On December 13, I ran the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon. I did this race last year, but this year’s race had a few changes. First, the area was hit by three hurricanes this year, so they had to make some minor changes to the course. Also, like all races, they had to make some adjustments because of COVID-19. Still, it wasn’t as different as I thought it would be.
This was by far the largest
race I’ve done since March. All of the
other races I’ve done recently had fewer than 100 runners. This race had hundreds of runners in the
marathon, plus there was a half marathon.
There was also a 5K race on Saturday, although that took place before I
arrived.
I flew to Gulfport on Saturday,
arriving in the early afternoon. My
hotel in Biloxi was right next to MGM Park, where the race finishes. Rather than take the freeway, I took a little
extra time so I could drive along Beach Boulevard, which follows the
coastline. That gave me an opportunity
to see how much storm damage there was.
I saw several piles of branches from damaged trees. I also saw some missing fence sections. I didn’t see any obvious damage to buildings
or other structures.
The route to my hotel
overlapped with the marathon course for about 10 miles. That gave me a chance to reacquaint myself
with landmarks I would see in the second half of the race. Most of the time, you have views of the beach
on your right. The most notable landmark
is the old Biloxi Lighthouse, which was just before I got to my hotel.
Last year, packet pickup was at
MGM park. This year, it was at a
pizzeria called Sal & Mookie’s.
After checking in at my hotel, I went to Sal & Mookie’s to pick up
my race packet. Besides my race bib and
T-shirt, my race packet included a cloth mask and a coupon for a free beer with
dinner at Sal & Mookie’s. Other than
airline snacks, I never had lunch, so after dropping things off at the hotel, I
went back to Sal & Mookie’s for dinner.
I spent the rest of the evening
talking with two runners I know who were both staying at the same hotel.
This race has a point-to-point
course, so I had to take a bus to the start.
To keep the buses from being too crowded, the organizers provided enough
buses that we could fill them only to half capacity. They also had us sign up for a departure time. I didn’t want to be on the last bus, so I
signed up for one that was 20 minutes earlier.
That meant I had to be outside MGM Park at 5:25 AM. Needless to say, I had to be up early.
Masks were required on the buses
and in the start area, but not once we started running. To ease congestion in the start area, we were
assigned to waves. Within each wave, we
stood six feet apart in the start corral.
I was in wave six.
My goal was to qualify for the
2022 Boston Marathon. I didn’t have a
qualifying time yet, and this was my first opportunity. The Boston Athletic Association still hasn’t
announced the date of the 2021 Boston Marathon.
All they know for sure is that it won’t be in April. They also haven’t made any announcements about
registration. Naturally, that means they
haven’t said anything about qualifying or registration for the 2022 race. Normally, the qualifying period would’ve
started in mid-September. I’ll be 60
years old for that race. It’s possible
they’ll change the qualifying times, but as far as I know, the qualifying time
for my age group will be 3:50.
I’ve been dinged up since September. If I could get a qualifying time in this
race, it would take a lot of pressure off.
Then I could take it easy until all my injuries heal. If I already had a qualifying time, I wouldn’t
have to worry if I temporarily got out of shape. With that in mind, I was going all-in on
getting a qualifying time in this race.
The last time I ran a marathon
that wasn’t part of a multi-day series, I ran it in 3:42. That was four months ago, but it seems like
it was much longer. Since then, I’ve run
a 20-day series and a four-day series. I’ve
had multiple injuries, and I’ve gained five pounds while taking time off to
heal. I’ve done enough training to stay
in shape to finish races, but not enough to stay in peak shape. Breaking 3:50 seemed like a real stretch,
particularly if we had a headwind, which seemed likely.
I ran the first race of the
Texas Quad in 3:56. It’s possible I was
holding back a little, knowing I had to race again the next day (and the next
two days after that). Today, I didn’t
have to hold back.
As the name implies, the entire
course is along the gulf coast. I’ve
done enough coastal races to know that they can be windy. Last year, we had a headwind, and it
gradually wore me down. As soon as we
were dropped off in the start area, I looked to see which way the banners were
blowing. It was a headwind again. The good news is that it wasn’t as strong this
year. Also, the breeze would help
counteract the high humidity.
To break 3:50, I needed to
average roughly 8:45 per mile. Normally
I would start the race with a pace group, or at least line up near other
runners going out at the same pace. With
the staggered start, I was on my own to establish the right pace.
As soon as I started running, I
took off my mask and put it in a zip-lock bag in my fanny pack. Then I put on my sunglasses. I couldn’t put this on before the race,
because they fog up quickly when I’m wearing a mask. While I was doing this, I was running at a
fairly casual pace. As soon as I
realized that, I accelerated.
