I normally do a post at the beginning of the year talking about my resolutions, but I honestly didn't feel like making any this year. The only thing I knew for sure I wanted to work on this year was my running a half marathon in all 50 states goal. I am happy to report that the first month into 2018 I have added my 6th state!
As you can tell by the title it was in Mississippi, Jackson to be exact. It was definitely a rough one for a few reasons. Reason number one and probably the biggest reason, I didn't really train. I'm always honest with y'all so I'm going to tell you a secret, I never train, haha. My "training" usually starts about two weeks before a race and my "long" run is 5 miles, sometimes 6. For my next race I really am going to try and train for real. Reason number two is it rained the whole entire race. The good thing is it was around 55 degrees so it wasn't miserable, but touch screen devices and rain don't mix well. I have an apple watch and that's what I use to text back with while I'm running, but since it was wet I couldn't touch any of the buttons. It was VERY frustrating. Lastly, reason number three, the course was nothing but HILLS. I hate hills, but I was surprisingly prepared for them because my road I run on is all hills.
We stayed at the Westin Hotel in Jackson and my husband and I LOVED it! The entire hotel staff was so nice and our room was very nice as well. It was very clean and the bed and pillows were amazing. On the nightstand there was a little lavender rollerball to help you sleep, and they had coffee and tea for you to make. The price was also great! We really want to stay at another Westin, and hopefully it will be just as great.
I think this might have been one of my husbands favorite races, only because at the expo there were only about 7 or 8 vendors. He hates the expos because i usually take forever, but this one we were only in there for about 10 minutes. The race volunteers and vendors were very friendly. Despite the rain and the hills it was a nice race.
Since I'm being honest, I wouldn't recommend this race to anyone. Despite having good experiences, we did not feel safe at night around town. I'm sorry if you live or are from Jackson, but I was not a fan of the city. If you are doing the 50 states challenge I would maybe try and do a race in Oxford. I haven't been there, but since it's a college town I would think it would be nicer. But, to each their own. I just wanted to tell y'all my real thoughts and feelings, but despite everything I got Mississippi checked off. Now onto the next state!
