LOUISIANA MARATHON
This morning I’d have normally been up for about 3 hours. Possibly more. While I don’t miss that specifically, I miss why. It’s the raciest of race days. Louisiana Marathon Race day. Yet today, there is no race. The Coronageddon has put a slight damper upon that. With the virus raging and the chance of a government imposed cancellation a real possibility, the FJR team made the hard decision to push it back two months, our confidence high that the extra time will allow us to produce the 10th version of this event.
This morning, I am sitting here thinking of all the “things” that have occurred over the last 10 years. The laughs. The stress, the skidding around the corner one block ahead of the leader to change the last turn on the course that was improperly marked and so on. Every time I reflect back to this day I think of year one and a near first year disaster.
On the Saturday afternoon of the first marathon, I was riding the course on my bike, re-marking and checking the mile markers. Our vision for grandiose mile markers hampered only by our lack of a way to secure them to anything. I was rounding the 6 mile mark through a blind corner when I nearly put crap into my pants. There, in the middle of the street was a backhoe and a crew of 6-10 guys...and a 4 ft wide by 100yd long by 5 ft deep trough running lengthwise on the street we were to pass through the next morning. I was dumbfounded.
I quickly asked to see who was in charge and a head popped out of the ground. It appeared no one was, but that this guy spoke the most amount of English. By most amount I’ll say a 13% level of understanding. This is being generous.
I informed him in no uncertain terms that this giant hole had to be filled. That I had literally thousands of people running over it in less than 24 hours. He replied with a “no fill, no fill!”. I replied back with “yes fill, yes fill!” This was going nowhere fast.
Pressed for time I made one last ditch effort and told him it had to be filled by the end of the day and I kept on riding the course. I called all of the powers that be that I could get on a Saturday, which was essentially the police. They had no record of any construction permits on that road and had no idea who the crew was or what company they worked for. Great!
I finished the course ride and didn’t tell a soul. I’m not the praying type, but I’m pretty sure some conjuring of the 8.6 lb baby Jesus happened that afternoon.
That evening, my friend Brent and I were driving the course looking for trees and things that were remotely close to the mile markers so we could adhere the 8 foot tall
mile markers to them and slowly driving the first half of the course. As we approached mile 6 I let him in on my secret. The course was blocked. He looked at me wide eyed.
“Can we just change it” he asked. I didn’t know then that this was a possibility but in reality I didn’t have the tools necessary to do it. As a Boston Marathon qualifier, the course is painstakingly measured (twice) and this measurement submitted to the USATF for a certificate. If we changed the course, we’d lose this certification. People had flown in from around the country for our first year event. We were risking a big pant shitting on year one, to me, the ringing of the death knell before we even had a chance to start.
As we got close, I wasn’t ready so Brent and I went around the corner for coffee. Slowly we made our way back on the course and rounded that blind turn one more time and....THE HOLE WAS FILLED!
In its place was a hump of gravel and dirt straight down the middle but were saved! The race would go on!
This morning. This is what I’m thinking about and hundreds of other memories of being able to bring this event to Baton Rouge. I’m thankful for the team that puts it on. My partners in this endeavor and the people who have worked to make it happen every year for the last decade.
This morning. Go get a run in. If you’re in Baton Rouge, maybe jump on the course and log a few miles. I know I’m going to hit this stretch of road and smile, and look forward to the tenth running on March 7, 2021.
Join us.
#hugsandhi5s
