Last weekend, I ran Louisiana Marathon, finishing just under 4 hours (3:58.45). The race weekend was a celebration for my dear friend Raj, from business school, for whom this was his 50th state marathon. Despite both of us running a lot and and having run together (sometimes … he’s very fast), we’d only done one race together before this.
About 35 of Raj’s friends and family descended – as a surprise for Raj – on New Orleans, for a weekend of festivities. While the race was the real point of the weekend, we also did a lot of other activities together as a group: dinners, exploring Bourbon Street, and taking an airboat tour, among other things. It was so amazing to see the community of support Raj has put together of the years and the people he has inspired with his running. Some friends and I had created a scrapbook to commemorate his accomplishment, with one page for each of the 50 states he has run a marathon in, and seeing the ways that his coaching, pacing, and support of his running friends has impacted their lives was incredible. To then get to meet many of these people – some of whom I had been in communication with for several months to plan this surprise – was such a treat.
As for the race itself:
Goal
No real goal for this race, because I had just run New Year’s One Day two weeks ago. In my mind I thought if I could do 4:00-4:15 that would probably be good.
Morning of
The race was actually in Baton Rouge, about 80 miles from where we were all staying in New Orleans. We drove 80 miles to the start. I was, as usual, quite nervous about parking and morning logistics, so we arrived probably earlier than necessary, but got a prime parking spot 2 blocks from start/finish and 30 feet from a coffee shop (warm, and with a bathroom) that we convened in.
Start
The start line was somewhat organized into pace groups, so after walking over together, we split up. Raj’s average marathon time across his 50 states is 3:05 – my average across about 40 marathons is 4:10 or something… so we weren’t about to be running together for any miles. Erin and Greg – two of Raj’s friends – and I headed back to the normal-speed corrals.
There was a countdown, then they let “Wave 1” start. Wave 1 was loosely defined as “people in the front 1/3rd of the pack.” 90 seconds later they let “Wave 2” start, which the three of us were in.
Race
Greg and Erin started a bit in front of me, and I decided I would catch up to them and see how long I could hang on with them. At some point, Greg took off, and I stuck with Erin. She was running a bit faster than I would have chosen for myself, but it was great to get to do miles together. Getting to meet her and swap running stories was the highlight of the race.
The first part of the course goes through LSU, so there were some scenic areas near lakes and with trees. The course didn’t feel too crowded at any point, so it was fairly easy to navigate.
At some point, she and I found the 2:00 half marathon pace group and stayed with them for quite some time. Whoever the pacer was for that group was doing a great job and holding really steady splits. While I wasn’t looking at my watch, there were enough people with mile beeps and who were announcing the pace that this could be easily verified.
When the 2:00 pace group split off to finish the half marathon, Erin, myself, and a couple other random runners found ourselves together for a bit. We caught up to the 4:00 pace group – which we gathered had gone out a bit hot at the beginning, but seemed to be settling in. This was a really fun part of the race. The pace group leader was really incredible and knew the course very well. He was able to give us good direction and guidance about the next turns and how to navigate the upcoming miles.
There’s an out-and-back section with a lollipop in the back half of the course. Erin and I got to see both Shaan (Raj’s brother) and Raj coming back. We cheered loudly for them (then apologized to the rest of the pace group for making lots of noise). Inspiringly, the 3:00 and the 3:10 pace leaders were both women – very rare to find women who can casually run that speed.
Around mile 20/21, Erin wanted to pick up the pace a bit, so we sped up. I was able to keep up with her for about a mile or so before falling back. The last few miles were a push for me, but I mostly maintained my pace and stayed ahead of the 4:00 group. There were a couple of rolling hills that slowed me down a bit. The best part of this section was the legal advertisement billboard at mile 25: “A hill at mile 25?! You may be entitled to compensation.”
Finish
A lot of the group were standing about two blocks from the finish line, so I saw most of them before finishing – just a minute or two behind Erin. We got some snacks at the finish line village. One of the tents was serving gumbo or jambalaya or something, and it was incredible. After taking our own picture, we walked back over to where the big group was and took a post-race picture with the whole group.
Afterwards
The race was great, but meeting Raj’s friends and family was really the best part. Aditi, Manja, and I had been doing a lot of background work together in preparation for this weekend, and getting to actually see them in person after many months was amazing. Manja has run marathons in about 20 states with Raj, so he had some great stories. Getting to run with Erin during the race was a massive highlight – she is on her 50 states quest, so we will do some races together in the near future. And of course, catching up with the man of the hour himself – Raj – was excellent, as we hadn’t seen each other for a while.
I’ve run marathons in about 18 states – I am not sure if I want to aggressively pursue doing all 50, but if I get to a tipping point where it makes sense, maybe I’ll think about it. For now I’m just going to keep running races that I like opportunistically. (This was my 47th state visited, so if anyone wants to run a race in Nebraska, North Dakota, or Ohio, please hit me up immediately).
This weekend was really fun. After running Mesa by myself a few years ago and being overall grumpy about the experience, I made a rule to only travel to races that friends would be at or that friends were running. This definitely checked that box and I’m so glad I went.
BRB Running 