Going to Jackson, Mississippi

 Mississippi Blues Marathon

Race date: January 27th, 2019

This was not my favorite race for a large number of reasons.  The biggest being running 26.2 miles with an injury.  Mine happened to be medial tibial stress syndrome, AKA: Shin Splints.  They hurt a lot, so much to the point I thought I would not finish this race.  Getting the bias in check while writing this post took some effort.

Jackson has southern charm that you would expect when traveling below the Mason-Dixon line.  This is also a smaller southern city (I should note my expectations of a southern city are Charleston, Atlanta, & Savannah) so don't expect a sprawling megalopolous with a ton to do.  Do expect some good food and libations.  Caroline and I met up at the usual airport hub with pre-arranged flight times.  Went to the race expo - where there was a shipment delay with the shirts (oh no!!!).  This wasn't a big deal.  The smaller expo happened to be less than a half mile from the hotel. 

Then moving forward to the pre-race meal.  We dined at The Manship and had libations here.  I was like a school girl when I saw Stone Brewery's Xocoveza available.  We ate, imbibed, and took and Uber back to the hotel.  

Marathon planning tip: watch the weather.  The evenings around this race are a bit chilly, hence taking an Uber one mile back to lodging.

Moving forward to race day: It was chilly.  Make sure to have throw-away layers.  Lululemon happened to be a race sponsor and have drop-off boxes on the course.  The promise was to bring these items back to the finish line to grab at the end of the race (unless you wanted everything donated).  

This race is small - not a bad thing if you're not a fan of large crowds - and is also a preference of mine.  My starting line complaint was having the marathoners through 5Kers start at the same time.  There could be more organization as I almost tripped and stumbled into a few walkers at the start of the race.  Keep in mind, I am not a particularly fast runner and steam rolling people at a starting pace of 10:00/mile just does not feel right.

There is plenty of entertainment for the non-elite athlete marathon runner in the form of collegiate bands, bringing out the inner band-geek in me.  

One of my sticking points was the lack of motivated volunteers & signage to direct a turn for the half and full marathon runners.  This was the only time I missed a turn off and accidentally added another mile to the distance run for the day.  Apparently I am not the first person to miss this, nor will I be the last (with the 2019 course).  

The police officers assigned to the course were awesome as well and great motivators to the runners. You would easily be greeted with a smile for saying hello or thank you to any of them on the course.  Then there are the race signs since crowd support was meh.  

One other thing to consider with this race are flight options.  Flying to & from a place like Hartford limits options into and out of the area.  Departing and landing from Boston expands flights home but adds to drive time and cost of parking.  Crossing the finish line was already a task due to injury at 5:36:30. Caroline was waiting in the car - ready to go to catch her flight. Post race shenanigans were a bit limited here.   

Travel expenses:

Hotel room was split, so roughly $100 each person

Race entry: $115 

Flight: Expect to pay $500 for a smaller airport plus parking

Rental car was split, so roughly $20 - $50 per person

Uber: varies.  

Dining while traveling: Expect at least $100 - $200 per person

Estimated cost for the weekend: $1000 for travel, lodging, food, and race entry fee.  Keep in mind, the cost of lodging and a rental were split.

Curious about the gear, pros and cons? 

Here is a readers digest synopsis of my experience with this race:

Shoes: Altra Paradigm 4.0

Compression: A sleeve purchased from a large on-line retailer

Pros: Small race, great entertainment, southern charm, race shirt

Cons: Starting line was not organized, not having flashier signs for the half and full split

Race injuries: Ran with shin splints and cried a bit on the course

Rating: 3 out of 5 running shoes due to limited flights into and out of the area, poor labeling for the half and full split, and starting line.  I'm a one and done here.  Police support and collegiate bands were awesome!