NEW ORLEANS (AP):

LINING UP for the Mardi Gras Marathon in the shadow of the Superdome and a blasted-out office tower offers plenty of reminders of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

Almost immediately after the August 29 storm, my wife Miranda and I signed up for this race, hoping by February there would be a place for us to stay, eat and run.

About 1,000 marathoners, and 2,000 other walkers and runners, hit the road at 7:00 a.m. Sunday to witness the hurricane's wrath first-hand and show support to the devastated city.

Organiser Bill Burke sold the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometres) race as a way to help the city and show it has reopened for tourism, even if that includes visiting disturbing scenes of wrecked neighbourhoods.

CRAZY IDEAS

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS - Mardi Gras, New Orleans

"People had all sorts of crazy ideas, like do they need to run with a gas masks, do they need a tetanus shot, do they need to bring their own trailers," Burke said.

Flying into New Orleans, Miranda pointed out the airplane's window at a landscape peppered with bright blue tarps, telltale signs of ruined homes and temporary fixes. On the ground, it was possible to briefly forget what had happened here.

The race began downtown and in the French Quarter, which survived Katrina and subsequent flooding reasonably well.

The first real shock came seven miles (11 kilometres) later, when the course veered briefly into the Gentilly neighbourhoods. Along street after street of abandoned homes, watermarks reached the top of windows.

The buildings looked more than flooded, more than abandoned. They looked like roasted shells.

CREEPY SENSATION

Mardi Gras scene.

The sensation turned downright creepy on Banks Street. The water marks seemed even higher, and the quick flashes of sun through the tree branches amplified the gloom.

"So many ruined homes, and all empty, it's so sad," said Margarita Scott, a 45-year-old nurse from Raleigh, North Carolina. "After you see a few streets like that you start choking up, even though you're running."

At mile 20 (kilometres 32), I gulped some water and my cousin Kyle Galloway joined me for a stretch. Kyle's introduction to college life started in the fall by checking into his Tulane University dorm room at 9:00 a.m., and being evacuated three hours later.

He couldn't return until January, and the experience convinced him he wants to become an engineer specialising in flood control.

WEIRD ACTIONS

One problem ­ his cash-strapped college is shutting down their engineering program. Instead, he is applying to engineering schools in Indiana, to study for the prevention of any future catastrophe in New Orleans.

"It's weird," he said, "but if that's what it takes, that's what I'll do."

Churning into the home stretch, the runners looped around the Superdome.

Brendan Menahan, a New Orleans native, crossed the finish line first in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 44 seconds. Karen Voss of Great Britain was the first women at 3:11.08.

I finished a bit later, around 3:27. I don't remember exactly. I was delirious at that point.

Still sucking wind, I made a promise: The next time I come here, I'm not going to run a step. Any physical punishment will come from good food, good music, and absolutely anything to drink but Gatorade.