Mississippi Blues Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Started out a little slower on the first mile than I wanted to. My plan was to stick around 8:00/mile or so then gradually push it. From mile 2 on I did pretty much that. I trained on the course a few times so I was familiar with most of the hills. Key word: MOST. There were some hills in Belhaven that weren't easy.

I was able to stay pretty even paced through miles 2 through 10. With 5k left I decided to use what I had left. Those last 3.1 miles were faster than I thought I'd be able to do. The good news there is that I never felt out of control. My arms, legs and head weren't flailing around and I didn't stumble across the finish. I cruised in to the chute and I think I even gave a bit of a smile for the photographer.

I decided to carry my own hydration (water & NUUN mix) and nutrition (1 GU). The great thing about the aid stations was that some had GU and all had water/gatorade. I'm not a fan of slowing down to grab and drink at the stations so I relied on what I was carrying. It paid off I think but I really should start using the stations.

I enjoyed negative splitting the course, I felt good at the end. But it makes me wonder if a faster pace held throughout the race would've had better results. Regardless, I am very happy with this performance. I also think I need to get more comfortable using the aid stations.

I didn't really warm-down unless you count heading to the airport for our ski trip. But the 3 days of skiing afterwards were nice!


If you run and you live in MS (or even if you don't!) then you need to run this race. Sure I loved it because it was my first half and the biggest race I've been in but it was still great. The volunteers were awesome. The bands and drumlines were a nice touch. Everything was perfect (even the weather). I will run this again.