Those who risk, win: Louisiana Marathon 2015

First of all, let me just say, this was the best marathon I've ever run. Plus, Ryan ran this as his very first half and did awesome. He finished in 2:35!
Everything about this marathon was awesome. Flat, nice scenery, and no super long stretches where you could see the faster runners coming back! There were a few points where you could see the people ahead of you, and the first and second place female finishers passed me in the opposite direction on one longer road, but that was it. Unlike MCM and Philly where you saw a lot of the faster runners coming down the other side of the road and realizing you still had 5 miles to go before you could even turn around again. Now, unfortunately, I did not beat the 4 hour mark. By the official time, I came in at 4:07. By my watch time, it was 4:02. The reason for the 5 minute difference is because I stopped my watch at the two bathroom breaks I took, and obviously the clock doesn't account for that. But still, 4:07 is a half hour PR from my last marathon, so that's pretty good. I do realize that if I hadn't started quite as fast or if I hadn't decided to walk through the remaining water stops after mile 18, I definitely would have broken the 4 hour mark. However, it was a little hotter than I expected and my knee started really hurting around mile 17, so I decided then that it didn't matter so much about the time, as long as I made it to the finish eventually. Really, I did better than I thought considering the amount of walking I did for the last stretch. The whole marathon was really fun though. I would definitely do that one again!

Now I'm just going to overload you with pictures from the weekend. I took a selfie at every mile just to pass the time a little bit and I have to say that it really worked. This marathon definitely went by the fastest of pretty much any run I've ever done. Well, except for little 5ks and stuff!

Here's my Garmin map and a ton of pictures. Enjoy!