This is fun race that's kind of a tradition for our family. We've run it now 4 years in a row and we always push the boys in the stroller for it. It's a great fun race always around Mardi Gras, with a Mardi Gras theme and even special awards for the best costume. What makes this race every year are the super cute medals and the GREAT after party. Tons of good food and the king cake flavored cake balls are to die for. I always grab several after the finish line.

Pros:
- SUPER cute finishers medal for ALL race distances - even the kids one mile fun run. The medal design just keeps getting better and better.
- Decent race t-shirt - long sleeve cotton with a cute Mardi Gras graphic.
- Relatively flat course around LSU and the LSU Lakes.
- GREAT post race festival = lots of beer, food, and good music. Food ranged from Jimmy Johns sandwiches, pulled pork BBQ, gumbo, jambalaya, and king cake flavored cake balls.
- KING CAKE FLAVORED CAKE BALLS!!
- There's a costume category, so lots of fun costumes on the course.
- Parking was very easy and stress-free in the garage right by the race start.

Cons:
- The roads were pretty bad this year. They ran us down one road that was all torn up for construction. If you weren't paying attention you could easily step off into a huge hole.
- Lots and lots and lots of walkers. Add that with the road construction = very narrow running path which lead to lots of boxing in.
- The water at the aid stations was warm and tasted terrible. Like, out of a dirty garden hose terrible. Luckily we carried some with us in the stroller because it was really bad.

It was really cold this year, so we didn't stick around too long after the finish but it really is a fun party in the park. We will be back again next year to run it again!

We run a lot of local 5k's as a family, pushing a double stroller. It's a fun way to get out and get some exercise with the entire family. We signed up for this 5k for fun, but we really like to try and run the 3.1 miles as best we can. This 5k was pretty much impossible to run with a jogging stroller and I thought the course really failed to show the beauty of downtown Baton Rouge.

Pros:
- Great race medal. It really is a nice medal for a 5k. You don't get medals with 5k races too often so that was a nice plus.
- Nice cotton/poly race t-shirt with a good graphic.
- GREAT expo. This race shares the expo with the Louisiana Marathon and half marathon so it's huge. There were a lot of great vendors and speakers at the expo on Friday before the race.
- Parking was easy and abundant in several lots and garages around downtown.
- The Louisiana Marathon has an app you can download for free that gives you all the details you need for all of their races: 5k, quarter marathon, half marathon, and full.
- GREAT post race finish festival with tons of good food. Unprecedented amount of food for a 5k.
- Free race photos for digital download.
- This race was part of the "Deja Vu" series where you get a fun crawfish platter if you ran both Saturday and Sunday.

Cons:
- The course was pretty meh. You ran a couple blocks through downtown, hit a big overpass, ran down some really narrow residential/industrial roads, hairpin turnaround, back over the overpass again and then to the finish. The last mile was probably the most scenic as you came back into downtown.
- Some of the roads were really rough and narrow. That, plus the hairpin turnaround (and the big overpass) made manuevering with the jogging stroller very difficult.
- There was no race day bib pickup for the 5k. I understand that's a logistical nightmare for the larger races but it would be nice for the much smaller 5k. We live over an hour away so we had a lot of butt in seat time in the car driving to go pick up a bib for a 5k.
- Both the 5k runners/walkers and the quarter marathon runners/walkers started together so it was really congested and crowded at the start.

Neutral but noteworthy:
- There were a LOT of walkers up front at the start. Weaving and maneuvering around all the walkers (so many up front) was tough. It will really slow you down.

If you want to participate in the Deja Vu challenge for The Louisiana Marathon, or you just want to get out and have a fun morning at a 5k then this is a decent race. I'd suggest do it for the post race finish festival, if for nothing else. But it's definitely not one to try to go out and try to PR or run.

This was my second year running The Louisiana Marathon. I ran the full in 2013 and wow, have they improved it tremendously! I ran the half this year and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it. I even managed to snag a sweet little PR! I will definitely be running this one again.

