Fat Tuesday!

Today is Fat Tuesday.

Peanut scored some beads!

While New Orleans gets all the media attention for its Mardi Gras madness, the entire Gulf Coast goes crazy for this holiday. In fact Mobile, AL is credited with the first Mardi Gras celebration in 1703 (or 1699 - depends on who you ask).

Mardi Gras revelry was suspended during the Civil War, but was revived (again) in Mobile in 1866. Legend has it that that one man, Joe Cain, rode through the streets on a coal cart, dressed in Chickasaw Indian regalia.

Obviously, Joe was also drunk as a skunk (which explains a lot about Mardi Gras parades...)

When Joe passed on, his second funeral procession (it's a long story) was the precursor to the big Sunday parades. Now the Sunday before Mardi Gras is now known in Mobile as "Joe Cain Day," with celebrations rivaling Fat Tuesday.

To an outsider, it seems like the party just keeps adding days (but I'm not complaining)! So here's the schedule as I understand it:

Mardi Gras costumes from the Krewe of Bowlegs
exhibit in Fort Walton Beach, FL

• January 6th, Epiphany kicks off the season. Krewes put the finishing touches on their floats. Carnival celebrations and masquerade balls fill up the social calendar.
• Saturday before Fat Tuesday - parades and partying begin in earnest (but I have yet to hear a name for this holiday?)
• Sunday before Fat Tuesday - Joe Cain Day (at least in Mobile, AL)
• Monday before Fat Tuesday - Lundi Gras (You thought I made that one up, didn't you!)
• 40 days before Easter - Fat Tuesday / Mardi Gras
• ...followed by Ash Wednesday (also known as "hangover recovery day")

Pensacola's Mardi Gras parades are more "family friendly" than those in the Big Easy. You won't catch people flashing their chests for beads. (Apologies to anyone who was hoping for scandalous photos...)

Krewes here throw beads, candy, moon pies, and other goodies to everyone in the crowd. (A krewe, prounounced "crew," is a social club organized around creating floats for the carnival season.)

Showing off our collection of beads from Saturday's parade...

I'm not going to sugar coat it: Even Pensacola's PG-13 Mardi Gras is still a 4-day drunkfest. But it's all in good fun. There's time for being an adult the other 362 days of this year.

(Speaking of being an adult... Ok... I'll run twice today, but only until I can get my hands on some king cake!)

King cake is a holiday staple - but watch out. There's a "baby king" hidden inside.
If you get the baby in your slice #1 - be careful that you don't chip a tooth, and
#2 - you're on the hook for bringing next year's cake.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Have you ever celebrated Mardi Gras?
Right now my dining room looks like a bead factory had an accident... Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to work those into a giveaway?

Mardi Gras madness and NOLA blogger meetup

Mardi Gras beads for runners!

Mardi Gras season is in full swing here in Pensacola. Homes are decked with purple, gold, and green. Some say the colors stand for justice, power, and faith. Others say the Mardi Gras colors became popular because they looked nice together, and the meaning was added later. And many just see the holiday as a cheap excuse for booze and boobs.

While I'm sure at least a few readers were hoping for scandalous photos, the holiday is much more family-oriented in Florida than it is in New Orleans. (Read: No flashing for beads. Sorry readers.)

What Pensacola (thankfully) lacks in public nudity, it makes up for in parades and parties. Carnival begins on January 6th (Epiphany) and lasts through Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras).

On the Gulf Coast that means lots of weekend parades, beads, and moon pies. (Then again, parades, beads, and moon pies are year-round staples here. There are just more of them right now.)

It's a Christmas parade, can't you tell?

Runners get in on the festivities, too. At race-day aid stations volunteers hand out strings of beads along with cups of water. (To be honest, I'd rather run for my beads than flash someone, so the arrangement suits me just fine.) I scored two strings of purple beads at a half marathon last month, and at last weekend's 15k I snagged some feet-shaped beads. Perfect for a runner!

Speaking of running and beads...

Who's running Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans next month?
If there is interest, I'd like to organize a blogger meetup in the Crescent City.
If you'll be there, leave a note in the comments, send me an email, or message me on Facebook.

