I’ve wanted to do a double marathon since October 2012 (when my original New Hampshire/Maine plan was foiled by gravity and shitty ankle ligaments). This weekend, I finally got it done. I’ve tried & failed to be brief, regardless, my double recap.
I flew into Mobile, Alabama early on Friday morning and drove three hours (in a super tiny Fiat 500) to Jackson, Mississippi. A more culturally inappropriately vehicle I can’t imagine. Despite having lived in Georgia for three years I’ve only ever been to Alabama once before (on a cross state road trip slowed by one of our tires melting to the highway), so was excited to see the state.
Race #1 on Saturday in Jackson was the Mississippi Blues Marathon. My hotel was a half mile from the expo and start area at the Mississippi Museum of Art. The expo itself was on the small side of things, but did have a stage with couple guys playing blues which was great (I sat for a while but didn’t catch their name). The swag bag had the normal crap but also a blues cd and a harmonica, which is sweet. For dinner I found a local “healthy” restaurant (Adobo) on the way back to the hotel – I had the pre-race special, turkey lasagna.
Race morning #1, I woke at 1am to the sound of heavy rain, not what I had been hoping for. The weather report the day before had maxed at an 80% chance of precipitation on race day. I went back to sleep until up for good at 3am, and fortunately the rain had stopped (it never came back). At 4am I went downstairs for a cup of the “24 hour” coffee but the lady setting up breakfast chased me out of the kitchen for ‘health code reasons’. I lurked around the lobby until she acquiesced.
At 6:15 I walked down to the start, weather was low 40s, gently cold, short shirt sleeves. The race started west, through Jackson State where there was a university band playing. The course runs through the center of campus, past where the two students were killed by police in 1970. Looping back around past the start, where there’s a bunch of people who we just left 3 1/2 miles earlier are cheering.
Most of the rest of the course had rolling hills throughout. A study of contrast, neighborhood-wise, running through some extremely wealthy neighborhoods at mile ~7 and ~17 between poorer neighborhoods closer to the highways. The elevation profile didn’t look horrible but the hills were definitely tiring. Half was at 1:54, about where I had been hoping.
Nearing the end of the race I had some doubts of sticking my four hour goal, particularly around miles 21-23 where we were running parallel to the interstate in direct sun (my splits went above 10:00 for two miles here, I don’t like this). Fortunately I was able to bring down the pace for the last few miles to finish with a 3:57:38, good for 172nd (of 828 finishers). The announcer guy said my name as I’m coming across the finish line, I love this! Contrary to my registration he says Boston not Allston, which makes me happy.
After the race I grab some salty soup & Gatorade and sit for a bit in the art garden. I talk to a woman from Nashville who ran the half in last year’s downpour – she says she would have liked a little light rain today for the cloud cover but I can’t really agree, the Jackson weather is lovely. Unfortunately I have to pass up a trip to the interesting looking Iron Horse as well as a blues crawl the race puts on to head back to Mobile for race #2.
After a painfully crampy drive I roll into Mobile at 5pm. Race #2 is called the First Light Marathon, a fundraiser for L’Arche Mobile, an organization that supports individuals with intellectual disabilities in the Mobile area. The expo itself is pretty much adjacent to my hotel which is fantastic, as after the morning’s race and a 3+ hours in the car I’m of strongly mixed emotions regarding my need to simultaneously stretch my legs and rest. I get my bib, shirt and a pretty sweet handmade plaque for the Back2Back runners and then wander down towards the waterfront to find food. The bar I end up in for dinner has football on, and as Mobile is only two hours from New Orleans everyone there is big into the Saints. Who unfortunately are in the process of getting pounded by Seattle. At 7pm I migrate back to my hotel hoping to sleep early but end up staying up til 10:30 watching the Patriots beat the Colts.
