Saturday, November 14, 2015 • Houma, LA • Course Map
Set for its 6th annual running here in this southern Louisiana city that lies just a short drive from nearby New Orleans, the Houma Heart & Soles Half Marathon will also feature a 5K for runners and walkers as well as a two-person relay race.
The race — which is organized by Houma’s Bayou Runners Association and sponsored by the locally-based Cardiovascular Institute of the South and Terrebonne General Medical Center, named for the parish in which the city lies and where the race takes place — takes runners on an out-and-back course that starts and finishes at Houma’s Civic Center, just off Barrow Street and just north of the Houma Golf Course.
Steeped in Cajun culture and surrounded by the natural beauty of southern Louisiana’s bayous, swamps, lakes and rivers, as well as the music, food and culture for which the region is so well known around the world, Houma also holds its own annual Mardi Gras festival (which is similar to, though of course far less well known than, those of its neighboring city New Orleans) each year.
The city also has served as the setting for a number of Hollywood films in recent years, including Robert Duvall’s “The Apostle” in 1996 and the 1999 release “Crazy in Alabama.”
Runners start and finish the race at the Civic Center (which lies, appropriately enough, on Civic Center Boulevard). From there, they head out first for a three-mile stretch that takes them northward along Barrow Street and then loops around Hondurous, Dunn and Main Streets before turning back onto Barrow and heading south.
The route brings runners southward all the way down Barrow to the city’s golf course, where runners make a clockwise loop around the course along Bayou Black Drive, Country Club Drive and Concord Bypass Road.
After another brief stretch heading north along Barrow, runners then turn left and head west along Bayou Black Drive, which they stay on and head along the river for the next three miles. Runners turn and cross over the river in Mandalay, and then head onto Southland Mandalay Road back eastward into Houma.
Race Weather & Climate
Located in southern Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish, just under 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, the city of Houma typically experiences mild to moderately warm temperatures and fairly frequent wet weather in the early winter season, as November average monthly temperatures range between 52°F and 72°F.
On the day of the race (Nov. 14), the average low is 53°F and the average high is 74°F.
Course Map
See the race route map for the Houma Heart & Soles Half Marathon here.
Starting Time
7:00 AM
Fees
See race website
Registration
To reserve your spot in the 2015 running of the Houma Heart & Soles Half Marathon or 5K race, register online at ChronoTrack.com here.
Official Race Website
Facebook Conversations
Ever run in the Heart & Soles Half Marathon? Share your impressions here, or post your review in the Comments below.
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