Christmas Eve/Day!

Here's a brief overview of our Christmas...

Christmas Eve

• 2:30pm - Open presents and eat 3 bowls of seafood gumbo in Grand Point at my Nanny Nee's house (dad's side of family).
• 5:00pm - drive down River Road to see what non-traditional bonfire the Gramercy Fire Dept built this year...a Fleur De Lis...hmmm? I wonder why?

• 5:15pm - Open presents and eat (not gumbo) at my Maw Maw Gloria's house in Paulina (mom's side of family).  Here's a picture of me and my godchild Claire.  I think the background of the one after that is pretty funny... someone looks full!

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  7:15pm - Drive to Prairieville... i tried to take a picture of a bonfire that had been lit, but the camera on my phone didn't quite capture the beauty that my own eyes had witnessed. Instead, it captured this giant glow!
  
  
  

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  7:45pm - arrive in Prairieville to open gifts and eat (yeah I had more gumbo) at Lori's Aunt Fae's house (her mom's side of family).  Here's a picture with my godson Luke.
  
  
  

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  9:45pm - get Lori's car stuck in mud while moving it to let some other vehicles out.
  
  
  
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  9:46pm to 10:10pm - get teased repeatedly by everyone!
  
  
  
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  10:11pm - teasing dies down enough for the guys to help nudge the car free from the mud.
  
  
  
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  11pm head home to LaPlace.
  
  
  

Christmas Day

• 8:00am - open presents at home with Lori and the munchkins (our cats).  They got a new bed.  Ellie Mae hasn't really taken to it yet but Hunter and MJ seem to love it.  My gift to Lori was so romantic that... well, just ask her next time you see her! 

• 10:30am - ride into New Orleans with my parents and my sister for our traditional Christmas brunch...this year's location was the Hotel Monteleone.

• 2:00pm - exchange gifts at my parent's house. 

• 3:00pm - 1 hour nap.
• 4:30pm - open presents and eat (uh huh, 3 more bowls of gumbo... why won't Lori just stop me?!) in Reserve at Lori's dad's house and watch the Roussel family's favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story.  We actually planned on playing the Christmas Story board game that Lori gave her dad last year, but even though the box said it was for ages 8 and up, no one could understand the rules so we never got to play.  Maybe the box was supposed to say "8 and under"
• 7:30pm - over to Big Maw's house to visit with Ms. Sylvia (Lori's grandmother), Big Maw, Darryl, and Noel.
• 10:00pm - back at home...Merry Christmas!!!

Shake your groove thing yeah yeah!

As usual, we had another full weekend. Friday night we went see the Hornets beat the Denver Nuggets (Thanks Matt!) and after the game, Lori was tickled pink to get to sit in the same seat that Deion Sanders sat in earlier. Neither Matt or I had any idea she was such a fan of "Prime Time."

Saturday morning, we met the crew for breakfast at the Ho Ho Hole (Donut Hole in LaPlace). Lori and I have missed the last several gatherings due to races so it was great to see the gang again. We then hustled over to Commander's Palace for my sister's annual birthday lunch with her and my parents. After lunch we stopped over at my parents hotel room to open some gifts and they recommended we check out the ginger bread streetcar at Harrah's so we did.

We then wlaked over to the French Market to do some Christmas shopping. After 3 hours of shopping we grabbed a table at River's Edge Restaurant in Jackson Square to eat and watch the beginning of the Saints game. It was fun being in the city on game day with all the excitement going on with the Saints. Notice I said watch the "beginning" of the game. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, considering the outcome of the game), a couple of months ago my mom got tickets for all of us to go see White Christmas at Le Petit that night. Before picking that date, none of us realized that the Saints game was on Saturday that week. Nor did we have any idea that they would be 13-0 at the time. It worked out well in the end though because we got to see a great show with my family and didn't actually have to sit through the game only to see them lose. Of course, I checked my phone for updates the entire time.

We were up bright and early Sunday morning to go run the Ole Man River Half Marathon at City Park. We both had to do our last long long run before the Disney Marathon in 3 weeks so we decided to just do this race and keep running after. We were a little concerned about how things would go because we had been walking all over the city the day before... not really what you want to do before a long run. We both had a pretty good run though... I ran 21 miles and Lori ran 22 miles. Disney here we come! Lori was thrilled that there were still some pancakes left from the post race party.

