On December 15, I ran the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon. This race is run along a coastal highway
called Beach Boulevard, starting near Henderson Point and finishing in
Biloxi. In the early 90s, I made two or
three trips to Biloxi for work. I used
to get up early and go for runs along Beach Boulevard before work. I liked the idea of running a marathon along
this same route.
I flew into Gulfport on Saturday. This is the same airport I used to fly into
for business trips. From there, it’s
about 15 miles to Biloxi. The fastest
route to my hotel would have been to take I-10, but I drove to the coast and
took Beach Boulevard instead. The drive
along Beach Boulevard gave me a chance to see how much the area has changed
since I was last here.
In 2005, Biloxi was hit pretty hard by Hurricane
Katrina. Deb and I were in this area in
2007 and drove this same stretch of Beach Boulevard. Along that entire stretch of highway between
Gulfport and Biloxi, I only saw one building that wasn’t visibly damaged. Most of the buildings were completely
destroyed.
When I worked here in the 90s, tourism was becoming a big
part of the local economy. The two main
attractions were the casinos and a white sand beach that ran all along
Mississippi’s gulf coast. In 2007, I was
pleased to see that the communities along the coast made an investment in
cleaning up the beach.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, state law didn’t allow casinos
on land, but there were several operating on barges that were docked at coastal
piers. That was a legal loophole. After Hurricane Katrina, the casino owners
said they would only rebuild if the law was changed to allow them to build on
land. Recognizing their importance to
the local economy, the state legislature changed the laws. In 2007, we saw casinos under
construction. Today, there are several
large casinos operating in Biloxi and nearby communities.
Today, everything along the coast looks normal. Some buildings were rebuilt. Many others are new. They look different now, but I wouldn’t know
that if I had never been here before. In
particular, you can’t tell that this area was completely destroyed 14 years
ago. Some of the historic buildings are
missing, but the area has bounced back economically.
The host hotel for the marathon was the Beau Rivage Resort
& Casino, but I stayed at a Doubletree hotel that was about a quarter mile
away. It was easy to see when I was
getting close to Doubletree, because it’s right next to “The Loop.” That’s what they call the ramps where I-110
meets Beach Boulevard.
After checking in at Doubletree, I walked over to the other
side of the freeway to pick up my race packet at MGM Park. MGM Park was the race village. It’s where the marathon and half marathon
both finished. It’s also where I needed
to catch a bus to the start on the morning of the race.
After dropping off my race packet at the hotel, I walked
over to the old Biloxi Lighthouse and Lighthouse Pier.
Later, I walked over to the Beau Rivage Resort &
Casino. I don’t gamble, but I was still
curious to see what the place looks like.
Biloxi didn’t have casinos like this 15 years ago.
I was here at the right time of year to see their Christmas
decorations.
I had dinner at their Italian restaurant. Their marinara pizza has shrimp. You can’t go to the gulf coast without having
shrimp, and I can’t go anywhere without having pizza.
I went to bed early, in anticipation of getting up
early. I slept well for a few hours, but
then I woke up and had trouble getting back to sleep. My hotel room was unusually noisy. I could hear sounds from both inside and
outside the hotel. Outside, there was
traffic noise. Inside the building,
there was some type of mechanical noise.
My room was right next to the elevators, so that might have been
it. Finally, I heard a train at 2
AM. Even with earplugs, I couldn’t tune
out all the noise.
Time seemed to be passing slowly. I’d toss and turn for what seemed like an
hour or two. Then I’d look at the clock
and only 20 minutes had passed. My alarm
was set for 4:15, but I got up at 4:00, so I would have more time to get ready.
At Doubletree, they always give you a cookie when you check
in. I saved mine to eat as a light
pre-race breakfast, along with a cup of tea.
The course was point-to-point, so I had to take a bus to the
start. At 5:00, I walked over to MGM
Park to board a bus. We got there around
6:00 for a 7:00 start. The first thing I
did was wait in line to use a port-o-potty.
Then I got back on one of the buses.
The buses weren’t going to leave until after the race started, so we
didn’t have to wait outside. While we
were waiting, we saw the sunrise.
