Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge
Jan. 20, 2019
4:05:20 358/890
Overall 1/13 in 65-69
During the week leading up to the
marathon, I kept checking the weather forecast hoping that it might warm-up a
bit; it never did☹Race morning was 35
with wind-chill of 27 and winds of 10-12mph all morning. I didn’t toss my
throwaway long sleeve shirt until mile 17 and it was still very chilly, but I
didn’t care by then. Interestingly it had been 68 when I got up Sat. morning
for my shake-out 15 minute run; I was drenched in sweat by the time I finished,
but at 8:00AM the skies cut loose with rain and thunder and lightning causing
the 10K to be cancelled and the kids’ races moved back to 10:00 when it was all
blue skies. But the temperature kept dropping all day and through the night so
that I wore tights for the race; one of the 4 or 5 times I’ve done that for a
marathon. I wore a stocking cap
and gloves the whole race, but the chill did preserve energy and liquid as I
wasn’t sweaty and my clothing wasn’t even wet when I finished.
I followed my running plan very well
with a comfortable start at right at 10 for first mile, 9:33 second mile and
9:18 3rd mile. My goal was to be in 9:10-9:20 range as many miles as
possible after that, and I did 16 miles at that pace. I ran a negative split
with my first half being 2:03:01. Interestingly there were two guys in my age
group who were at 1:59 in their first halves and they finished at 4:29 and
4:32. “The tortoise always beats the hare!” I was actually 5th at
the 10k mark and the guy who finished 5th at 4:32 was still ahead of
me at 18.
This ended up being my best marathon
time since CIM in Dec. of 2016, so I was very happy with the effort. The bad
news is that I ended up 20 seconds short of qualifying for Boston 2020. Looking
back, I can see that I needed to push harder in miles 24 and 25, but we had
turned into the wind and there was an overpass that took some time off, too. That
kick I used for the last 1.2 should have started earlier! You can see the tents
where I got my 1st place award and then BQ tent where I could have
claimed a BQ shirt, if only…
This was Marathon #163; 27
states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.
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(The description is roughly in order of the pictures.)Trip and picture info below:
My entry into Baton Rouge started at
the airport where there are photos of many famous folks from Baton Rouge
including Hank Williams, Tim McGraw, Bill Conti (Rocky Theme song which played
at our wedding😊), and Johnny
Rivers. At the expo there was a marching band that played many songs and of
course did “When the Saints Come Marching In”. Also, there was a presentation
of “Foodies” discussing their favorite foods and their restaurants. The MC has
written a book including many of these folks. While walking downtown I
discovered a library that I “checked-out”.
You can see the rain coming down in
buckets; cute to see a rubber duckie on dash in car in my motel parking lot. (BTW,
I didn’t need ice bath after this marathon; it was 26.2 miles of ice-cold
weather.) My waffle at breakfast Sat morning had the Saints logo in the middle
of it. And note the gas at Exxon was $1.91; great to be away from the exorbitant
California taxes. After the rain let up, I went to visit the race start/finish
areas which were near to the old and new state capitols. I learned a lot
touring both buildings. One of the key characters in 20th century LA
history was Huey Long. He was a true “populist” and mover and shaker with very
mixed opinions about him. He died from bullets that ricocheted from his bodyguards’
shots when a disgruntled man took a swing at him. The docent there explained the
full story to me. Interesting to look at the newspaper clippings and, like
today, the NY Times had the story
completely wrong and said that it was an assassination.
I got to visit both of their legislative
houses and then go to the top of the capitol building. Thanks to Huey Long’s
influence, it is the tallest of all the state capitols. I ran into a couple
from San Jose and talked to them because he was wearing a Santa Rosa
Half-Marathon jacket. Going to the observation deck provided views in all directions
which were great to see. Loved seeing the oil refineries which help pump the
energy of progress.
There was a food festival both Sat
and Sun following the races so I checked them out Sat afternoon. Nothing there
that I wanted to eat before the race, so I headed over to the LSU campus
where I wanted to see the famous and impressive football stadium. Next to it
are also the Pete Maravich basketball arena and the track. Fun to see some of
their famous football players from the past. I had a delicious spaghetti dish
for pre-race pasta. Post-race I tried some jambalaya and gumbo from the food
festival. Dinner was the real treat with ribs and steak from TJ’s Ribs which
was conveniently across the street from my motel. And I treated myself to their
Pecan Meltaway which was delicious and, I felt, well-earned! 😊 For breakfast
Monday morning, I had to go to the Waffle House which is a fixture in many southern
states. I was able to get grits there to go with my eggs and waffle.
I found out from Becky Cox (her and
Dave’s daughter, Abigail, graduated from LSU) that there is a live Bengal tiger
housed on campus and that I had missed it on Sat. So, I set out on a quest
Monday morning (thankfully it was MLK holiday so no traffic on campus) to find
Mike, the Tiger. And there he was in his zoo outdoor setting between the
football stadium and basketball arena. I was so close to him on Sat taking a picture
of his statue, but didn’t know to look for him until Becky told me. It was
great fun to see Mike XI; the first Mike lived from 1936-1956. I also got to see many more plaques of famous
players on the side of the stadium I had not seen on Sat. You’ll see such stars
as Odell Beckham, Charles Alexander and the old Green Bay Packer Jim Taylor.
The biggest star is Billy Cannon, the 1959 Heisman winner.
Across the street is the also very
impressive baseball facility. The neighborhood around campus is an older
neighborhood as you can see. And nearby is also an old plantation that I
quickly toured before I needed to catch my afternoon plane. The privy with dual
holes and the cramped sleeping quarters reminded me how much better we have
things today.
I got home late Monday night so
everyone was in bed except Charlotte who was glad to see me and had been
wondering where I’d been the last few days.