Next we hustled home to clean up before heading to Reserve to celebrate Christmas with Lori's dad's side of the familythat evening. We had a great time. There was one small incident though. Lori got her Paw Paw some pajamas and Saints hat for Christmas... appropriate gifts right? Well, half right... when he opened the Saints hat I though his head was going to explode. Apparently, he HATES the Saints! Everyone else seemed to know this but Lori and I so as you can imagine, the laughter was hysterical. I'm not sure he talked to Lori the rest of the night.

Monday, work. Monday night we went to the Celebration in the Oaks with Matt and his mom.

At one point, Matt got tired and needed to rest (he did a long run on Sunday too), but unfortunately we were in Storyland at the time so this was the tallest bench he could find.

Of course we had to ride the Carousel.

We also had to eat and while eating we sat down to enjoy some of the local entertainment. There was a group of dueling senior citizen tap dancers that kept us thoroughly entertained. Here's a short clip.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend. Here's one last picture that was on my phone... it's 2 of our 3 munchkins, Hunter and MJ.

32 degrees, wind chill of 23... what would you do?

Go canoeing right! OK most sane people would say stay in inside...not us!  Of course, many (most) of our friends and family have questioned our sanity when it comes to our adventure racing addiction.  We decided to squeeze in one last paddling workout before our big race next weekend in Texas...the Dave Boyd Adventure Race.  It will be the longest race any of us have attempted at 41 hours.  It's also going to be the debut of our new team for the 2010 season...Team CACAR!  We paddled for about 2 hours and 40 minutes before the cold got the best of us.

last trek closed/canceled

Apparently no one told HBP at the last bike drop that the last trek was canceled. They could've biked back out to where they just came from (an hour away)to try to get some more CP's, but quickly declined! Great job HBP!!!

HBP finishes!

they just crossed the finish line! I think with 26 CPs.

HBP spotted

just saw HBP on horse trail...looked strong, muddy, and determined!

mudpit

my first checkpoint!

I decided to hunt for a checkpoint while waiting for my next encounter with HBP... checkpoint 17. Teams had to bike thru a horsetrail (aka mudpit) to get here. I trekked.

BTW, HBP had at least 21 CP's when they headed out earlier this morning.

And their off...again!

HBP headed out for more punishment about 25 minutes ago.  Their plan is to get 6 or 7 more CP's before the race cut-off at 1:07pm today.  Their little nap helped with sleepiness, but made them stiffen up.  Dry clothes, socks, and shoes made them feel a lot better as well.  Still smiling, well maybe not so much in the picture below, but trust me, they're having fun!

They're sawing logs here at the TA!

HBP back in TA

HBP is back from TA.  They were falling asleep on the bike in so they took the safe route and decided to walk there bike for a while.  They're gonna sleep here for about an hour before heading back out there at day break.

cold night

just spotted HBP on bikes about 8 miles from the TA. They looked really cold, but still spirited. The O-course gave them a little trouble (nice way of saying they got lost again).

HBP is finished trek!

There off on their bikes now to CP 13. they got a little lost on the trek but perservered. They still haven't missed a CP.

a little nervous

HBP is now one of the last 2 teams on this trekking leg. Hopefully they come in soon!

here's the pic

Stealing Wi-Fi

I know I owe y'all some pictures, but bear with me...

After HBP left the boats, I stuck around to see if teams would miss the 3pm cut-off, and yes they did!  It was hard to watch as the race folks informed them that they would be penalized 1 cp for every minute they were late.  In other words, the teams who more than five minutes late were now back down to 0 checkpoints!  Ouch!  It was hard to watch so I left. 

I got lost on my way to the next bike drop because I lost my map (good thing I'm not racing!).  I stumbled across a team on bikes so I just followed them in to the bike drop.  As I pulled up, there were the pink jerseys (and yes, HBP is the only team here with pink jerseys).  They looked a lot warmer and happier now as you can see in the picture.  They picked up 2 more CP's along the way and are now headed off on a relatively short trek.

Oh yeah, I'm without cell phone recption right now but have managed to find a wi-fi signal  coming from "Big John's House" out here in the middle of nowhere...no sign of any civilization....hmmm?  Thanks Big John, wherever you are!

HBP off the water!

HBP is off the water and had a great paddle. They look like the wind got the best of them, but still smiling. They are in no worse than 24th place. There is still 22 boats on the water.

3pm cutoff!

No sign of HBP at canoe take-out yet. Wind is pretty brutal. A lot of teams skipped paddle CP's just to get off the water. Teams must be off the water by 3pm... gonna be tight!