The temperature was in upper 50s. That suited me just fine. My only concern was wind. If there was a wind off the coast, we would
be exposed to that. We were running in
the same direction for the whole race, so how the wind would affect us depended
very much on the wind direction. We’d
feel it from the same direction for the whole race.
I had several good race results in September and October,
culminating in a time of 3:21:48 in the Chicago Marathon. Since then, all my races have either been on
challenging courses or in tropical weather.
My training has gone well, and I had surprisingly good results in Cuba
and Myanmar, despite the heat. I was
curious to know how fast I could run on a flat course in cool weather. My goal was to beat my time from Chicago.
About 20 minutes before the race started, I removed my warm-up
layers and checked my gear bag. Then I
got back on a bus until the police blocked the traffic on Beach Boulevard, so
we could walk over to the starting line.
There wasn’t a pace group close to my goal time, so I was on
my own to set the pace. I generally
prefer to start with a pace group and go ahead on my own after the first
mile. I’m good at staying on a
consistent pace, but I’m not good at finding the right pace.
I accelerated until the pace felt a bit tiring. Then I eased up until the pace felt too
easy. I went back and forth a few times
in the first mile.
I could feel the wind.
It wasn’t a strong wind, but it was definitely a headwind. I wasn’t sure how much it would affect
me. I had to get a few miles under my
belt first.
I wanted to average about 7:40 per mile. My first mile was 7:31. I knew that was too fast. As I was starting the second mile, a runner
from South Africa recognized my Comrades shirt, and we started talking about
Comrades. I felt I should slow down, but
I wanted to keep talking to him. That
problem was solved when we reached an aid station. Slowing down to drink caused me to go a
little slower in the next mile.
In the second mile, we left Beach Boulevard to run on Scenic
Drive, which is a residential road that runs alongside Beach Boulevard. Along Scenic Drive, we were surrounded by
trees. That gave us some shelter from
the wind, and I didn’t notice it as much.
For the next few miles, my average pace was just a little bit faster
than my goal pace of 7:40.
After about four miles, we returned to Beach Boulevard, and
I noticed the wind again. After another
mile, my mile times deteriorated. Over
the next several miles, I slowed by about 10 seconds per mile. Running any faster was too tiring. I realized the wind was making the pace more
tiring than it would be normally.
Beating my time from Chicago wasn’t a realistic goal. I wasn’t sure what was. Even after slowing down, I still felt like
the pace was going to wear me down. For
the time being, I took it one mile at a time and kept all my mile times under
eight minutes.
At most races of any size, you’ll see spectators holding up
signs with amusing and/or motivational messages. My favorite from this race was, “You’re
tougher than a Waffle House steak.”
After eight miles, we ran through the central part of Long
Beach. I saw a tall flagpole with two
flags. Watching how the flags were
blowing in the wind confirmed what I already knew. It wasn’t a strong wind, but we were running
directly into it.
At times, I tried to run behind other runners in hopes of
drafting. To do that, I needed to match
their pace. It helped a little, but not
enough. The pace was still too
tiring. I usually had to drop back to a
slower pace, even though I noticed the wind more. In a larger race, I could’ve tucked in behind
a big group of runners. This race wasn’t
that big. We were already getting spread
out along the road.
Another runner asked me what my goal was. I said, “At the start of the race, it was
3:21, but I don’t think that’s realistic in this wind.” That’s not what he wanted to hear. He was hoping to break 3:20 to get into
Boston. He eventually sped up to follow
another runner who passed us. I had to
let them both go. I knew I wasn’t
breaking 3:20.
Although I had given up on 3:21, I didn’t initially set a
new goal. I just didn’t know how much
more I would slow down in the second half.
I felt like the wind was gradually wearing me down. I was still keeping my mile times below eight
minutes. If I could keep that up, I
would break 3:30.
They had aid stations every mile. I didn’t feel like I was sweating much, but I
still drank a small amount of Powerade at each aid station. In fact, I was sweating more than I realized. The wind made my sweat evaporate quickly from
my skin. That not only kept me cool, but
also kept my skin dry. Later in the
race, I noticed that my shorts were saturated with sweat. It might have felt cool, but we were still
running in high humidity.
