Beth Crowe's Staging Area

Make no mistake about it, Louisianians love to throw a party! The crowd support during this race was mind boggling——we ran through a lot of neighborhoods and there were so many families who set up tables of all kinds of water/gatorade/pickle juice/snacks—yes, even King Cake! I even passed one table of mimosas, screwdrivers, and some of other beverage that I can’t remember now; beer shots were also available at another table! Great signs; cowbells, claps, cheers, lots of kids helping out, so many police officers directing traffic/manning the intersections.
There were several miles from about 15-21 where there were two lanes of runners—-the ones running out and the ones headed back to the finish. After a very scenic first half, this made the less scenic second half more interesting and motivating to runners as they saw friends in passing and as they didn’t want those passing them face to face to see them walking. 🙂 The course was relatively flat for most runners at 282 ft total ascent (I live in Baton Rouge though and my runs typically have less than 50 ft total ascent so it was hilly for me!!) and 26.53 miles according to my Garmin readings (I did try to run the tangents and not waste any steps although I did swing by most of the water stations). The post race food of gumbo and jambalaya was so cultural and fantastic. The serving sizes were small but you got 5 tickets so I had plenty to eat.
It was so cool that they had “paparazzi” staked out to take pictures especially since I was alone at the race with no one take pictures for me. Though I had my bib on the outside of my clothing at all times, none of my pictures showed up in my profile because my bib had scooted over a little sideways with my fanny pack. But, I did find my pictures after painstaking searching through all the photos for about two hours! Also, when each runner crossed the finish line, an announcer said their name and hometown over the loud speaker—–that was fun to hear!
The race t-shirt is soft and cozy and I will definitely wear it. I didn’t sign up for the race until 8 days before race day and they were sold out of all the adult sizes except small. A couple of days later, I saw the race was capped so I’m very glad I got in—— I didn’t realize I was in jeopardy of not being able to register! I was waiting to the last minute just to make sure I didn’t get sick or injured but I won’t do that next year.
Recommendations to make it even better next year:
1. Offer something other than beer to drink at the after party. I don’t like beer and I would have loved some chocolate milk or a Coke to drink. (I looked everywhere but didn’t see anything to drink but beer. I did get a water bottle at the finish line itself but I was sick of water by that point.)
2. Give a specially designated “Finishers” jacket to each marathon finisher. It’s great marketing and bragging rights—-a win/win for everybody!