My review is for the Quarter Marathon only. I believe that the half and full marathon are sponsored by a different local organization and that the sponsorship for the 5k and Quarter Marathon may have changed since the 2016 race, so those factors might have come into play with what I experienced this year.

First, let me say that I was SO EXCITED to run this race. All I've ever heard are rave reviews of the half and full marathons and of the after party. This is my hometown marathon, so having started running only a year ago, I trained for this and was ready to go.

But what a disappointment. My primary complaint had to do with the lack of course support. While the course itself was quite nice (I mean, it's Baton Rouge, so there's only so much to see in terms of scenery), there were only two water stops on the course, both within the first three miles. After that, I don't know if the stops ran out of water or if no more stops were planned, but we were on our own when it came to hydration. This made for a miserable experience considering that the heat and humidity were both so high that the race officials had been issuing heat advisories for a week beforehand; I would think that they would have offered more water stops if only for safety reasons and to cover themselves in case anyone got sick or passed out from the heat.

My other complaint is that, after hyping the food and after party, I got to the finish line and there was no food except the same jambalaya they serve at every Louisiana event. Most of the food village appeared to be completely shut down. I was far from the last person to finish my race (I think I finished right in the middle of the pack), and the kids' run had yet to take place at all, so I would be very surprised if I had simply missed out on all of the food. Considering the time they spent publicizing the food experience in the weeks leading up to the race, I felt cheated out of the food that I thought I had paid for, and it was not what I wanted to have happen after an already very unpleasant race with no water stops or course support after the first half of the race.

My overall impression was that the race organizers really only cared about the fastest runners, the elites and the runners at the very front of the pack. Again, it was hard to tell if they just blew off the planning for the 5k and Quarter Marathon (maybe the shorter races are just a money maker for them?) or if they ran out of water and food (which would still indicate some seriously terrible race planning.) But as a newer runner who is working hard to participate, run the whole way, and hopefully PR, I felt insulted and unwelcome at this event. I genuinely don't think I would do this race again, although I have heard wildly different reviews of the Sunday races (half and full marathon) this year, so if I were able to work up to a half marathon, I might consider giving this race weekend another shot. The half and full marathons apparently had amazing course support with tons of water stops, gels, etc. and an incredible after party with more food than they could even eat, which only makes me angrier about my crappy experience.

Oh, and just in case all of this weren't frustrating enough, the half and full marathoners were sent a survey after the race to collect their comments, while the quarter marathoners weren't even asked for their input. That's why I'm venting my frustrations here.

I do want to mention a couple of positives. The expo was small compared to some of the other races I've done, but there were a lot of interesting exhibitors and a lot of really nice and unique Louisiana Marathon swag for sale. The race shirt is to die for... super soft, attractive enough to wear out but also super comfortable to sleep in... I would honestly purchase a dozen of them if they were willing to sell them to me. The medals were pretty nice, too. Also, a big shout out to Abita beer for participating in this event! It was so nice to get some post-race beer from a local brewery instead of having to settle for Michelob Ultra, and given how thirsty and hungry I was, I was thrilled to have some good beer to make up for it. They even had their Sweet Orange seasonal on tap... thanks, Abita! <3