I signed up for the Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon for $50 over a year ago through a Groupon. This was before I had done a marathon. As the time approached, I decided I didn't want to train for a marathon in the winter and dropped it down to the half which was very easy to do - at the split at about 12.5 miles, you just follow the signs for half marathon!

The Expo: Parking downtown is expensive and difficult. I thought I scored some street parking (where a bunch of others were) but came out to a parking ticket to learn there was no street parking. Lesosn learned! I would suggest walking from your hotel if it's nearby, taking the street car and walking or taking uber. The expo itself was like any other expo. You had to go all the way through it which irritates me. It's like getting off a ride at Disney World and being forced into the store afterward.

The Start:

Getting to the race start at Lafayette Square is pretty easy. If you are in a hotel anywhere downtown it's easy to walk. We took an Uber from Mid City and we were dropped off practically right at the start line. There was plenty of room to roam around. They had a different start line for 10k vs half/full runners, but you could all mingle together on the square which was great because I had friends running the 10K. They even had water and bananas at the start which was a nice surprise. They had plenty of porta potties as well. I did not feel any chaos or stress beforehand.

The Race:

If you are running in NOLA, run in the middle of the road. Their roads are awful and if you run on the sides, you'll be running on a slant and really mess with your ankles. There were points that some of us ran on the dirt where the streetcar tracks were. Now, I don't know if this was "legal" but there were many people doing it and it saved my body with a nice dirt impact.

This was my first Rock n Roll race. I was expecting more bands and more exciting music. The best band was a high school jazz band playing some peppy stuff. The best music was some of the spectators bringing their own music!

I felt like there was plenty to look at almost the whole way. I love the buildings in NOLA and there was a lot to see.

After running through the French Quarter and turning on Esplanade, while the buildings are beautiful, it is a long stretch. Then you get to a point where you go through a construction zone and then under an overpass and NOLA starts to lose it's charm. Luckily after that, you get closer to City Park and it regains it's charm again.

The temp changed about 15 degrees between the start and the finish of this race and I felt it. They had very adequate hydration and aid stations, but I still felt the impacts of the heat. At about mile 12, one of the runners said, "This sh*t ain't fun no more!" and I had to laugh. There are no hills except for a baby bump that is the bridge that takes you into City Park. Flat is good except you keep using the same muscles over and over with no change in terrain. Once I hit that bridge at mile 13, my legs were like, "you want me to do what?"

The finish line was well organized with plenty of hydration and food (I couldn't hold it all!) Lots of entertainment and plenty of room to just sit in the grass and listen to music.

The medal was a fun NOLA medal with beads. The shirt ran small so consider that when ordering! When leaving the race, the walk through City Park is beautiful! Take some time to enjoy that if you can!

While I'm not typically a fan of "chain" type races, I have to admit it was organized and well put together.