Mississippi Blues Marathon

Left feeling a bit in the twilight zone after this race. It's literally called the MS Blues marathon, and advertises 'live blues bands every 2 mi of the course,' yet there were no bands! There was ONE guitarist picking softly at mi 4, and two guitarists playing around at mi 7. That was literally it. The website mentions pacers yet there were none. The aid stations were bare bones. Most had only water. A few had gatorade. Only ONE had gu. No other nutrition so bring your own! The address for packet pickup was the Capitol building, yet the tent was across the street and down a hill (not visible from street) without any signage.. Overall I don't think you get your value from this race. It felt pretty low-budget and poorly organized.

Four of us came to this marathon and four of us were disappointed &.the course was filled with potholes, we were running in traffic, the finish line ran out of Gatorade and they closed the medical tent before the marathon was over. Although it was promised, there was no fuel on the course for the half marathon.

Some random insights: I signed up about six weeks before the race and was able to find a room at the Westin (nice hotel), across the street from the start/ finish area. Also, flights into Jackson are fairly cheap. Weather was nice and cool at start. The expo was super small, but organizers are enthusiastic, and people are friendly. I was able to get in line for the porta-potties, use gear check and make it to my corral all in the matter of 9 minutes. The marathon in 2020 was a two-loop course, which I had never done at a race before. I liked that fact that it allowed me to get an idea of what to expect in the second half, and actually made the second half feel like it went by faster. There are hills. Lots of rolling hills. Hills get a little larger in miles 7-5-12.5 and again in miles 20.5- 25.5. But none of them are killers. If you live in areas without hills like I do, however, they can be a challenge. Spectators are sparse, and some of the aid stations lacked proper support. Law enforcement and volunteers do a good job keeping course safe. I struggled to find a good place to carbo-load in the downtown area the night before. I ended up taking a 8 minute Uber to a very good Italian place. Overall, I would recommend it you're looking for a Mississippi race. There is a lot of potential with this race.