Mississippi 50 part 2

I was very thankful to have the central time zone the next morning.  It made getting up at 410am easier as I am used to getting up at 510am most days.  That part was not too bad.  It was a strange ride though getting to the race.  Down dirt and gravel road and in the darkness of the early morning.  When we found the location and turned off the lights on the car we could see nothing!  My dad said, ”Now that is dark!”  We got there nice and early and I had plenty of time to gather my thoughts and get ready.  I checked in and was ready to go.

Before I knew it we were looking at a light blue sky as the first signs of daylight began to make its way to us.  We started right at 600am.  It was an interesting run at first.  They had been doing a controlled burn in the area and we spent the first couple of miles running through the burnt ground.  I began to dodge mud puddles, first small and then getting bigger.  I had managed to keep the feet dry early on but was very uncertain as to what was to come.  However that changed quickly as I began to approach the first obstacle of the day.  I saw a line developing to get by the first major mud pit.  And I do mean “Pit”.  There was no way around it and my shoes went in ankle deep.  Next came a creek that was knee high and surrounded by mud.  All of this was in the first 3-3.5 miles. 

By this time I had reached the first aid station and was very thankful for that.  The only problem is that this part of the course was an out and back so I had to repeat everything I just went through.  Trust me, it was not any more fun the 2nd time.  One real challenge is that there was quite a few of us running together at this point which made it a challenge to try and take your time getting through it.

The bigger challenge would be more of an unknown to me.  When I left the first aid station about 3 miles into the race I did not realize it would be another 5.5 miles to the next one.  After I got through the mud and water obstacles the terrain the next few miles was not too bad.  However the problem was the length to the aid station.  I ran out of water about 3 miles later.  I began to see signs that indicated the next aid station was ahead.

I was thankful for the signs as the organizers realized how long the wait had been.  It is not supposed to be this way but the changing of the course forced their hand.  The race organizers changed the course because of some of the controlled burning.  I could finally see the aid station and I was as excited as you can imagine.  I don’t even remember everything I ate.  Bananas, PBJ, candy and more.  I really needed it at this point.  I filled my water bottle back up and was on my way and feeling really good now that I was refueled.  At this point I found some runners I felt I could pace with as well.  We were about half way done with the first loop at this point.  Even with the lack of an aid station I still felt like my hydration was good and so I was ready for the second half of the loop.