On the weekend of May 1-2 I was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with good friends for good times. Here's a story...
When you’ve got a 5k race at 6 pm in the evening the question is whether or not to eat the gumbo at 1:30 or wait until later? By the looks of the savory crab claw sticking out of Lara’s bowl I was thinking gumbo but instead chose 2 bread rolls and sniffed a Lemon.
A group of us Bayou City Road Runners were on our way to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to run a race of remembrance and to raise money for the C. Murray Pace Foundation. Murray is the sister of Bayou City darling, Sam Pace, and was tragically taken from the world back in 2002 shortly after attending the Louisiana State University MBA program. Our aim as a group was to support Sam, help raise money, run a race, and have a good time.
Our gang included the likes of “Brooklyn” Avi, “Nordic” Lara, and “Tachycardia” Dave, “Good Golly” Miss Molly, etc. Not to mention our faithful mascot “Brutus” the beagle. In all there were 10 of us human and one canis domesticus. We departed in 4 separate vehicles to make sure that we supported our hometown industry of Gas and Oil.
Our first stop was Prejeans in Lafayette because we heard they had good gumbo. Some ate some didn’t but the food looked good. From there we headed to a La Quinta near the LSU campus and checked in like lucky ducks.
Keep The Pace 5k is a nice fast course that circles through the lovely LSU campus. We arrived at the start over an hour early and a DJ was turning some tunes. Most of us were feeling some dance Vibes so warm up was a little different than usual. Light jogging followed by walking and hip shaking then a few strides. Things were looking good with plenty of post race food arriving and an cooler full of icy cold beer stashed to the side. Runners arrived and we showed our Texas Pride. More hip shakin, stridin, a couple of trips to the toilet then race time.
You never know who’s going to show up at a small road race on a college campus at 6 pm in the evening but considering everyone over 40 was lumped into the same age group I figured “Tachycardia” Dave, “Brooklyn” Avi and myself would be representing Bayou City quite well.
The air horn blew and and off we flew. I hadn’t done a road race in about 3 ½ years so I didn’t know what to expect. However, I knew I was in pretty good shape, so, I let muscle memory and experience dictate my pace about a half mile into it. It was around that time that I no longer noticed anything in front of me but a cop car with flashing lights. It’s always nicer when you see the lights in front of you and not behind you. At about 1 ½ miles I was thoroughly reminded that I hadn’t run like I was running in quite some time. I just put my head down and held on. Best case scenario played out when I crossed the line in 17:53. First overall.
I turned in my finish tag and proceeded to cheer on my fellow BCRR mates. Tachycardia” Dave had came in 3rd overall and the good times kept rollin. “Brooklyn” Avi and Chris “Last Weekend Marathoner” were gettin it done. “Indian Princess” Shiela and “Good Golly” Miss Molly were working it! “Nordic” Lara was cruisin. Tom “Chilly” Willy was bein da man. Roger “Roger” was floatin smokin. Susan de “Prius” was happenin. Not to mention the Bayou City “Darling” Sam Pace was probably feelin more than anyone as she covered the 5k course in a fine time…..BCRR was on Fire!
Let the Parte begin! First things first. We hit the cooler of beer like a meteor. The DJ was crankin tunes. Hips was shakin. Smiles were smiling. A local barbecue man was fillin us up on pork and corn cobbler. We was giddy with happiness. The cooler of beer was gone in no time so “Tachycardia” Dave made a lightnin fast beer run. More dancin as we all shifted into Good Times Party mode, the thing BCRR does best.
Awards went smooth and we were all impressed that a race of a little over 100 people had raised over $9,000! Even Donald Trump would be impressed by that! We racked up 9 awards and in good BCRR fashion partied hard until we were the last to leave.
No visit to the LSU campus is complete with saying hello to Mikey the tiger. It was dark when we approached the large fenced off area but Mikey was on the prowl. Mikey is a Siberian/Bengal mix and eats 25 pounds of meat when he has dinner. We all found this out when one of Mikey’s caretakers just happened to be there when we were. It was quite interesting. We were educated on all kinds of Tiger facts and trivia. It was like having our own private guide. After a visit with the caretaker we paused for a photo by climbing on top of a large bronze Tiger then headed back to La Quinta.
A quick shower at the hotel then it was off to Chimes for a proper pint. I must say I was impressed. A 20oz. craft beer filled to the very rim for $4.25. I almost felt like I was in England for a moment. “Good Golly” Miss Molly bought the first round before we kicked back at a large corner table and ate gumbo without hesitation. I was pleased to find a funky crab claw in mine. Good Times. Good Times.
What I really like about BCRR is that it’s so much more than a running club. I think it’s wonderful and quite healthy how we can be serious about our running but really know how to kick back and relax. We know how to train appropriately to meet our goals and can be highly competitive when the gun goes off. Outside of that we’re tossing back pints, dancing like gumby, and laughing our asses off. For example if you want to run a European marathon and immediately attend Oktoberfest in Germany right after, then BCRR is the club for you. Or, if a plan is hatched to go skydiving or whatever, your sure to find others within the club that are interested.
The morning after the race we took advantage of the free La Quinta breakfast before proceeding on to coffee and benieghts. On the drive home we stopped near Lake Charles at Tony’s Pizza for some really good Italian eats. It was the icing on the cake for a fabulous weekends of Good Times. Everyone had a blast and we vowed to make it an annual event.
A special thanks to Sam Pace, her family, and all those involved in organizing the event. They really did a great job!
