Marathon #18 - Mississippi

Because running a marathon in all 50 states can become expensive (probably an average of about $1,000 a pop), I decided to do at least one marathon that was close enough to drive so I could try to keep the cost down this year.  Mississippi fit well into my schedule, so I chose the Mississippi Blues Marathon for my 18th marathon.  I signed up for the race as soon as I was finished with the back-to-back weekends and knew I wasn't injured.

I felt like I was taking advantage of all the volunteers along all the races I was running, and had only volunteered myself at two races in the past, so I decided to volunteer at the race expo for the Mississippi marathon the day before the race.  I figured I would just drive over early, volunteer, pick up my packet, go to dinner, and be ready to run the race the next morning.

Shortly after I had signed up for the Mississippi race, one of the 50-Staters sent out an email to the group asking if anyone was doing the back-to-back Mississippi/Alabama marathons (back to back on two consecutive days - Mississippi on Saturday and Alabama on Sunday).  I responded that I had planned on running Mississippi, but hadn't planned on doing the back-to-back....but that I could be convinced if I had someone to room with and split the costs.  She agreed, and the crazy goal of marathons on two consecutive days began.

The Race:  Mississippi Blues Marathon, Jackson, MS, January 11, 2014.  This race is a smaller race, with about 1,100 marathoners and 2,400 half-marathoners/relay runners.

My Training Plan:  Because I was doing back-to-back marathons, my training plan consisted of several back-to-back long runs.  When I had trained for the back-to-back weekends, I also did back-to-back long runs, but not quite as long as I did for the back-to-back days.  My longest weekend was a 22-miler (in 45 degree rainy weather - not the most ideal) right before an 18-miler.  I also did a 20-miler before a 15-miler.  I did these runs 3 and 4 weeks before the races.  My entire training plan, from the weekend after Las Vegas (eight weeks before) consisted of back-to-back long runs on weekends.  Even while tapering, I still did back-to-back long runs, although they were shorter.  For example, the last weekend before the race, I did an 8-miler on Friday, a 10-miler on Saturday, and another 8-miler on Sunday.

As far as my weekday runs, I shifted the mileage so that I wasn't increasing by more than about 10% week to week and every third week went down in mileage so that I wouldn't get injured.  So my weekday runs could be anywhere from 5 miles to 8 miles, depending on how far I was going during the weekend.  I only ran four days in any given week, with cross-training on other days.

Weather:  The weather for the race was nearly perfect.  The start was about 55 degrees and the finish was around 60.  It was sunny.  The wind was a little strong, especially toward the end.  But you almost couldn't ask for much better weather.

Running Attire:  When I saw it was going to be so nice, I decided on shorts and a t-shirt.  I did bring a throw-away shirt to wear at the beginning of the race, but ended up throwing it away by mile two.  I had my purple and pink shorts, Liz shirt, Delaware Marathon hat, iFitness belt, and Brooks Revenna shoes.  I chose the Brooks shoes because I don't like them as much as my Asics, and I wanted to wear the good shoes for the harder race the following day.

Who I Ran With:  As I mentioned before, a 50-Stater emailed me to ask if I wanted to run the back-to-backs.  Her name is Shirley Grimm, and she's from San Diego.  The race had pacers, so we decided to run with the 5 hour pace group - an hour slower than I normally run.  The hope was that if we ran an easy race the first day, we would have fresh legs (as fresh as you can have after already running a marathon) the following day.

Our pacer was Tom Perri from Minnesota.  He is extremely experienced, as most pacers are.  He has run 267 marathons and is in both the 50 States Marathon Club and the Marathon Maniacs.  He did a wonderful job of keeping us on pace and also provided us with advice about some other marathons in other states along with advice for how to successfully complete the back-to-backs, which he had done in the past several times.  It was great to run with him and with the group.

I met several other people along the way that were sticking around our pace.  Sherri Beermann from South Dakota is also a Marathon Maniac.  She ran with our group for a little while and finished shortly before us.  We met some girls from Dallas who stuck with us for awhile.  It was fun to be able to share race stories.

The Course:  HILLY.  That is the best word to describe it.  The hills pretty much never ended.  I honestly didn't like the course much.  The streets were everything they were advertised as - plenty of potholes and uneven surfaces.  There were a lot of slants in the road as well.  I was looking at my feet more than anything else to make sure I didn't fall, so I didn't notice too much of the scenery we were going through.

We did go through some nice, southern neighborhoods, and passed one lake along the course.  One of my favorite parts of the course was near mile 2 or 3 when we went through the college.  The college's marching band was playing and the dance line was dancing to encourage the runners along.

Organization:  The organization on this race was very good for a race its size.  The expo, while small, was nice.  I volunteered at the "trouble booth" for those who were either picking up for someone else, those who couldn't find their registration, or who had other issues.  Rob Simmons was in charge of registration, and knew almost every answer to every question.  He's been doing this for seven years, and was able to help almost everyone who had any problems.

The water stops were well stocked. I never had any problems getting water or Gatorade at any of the stops.  There were enough volunteers, and they were all very friendly.  I never questioned where we were going on the course.  It was well marshaled and marked.  The had two Cliff Shot stops along the way, although by the time we got there (the 5-hr paced runners), they had run out of most of the flavors.

