Mississippi Gulf Coast Half Marathon Race Recap

 December 9, 2018

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Half Marathon was my first Mississippi race. Many of my friends were planning to run this race. It looked like a lot of fun, so I decided to sign up. Biloxi is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from home. The half was on a Sunday, so Michael and I drove over Saturday morning. We stayed at the Beau Rivage which was directly across the street from packet pick-up and the finish line at the MGM Ball Park. It was nicely decorated for Christmas.

It rained all day Saturday. We checked in the hotel and walked over to packet pick-up which was held inside a big tent. I really like the "swag" for this race. Participants got a cute race themed draw string bag with zipper compartments. The t-shirt and medal were nice too. The race theme is "Soak Up the Run". Other race merchandise was available to purchase. I bought a tank top and Boco Gear Visor.

We spent most of afternoon resting in our room. We watched the Heisman trophy presentation. This was the year Kyler Murray won. We were pulling for  Bama's quarterback Tua Tugovailoa. After the trophy presentation we went downstairs for dinner. We didn't want to get out in the cold and rain to go anywhere. I just ordered a pizza from a bistro at the hotel. It wasn't the best. The sandwiches we had at lunch from the bistro were better. Afterwards I laid out my things for race morning and settled in for the night.

This is a point to point race. The half marathoners start in Gulfport and finish at the MGM Stadium. There was a shuttle bus across the street from the Beau Rivage hotel on race morning to take runners to the start line. I caught the shuttle around 6:00 or 6:15. 

There was a long line for the porta potties at the start line and I feared that I wouldn't be able to go one last time before the race started at 7:00. Luckily I got in and out with about five minutes to spare. I saw most of my friends at the start line. We were able to get a quick picture.

Tricia, Kyla, Jenny, Katie, Me, and Valerie

The weather was high 40's and cloudy with periods of light rain. I slacked off with my training for this race, so I didn't have high expectations. My longest run was a ten mile race three weeks before race day. Based on the ten miler I thought I was capable of a 2:10-2:15 finish. I planned to have fun and take pictures on the course.

Run Forrest Run!

Most of the course ran alongside the bay. It is a flat, fast course. It was a little crowded for the first few miles, but there was plenty of room to get around people. I ran for the first 3-4 miles to get out of the crowd. Then I started using run/walk intervals. There were lots of fun photo ops on the course. 

Ainsley's Angels on course in front of the Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home

 

My left knee started hurting around the half way point. My right knee has always been the one to give me problems and it didn't really bother me after my surgery. I blamed it on the cambered roads. I tried to run in the middle of the road during my run intervals and get over during my walk intervals to let others pass. 

We approached the lighthouse in town between miles 10-11. Then came an interesting change in elevation. After 10 or so miles of pancake flat roads we climbed up the I-110 corridor. We passed the backside of the MGM Stadium where other runners had already finished and were celebrating. I was really starting to wear down mentally and physically at this point. I walked a lot during the last three miles. We climbed up one side of the road, turned, and ran back down the other side toward the stadium.

I saw Michael outside of the stadium as I made my final turn toward the finish. I finished in 2:17:59.

 

Another perk of this race was free race photos. Although mine were not that great 😄

Mile 1- 9:39

Mile 2- 9:34

Mile 3- 9:44

Mile 4- 10:19

Mile 5- 9:48

Mile 6- 10:12

Mile 7- 10:33

Mile 8- 10:34

Mile 9- 10:25

Mile 10- 10:57

Mile 11- 11:22

Mile 12- 11:32

Mile 13- 11:16

.20 Miles- 10:32

We hung out at the finish line for about thirty to forty-five minutes. I enjoyed chatting with friends and taking some post race pics. Des Linden was going to hand out medals to the marathon finishers later. It would have been awesome to meet her. 

Biloxi Shuckers Mascot

It was great to see Rick and Jodi at the finish line.
They flew past me on the course. I think Jodi PR'd this race.

Me and Valerie

Jenny, Valerie, Me, and Katie

This race was a lot of fun. I enjoyed everything about it: the cute "swag", the flat course with the exception of the last few miles, and the awesome post-race party. I would love to run it again one day.