Today was supposed to be the Mississippi Blues Marathon. Notice I said, “Was.”
My sister and I drove to Jackson, Mississippi, yesterday (Friday, January 6) to go to the Expo and meet up with a lot of our Mississippi running friends. We had plans for group pics and then dinner at a local pizza place. It promised to be a terrific day!
As we were driving south, we encountered a small sleet storm. It only lasted about 15 minutes drive time. No big deal. Upon entering the Jackson city limits, the roads were wet but very driveable. Our friends had told us of sleet earlier in the morning but that storm had passed.
After a quick lunch, we headed on over to the Expo and picked up our race packets. There was a very nice full zip, embroidered jacket, real harmonica, a DVD of Blues music and of course, the race bib.
While we were at the Expo, the sleet started up again! This time it didn’t let up. We stayed at there about 2 hours meeting with friends, taking pics and chatting…all the while keeping an eye on the weather.
It was deteriorating rapidly!
I noticed the Race Director. He was always studying his phone or talking on it. He was in a pickle trying to decide what to do. A lot of us were wondering if the race would be cancelled.
We left the Expo and went straight back to the hotel. We completely skipped pizza. Just walking to the car was dangerous! Everything was covered in a thick sheet of ice.
When we reached our car, there was almost a half inch of ice covering the entire car. My sister, bless her, got to work chipping away the ice. I turned on the defrosters. Eventually we could see well enough to drive. We drove the three blocks to the hotel. That drive took 20 minutes~not because of traffic but because of the ice.
Later yesterday evening we received official word that the race was cancelled. We were sad, yes, but relieved! The thought of the 8* weather and ice in the morning sounded like a recipe for disaster. We shut off the alarm and went to bed.
This morning, the streets were B.A.D. We had to decide whether or not to stay an extra day to let road conditions improve or try for home. Reluctantly, we decided to try for home.
These were the road conditions in Jackson, Mississippi, at 11:00 am as we left the hotel:
We made it to I-55. That’s a pretty major Interstate through Jackson. It had been closed to traffic during the night but had been reopened. We only had 3/4 of a mile to travel on I-55. It took us 2.5 hours to drive that 3/4 of a mile.
That was the Biggest. Traffic. Jam. Ever.
I have a great story from that traffic jam, so pull up a seat because here we go!
I-55 was a sheet of ice! I’d never seen anything like it!!! We just sat there…forever. As we inched forward every now and then, I noticed the car in front of us had an #IRun4 sticker on their car! I HAD to know who they ran for~remember, I have an #IRun4 buddy, too,and I had a sticker on the back of my car!
The sticker on the car in front of me said, “IRun4Hollie.” I grabbed my phone (remember, it was a glorified parking lot) and snapped a pic. I was going to post on the IRun4 FB page that I had seen Hollie’s runner.
*Sad story here. I couldn’t crop/edit the pic without the license plate and I won’t post a person’s license plate on social media, privacy and all….
Traffic moved a little bit and wouldn’t you know, I ended up in front of that same car. I looked in the mirror and saw the people in the car taking pics of my car! They had seen Aiden’s sticker! #IRun4Aiden Awesome!
It was a parking lot again, so I rolled down my window and waved. They did the same thing. We gave each other a thumbs up and then we continued on our trip.
Cool story, right?
It gets better!
I got home and posted about how I had been able to pick up a medal for Aiden. The Blues was going to offer the opportunity to run as a virtual race. Seeing as I’m scheduled for 30 miles on Wednesday, I decided that definitely counted as a marathon and got a medal for Aiden. #MedalsAlwaysEarned
One of the people who had been in the car behind me commented! The passenger in the car was a FB friend of mine #SmallWorld She sent me the pic they took of my car.
How awesome is that!?!
That Meridian Exit you see in the pic is the one we spent 2.5 hrs trying to reach. Soooooo close.
We finally made it. It took us 3 hours to travel 10 miles. Our usual 2.5 hour trip took 6 hours.
I’m so happy to be home! It was tons of fun to see everybody. I’m sad we didn’t get to run BUT I’m very happy that everybody is safe.
It was a tough call but the right call. Much respect to the Mississippi Blues Marathon! This was my second year as a Race Ambassador for the Blues and today would have been my 3rd time running this race. I will be back next year, rain, sleet, ice or shine.
#IRun4Aiden
#teamZensah
#AbbottWMM
#ChafeX
#AltraRunning
#IRun4Ultra
