BATON ROUGE - The time has come for the Louisiana Marathon's 10th anniversary and it's back in Baton Rouge this year.

"It was awesome. It's been a long time coming," said runner, Stacey Patterson. 

The event was originally scheduled for January but was pushed back due to COVID-19 concerns. To help prevent the spread of the virus, the races have new safety measures in place.

The streets aren't filled with spectators this year and each race begins with a staggered start, so runners will wait their turn before taking off. 

"Because of safety, they wouldn't allow spectators to hang around after to cheer people on who are coming across the finish line. But, normally there are people down the block like at a parade," said Patterson. 

It's Patterson's and Jay Byars' fourth year running in the Louisiana Marathon. They say one of the biggest changes is that there is no post-race festival to look forward to.

"It's nice to see activity once again in downtown Baton Rouge, but it's unfortunate that we couldn't have the festival because it's just a gorgeous day," said Byars. 

Even with guidelines in place, nothing could stop these runners from having a blast. 

"I think the camaraderie was the same. You still had lots of people out on the course, it's just we're used to several thousand people. It just wasn't as big, but as always it's a great course. It's a great run," said Patterson.

The race is one of the first large events to take place during the pandemic and brought back a sense of normalcy. 

The event will wrap up on Sunday.