going to suck having to watch the game and in or drive back in so they are going to stay home. (Probably better option than gettting wet!).

Janise's Boudin Run (repeat)

The morning started out with about a 5 mile run to River Ranch. The temperature was good but a bit humid. Coffee break was cut short as The Wife decided to get an early start on her work out. No bid deal.

Went home and got The Boy ready to go. Picked up BIL around 9. He dropped the ball as he was supposed to find us a place to go but didn't. Since we decided to go by Lowe's after the run, we headed North in search of a place. Up Hwy 182 we went, after driving for about 40 minutes we found ourselves in Sunset by Janise's Supermarket. We have been here before and liked it and decided to sample it again to see if they were consistent.

We procured two links because the Boy has been eating his fair share lately. In fact I have had to make two trips in the past becuase he wanted more. The boudin was hot and wrapped in paper. It was two LARGE links. They were definitely stuffed full. The insides were similar to the stuffing, the rice was whole and large, the chunks of meat were large and the taste was large. The BOY liked it but only ate about 1/4 of a link. Overall it lives up to "The Linksters" rating of A.

No Boudin

Dam it is hot out side. I ran the Four-Seven loop with Greg. I strugled. It felt like I was running in a humid oven. Ready for at least fall to get here.

No boudin run this morning because BIL is at the Red Dress Run in New Orleans. It sounds like it is a fun race but he crowd is getting so large that it is probably too much. One of my friends has been running it for a while, he said it was much better when there were about 200 people. They should have about 3000 this year.

Saturday Run

Ran almost 6 miles Saturday morning. It was hot and humid. I can't wait for the cool.

The BIL, The Boy and I went to Trahan's Foods in Rayne (Frog Capital) for some boudin. It lived up to it's A- rating. The boy thinks it is A+, he ate 1/2 a link (which is a lot for him).

Another Week

Well another week went by and a lot happened. I ran a total of 12 miles, my lowest week in a long time. I missed my Tuesday track sesson due to rain and Thursday longer run due to sleep. The Wife was out with her friends and didn't get home till late, so I slept in. I did to body pump twice which is more than the last few weeks.

The bathroom progressed. I got the tile installed and grouted. I got some of the cabinets installed. Once the plubmer finishes up we can use it. I will still need to put the trim work but I can use the bathroom with out it.

I did make it to Johnson's for boudin this week. The Boy and The Neice went with me. The Boy ate his share but the Niece decided she didn't like it. Johnson's as all ways was good. It has a great mix with just the right kick. They are the greatest folks.

Construction Update

Well it has been a while. I am still running about 15 miles a week. I have a two week plan that I am not following 100%. This is mainly do to the move.

The plan is for:
Monday - Run (optional) / Body Pump
Tuesday - Interval 4 x 800 Goal 3:30
Wed - Yoga? (have not made that one yet)
Thursday - Cycle Class or Run (only run)
Friday - Run morning - Pump at Lunch
Saturday - Run
Sunday - optional long Run
Week 2
Monday - Off
Tuesday - Interval 4 x 800
Wed - Circuit Training Class at Lunch
Thur - Run or Cycle
Saturday - Run long (6-8 mile range)
Sunday - off

Between the work at the new house and the work at the old house, I am usually wore out. In the last few weeks I usually make Tuesday, pump once a week Friday and Saturday. But we are in and the construction is dwindling so hopefully I will get back on track.

Today I ran because we had rain yesterday. I will run in the rain but I will not get out of bed to start running in the rain.

I had to laught this moring. One of the running blogs that I read, the runner said he was running so slow he could have been mistaken for a jogger. That is funny because compared to some other runners he is a jogger even on his fastest day. I guess on the oposite, compared to some slower folks he is a runner. I don't think there is any problem with the jogger title. I know of folks that run sub 6 minute miles and call themselves joggers.

New House Tomorrow

My running will be tested in the next month. We will get our new house tomorrow. On the agenda before we move in is to: pull up carpet in 5 rooms, destroy a bathroom, stain concrete in 5 rooms, replace a bathroom, paint the kitchen cabinets and move in. Oh in the middle of all that I have a week vacation that was pre-secheduled before we decided to move and I can't back out. In between paid work and house work on new house and house work on old house, I will need to get some runs in. Wish me luck.

Got Boudin? I don't.

The past few weeks have not seen a boudin run. Three weekends ago we went to Memphis for a college friends weding. Last weekend I spent on my knees tiling BILs kitchen. This weekend BIL was at a weding so I am looking forward to next weekend. After that we get into our new house, so Saturdays after the run will be spend working in the house. I will have to make and effort to run to Johnson's and get some.

