Mississippi Blues Marathon
Jackson, Mississippi
Saturday, January 3, 2009

The Mississippi Blues Marathon held in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday, January 3, 2009 started at 7:00 AM with a temperature of 66 degrees and 100% humidity with overcast foggy skies and little wind. The course is very challenging with numerous hills. The most challenging of them had to be done twice, once at mile 3 and once at mile 25. Water/Gatorade stations were spaced about every 1.5 miles and were attended by numerous, enthusiastic volunteers. Every intersection was controlled by a volunteer and major intersections also had police to help out. Almost all of the roads were open to traffic; however, the right lane on major roads was coned off for the competitors. Everything was very well organized. The only disappointing part of the event was the road surface. Almost half the roads were filled with potholes, cracks, and patch mounds making the footing very difficult. I have done trail marathons which had better footing than theses roads. Around mile ten I twisted my knee in one of the cracks in the road which bothered me the rest of the marathon and caused me to have a very slow time.
The pre-race exposition featured Bill Rogers and Jeff Galloway, as well as, a reunion meeting for the 50 State Marathon Club. Bill Rogers ran in the race as well as several elite runners as there was quite a bit of prize money to be won.