Riva Johnson's Staging Area

This race could have been so much better with just a little effort. The expo was easy to get to since it was held at the expo center. Lots of parking there but the expo was pretty small. It only took a few minutes to get shirt , bib and gear drop bag. Since the expo is outside of downtown, transportation will be needed to get there.

Race morning I was able to find free street parking about 8/10th of a mile from the start. It was difficult to find and get to the gear drop since the sidewalks were packed with runners and spectators. Not sure how the corrals were determined since the 3:50 pacer was in corral B but my time I entered was a little faster than that but I was assigned to corral C. Humidity was 96% at race start which was difficult coming from the desert. (obviously the race can’t control that) There was a fair amount of crowd support in certain parts of the course. Running through Churchill Downs was underwhelming. It was much more fun going to “Dawn at the Downs” the morning before where you could actually watch the horses training. The worst part for me was when you basically go by the finish line and watch all the half marathoners finishing and the marathoners still have to do a very exposed and boring out and back. You would think they could have found four miles somewhere else to add on so that we could all come down the last stretch and finish with the 1/2 marathoners. Post race food was almost non existent. A bag of pretzels, chocolate milk and a granola bar.

There was no information on age group awards. It was difficult to find anyone who knew about them. Finally found out that they will be mailed out which I find annoying. Have the awards made up ahead of time and since the race is chip timed, have them ready for people to take home.

I guess I just had much higher expectations for this one. Flying Pig was amazing with all the pig themed stuff and you would think that Louisville could put on something similar with the Kentucky Derby theme. It ticked off the state of Kentucky for me but I doubt I would do it again.

The Louisiana marathon was a very nice race experience. Communication leading up to the race was clear and provided lots of useful information. The packet pick up and expo although somewhat small still had what was important: vendors to purchase last minute gels, body glide etc, booths for a few other races, race logo stuff to buy, and so forth. Race day there were lots of porta johns, bag drop right by the start and plenty of room to run to warm up. The course itself was very well marked, lots of police support blocking intersections, and many locals out cheering on the course. I would imagine on a year with warmer weather there would be even more folks out but it was quite cold (30’s) with 15+ mph winds which made for a chilly day. The course has a lot of turns (all clearly marked) and the streets are mostly concrete which could be felt by those who are used to running more on asphalt. The volunteers were great and the aid stations were numerous. I can’t speak to the after party since it was pretty chilly and I had to go catch a plane but I think if the weather was nice it would have been a super good time with all the bands playing. I would definitely recommend this race. The medals are great too and if you do their sister race in Mississippi, you even get a bonus “beach to bayou” medal too!