There were a few negative things I would say about the organization.  The first is their policy to require a notarized signature if you are going to be picking up a race packet for someone else.  I have never seen this before.  Some races are very strict in that the runner is the only one who can pick up their race packet, but I have never seen where someone else can pick up for you, but only with a notarized signature.  And they were very strict with this rule.  No exceptions.

To counter that negative, they did offer race-day packet pickup to all participants who couldn't make it to the expo the day before.  The race-day packet pickup was convenient to the start and was an hour before the start of the race.  You have to get their early enough to get parking anyway, so if you couldn't be there in person to pick up your number, or if you didn't have a notarized signature, you could still get your packet the day before.

The other negative thing I would say is that the pre-race communication could use some improvement.  The website is beautiful, but it has no information on it!  There is more information about blues music in general than about the race itself.  We didn't get an email with any information ahead of the race either.  The Facebook page and Twitter did have some limited information, but overall, pre-race communication was lacking.  This is an area they can definitely improve upon.

Swag:  The swag was very good, as is typical for a smaller race.  The "shirt" was actually a fleece pullover.  There were some problems with the zipper with some of the pullovers, but I just put my zipper to where I can get it on and off and don't move it.  (This is another area of improvement for next year - the quality of the zippers on the pullovers.)  The race swag bag was a very nice tote with pockets and a separator in it.  There were several people who asked if they were being sold, as they weren't running the race, but wanted the tote bag.  We also got a blues music CD with music from some Mississippi local blues bands.  One of my favorite things was a harmonica with the race logo.  I gave it to my son as a gift from my trip when I got home, and he loves it.

One of my favorite things about this race is the medal.  This is not just any medal.  It was ENORMOUS, sparkly, shaped like a guitar, and comes complete with a pick.  Definitely my favorite medal of any that I have gotten thus far.

Starting Line:  The starting line was well marked and right in front of the place where the expo was held.  As such, people were able to get a good idea of where to park and how to get there.  Parking was free all around the start area on the day of the race.  We got there around 6, and there was plenty of parking at that time.  People getting there closer to start time may have had some problems, so I recommend getting there a little early.

With the race-day packet pickup, there were some places to go inside to keep warm before the start too.  We went into the museum where they were doing the packet pickup and sat around until it was about 15 minutes before the start.  The start line was easy to get into.  There were no corrals, but the pacers helped people to find the best place to start.  The race has chip timing, so it didn't matter how far back you started.

While I was inside staying warm, I got to meet Patrick House, the winner of the Biggest Loser's season 10.  I am such a huge fan!!

Fans:  The fans here are lacking.  If you are looking for a race where you have great fan support, don't come to Mississippi.  There were pockets of good fans, especially around the relay points, but most of the fans were looking for their specific racer and not cheering for the "random strangers."

Finish Line:  The finish line was fairly good for a small race.  They had a stage set up, but by the time us slow 5-hour marathoners came in, there wasn't anyone playing.  As far as food goes, they had red beans and rice, bananas and oranges, really salty (like give you a heart attack salty) tomato soup, and cookies.  They also had pizza, if you got there faster than 5 hours.  When we got to the food tent, there were about 10 pieces left, and they were taken pretty fast.  I feel sorry for those who were coming after us, as they didn't really have a good variety of food.

As far as hydration goes, they had plenty of water, but ran out of Gatorade.  They had enough chocolate milk, at least while we were there.  I don't know if they ran out of it later.  They also had some limited cans of Pepsi products as well as beer.

Results:  4:55:35  It's weird coming in at 5-hours or later, because it seems like the finish line atmosphere is completely different.  Most everything (food-wise) is almost gone and there are a lot fewer people who have stuck around to see the late comers.

How I felt:  I had energy the entire way, although toward the end I definitely could feel the toll that the pounding of the long time on the road was taking on my body.  My tendinitis even flared up a little bit in the last few miles, which it has never done before while going so slow.  But after the race, I felt fine.  I wasn't really sore much.  My left ankle was bothering me a little, but for the most part I felt good the whole race.  It's nice to slow down sometimes, enjoy the company, and just enjoy running.

Travel/Tourism:   I honestly wasn't in Mississippi long enough to do much of any touristy things.   The drive from Atlanta is about 6 hours, so not too bad.  I left early, so I missed Atlanta rush-hour traffic, and the road went south of Birmingham, so I didn't hit any traffic there either.  Shirley said the airport itself was easy to get into.

We stayed at the Fairfield near the airport, which had a free airport shuttle.  The hotel was nice, but didn't want to let runners have a late checkout.  The hotel was about 15 minutes from the start line, but it was easy enough to get there.

The drive between Jackson, MS and Mobile, AL had almost nothing.  It was either farmland or open space almost the entire way.  It was even hard to find anywhere to stop for bathroom breaks.

Not much to see in this state during our trip.  I'm sure there are things to see if you have time to stay in the city longer, but with the back-to-backs, there wasn't time to stop and smell the roses.