BATON ROUGE - Mardi Gras is right around the corner, so to get in the carnival spirit, the Capitol City held its annual Mardi Gras Mambo event.

Some runners showed up as early as 6:30 a.m. in order to get signed up and ready for their run.

While Louisiana isn't known for hills and mountains, Tyler Dawsey, a 15k runner, struggled a bit from the dips and curves in the road.

"It was rough. It was rough," he said. " Normally, Louisiana is flat, but they figured out a way to get some of these hills up and down and around. So it was a little tougher than I thought it would be for sure."

While Dawsey enjoyed the run, the real reason he did it was for the prize after the race.

"If I'm not lying, I just did it for the King Cake," Dawsey said.

Mardi Gras takes place February 13th.