I have so much love for the Louisiana Marathon. I know I have only run three so far but this is by far my favorite. And will be a tough one to beat! It only seems right to start with the Expo. Packet pick up was super easy which is always a plus. The expo itself had a lot of good vendors there and not as crazy expensive as the Honolulu Marathon expo was. One thing I loved that the LA Marathon did was they had all kinds of things to purchase with their logo on it - blankets, t-shirts, visors, wine glasses, pen, pint glasses, coffee mugs, coasters, etc. Very neat! So of course I got coasters and a pint glass!

Ticket pick up for the pasta dinner was pretty easy too. But the pasta dinner was AWESOME. The food honestly was mediocre. I don't have anything bad to say about the food but nothing overly exciting either! But Bill Rodgers spoke and then so did Matt Long. Both of them were amazing. Matt's story is simply amazing and he is such an inspiration! I got to meet both Bill and Matt at the end of the evening which was PERFECT! I bought Matt's book and both him and Bill signed it. Needless to say this marathoner was happy!

The start of the marathon was 7 am and they asked everyone to be in the corral by 6:50am. Getting to the start was easy and parking was easy (which is always super nice!). It was so neat when you approached the state capital building where the start line was they had a light shining on it with the logo and name of the race! I thought this was super neat (Pic on left)! They asked everyone to courtesy corral - which I appreciate. It is always no fun to be darting around those much slower then you for the first couple miles.

The course was absolutely beautiful! Crossing the bridge and both the beginning and end was fun and a beautiful sight. The landmarks, lakes, houses, everything was simply beautiful. My only complaint was that miles 15-22 was an out and back through a residential area mostly. I wish they had this part first because it was the most boring part of the race and if it was first I think it would have been a bit easier. That being said crowd support throughout the neighborhood was amazing. The people of Baton Rouge throughout the entire course was AWESOME! They had awesome signs, a guy with a kong that him and runners would hit, people blasting music, etc. All of the crowd support made the race that much more awesome.

The race was very well supported also. Aid stations with powerade (I do wish they used something else, I am not a huge fan of powerade, but I drank it anyways), water, port a potties (Every mile!!) where about every mile. GU/Shot blocks where given a little less often but still very frequent. EVERY MILE. Awesome support the entire marathon. Also the course was very well labeled. And of course one of the most important thing - volunteers - they were amazing!

I would without a doubt run this marathon every year if it was closer to me. I will definitely recommend it!

The finish festival was pretty neat. Each runner got a wristband with 10 punches on it for free food and drinks. There was a lot of options and it was super neat that they had a lot of vegan friendly options. I know that the race went out of their way to ensure they had vegan options also - major plus. The only complaint I have is for those who finished after 4:30 there was not a lot of food left. They need to work on this for those who finish later next year. If you have a 7 hour cut off - food should be around still for those.