First of all, I want to extend my thanks to all the volunteers who made the race possible, and to the race directors for the time and effort they put into getting the race together. The race packet was the best. Tech shirt, sunglasses, Gu, Blues CD. It was great. The weather was perfect.

Now for the course. I gave this course a 1 because of the difficulty. The grades of the hills and the never-ending up-the-hill and down-the-hill completely trashes your legs. By mile 10, my legs were cooked. There is a 5-miles stretch that starts at mile 13 that is flat, but unfortunately for me, my legs had already had enough, and then the hills started back up again until the very end where you have a mile long 15% grade hill to the finish line.

For most people this is not a PR or BQ course. If you like a challenge, this course is for you! I'm glad that this was only a training race for me because I would have been very disappointed. I was just happy to finish a course that will test your strength mentally and physically, and humble you as a runner.

May the New Year bring everyone a PR!

First-time marathoner. This marathon starts in a historic district (Fondern) of Jackson, MS. Blue Cross/Blue Shield is the title sponsor. The MS Marathon up until last year was run on a rural highway outside of town. It drew very few runners and even smaller crowds. This year with the move to town, BC/BS getting involved, and the mayor of Jackson and the governor of Mississippi in attendance, the event took off. My guess is that there were over 1300 runners for the half and full marathons. As a rookie marathoner, I didn't take the course's hills into account during early pacing. There is only one relatively flat part of the course. This is a few miles in the middle. The beginning 12 and ending 8 miles are nothing but hills. The race, I thought, was very well organized. The fan support was nice; traffic control was outstanding. BC/BS must have had 500+ volunteers. The volunteers were outstanding. It was a great event for the Jackson area and Mississippi.

I found everything to be very well organized. My only suggestion is they rework the packet pickup. Don't put names on the bags; put names on the chips and then get the bag with the correct size shirt. Well done. Loved the Gatorade Endurance. Would prefer a different gel. The people at the BC/BS building around mile 14-15 were AWESOME!! That was the best part of the course.

The people working the stations were superb. There had to be over 500-600 people in support roles at this race, maybe more. Traffic control was A+ - great job, JPD. Course was scenic and very hilly. If a course exists with more hills, I don't want to run it. Very challenging, and very well organized race. The music along the way was great too. Thanks Blue Cross; great job.