I kept picking up the pace
until it no longer felt easy. Then it
started to feel slightly tiring. I
suspected I might be going too fast, but I didn’t know for sure until I finished the first mile. I ran it in 7:58. That was much too fast.
In the second mile, I relaxed
and let myself drift into a slower pace.
Midway through that mile, I reached an aid station. It seemed like it was too early to start drinking,
so I skipped that one. With the
headwind, I didn’t feel at all like I would get hot. I didn’t seem to be perspiring at all. I hadn’t even taken my gloves off yet. Although I slowed down in that mile, it still
turned out to be faster than I planned.
I ran that one in 8:20.
Early in the race, I noticed a
difference between this year’s course and last year’s course. Last year, we left Beach Boulevard to run for
a few miles on a residential street that runs parallel to it. This year, we stayed on Beach Boulevard all
the way to Biloxi.
In the third mile, I again
tried to ease up a bit. Midway through
that mile, I reached another aid station.
This time, I took a drink of Powerade.
Since I was still going too fast, I slowed to a walk while I drank it. Usually, after drinking, I’ll accelerate
quickly back to my previous pace. This
time, I didn’t feel as much urgency. I
ran that mile in 8:30. I was getting closer
to my goal pace, but I was still running faster than I needed to run.
Once I settle into a pace, I
usually keep pace with the runners around me.
I like to “run with the pack.”
Sometimes I make a conscious effort to do that. Other times, I do it without realizing
it. In my fourth mile, I inadvertently
sped up to 8:28. I realized that the
same runner had been in front of me for at least a mile. I think I was subconsciously matching my pace
to hers. I finally realized that I would
keep running too fast as long as I did that.
In my next mile, I made a conscious effort to drift backwards in
relation to the runners around me. That
worked. Actually, I drifted backwards a
little too much. I overcompensated and ran
that mile in 8:50, which was five seconds slower than my goal. Overall, I was more than two minutes ahead of
my goal pace, but I didn’t want to let myself get too much slower. In the next mile, I picked up my effort a
bit. I overcompensated again, speeding
up to 8:35.
After that I finally got my
pace locked in, but it was a faster pace than I planned. My next several miles were all in the 8:30s.
The aid stations weren’t much
more than a mile apart. The third time I
reached one, I skipped it. Then I drank
at the fourth one. I established a
pattern of drinking at ever other aid station.
During the seventh mile, I crossed
a timing mat. I wondered if it was the
one quarter mark. Actually, it was 10K. That probably would’ve been obvious if I had
looked at my watch.
For the first several miles,
the scenery was mostly the same. On my
right, I saw miles of endless beach, with the occasional pier. I didn’t recognize any of the buildings on my
left. I wasn’t as familiar with this section
of road. The only time I had ever seen
it was during last year’s race. After a
while, I started to notice something different.
The tide was going out. Beyond
the dry sand, I started to notice patches of wet sand that were exposed as the
water receded.
After nine miles, I evaluated
how I felt. Before the race, I had three
concerns. The first was my right knee. I injured that knee in August. Recently, it seemed to be getting much
better, but it started to hurt last Monday, while I was doing a tempo run on
the treadmill.
My second area of concern was a
tendon in my left leg, where my hamstring meets my pelvis. That’s been a trouble spot since the Running
Ragged 20in20 Series. I noticed it
during the first two days of the Texas Quad, but then, inexplicably, it didn’t
bother me much on days three and four.
The last area of concern was my
left knee. I felt significant discomfort
in that knee during the last two days of the Texas Quad. Both times, it got better after I ran far enough
to get warmed up.
Since the beginning of the
race, I had been noticing some soreness in that left hamstring tendon. It wasn’t going away, but it also wasn’t
getting worse. On the bright side, I
wasn’t experiencing any discomfort in either knee.
About 10 miles into the race, I
entered the city of Gulfport. Up until
now, there hadn’t been any spectators, other than aid station volunteers. Now I started seeing people who were cheering
us on. Some of them had signs. One sign read, “Count the Waffle Houses.” In this region, Waffle Houses are far more
common than any other chain, including McDonald’s.
As I got into the center of
Gulfport, the street got wider. Earlier,
there were two lanes, and one was blocked off for the runners. I wasn’t noticing much traffic. Now, there were three lanes in each
direction. Two of the eastbound lanes
were blocked off for runners, even though we could easily fit in one. There was only one lane for eastbound automobile
traffic. I felt bad for those drivers, as
there was much more traffic now.
Well before reaching the 13-mile
mark, I crossed another timing mat. It seemed
to be in an odd place. It was too soon
to be the half marathon mark. It was
more like 12.5 miles. It wasn’t until
much later that I realized it was probably the starting line of the half
marathon. I would be easy to assume that
their starting line was our halfway mark, but it wasn’t. The half marathon course deviated from the
marathon route near the end of the race.
