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New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon Runner Comments
Back to New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.2 
Organization 4.2 
Spectators 3.5
Number of comments: 315 [displaying comments 111 to 121]
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p. j. from memphis
(2/7/2009)
"Water... Gatorade... beer!" (about: 2009)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Easy, no surprises half marathon! Well organized, but the after-race food area was in a really tight space. Loved the option to run between the tracks in the median on St. Charles. Soft on the feet and beautiful scenery. I'd have thought that New Orleans would have live entertainment along the way, but at least a few bars and houses had their music cranked up! Special THANKS to the guys standing outside their bar just past the last water table offering ice cold beer!!! Perfect pick-me-up for that last mile of so! | |
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M. S. from Memphis, TN
(2/7/2009)
"Great Race" (about: 2009)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I only ran the half marathon. Course is flat and perfect for PR. It's impossible to get a flatter half-marathon course. There are no hills. Fan support in the first half was average. Nothing compared to the big races (New York, Boston, etc.), but better than I expected. I had no problem with crowds or streets. At 7:40 pace, there was plenty of room to find smooth roads. Seeing the crowds heading back down St. Charles after coming out of Audobon Park (the turnaround), I can understand why people are complaining about the crowds and roads, but I was never crowded and had no problems. It was much, much less crowded than the NYC Marathon. My wife also ran and thought it was great. We stayed in the CBD and it was only about a half-mile from the start/finish, so we just walked to and from the race. We did not stay for the post-race festivities, as we had reservations to Commander's Sunday Jazz brunch. Overall, the half-marathon is a well organized and on a great course. You cannot get a better course for a PR. | |
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B. B. from DFW, TX
(2/7/2009)
"Great race" (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Run this marathon if you want: 1. A flat, good course 2. Fun city for before and after 3. Ease of getting around, to expo, to Quarter, to start and after, to airport, etc. (no bus rides like NYC or Boston, no waiting for hours, no crowds) 4. Intelligent organization 5. Wave start 6. Plenty of aid stations, with GU, food, and even alcoholic drinks (!) at most or all in second half 7. Good hotels within walking distance 8. Good enough crowds 9. Chance to BQ (I did) | |
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C. F. from Minneapolis, MN
(2/6/2009)
"Very fun course!" (about: 2009)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Overall, the comments about Bourbon Street are expected but I would rather run on a wet surface than on a surface covered in whatever was on it before being cleaned. I really expected more fan support but the enthusiastic few made up for it. I LOVED the course - super flat, super fast - and I ran way faster than I thought I would and came within 5 minutes of my PR. Great scenery, and you get a real feel for the city. | |
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R. M. from New Jersey
(2/6/2009)
"Not perfect, but very, very good" (about: 2009)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 New Orleans was my 9th marathon. And it was one of the most enjoyable ones. It helped that it was a beautiful day for a run. The temp was about 50 at the start and maybe 60 by the end. It was also overcast most of the way, which I always appreciate. I find that the sun can be rather draining, even when the temps aren't too high. The course is almost perfectly flat. The only hill of any note is a bridge over a highway around Mile 16, and it wasn't really bad. I'd say conditions were set up just about perfectly for a run at a PR, but my training just wasn't there for it. Oh well. The course scenery was nice, with a run down Bourbon Street and then an out-and-back to Audubon Park and Tulane University. It got a little more boring in the second half, but it's hard to have 26.2 exciting miles. The second half did include a run around City Park, which wasn't bad. The race was well organized, even if the amenities weren't exactly off the charts. The race shirt was a rather boring, white, long-sleeve tech shirt. Frankly, I would have preferred the blue, short-sleeve tech shirt given to the half-marathoners, or even the green one given to the 5k runners. The goody bag from the race had no schwag other than ads for other races. No energy bar samples, or chachkis with sponsors' logos on them. That was a little disappointing. The finisher's medal was very nice, though. And the post-race food was fine. Subway provided sandwiches, although for some reason mine tasted funny to me. Red beans and rice were provided, as well as some other local New Orleans flavor. Perhaps most importantly, the beer truck was still fully in service four hours after the start of the race, and there was no limit on the amount of beer that could be had - without a long line! That combination is a first for me. Overall, I give the race a big "thumb's up," even if there were little things that could be improved. And of course, it's New Orleans! That means there's plenty to do around town if you want to make a long weekend out of it. It was one of the more enjoyable marathon weekends that I have experienced. | |
