The last few years I have limited my 5K race participation. However, I never pass up a chance to run a unique race venue. That is what the Saints Kickoff Run 5K was for me.

There is no expo. Only bib and shirt pick up the day before at the basketball arena in the new Orleans Business District. It was easy to get too and there was plenty of parking for the packet pickup. The medal was the Saints logo ( a black and gold fleur de lis) and the shirt was a middling quality performance shirt with "Saints" across the front. The shirt was white with black and gold accents. For a September race it was still very humid, but it is South Louisiana so it is expected.

Now the best part of the race, and the reason I ran it, is the starting line. The race begins on the 50 yard line inside the Super Dome. The owner of the team, Gayle Benson, several cheerleaders and a few past players were present at the start line. This was very cool!!

There was 5,609 runners for this race. The organizers broke the runners into several heats. Each heat began with a countdown and some pyrotechnics. Again, very cool. Now this is the only part of the race that was frustratingly disorganized. Each heat had its own section to sit in in the stadium. The jumbotron announced the heat that should be lining up at the starting line corral. It was slow and difficult getting from the seats to the corral because of bottlenecking. I ended up starting with two heats lower than my original placement. The route was a good view of NOLA's business district. It follows Poydras Street towards the river, left on Tchoupitoulas Street, cross Canal Street onto North Peters. You u-turn on N. Peters and return the same way back to Champions Square. The after party was in Champions Square outside of the Superdome. There was free, unlimited Dixie beer (a local brew). Basic post race snacks. Cold towels. A local cover band played as well.

Overall the race is worth doing at least once if you are in New Orleans or just a Saints fan because you get to start on the Superdome Field and the fun after party.

Race Time: 27:27 min.
Race Pace: 8:51 min/mi.

CHEERS!