I’ve been up since 4:00AM. I caught a flight to New Orleans because I’m running my second half marathon of the year tomorrow. I’m sure I’ve said it before but two years ago this is where it all started. I happened to run a fast 5K in May. My friend Andy saw my Facebook post about it and said, “You want to run the half with me in New Orleans in October?” Full of the confidence that comes from a strong race (the kind of confidence that made me say I’ll run the 2019 marathon) I said yes. Then I messed up my calf and ended up just running a 5K again in New Orleans.

Now it’s 2018 and I already ran the Brooklyn Half this year. Here I am again. I’m ready.

Well, I’m not. The last major race I ran was the Bronx 10 miler. That was September 30th. I haven’t trained very hard since then. You’re supposed to taper before a half but I’ve been tapering for four weeks. I’m confident that I’ll finish, though.

So, like I said, I was up at 4:00AM and I had to get to Newark Airport for a 7:00AM flight on Spirit Airlines. Spirit, I guess, is part of the no frills airline thing, along with Norwegian flights to Europe. The seats are flimsy and don’t recline. I’ve been lulled into thinking all airplanes have TV’s in the seat in front of them: not the case. I had to pay $55 just to get a carry on bag. They didn’t even check, though, so, on the way back I’m just going to try to bring it on. But it got me here. I think the trip to Newark is faster than the trip to JFK and I managed to sleep on the flight for a few hours.

Now I’m here.

I haven’t exactly prepared for the race tomorrow. I had a few beers at lunch and had a beef po boy that may have been the most delicious sandwich I’ve ever had in my entire life. But I’ll be asleep by 11:00 and I’ll be up at 5:45AM. Andy and I will walk through the French Quarter like we did two years ago, past all the bars that are still open. The sun won’t be up. Andy will probably say hi to some friends on the way. And then we’ll run it.

I’ve got to be honest, I’m doing it all for the beignets and the frozen Irish coffee at the Erin Rose after the race.