Mississippi Blues Marathon

The Mississippi Blues and Servis First Bank First Light Marathons were my first two marathons of the 2014; and the second double weekend since my first one back in October at the ING Hartford and Amica Marathons.

The weekend started off with a delay out of Reagan National Airport and a two hour delay out of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. It was during the delay from Atlanta that I got to spend talking to my friend Angie who was also doing the double. Once we started boarding we got to chat with other Maniacs who were doing the Mississippi Blues and First Light Marathon this weekend. 
 

  Earlier in the day while waiting in to depart National; Krissy a local Maniac from Jackson posted that a banana truck had overturned on I-55 and if possible to avoid the area until the cleanup was done. 

After landing in Jackson and picking up rental car I drove directly to the expo since we arrived later than the original time. The expo was smaller than most expos which made the packet-up a breeze. I ran into Angie again and continue to walk through the small room as we were leaving we ran into Eddie, Melinda and Steve; in true Maniac fashion we took a quick picture in front of the tall guitar that was in the lobby.  

                                              

                                                  

I finally made my way over to check-in to the Hilton Garden Inn which was only a few blocks from the Art Garden. Once checked-in I had dinner in the hotel restaurant since it was a lot more convenient than trying to look for a place to eat. 

Here is some of the swag we received from the Mississippi Blues Marathon – Half-Zip (which apparently some had defective zippers); CD of local blues musicians and a harmonica.   

 I had a good night of sleep which I cannot remember the last time that has happen the night before a marathon, after my pre-race breakfast I slowly made my way down to the lobby where I was meeting Tracey and Susan to walk over the starting area for the Maniac picture. I need to say thanks to Tracey for the safety pins; I forgot to pick some up the previous day at the expo. After taking the picture in front of the starting line I went over to drop my dry clothes bag to put on right after the race for the walk back to the hotel. As we were waiting for the start of the marathon and half marathon we were entertained with an amazing playing of the National Anthem by Patrick Harkins who plays at the Mississippi Blues Marathon every year. Click on the link to hear it for yourself.

                                                      http://youtu.be/53r33z4NnZI                                              

 

Mississippi Blues was marathon #26 and State #18.