The middle miles were in Gulfport. At the halfway point, I was still roughly on
pace to match my Chicago time. I knew
that wouldn’t last much longer. I fully
expected to run positive splits. The
only question was by how much.
There was a half marathon that started in Gulfport and
finished in Biloxi. Just a couple of
minutes after passing the 13 mile sign for the marathon, I saw the one mile
sign for the half marathon. If they were
simply running the second half of the marathon course, I wouldn’t see their one
mile sign until after our 14 mile sign.
That sign wasn’t an aberration. The relative placement of the mile markers
for the two races was consistent. At
some point later in the race, the two courses had to diverge.
Since the beginning of winter weather at home, I’ve been
doing most of my training on a treadmill.
My treadmill stops after an hour and 40 minutes, so I typically run as
far as I can comfortably run in that amount of time. It’s usually about 12 miles. With 12 miles to go, I was able to tell
myself that what I had left was something I do almost every day. That would’ve been more helpful if I was
confident I could sustain a consistent pace.
I still didn’t know how much longer I could keep my mile
times under eight minutes. I was taking
it one mile at a time, but each mile was more difficult than the one
before. I grew in confidence that I
would break 3:30, but I wasn’t willing to set a more aggressive goal. I didn’t know if the wheels would come off at
some point.
We constantly had views of the beach on our right. One mile along the beach doesn’t really look
that different from another. For
familiar landmarks, I had to look for the buildings and the piers.
Somewhere around 17 miles, I ran under a pedestrian
bridge. I remembered driving under this
bridge the day before. When I came here on business trips, I used to go for morning
runs, starting at my motel and going out and back along the beach. There was a pedestrian bridge that I would
look for. My turnaround point was just
past the bridge. This bridge looked different, but I think it's in the same location. I think they had to rebuild it after Katrina.
At some point, I realized I wasn’t noticing the wind as
much. It seemed like it wasn’t as bad
for the past few miles. No sooner did
that thought enter my head than the wind picked up. It wasn’t going to get easier.
The next time I saw a flag, I noticed a difference in how it
was blowing. We were no longer running
directly into the wind. Now it was at
about a 45 degree angle. That was the
good news. The bad news is the wind was
much stronger now. On balance, it was
more tiring than before.
With about six miles to go, I ran past Beauvoir. This was the estate where Jefferson Davis
lived from 1875 to 1889. This was
definitely a familiar landmark. I
remember running past here during my training runs in the early 90s. There used to be more of these large historic
homes, but many of them weren’t rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.
In the late miles, I started noticing pressure building up
in my intestines. At times, I wondered
if I could make it through the whole race without a bathroom stop. Some of the aid stations had port-o-potties,
but I worried that once I stopped, I would never get back onto the same
pace. Just before 22 miles, I reached an
aid station with port-o-potties. The aid
station was next to the street, but the port-o-potties were a short distance
away in a parking lot for the beach. Had
they been right next to the street, I probably would have stopped, but I
pressed on.
As I passed the 22 mile mark, I realized I could slow down
all the way to nine minute miles, and I would still break 3:30. I was running out of fight. The wind was wearing me down, and I was
momentarily tempted to just go easy the rest of the way. So far, all my mile times were under eight
minutes, and I continued fighting to maintain that trend.
I wasn’t even to 23 miles when I saw the Biloxi Lighthouse
in the distance. It didn’t seem like it
was more than a mile away. As the crow
flies, the lighthouse is no more than half a mile from where we would
finish. I knew we left Beach Boulevard
for an out-and-back near the end of the race, but I didn’t think it would tack
on that much extra distance. As I got
closer to the lighthouse, it became painfully obvious that we would still have
more than two miles to go when we passed it.
Mile 23 took 8:01.
Keeping each mile under eight minutes had been my focus since the sixth
mile. Now that was gone. Breaking 3:30 was in the bag. I was on pace for 3:25, but I needed to
average eight minutes per mile the rest of the way. Even with my best effort, I didn’t think I
could do that. I allowed myself to ease
up a little.