Running with the locals in Barcelona

When traveling, I like to meet up with a local running group if I can.
Aside from the obvious the benefit of getting a nifty tour of a city, running with locals usually offers insight into the area that goes far beyond what I can read in a guidebook.

The Barcelona Casual Road Runners did not disappoint!

At Parc de la Ciutadella after a run
with the Barcelona Casual Roadrunners

Hubby and I joined the Barcelona Casual Road Runners for a fast-paced, ten-kilometer run the 29th.*
I should note that the word "casual" in the title reflects their attitude, not their pace!

On the run, we explored sections of the city that Hubby and I might not have seen any other way (and certainly would not have thought to venture into at night). While the run began and ended at the Parc (a fairly common tourist destination), the 10k route took us a bit off the beaten path. We ran through the Parc, along the beach, around a hotel and shopping center, past the Plaça de Colón (which is particularly beautiful at night), and through streets and paths back to our starting point.

Statue of Christopher Columbus
in the Plaça de Colón, Barcelona (by day)

In the days before we met up with the Casual Road Runners, we passed dozens of fountains (like the one below). Every street, it seems, has numerous statues with spigots. But until running with the group I didn't realize that people use these as drinking fountains. (This knowledge was key later in our trip after a very long, blustery, and dry hike up and around Montjuic with no other source of water in sight.)

Public drinking fountain in Barcelona

In addition to teaching us about the drinking fountains, the other runners filled Hubby and me in on Catalonian New Year's traditions, including L'Home dels Nassos (more on that later) and "lucky grapes."

At the stroke of midnight on New Year's clocks around Catalonia chime 12 times. Locals eat one grape for each toll of the bells. The intent is to eat the grapes one at a time, but also to finish by the time the 12th bell strikes. This sounds simple, but consider the volume of 12 grapes and trying to finish them all in 12 seconds...

If you manage to finish all the grapes by the time the bells stop, you will have good luck in the new year. So, of course, we made sure we had a bag of grapes handy at midnight on New Year's!

And speaking of food... Barcelona takes its pasta seriously.

An homage to pasta:
Giant galet statue on a street in Barcelona.

The traditional Christmas meal in Barcelona is not complete without escudella. The dish is a stew of several types of meat, vegetables, beans, and a special pasta known as a "galet." The pasta is so famous that it is used for decoration in store windows and there are statues of giant galets on the city streets.


If only I had a fork!

Running with the Barcelona Casual Road Runners = most informative way to run a 10k in the city.

*Note: The Barcelona Casual Road Runners meet at 8pm every Tuesday and Thursday evening, at the entrance of the Parc de la Ciutadella. If you're ever in Barcelona, I highly recommend dropping in to join them!

Streaking

I've always wanted to be a streaker!

Source: annadancefloor.tumblr.com via C on Pinterest

No! Not the kind of streaker that runs naked across a football field.
(Well, ok, that might a cool item to check off the Life List, too.)

What I mean is the more traditional definition of streak: "to move swiftly," or "to have a streak (as of winning or outstanding performances)" as defined in Merriam-Webster. (MW seems to also be ok with "streak" meaning "to run naked through a public place." Dirty dictionary! But I digress...)

I've read stories of people who have run every single day for 1, 2, 10 years. According to the United States Running Streak Association, there are at least 6 people in the US who have run every single day for more than 40 years.

And I wonder: How do they do it?

I run regularly, but I'm more of a 4 days/week runner. I rarely run back to back days. But then again, my running routine has been fairly constant for several years now... Maybe it's time for a shakeup? Which brings my back to my original point...

Runner's world is hosting a virtual holiday running streak. Runners are encouraged to log at least one mile each day from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. I'm down with all of this except for the New Year's Day run... The New Year is a special holiday for me, and I fully intend to be nursing a hangover on 1/1/12. I can't justify breaking my New Year's celebration streak (12 years and counting!) just to start another.

But streaking from Thanksgiving to Christmas day... That's mighty tempting!

So what do you think...
Is it time for a little streaking?
If you want to get in on the streaking action, leave a note in the comments section so we can keep each other motivated for the daily mile minimum!