HBP clears paddle CPs

I just spotted HBP shortly after punching CP4. They're still smiling and have finished all the paddle checkpoints. Now the long paddle back to their bikes. BTW they are ahead of Vignette! Pictures soon to come!

lunch

eating lunch at Betty's Cafe which is completely decorated in Lucille Ball stuff/junk/artwork.

update #4

HBP was the 35th team (out of 67) to take off in the canoe. They looked great... all smiles.

Update #3 - Race start

Sorry for the delay, hectic morning...
Woke up around 4am.  Temps in low 40's and breezy.  Teams received maps and all UTMs at 5am.  They plotted points til about 6:15 am.  They were instructed to bring their bikes to the end of the road so the race could begin with a short sprint to to their bikes.  Last few details were announced just before 7am.  Race actually started 7:07am with a cannon boom (very loud).  Here's a shot just before the start.

HBP's plan was to stay near the back of the pack to avoid the stampede.   They safely mounted their bikes and headed off without incident.  Here's a shot of the galloping headlamps.

A couple of teams weren't so lucky and crashes ensued.  The girl on Team #44 appeared to have the worst crash when another biker clipped her handlebars.  The medics were tending to her a mere half mile from the start.  Here shoulder/arm was obviously in severe pain.

The pack headed off on a 25 mile bike to CP1 and the canoe put-in.

National Championships update #2 - Pre-Race meeting

Pre-race meeting is over.  There was a great vibe in the room...full of energy.  I admit, I really wish I was racing tomorrow.  Lori was pretty excited after the meeting because Robin Benincasa (adventure racing icon) gave her some Starbuck's coffee packets.  Below is a picture of Robin talking to the field. 

Hefner Bunny Pie (referred to as HBP from here on out) is now making some gear adjustments based on some of the info revealed at the meeting along with a final gear check.  They appear to be pretty excited and a touch nervous.  The race directors have been making numerous last minute course changes today because of the 5 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.  The weather has passed and the next 2 days should be perfect race weather...well, maybe a little windy.  Here's a shot of tonight's sunset.

Maps and checkpoint coordinates will be handed out at 5am tomorrow (Friday).  Cgeck back then!

National Championships update #1 - Mystery event #1 ????

They're all checked in and ready to race.  The pre-race meeting starts at 7pm.  More later...

Lori wins 2009 Fontainebleau Adventure Duathlon!

This past weekend Lori and I headed to Mandeville to participate in this year's edition of the Fontainbleau Adventure Duathlon.  This race was part of the Greater New Orleans Northshore Adventure Weekend.  There were five different events to choose from on Saturday and Sunday.  We chose to race in the duathlon on Saturday morning.  The course was in perfect condition for an offroad race...wet, muddy, and cold!  Lori tore up the course and won the female division (she also finshed 7th overall...male and female).  Paul finished 6th overall and 3rd in the "guys named Paul" division.  I also had what I consider to be a succesfull race and finished a little more towards the front of the middle of the pack than usual.  Congrats to Lori and Paul!  Here's a post race picture:

After the race, Lori and I stuck around to volunteer for the Kids Adventure Challenge Experience.  We hasd a great time watching the all the kids do events like paddling, scavenger hunts, fun run, trail ride, inflatable obstacle course, mystery events, and a rockwall.  We both highly recommend the KACE...it is a wonderful event for families.

Lake Charles Adventure Race (8/29/09)

I know this post is a little overdue, but better late than never, right. Actually, I was planning on just putting a link to one of my teammate’s (Scarlett Pourciau) blog since she wrote the race report, but I felt the need to make some corrections/commentary to her post and add some pictures. So, the words below are hers and my comments are in red.

August 29th, 2009
Team: Light & Momentary Troubles
members: Damon & Scarlett Pourciau, Kirk Zeringue
Results (place/#of teams): 9/24 (co-ed), 25/66 (overall)
Time: 3 hours 11 minutes 46 seconds

With "No Sweat" out of the way, we set our sites on Lake Charles, part of Gulf Coast Adventure's "Racing to N'Awlins" Series. This time our team was comprised of Damon, Kirk, and me. Jamie tagged along and was sweet enough to watch Stella during the race. The Sharbono family was there, with multiple generations racing and cheering. Nathan's dad was trying his hand at adventure racing for the first time, Nathan had an all-male team, and the cutest Sharbonos were our cheerleaders and Stella's playmates for the day. Hefner Bunny Pie was also there to dominate everyone, of course. We left later than we wanted to Friday night and caught a few hours of rest at a nearby hotel before heading to Sam Houston Jones State Park. (Lori, Matt, and I camped Friday and Saturday night)

The first leg of the race was a trail run, and Damon sprinted out in front with the passport (despite our previous conversation minutes before the start). Kirk and I followed at a nice pace. (probably around 9 minute miles) Back at the TA, we caught our first glimpse of Damon since the starting line when we all jumped on our bikes.