Shortly after passing the lighthouse, we reached The Loop. Here, we left Beach Boulevard to follow the
ramp onto I-110. I knew we were going to
do an out-and-back on the freeway before returning to Beach Boulevard. I thought it would be shorter. As I started up the ramp, I still had 2.2
miles to go.
The ramp was the first noticeable hill in the race, but that
wasn’t what made it tough. The turn was
banked, making it uncomfortable.
Everyone I talked to after the race agreed that that was the toughest
feature of the course.
Eventually, we stopped turning, but we were still
climbing. We got high enough that I
could look down into MGM Park on my right.
We continued along I-110, past the ballpark. Eventually, there was a turnaround for
runners doing the half marathon. Those
of us doing the marathon had to continue much farther before turning around.
I checked my time at the 25 mile mark. It was still possible to break 3:25 with a
strong finish. The pressure in my intestines
was worse now, so I didn’t want to rock the boat by trying to speed up.
I didn’t realize it, but we were going downhill now. When I reached the turnaround, I saw we had
to go back uphill. I definitely wasn’t
going to break 3:25. Still, I didn’t
completely give up on it. I did my best
going back up the hill.
Earlier in the morning, it was mostly cloudy. Now there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The temperature was in the 60s now, and the
sun was at a higher angle. As long as we
were running into the wind, I never felt hot.
This out-and-back section wasn’t into the wind. For the first time in the race, I felt hot
and sweaty.
I eventually crested the hill and started running down the
ramp to Beach Boulevard. Here, I was
able to pick up my pace a little. I
turned onto Beach Boulevard and ran past the south side of MGM Park. Then I made a left turn and ran along the
east side of the stadium.
At the 26 mile sign, I checked my time. For the first time, it was absolutely
obvious. I couldn’t break 3:25. With the pressure off, I relaxed a little.
There was one more sharp turn before entering the
stadium. It was almost a U-turn. Then I ran onto the baseball field and around
the warning track until I got to the finish line. I finished in 3:25:12.
The finisher medal is in the shape of Mississippi, but the
artwork also features palm trees and a crab.
My first priority after finishing was finding a
bathroom. I looked around, but didn’t
see any port-o-potties. As I walked past
the medical tent, I stepped inside. I
said, “I’m OK, but I need the closest bathroom.” One of the volunteers pointed to where the
stadium bathrooms were. I had to walk up
the stadium steps, but it was worth it. The stadium had real bathrooms.
They had a variety of post-race food and beverages. The food was all hot. They had pasta, jambalaya with shrimp, and
pulled pork sandwiches. The beverages
included beer, water, Powerade, and a protein drink. On our race bibs, we each had six tear-off
tags for food or beer. The people
serving the food weren’t collecting the tags, so some people got as many as six
beers. I had two cans of Coors Light,
but I was far more interested in the food.
After eating, I retrieved my gear bag. In the morning, I needed my warm-up
layers. After the race I didn’t. I stayed in the finish area for a long time,
talking to friends, and I was perfectly comfortable in shorts and a
T-shirt. It turned into a nice sunny day.
I went to the results tent, where I discovered I won my age
group. My award was a poster that I
haven’t unrolled yet. I’ll wait until I
get it home.
While I was eating post-race food, I was in a position to
watch runners who were still doing the out-and-back. I saw two of my friend and later met them in
the finish area.
In the afternoon, I went over to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino,
which was right next to Beau Rivage.
They had a pizzeria that I wanted to try for dinner. They also had a sports bar, where I was able
to watch the Vikings game.
For weeks, I was anxiously awaiting an opportunity to see if
I could run faster now than I could in October in the Chicago Marathon. This wasn’t the right race to try. It’s a fast enough course, but the wind made
it too difficult. I’ll keep training and
wait for another opportunity.
Despite the wind, I enjoyed this race. There were a lot of positives, and it was
nice to see the Biloxi area again.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 3:25:12
Average Pace: 7:50
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
394
Mississippi Marathons/Ultras: 4
Boston Qualifiers:
130
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