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M. M. from Illinois
(2/5/2009)
"Fun course, great race" (about: 2009)
3 previous marathons
| 1 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was a fun race with an amazing course. First half was amazing scenery through the Garden District while second half had a little more variety and showed off different neighborhoods. Upsides: Great fast course, running through the French Quarter and Garden District, perfect weather, lots of beer, and red beans and rice following the race. Downsides: Expo didn't have everything and had to find a running store afterwords to get supplies (but, NO is not a running town, I don't think), could have had more variety and more local food (no Subway) for post-race. It took nearly 30 minutes to turn off Poydras St. into the parking garage, start was a little bit of a crowded mess. | |
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R. S. from New Orleans, LA
(2/5/2009)
"Even better than last year!!!!" (about: 2009)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 WOW!!!! I ran this race in '08, and I enjoyed it enough to do it again in '09. My biggest complaint was the smell around Bourbon St. WOW, did they ever take care of that!!!! Bourbon tends to smell like Saturday night on Sunday, haha. Well, not the morning of the race. There was soap on the ground; they made it a very nice this year. Last year I was a little disappointed with the lack of spectators as well. Again, not this year. HUGE support from people on the street. My criticism: It may be better to do the trip through the Quarter on the way back. It is definitely one of the highlights of the race, running through this area; it's just a bit cramped running through these narrow streets at the beginning of the race. Volunteers were great. Porta-johns were in short supply toward the last third of the race (at mile 17 I wanted to stop, but there was a line with 7 or so people waiting for 4 porta-johns). Aid stations were great. They had bananas and other solid foods, gels, sports drink, water... everything you could hope for. I didn't use the med-tents after the race, but it looked as though they were very well staffed. Music was great. Could use even more of it. I wish race directors would enforce headphone bans. Runners who use headphones cut other runners off, they often have their music turned up too loud, etc., etc. Overall, GREAT race. Look for me to PR again at Mardi Gras 2010. | |
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h. h. from MS
(2/4/2009)
"Good, flat course. Fun city." (about: 2009)
2 previous marathons
| 1 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 PROS: Well organized. Easy parking. flat course. Good crowds. Great first half to the race course, fun city, and a good medal. Good for novice marathoners like me. CONS: You run through a blighted neighborhood in the second half of the course. It was also a bit hot for me - 55-70 - and too crowded/slow in the tight French Quarter streets, with halfers mixed with marathoners. Subway sandwiches. NOLA has better!!!! | |
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D. B. from Mississippi
(2/3/2009)
"Great first marathon!" (about: 2009)
1 previous marathon
| 1 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was my first marathon and it was a blast. The packet pickup and expo were easy and everyone was very friendly to runners. I think the expo could have been bigger, but you don't come for the expo. The course was flat and everyone needs to stop complaining about the roads because it wasn't bad at all. Just like any city street, it has some cracks and loops, but nothing to stop you from running. The crowd support on the first half of the race is phenomenal, probably because of the half marathoners, but the second half is pretty boring. When you need the crowd support the most, there isn't anyone there. I suggest you bring family for mile 20-26. But if you're not worried about family, the RED DRESS aid station will get you through those last few miles. It was great and I'm very glad I did the Mardi Gras Marathon as my first. Great job, NOTC! | |
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B. Y. from New Orleans, LA
(2/3/2009)
"PR on a great course!" (about: 2009)
6-10 previous marathons
| 3 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I had a great time and set a huge PR! As a New Orleans runner, I've done the full or the half many, many times and it just seems to get better. I also did the 2008 edition, and I really love the new course. St. Charles Avenue is an attractive and interesting running route, and Audubon Park is always beautiful. The back half is a bit tougher in terms of scenery and spectators, but it's still very doable - and City Park pops up just as things start to get monotonous. This year, the volunteers, water stops, and organization were even better. Lots of porto-lets, and lots of GU and candy and fruit at the water stations. The volunteers are always fun and energetic, and the weather this year was great! I finally got my sub-4 with a 3:55, so I'm thrilled. |
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