The first bike was on very congested single track, and we were stuck behind many inexperienced cyclists. Seems our "nice" pace had put us in the back of the pack behind folks who needed to stay on the pavement. They literally were hopping off their bikes for every obstacle, and Damon and I were getting irritated when we realized that Kirk was not with us. Damon, the almighty holder of the passport, instructed me to slow down and wait for Kirk while he fought on ahead and grabbed the checkpoints. I did, and discovered that Kirk had become roadkill not once but twice when rude cyclists tried to pass him and instead just mowed him down, bike and all. (Actually, the first time I was stopped at a pile-up in front of me when another biker plowed into my back…that hurt. The second time, a biker tried to pass me on singletrack without letting me know and our handlebars got tangled leading to a nasty spill…that hurt more! I calmly expressed my displeasure to him…yeah right, I chewed him out…then his teammates tore into him too!) We reunited and easily road the rest of the trail thinking that we would meet up with Damon at the end. Kirk, the almighty holder of the map, navigated with ease. When we got to the end of the trail the race director snapped our photo, and was polite enough not to inquire about the location of our third teammate. Perhaps he realized we were racing with Damon and knew that this was just par for the course. Anyway, when we arrived at the end of the trail and the first mystery event, Damon was nowhere to be seen (for at least 12 minutes). Turns out he had followed another team that took a wrong turn and rode about an extra mile through the forest.

where's damon?

there he is!

Reunited (and it feels so good) we completed the mystery event which was a bike and hike. This is where two team members run and one bikes. I let the boys bike since I knew they would soon be paddling and I would not.


After collecting the rest of our bikes, we headed to the canoe put-in. My two boat motors did an excellent job on the paddle, even if they did almost come to blows over Damon's ridiculous resistance to Kirk's plan to refill his water bottle at the boat drop (I got a little irate about this…justifiably so, fresh off the heals of a race where I cramped for 12 hours straight).


After navigating the rough waters of disagreement, we were back on the bikes for more single track, then back to the TA for our second mystery event. (this mystery event actually took place about an hour earlier after the first bike leg) Normally, I am great at mystery events, especially the ones that require balance. This one did not require balance and in my opinion, it sucked. We had to use a bucket with three ropes attached to it with loops on the end and touching only the loops fill a larger bucket with water from the nearby lake. I did not take the time to read the instructions, depending on my teammates to keep me up to speed and this resulted in me touching the rope, us losing an entire bucket of water, and me getting yelled at (by Damon, not me…I touched the rope too). Whatever (ditto).

After that was over, we set out for the final run. We found the checkpoints easily, only really going out of our way once on accident (not sure when this happened). We finished in a little over 3 hours, and were able to spend time visiting with friends back at the TA.

Hefner Bunny Pie collecting their winnings for 1st place!

2009 No Sweat Adventure Race

A couple of weekends ago Lori and I headed west with our respective teams (HBP & LMT) to participate in the 2009 edition of the No Sweat 24 Hour Adventure Race. Here's a link to a race report written by one of my teammates, Scarlett... http://astreetcarnamedstella.blogspot.com/2009/08/no-sweat-race-report.html

Here's some quick stats:

Date: August 22-23, 2009
Location: in and around Lake Travis (near Austin, TX)
Team: Light & Momentary Troubles
Team members: Kirk Zeringue, Dane Welch, Damon & Scarlett Pourciau
Results (place/#of teams): 12/15 (overall)
Time: 23 hours 13 minutes
Trekking: 32km (20 miles)
Mountaing Biking: 50km (31 miles)
Swimming: 1km
Kayaking: 22km (13.5 miles)

Here's some pictures:

finished setting up the TA

normally Lake Travis...now just the Colorado River

open your mouth, it makes you look like you're having fun!

Awww!

Team Light and Momentary Troubles (LMT)

Team Hefner Bunny Pie (HBP)

"No, we're right here Damon!"

it's getting hot!

I obviously haven't started my 12 hours of cramping yet! Actually, according to the map, we are walking on water in this picture.

TA 2

The best Checkpoint in the race. I'll never forget you CP 10!

We were in Texas.

20 hours into the race.