I Don’t Always Run. Wait~What?

This past weekend was the Mississippi Blues Marathon.  What a fun weekend!  I’ve run this event three times.  This was my first time volunteering at what, in my opinion, is the best marathon in Mississippi.

Friday afternoon you would have found me working packet pickup.  It was great meeting friends as they picked up their race bibs for Saturday morning’s race.

After packet pickup, I went to a dinner at Lost Pizza.  A big group from the #MScoffeerunners were meeting for some pre-race carbs.  What a terrific evening!!! Instead of sharing individual pics with people, I’ll just share our group pic.  #MScoffeerunners~best people you’ll find anywhere!

Race day arrived and we had duck weather for the race.  I mean, it was pouring!!!  Gotta love crushing serious miles in the rain!

There were a LOT of people out there running their hearts out not giving two hoots about that rain!  BOOM!!!

Now, I was a course marshal on Saturday.  Seeing as I live about 2 hours north of where the race was held, I wasn’t exactly sure of where I was supposed to be.  Knowing there would be road closures due to the race route, I headed out early-ish Saturday morning to find my spot and get ready.

I had run into a couple of Mississippi running friends who had given me rough directions to the neighborhood where I’d be.  Their directions were great!  I arrived at the neighborhood without any trouble.

Finding the correct intersection proved to be a problem.  Siri decided to play dumb and was less than helpful.  Siri and I don’t always get along very well.  She can be sassy.

It was my lucky day when I found this nice gentleman walking his little dog.  I rolled down my window and asked directions.  He told me a few turns and waved me on my way.

I got lost.

I was super embarrassed when I met up with the man and his little dog….again.  I’d been driving in circles a good ten minutes.  He stopped.  I rolled down my window again.  We chatted again.  I drove off, again.

YAY for finding my spot that time!  I think I would have dug myself a hole and disappeared before I would have asked that nice man for directions a third time.

I put on my glorified rain poncho and walked to my corner.

I was super excited to set up our #MScoffeerunners banner.  A lot of #MScoffeerunners hadn’t seen the banner yet and this would be their first chance to see it!

I was keeping track of 1st-3rd OA Men and 1st-3rd OA Female as they came past my volunteering spot~I’m that kind of a dork.  I was super excited to see my friend from St. Louis come past me running strong.  He stopped and wasted a good 5 seconds giving me a huge hug!  That hug was definitely worth the 5 seconds off his finish time!  The post race beers at MugShots were pretty good, too!  Congrats on 10th OA and 1st AG, Roger!!!

I met a Twitter friend on the course.  He stopped to introduce himself and say, “Hi!”  Awesome to meet you, Tim!  Can’t believe we didn’t get a pic!!!

My heart smiled so big to see this amazing woman on the course!!!  YAY for running, Andrea!!!

Such a great day!  This is a terrific event to run and I discovered it was just as awesome being a volunteer here as well!!!

Seeing as I didn’t run, when I got home, it was time for the #JanuaryPlankChallege.  Tess, my #DaintyDog, was a helper while I did my planks.  Gotta love our fuzzy helpers!

Next race on my calendar is the Phoenix Marathon on Feburary 24 and then the very next weekend, the MS50 Trail Run.  I’ll be running the 50k distance at the MS50.

Exciting times ahead in 2018!!!

#IRun4Aiden