re: Running University Lake - A Blessing and a Curse

That's what I'm here for: ideas. Generally speaking, it's likely advisable to run counter-clockwise along the lake (i.e. if starting from the Milford Wampold trail head, heading northeast along Stanford Ave. first) so that you're at least running against oncoming traffic during the dangerous stretch. But that still won't do much for you if a car veers two feet out of the lane closest to the sidewalk and takes you out in the process.

Another thing I've thought of is lobbying the City to paint some markings in the lanes closest to the sidewalks encouraging use of the center lanes if possible. But the last thing I'm advocating is making even more traffic bottlenecks in Baton Rouge, so this would simply be meant to encourage not require.

The best approach may simply be an awareness campaign. You have some interstate drivers who get over into the left lane when a car is pulled over on the shoulder and you have some who don't. But the more who know to do that end up doing it. A similar concept could apply here.

Finally, I'm sure we'll get some hardass who recommends not running along the Stanford stretch at all, but instead turning around and going back around the lake to turn your 5k into a 10k But when you're putting in 5k PRs, turning around and running another 5k is not exactly ideal.