Saturday November 23 2019
This was a quick solo trip, but an interesting way to see a bit of Mississippi, and get another tick on my states racing list. I flew into Jackson after work on Friday, arriving at my Air BnB early evening, having stopped to pick up my race packet at Jackson Salvation Armyn center in an industrial estate en route from the airport.
I settled in to my private room and my nice host offered me a ride in her Prius down to the Pig & Pint BBQ restaurant my Lyft driver had recommended for dinner. And he was in there on his break! Small town. So I ate with him then headed home to read my book and get some sleep.
I got up in decent time, ate some breakfast I had brought with me, and got another short ride from the kind Air BnB host down to the start line.
The 12Ks For The Holidays race took place in the historic Fondren neighbourhood of Jackson, MS and had quite a few hills but nothing too bad. The road surface wasn’t great – lots of pot holes – the course had lots if in and outs in different subdivisions, and though there were lots of people dressed up in Christmas themed gear, there were some good runners competing, too. One, dressed as a turkey, was both these things, and won the whole thing in a fantastic time.
Personally, I went out too fast (6.27 pace) and my heart rate red-lined for the majority of the race, really making it feel tough, heavy and achey, especially on those hills. My new elastic laces worked well, so did my new purple Balega socks with my Zoom Fly 1s – my new racing shoe choice.
In the end, I placed 7th over all, 2nd in my age group, and won some win and a Christmassy wooly bottle cover). Behind me was another English guy from near Sunderland.
Then I jogged back to the Air BnB, showered, and got on my way to the airport to fly home.
Racing Americana 