The running have been around 15 miles per week. I make a Tues, Thurs, Friday and Saturday. I set myself a schedule to add Body Pump and Circuit Training twice a week and I am going to try to get Yoga in once a week. I have to break the ice and go to the class but so far the ice has been too thick.

Festival 09

Well Festival International has come and gone. It was another great year of great music, great weather and great friends.

The Wife, The Boy and SIL (Sister In Law) went Thursday to catch some music. The Wife and The Boy left at dark and SIL and I stayed to catch some Mark Broussard. There were numerous rumor of super stars joining Mark on stage, but as I predicted they were all BS.

Friday just The Wife, The Boy and I went downtown. We had fun, saw some good stuff and called it an early night.

Saturday we all got up to run the Festival 5K. Since The Wife was missing her two hour Red's workout, she asked that I miss my run to run with her and push The Boy. Not a big deal, it saved me from a less than stellar performance. We took from a new course. The race has started from the court house in previous years but this year they chose to start around The Pit Stop. Unfortunally the lead runner is supper fast (Kevin Castille) and was so far ahead of number two, that the #2 guy missed a turn. His inability to follow the course caused the run to be about 2/10ths shorter. I am not complaining since I was not going to PR but look at the map before you run, pay attention. We saw the nervous wife off at nine and went back to enjoy the festivities only to find out that they were out of beer! Damn it! So I caught a ride home.

The 25 lbs of briscit came out of the oven at 11 and the first guest arrived at 12:30. Sister, Neises, Parents, and Friends all stopped by to grab a bit. We headed to to Festival around 3:30. Lots of good music that ended around 9:30 while watching Cedric Watson. Zachary Richard was also pretty good.

Sunday afternoon we headed back meeting some friends. The temperature was nice with a breeze day. Couple hours of music brought the Festival to a close for us this year.

Next year will be a new Festival, new house and hopefully good time again.

CCC10K

I had aspirations of " postering" this year but it was not to be. "Postering" is a term I just made up. The CCC10K gives free posters to the first 500 chipped runner. You can get a chip by either qualifying or $5. I took the $5 route. I had hopes because last year, I blew out my PR and was only a minute or two from qualifying. So I set me goals to get one this year.

After Houston, I devised an agressive training plan based on the Advanced 10K plans from Hal Higgdon. Unfortunatly, my interest in running more than 3-4 days per week after all the training for Houston was very low. So I got my 12 to 15 miles per week, a few intervals and one or two pace runs.

So along comes race day and here we go. Dad, Sister, BIL#2, BIL#1 and several other friends all lined up. I started off pretty good with 7:12 followed by 7:13. After that is was all up hill. It went 7:32, 7:43, 7:51; 7:58 with a final 1:33. I didn't feel bad just didn't have anything in the tank. My final was 47:05 just a hair shy of last year. Overall I was happy with the results.

We were able to stick around to hear some of "Bag of Dounuts" and drink several Abita beers. We finally decided to leave after the beer lines got too long and were starting to run out of beer.

I guess we will leave the poster for next year.

Heleaux's Grocery

The trip started with no idea of where we were going to go. I had too much at DTA last night and cleared my head on a short 4-7 run with Glen, Suzy and Greg. I wish the run could have been longer but it was better than nothing. The "too much" contribuited to me not doing any research of were we wanted to go.

After picking BIL up, we headed West. After severel turns and twist we ended up at Heleaux's Grocery. BIL got some sausage for his BBQ and we got two links and two 8-oz cokes. We ate our fair on the hood of the car. The Boy even came back for seconds, so I would rate it as spicy but not too because the meter on The Boy for the peppery suff usually goes off with an "hot-hot-hot". The boudin was good, I think it deserves the B+ rating the linksters gave it. We meanedered back along Hwy 733 and headed home to finish the weekend.

Constant

Well a lot has happened since the last blog. I had plans of some serious training in prepration for the Cresent City Classic 10K but I think I got burned from the Houston Half training. Plus there was a lot of personal and buisness things that have gotten in the way. I have done a decent job of staying running but it had not been enough for a poster finish at the CCC10K. I am going to try any way.

Saturday Double Run

Got up Saturday to run, it was drillizing a bit so I figured I would get wet running. I did but not due to rain, it was HUMID. I was drenched with sweat. I ran with Jay and Suzy for about 5 miles. We were are hot and huffing and puffing. We had a good pick up the last mile in order to catch Darrell who popped out from his run.

