Hopefully, this review will describe a one-off experience regarding Rock n Roll’s (RnR) race management.

Originally, I registered (during early fall) for the full marathon, but I received an email (shortly after registering) stating that the full marathon would not be held this year. However, registered runners could register for a few selected Rock n Roll races or have their registration transferred to the half marathon distance. Ok, not a biggie to switch from running 26.2 to 13.1 miles. Hey, this would give me more time to enjoy the food and drink of New Orleans. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks before race weekend, we received an email telling us that the course would be significantly changed. Instead of running along the Mississippi River and through the French Quarter (you know, the things that New Orleans is associated with), we pretty much would be running along Lake Pontchartrain. I’m not sure if this was an issue with RnR, the City of New Orleans, or both, but I have to admit that I was very disappointed about this nearly last-minute change. This change was particularly annoying because it was made after most runners had booked their travel and accommodations. I guess they were going with the idea of it’s better to have these races rather than canceling them. However, I am appreciative that RnR provided shuttles taking runners and their guests to and from the New Orleans Convention Center and the start line (at the University of New Orleans). Also, the shuttles ran pretty frequently throughout the day. I did not have to wait more than five minutes for a shuttle in either direction, which was nice.

While I am somewhat of a fan of courses with a couple of turns or a U-turn here and there, this course had way too many tight turns (at least 15) in my opinion. In the original course for the full marathon, this section was supposed to be about 6 miles of the marathon. Basically, the organizers crammed a 13.1-mile course into a 6-mile stretch of a marathon's course. Because of the multiple turns, there were a lot of in and out components of the course, which is not a bad thing IF there is enough space for runners going in and coming out.

Having run multiple RnR half marathons, this course definitely was on the bottom of my list. While the pandemic may have prevented RnR from putting on a perfect (or near-perfect race experience), I do believe that the organization could have done a better job with its customer service.

To end this review on a positive note, the medal is pretty cool and the expo was nice.