Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge

Jennifer Clark (MM15623, DA3643, HF16743)- Half #265 Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge is in the books!
January 14th was the date of this year’s Louisiana Marathon. This is my favorite race in Louisiana and honestly, on my list of favorites anywhere. Baton Rouge has a little bit of New Orleans feel (it is just an hour away), a bit of Cajun, a bit upscale since it is the Capitol of Louisiana, but also distinctly southern. Being the home of LSU, the town is vibrant with lots of entertainment and young culture.
The race weekend offers a 5k on Saturday and the half and full marathon on Sunday. There also are kids’ races on Saturday. Packet pickup is easy and the expo has the usual race support and related vendors, publicity for other races, and merchandise for the weekend races.
Race day dawned cool, clear, and crisp, perfect running weather. After taking some club pictures it was time to head to the start area. The race was led off by a large contingent of Ainsley’s Angels, a national organization that promotes the inclusion of special needs individuals in running events through the use of runners who push rider-athletes. Then we started the race with a wave start.
I have run this half marathon several times and it was mostly the same course (with a small change to avoid some road construction.) it starts in front of the Louisiana state Capitol building, then goes through downtown, residential areas, the LSU campus, around University Lake with some very nice homes, and back downtown to finish where we started.
Aid stations were about every mile and had water and Power-are. There were also quite a few interesting rougue stops which included several with Mimosas, Bloody Marys and beer, and several kinds of king cake. It is Carnival season, after all. The volunteers were awesome and many locals turned out to cheer everyone on.
The course was well marked and easy to follow. There were plenty of super polite police officers and volunteers making sure the roads were open only to runners.
The course has a lot of big old beautiful live oak trees, so lots of shade. The weather was super nice with lots of sunshine and a high that warmed into the 60s after the cool start, which made for great running!
Louisiana Marathon is known for its after-party and great samples of Cajun dishes and beer. I enjoyed several bowls of gumbo, jambalaya, and some Abita beer too.
Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon (in Biloxi in December) and the Louisiana Marathon are owned by the same company. If you do both races consecutively you get a Challenge Medal called Beach to Bayou. There are also challenge medals for doing the 5k and half or full during the weekend.
I’m already making plans to be at next year’s Louisiana Marathon. Come join me!!