The second run as a boudin run with BIL (Brother In Law). We drove to the Mowatta Store in Mowatta, LA. It had a firm casing with a good mix of meat and rice. The rice was under-cooked so it was a bit crunch. There was lots of red pepper. B plus

Dallas, TX

I spent most of the last week in Dallas for a convention for work. It was 1,000 of my fellow employees meeting to see how well we did last year, what was in store for this year and to see what new technology we have for this year. It was exausting. I only ran once and it was on the dread mill. My total for the week was 8 miles. I am just in a rut that I don't want to run often and I have no motivation to do anything else. I should be hitting some weight or doing some stretches but I got the don't wants.

I Start Tomorrow, I Promise.

Lazy Monday where I get out of bed for my 4:30 alarm, set my alarm on my phone for 6 AM and go back to sleep on the couch. This is so I don't annoy The Wife with snoozes. CCC10K training officially starts tomorrow with 6 x 400's. Good luck to me. No Lazy Tuesday.

Boudin Run - Charlie T's

One of the reasons that I run, is so that I can eat. I live in South Louisiana there is an over abundance of awsome food. One such food is "Boudin" (boo-dan). It is a mixture of pork and rice with lots of spice (and green onions). There are two guys that have a website that rates local boudin. Every Saturday I get up and go run at Red's. I ran 4.7 miles this morning in about 38 minutes. I didn't have a watch, I am running cave man till I start training again. Anyway, after the run, I drink coffee at Red's with the guys. The Wife goes to Red's for her two hour work out from 9 till 11, so I have to be home to watch The Boy.


After The Wife leaves The Boy and I go pick up BILL (Brother-In-Law) to go on a "Boudin Run". We are working out way down the list to the "A" rated places. (Technically this is a bit of a blog about running, and we went on a run). Three weeks ago, we went to Breaux Bridge to try to get some boudin, I thought I could remember the location of the place. I was wrong, we ended up in Henderson at Webster's. I was good and spicy.

So fast forward two weeks and we headed back to Breaux Bridge. We decided to go to Charlie T's because I went to the other place last weekend on the way to camping. It was good. The linksters overstated it was a smigen more meat than rice , it had a lot of meat. The spice was just right and the casing was snappy. The Boy gave it his seal of approval by eating several bits.

It's Friday

So today I skipped running so that I could sleep in. I didn't run very far this week. I am calling it recovery week two. I am going to start my training for the CCC10k very soon but I don't want to fall too far and I don't want to get too burned out. I need to do some other exercises but once again, LAZY.

The Wife and The Boy left town Thursday to go to her mom's while I am going camping in the woods tomorrow night. It is my yearly trip with one of my college buddy's and lots of friend. The weather should be good but a bit colder would be better. One year it was in the 20's. Great if you stay by the fire.

$350 Stripper

I just spent $350 on a stripper and it was on my front porch! Do I have your interest? Well it is not what you think. I live in an old house. It has a front porch that has lots of peeling paint. I have aspirations to strip the porch and repaint it. I have tried chemical stripper- didn't work very well. Belt sander- nope. So I bit the bullet and paid $350 for a mechanical stripper with diamonds on the bottom. It took all of three hours to remove the paint from the concrete. Now I need to figure out how to refinish it. The system that I want (epoxy) cost about $500 total but it will look sweet.

Running: I ran the Four-Seven loop with Jeff, Mike, Becky, Cecile, Greg, Ruthie, Todd, Glenn, Mario, Brandy, and I am sure I am missing a few people. It was a large group. Ruthie took off early, after Todd, Glen and Greg left to head back, I picked it up and ran to the mid-walk spot ahead of all. I am still trying not to run too hard. I am going to take it easy, trying to keep it steady till I start training for the Crescent City Classic 10K. My goal is to get a poster. CCC10K top 500 get a poster. Anyway, after the mid-walk spot, we all ran back with a pit stop to see Ruthie's new back yard. Good times. 12 miles for the week with three run

Yea Me

Well the training for Aramaco 1/2 Marathon is done and the results are in. I was able to exceed my goal time of 1:45 (1:44:13). PR baby. I am very happy. It has taken me until today to be able to run with out soreness. I tried to run on Wednsday but it hurt way to much. I ran the Shannon Loop Wednsday and had to run back. Today I ran 4.7 Loop (walk in the middle) and did OK. I am going to try to run tomorrow with the group but we will see how that goes.