Tupelo

It's a holiday weekend so I took an extra day to update the blog. Sorry for those of you waiting for immediate results. Hannah and Moriah traveled with me and conversing with them is more fun than posting on a blog.

If you are looking for the standard marathon experience, stay away from Tupelo, Mississippi on the Sunday before Labor Day. The skull and crossbones theme of the t-shirt and finisher's medal, the early start, the heat and the humidity are a bit different from what you might experience at most fall marathons.

But, for me, Tupelo is a relatively short drive from Birmingham. It is a course I have run on four previous occasions. And, it fell in early September, which allows me to check the box next to the 9th month of my marathon a month effort. It was also a pleasure to run at an elevation of 350 feet, since the lowest elevation of my summer races was 3,000 feet above sea level, with a peak of about 7,500 feet above sea level in Estes Park. The warmth, humidity and "heavy air" were actually quite welcome.

The Tupelo Marathon begins at 5 a.m....in the dark...across the street from the Tupelo Airport...and next to the Tupelo Furniture Market. The early start gets the runners underway during the coolest part of the day and, if things go well, allows most runners to finish before the heat really cranks up. If you look back at my "4 a.m. in Birmingham" post from September 2, you will notice the image in that post looks similar to Tupelo start picture (to the right). While the picture looks completely dark, it should be noted there was a full moon out to provide some light along the early part of the course.

My day in Tupelo began at 3 a.m. Not because I wanted to wake up that early, but I jumped awake with the feeling that I had overslept and missed the race start. So, once I was awake, I was awake. My early rise actually meant there was no hurrying to make it to the start line since there is very little traffic in Tupelo at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

As the picture demonstrates we begin the marathon by running in the dark. It was not until the 8 mile point that I was able to see the mile markers painted on the road. This was a combination of the lack of sunlight and my wearing sunglasses (yes, I wear my sunglasses at night when I know I will be running four hours later in the bright daylight). The darkness also caused me not to notice that I had hit "stop" on my watch, which meant from mile 2 to mile 8 I was not tracking time or distance.

Tupelo uses an "out and back" course, which means you run out to a certain point, then turn around and run back along the same course to the finish line. One benefit from this type of course is the chance to see the leaders as the fly along at a sub-3 hour pace. The leader passed me at mile 16 for him, which was mile 11 for me. The second place runner was a young woman who, at mile 16, was within a minute of the overall race leader. At the time I'm writing, I have not seen the results so I don't know the final finish order or time, but she was moving along in an impressive way.


Since the course was out and back, the key was to locate the end of the "out" portion...which was marked by a yellow cone...as quickly as possible. After reaching the cone, you turned and ran back while passing the exact halfway point and the official race clock. Candidly, I was surprised my halfway time was not more like 2 hours and 5 minutes. I'd been running without a watch just keeping a pace that felt good...but it was not a record setting pace for me.

The sun started to warm things up for me at mile 16. While there was a bit of a breeze and some shade, the pavement warms up quickly when you are running the final ten miles of a marathon. This was a day to keep plugging along. No mountain views. No large crowds. Just me and my iPod working to the end.

As noted earlier, my watch did not work for about six miles. I just decided to run in a way that felt comfortable, given my most recent marathon was only two weeks ago in Utah. I also forgot to check the clock at the finish line, but I think my finishing time was around 4 hours and 33 mintues . I was disappointed not to have run close to a 4:15 marathon (I ran 4:17 here two years ago) but my goal is to run one marathon a month, not to set a personal record every time out.

As for the sign of the day, keep in mind the sign did not appear along the marathon course. Actually, the sign is on the east side of Tupelo while the marathon is held on the west side of the city. The sign commemorates the location of Elvis' birthplace, while the white house in the picture to the right is the actual house in which Elvis Presley was born. There's your dose of Americana on this Labor Day weekend!

Finally, a big "thanks" to David Whiteside, the Tupelo Marathon race director who helped me with an early packet pick up and was out serving water on the course at the two mile aid station on Sunday morning. Race directors likely never receive the proper thanks, so I'll offer thanks on my blog!