Sunday morning I wake a little later than usual, at 4:30am. Force myself to eat despite no desire whatsoever. Force down coffee, unpleasant. I have strong nausea, like my gut has been tipped off to the day’s plan and is objecting the only way it knows how. I text with Hondo & YJP a bit, fishing for an out but they talk me back 
from the edge. The line that does it – “You knew this would be a scary undertaking.” I don’t want to be afraid of failing just because something is hard or tough or scary. I will try.
The race start is two blocks from my hotel, super convenient. It’s a fairly small race, 1100 people total, roughly half of those in the full. I’ve decided to wear the Back2Back shirt because it’s the lightest long sleeve I have. This has two benefits – one it’s white so when it gets sunny later in the race it’s not so bad. 
Two people keep talking to me about Jackson throughout the course of the race, which is cool. I know 400+ people are running Back2Back so it’s not terribly unique but having the shirt on opens it up as a topic.
As for the race itself – it was just tough. The simplest way to explain it is like this – a marathon is usually hard at the end, when the body starts running out of gas. Sometimes that happens earlier, sometimes later, and super rarely, it never quite happens. This second race was tough from the very beginning. Tough at the start, tough at mile 3, at 9, 12. I mentally broke the race into 9×3 and tried to run it 1/9th at a time.
Mile 10 was notable – we crossed over the interstate and passed by a large church playing a bell tape. This was a strong reminder of my dad’s old church in Wamego. I took my headphones out and listened till they faded.
I hit the half mark around 1:59 (5 minutes behind day 1) but I had no illusions well before then regarding my 4 hour goal for this second day.
Pre-race Hondo & I decided that 14.5-17.5 was all downhill – I spent a lot of time thinking about this in the first half. It turned out to be mostly accurate, and this part of the course was also a race highlight, looping down through Spring Hill College. There were swamps here several signs here say Beware Snakes & Alligators! Sadly I saw none.
A note on the trees – Mobile reminded me of New Orleans in that there are these giant oaks everywhere with huge beautiful branches covered in moss or some other kind of green growth. None of the photos I have of them are particularly good but it’s a striking visual, and they make for really great shade.
At mile 18 I looked east and saw the mobile skyline and was like holy hell that’s a far way off, we have to run back there? Luckily around this point I scored a banana and a cup of gummi bears – the gummi bear song occupies my mouth and brain for the next three miles. These are my single most favorite “I’ve run too far but have to keep going” emergency race food – thank you, whoever it was that handed me these.
The last five or so miles were dull compared to the gator zone, mostly a straight shot back along some road we had already run and decent stretches without shade. Not much in the way of cheering along the course, but this was made up for by the crowd in the last couple blocks of Dauphin Street. The field was so spread out far enough that I’m pretty sure the crowd response was for me. The guy on the mic shouts “finishing the double, I’ve been there man” and with that finish it I do. My final time was 4:08:09, a 9:28 split, good for 156th place of 533 finishers. It’s the slowest time I’ve run in the last half dozen or so marathons but I’m not particularly bothered by this, all things considered.
The race medal is awesome. At first I wasn’t sure about my pink ribbon but then I noticed it matches my new 1400s perfectly, a sign. The medal, like my plaque, was handmade by a resident of L’arche Mobile. I honestly like it much better than the giant guitar from Jackson.
Post race, grubbed up some food and liquids in the park, listening to a zydeco-type band. My choice of a powdered donut is a poor post-race snack, hydration-wise, it turns out. I reluctantly had to limp back to my hotel far too soon to address some gnarly left foot blister issues and check out before they confiscate my luggage.
After dealing with the hotel I come back down to the finish area to find a beer & real food and some more football. After that I found my way over to tour the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park for a while, though I’m in pain and not terribly mobile to be scrambling up metal ladders. And lastly two interminable connecting flights back to Boston which is where I’m writing this up.
So that’s it. Two marathons in two days. Easy as falling off a bike, you could definitely do it if you wanted to. That said, I don’t know that I’ll be trying this again, but I know better to not rule it out while I am as bone dead tired as I am right now.
Song of the week, You’re The Only Thing In Your Way by Cloud Cult.