Pros:

- GREAT expo. Their expo is comparable to any Rock 'n' Roll expo I've been to. So many great vendors with a lot of different products to check out and sample.
- Nice, soft, cotton/poly blend t-shirt. The graphic design is nice and I'd honestly wear this more than a tech tee.
- Abundant parking around downtown Baton Rouge close to the race start. We parked about 2 blocks away for $5. Can't beat that!
- There's a really cool race app you can download that gives you all the information you need for race weekend: Parking, start times, directions, even weather! I lived on that app. It was so well done.
- Pace groups are offered for the full and half marathons if you choose to run with them.
- Great race support all along the course with both the aid stations (almost every mile) and from the spectators. I saw so many great signs on the course. Spectators were offering donuts and champagne at one point. That's new.
- Nice scenery along the course through downtown, LSU campus, around the LSU Lakes, and through the neighborhoods around downtown.
- The after party is amazing. SOOO much good food! Jambalaya, mac & cheese, gumbo, chicken and rice, pulled pork sliders, and Abita beer. And there's a live band playing on the main stage. Felt good to just sit, eat, drink a beer, and listen to some good Cajun music.
- There's a separate vegan tent with several different vegan offerings too.
- They have a kids' area set up at the finish festival with face painting, blow up slides and bouncy houses to keep kids entertained as the families wait. Great idea.
- Plenty of porta-potties at the start and on course.
- Nice finisher's medal.
- Relatively flat course (one overpass and a few small, rolling hills). Great course for a PR.
- FREE digital downloads of your race photos. Not many races do that. Very classy.

Cons:
- The roads can be pretty rough. Lots of pot holes and cracks to dodge. I saw a couple of runners fall.
- There are no set corrals. It was a bit of a free-for-all at the start. You had to find your pacers and kind of line up with them.

All-in-all this was an amazing race and I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to run a half or full marathon in Louisiana.

Our 4 year old son loves to run the little one mile fun runs with us and when we saw that Louisiana Marathon was doing a special Kids Marathon we knew we had to sign him up. And then I found out there was a special kids medal! He's all about the bling. Ohh yeah.

This was a pretty big kids run and they were trying to organize the fields by age, but it was a bit like herding cats. It felt like there was a lot of disorganization and it was very difficult to hear the race directors trying to tell people where to line up. My biggest issue with this race was they dangerously put ALL kids running with their parents in the back with the little, little kids running with their parents. They really should have a separate corral for older kids "racing" with their parents and then a final one for little ones fun running with their parents. My 4 year old son seriously almost got ran over several times by bigger kids and adults trying to sprint the 1.2 miles. My husband had to pretty much body shield him and shoulder check a few people so they wouldn't bowl over my son. One more separate corral for the little guys would alleviate all that.

Pros:
- 1.2 mile course aimed mostly at kids. It was a really cute event.
- They color coordinated the kids by their age and sent them out in corrals 5 minutes apart.
- Kids running solo have a matching wrist band that their parent must wear to pick them up in the specially marked parent meet-up at the finish. I liked that added security.
- There's a great kids finishers medal. My son was so proud of his! I swear his medal was bigger than my 5k medal. It was great.
- Kids also receive a size appropriate race t-shirt. I love that they had actual kid sizes for the shirts. He proudly wore his to pre-school the next week.
- They have a whole kids play area at the finish with blow up bouncy houses, slides, face painting and games. This was a lot of fun and a great idea for families waiting around on the adult race finishers.

Cons:
- As stated before, it was pretty dangerous putting the big kids with parents in the same corral as the little kids with parents. They're running for different goals. I hated that my son was getting run over by these bigger folks. Please, please add another corral next year for the younger littles with parents.
- There was a LOT of standing around waiting time as they released the corrals 5 minutes apart. The race started about 10 minutes late and it took almost another 45 minutes for our corral (the last one) to get to the start. That's tough for a 4 year old to stand around, in the cold, and wait that long to run.
- You couldn't hear what the race directors were trying to say. Maybe more speakers around the start would help. Not being able to hear just added to the confusion.
- There was no race morning bib pick-up.

All-in-all it was a really cute, fun event and my son loved it. I think it could be a great event with just a few little tweaks.