The difference is about half a mile.
When I reached the halfway
mark, I saw that I had slowed to 8:55 in that mile. That was another mile where I was trying to
slow down, but overcompensated. Overall,
I was way ahead of my goal pace. At the
halfway mark, I was about three and a half minutes ahead of schedule. I was on pace for roughly 3:43.
It occurred to me that I could
slow down to nine minutes per mile the rest of the way, and I would still break
3:50. I didn’t want to do that,
however. I didn’t want to get lazy. This was a race, and I wanted to run the best
pace that I could sustain.
To that end, I constantly asked
myself two questions. Did the pace feel
tiring? Did the pace feel too tiring? The answer to the first question was always
yes. I always felt like I was putting
effort into maintaining this pace. The second
question was harder to answer. My gut
feeling was that my effort wasn’t going to break me. It seemed like it was sustainable for the
whole race, but I couldn’t be 100 percent sure.
It helped that I was half done
now. I had been running into a headwind
for 13 miles, and it didn’t seem to be wearing me down. At this same point in last year’s race, the
wind definitely was wearing me down.
While I wasn’t fond of running into a headwind, it wasn’t as strong this
year. In a way, this year’s lighter
headwind may have been optimal. The
temperature was climbing into the 60s, and the humidity was high, yet I didn’t
feel like I was getting hot. The wind
was keeping me cool enough. To be on the
safe side, I started drinking at every aid station. I didn’t feel like I was sweating, but
I probably was.
In the second half of the race,
I saw lots of familiar landmarks. The
section of Beach Boulevard between Gulfport and Biloxi is something I’ve driven
several times. More and more, I started
to feel at home.
In the 14th mile, I sped up
again. I once again began running times
in the 8:30s in almost every mile. I
only had one other mile that was slower than my goal pace.
After 17 miles, I once again
evaluated how I felt. I still felt some
soreness in my left leg, but it wasn’t getting worse. Neither knee was bothering me. Basically, I felt the same as I did after
nine miles. All things considered, that
was good news.
One of the familiar landmarks
was a pedestrian bridge over Beach Boulevard.
When I used to come to Biloxi on business trips, I would go for early
morning training runs along Beach Boulevard.
I started at my motel, ran to a pedestrian bridge, and then turned
around and ran back. The original bridge
was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. I
think this bridge was built to replace it.
It’s in roughly the same place.
As I passed under this bridge, I knew the next few miles would all feel
familiar.
I somehow missed the mile
marker at 18 miles. About the time I
expected to see it, I reached an aid station.
It’s possible the sign was near the aid station, but I was too focused
on drinking to notice it. I had to wait
until 19 miles to check my pace. When I
got there, I saw that I averaged 8:35 for those two miles.
Another landmark I recognized
was Beauvoir, which was the last home of Jefferson Davis. I used to pass this on my training runs. Soon, I recognized a pier that was near the
motel where I used to stay.
At 21 miles, I started to
notice some discomfort on the outside of my left knee. This is one of the trouble spots I worried
about. It wasn’t a sharp pain, and it
didn’t seem to be interfering with my mechanics. As long as it didn’t get worse, I would be
OK. At the same time, I realized that I
no longer seemed to have any soreness in that tendon that had been bothering
me. Maybe it just took a really long
time to get warmed up.
On that note, I realized it was
getting warmer. The sun had come out
from behind the clouds. Before, the wind
seemed like a mixed blessing. Now I knew
it was the only thing that would keep me from getting hot.
At 22 miles, I noticed a tall building
in the distance and realize it was the Beau Rivage casino, which is across the
street from MGM Park. As the crow flies,
it was only about two miles away, but I would have to run four miles to get
there. The course has a few turns in the
last few miles.
I saw the sign for 22 miles,
but somehow forgot to check my watch. I
had to wait for another mile before I could check my pace. When that happens, I usually pick up my
effort. I’m always afraid I’ll start to
slow down and not know it for two miles.
Now I could also see the Biloxi
Lighthouse in the distance. That made me
hesitant to pick up my effort too much.
As I told another runner, the lighthouse marks the end of the “easy”
part of the course. After that, it gets
more tiring. I wanted to have a little
extra gas in the tank when I got there.
I still picked up my
effort. At 23, I saw that the last two
miles were still a little faster than my goal pace. Then I focused on getting to the lighthouse.
I noticed the sun more now. I wondered if the last three miles were going
to get really hot. As if on cue, the sun
went behind the clouds, and the wind got stronger. I wasn’t going to get hot.
Just after passing the
lighthouse, I reached the 24-mile sign.
