The Louisiana Marathon & Half Expo

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all have a great start to your week!

Last night, I returned home for a very productive weekend at the Louisiana Half Marathon. Tomorrow, I’ll recap the race itself but today, let’s start with the Expo!

Let me tell you, from the first time I ran this race in 2013 to now, I’m AMAZED at how much this event has grown! I was impressed with 2013’s Expo but was even more with this year’s event! Major kudos to the Louisiana Marathon for continuing to expand and grow their event…I loved it all!

Ok…back to the weekend. It all started on Saturday morning. I woke up around 7 a.m. to finish a few odds and ends around the house. I realized I couldn’t find my ipad and I immediately panicked. I was 90% sure I didn’t leave it at work but then again…I might have. After tearing the house apart, I decided to drive to work (about 40 minutes round trip) and see if I left it there and guess what? I did. Whew. Crisis averted.

My parents met Kayla (my sister in law) and I at my house around 10 a.m. to begin our journey for Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Excited for new race adventures ahead!

After lunch at Cracker Barrel, we made it to Baton Rouge with only a little hiccup in traffic. The Expo grew so much this year that it moved locations from the hotel to the nearby River Center.

We followed the signage and found it without any problem!

#GeauxRunLA was the official hashtag for the weekend and it was displayed everywhere!

The entrance, not the actual expo itself. I just liked the sign!

We studied the course map for a while, then headed on into the Expo floor.

After locating our bibs (we thought Kayla’s was lost and we all had a moment of panic), we took a few pictures in front of the backdrops!

My parents were confused! Teehee!

I finally got a coffee mug (yay!) in the official gear shop (they ran out during 2013’s event) and I was so excited!

The same company that makes Raw Threads shirts was also the company that made the Louisiana Marathon’s official gear merchandise (the stuff for extra purchase, not the official race shirts)! I thought that was pretty neat!

Time to shop!

Kayla and I both tested out an electric foam roller and oh my gosh it was incredible! It’s called the bff and was really impressive!!

We also stopped by the Sweaty Bands booth because we both had to add to our collection (of course)! The ladies at the Sweaty Bands booth were so excited to see our Raw Threads shirts, they snapped pictures of us and text them to the Raw Threads people (who were at the Star Wars Half in Disneyland)!

After hanging around the Expo for about two hours, we headed to our hotel for check in.

My Expo loot. Stay tuned for a post on an amazing Expo find that pandora lovers will fall in love with!! :D

After a little deliberation, we finally decided on dinner at Whole Foods. All of the area restaurants had super long waits and Whole Foods had pizza, so Whole Foods won!

We also topped our dinner off with a little Frozen Yogurt (a pre-race ritual for me)! It was delicious, too!

We returned to our hotel and I laid out all of my clothes for the race the next day, then said goodnight!

Thoughts of worry and doubt kept creeping in my head because of the sickness I was dealing with. To top off my Friday’s Urgent Care visit, steroid shot in one hip and antibiotic shot in the other, a stupid croupy cough set in on Saturday and I just knew it was going to hold me back.

However, I didn’t dismiss the idea of trying for my goal of a Sub 2 Half Marathon anyway. Y’all, this girl is stubborn. I determined to hang on as long as I could and if I had to drop off at the end, then oh well. Did I reach my goal? Stay tuned tomorrow to find out (or you can check out my instagram and facebook because you’ll find it there, too)! :D Even if you do, still come back tomorrow to read about my race experience! It’s definitely a race to remember! :)

Does your local hometown have a Half/Full Marathon event? Tell me about it, I want to hear! I love hearing about new (to me) races!