My time for that mile was 8:45. I
couldn’t believe it. Up until now, I had
run 20 fast miles and three slow miles.
I had yet to run a mile that was within four seconds of my goal
pace. Finally, on the 24th try, I nailed
it.
As soon as I passed the 24-mile
sign, I began the difficult part of the course.
It started with the ramp up to I-110.
First, we bent to the right and started going uphill. Then, we began circling to the left, while
continuing to climb.
The roadway was banked, to make
it easier for cars to go around this turn.
That made it uncomfortable for running.
The pavement wasn’t smooth. It
had striations to keep it from getting too slippery when it was wet. That made the surface rough. In combination with the banked turn, that
made it really uncomfortable for running. I started noticing hot spots on the bottom of
my feet. I really wanted this section to
be over with.
Surprisingly, I didn’t have too
much trouble with the climb. It wasn’t
nearly as steep as I remembered. I
really struggled with it last year, but that was after being worn down by 24
miles of running into a stronger headwind.
As the road straightened out, I
continued climbing, until I could look down into the baseball stadium at MGM Park. Last year, the race finished inside the
stadium, so it was full of activity.
This year, the stadium was empty.
After cresting the hill, I
started running downhill. We were doing
an out-and-back on the interstate. Ahead
of me, I could see the turnaround point for the half marathon. The marathon had a longer out-and-back. Our turnaround point was about a quarter mile
farther. Before I got there, I reached
the 25-mile sign. I was curious to know
how much I slowed down on the ramp to I-110.
My time for that mile was 8:26. This
was the toughest mile of the course, yet I ran it 19 seconds faster than the
previous mile, which was flat.
As I approached the turnaround,
the road appeared to level out. It was
only after making the turn that I could see that the approach to that turn was
actually downhill. After turning, I had
to run back up the hill.
With just over a mile to go, I
really wanted to put on a strong finish, but first I had to negotiate the hill. To run strong on the hill, I focused on
passing the runners who were right in front of me. Then I ran down the ramp that took us back to
Beach Boulevard. As far as elevation
change goes, mile 26 was the opposite of mile 25.
I originally assumed the
out-and-back was just to make the distance come out right. I’m sure that’s part of it, but I’ve since
realized that it serves another purpose.
It moved us from the eastbound lanes of Beach Boulevard to the westbound
lanes. That’s easier said than done,
because there’s a concrete barrier between them.
I made the sharp left turn onto
Beach Boulevard. After running past the
south side of MGM Park, I made another sharp left to run past the east
side. This street was slightly
uphill. Somehow, I forgot that.
I passed the 26-mile sign. I don’t
remember what my time was. I don’t
remember if I even looked. I just kept
running. I passed the point where we
entered the stadium last year. This
year, we continued to the corner and made another left turn.
Runners who had already
finished were cheering us on. Our names
were printed on our race bibs. Several
runners who didn’t know me were encouraging me by name.
After that turn, I expected to
see the finish line. I still had to make
one more turn. The finish line was
outside the stadium, but we still had to turn and run into the park. When I made the last turn, I immediately saw
the finish line in front of me. I
finished in 3:43:35.
Apparently, I’m in better shape
than I thought. Even with a headwind and
carrying an extra five pounds, I ran a time comparable to the times I was
running last summer. After running the
first half at a pace that seemed like it was too fast, I ran roughly the same
pace in the second half. I had positive
splits, but only because my first mile was so fast.
Throughout the race, I was
running at a pace that seemed slightly tiring, but I always felt like I could
sustain that effort to the finish. I was
right. At the end of the race, I felt
spent, but I never felt like the pace broke me.
After finishing, I retrieved my
gear bag and got some post-race snacks. When
they could use the facilities of the baseball stadium, the post-race food was
out of hand. Even this year, it was
better than average. Besides as
assortment of snack foods, we got pulled pork sandwiches.
I sat down on the curb, so I
could watch for other runners while I ate.
I couldn’t sit down without falling backwards. Yeah, my legs were completely spent. When I was done eating, I needed help getting
up.
My goal was to get a Boston
qualifier for 2022. I did that with more
than six minutes to spare. Now I don’t
have any pressure to run fast. I can
ease up on my training without worrying about getting out of shape. I can give my various injuries time to heal
and then start a new training cycle. I
won’t have to worry about qualifying for Boston for another year.
This year, there weren’t many
opportunities to qualify for Boston.
After the race, I realized my last Boston qualifier was in this same
race a year ago. I also don’t expect to
have many qualifying opportunities in the next several months. That’s OK now. I only needed one.
I accomplished one other goal
with this race. It was my 5th marathon or
ultra in Mississippi. I want to
eventually complete five circuits of marathons or ultras in every state. I just got one step closer.
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