Hiking at Clark Creek Natural Area

Lori, my dad, and I took a drive up to the Clark Creek Natural Area (Tunica Hills) in Pond, MS this past weekend. We basically hiked the primitive trail and improved trail loop. The terrain was pretty severe which made for a wonderful workout (my butt and Lori's calfs are still sore, not sure how my dad feels). We saw several waterfalls, a couple of deer, and a couple of world record trees (maybe). It took us 4:45 to complete (we took our time) the 5.25 mile trek. Here's our route and some pictures:

Snow at the Zeringue house!

We had a surprise freak snowstorm in LaPlace this morning. Here's a picture:

Mississippi Coast Marathon

November 29, 2008 - Stennis Space Center, Waveland, MS

Two days after Thanksgiving, I set out to complete my third marathon (I have a secret goal of doing a marathon in all 50 states). I mention Thanksgiving because I think it played a major role in my performance. On Thursday, I ate to the point of unbelievable discomfort 3 different times. I always planned on treating this marathon as basically another long run. I wanted to be at miles 16 and 21 by a certain time and the rest didn’t really matter to me …even if I just walked a lot the last 5 miles. I also didn’t want to screw up my ankle any further, so I planned on being very protective of it (I rolled my ankle pretty bad two weeks earlier).

The race started about 15 minutes late because of the delays associated with entering a federally secure facility. There was a half-marathon and 5k going on as well…probably about 400 hundred runners altogether. It was 71 degrees at the start of the race and 100% humidity…less than ideal marathon conditions. As usual, I went out too fast on the first mile, but this was negated by my port-a-potty stop just after the first mile marker…ridiculous, I know. My fan, Lori, was extremely amused by this because she just happened to right there, camera in hand!

By the end of the 3rd mile, I was hurting pretty bad and slowed up considerably. The sun was now peaking out from behind the clouds and we had a slight breeze at our back. The kind of breeze that not quite strong enough to help you, but enough to make the air seem stagnant. I felt very heavy, very slow, and was sweating buckets already. By the end of the 5th mile, I decided to walk for about a minute. I saw Lori again and she could tell I was struggling. It was pretty demoralizing to have to walk 5 miles in to a marathon, but I pressed on. By the end of the 8th mile I had settled in to a pattern of running 9 minutes and walking 1 minute. This continued through mile 11, which is about where the half-marathoners split away from the full marathoners. I spent the previous mile trying to decide whether to call it a day or continue on. I decided to continue on because I thought even if I walked/trekked a lot the rest of the way, at the very least it would be good training for longer adventure races…right? It got pretty sparse once we left the halfers. Content with my decision, I see Lori again around mile 12. She was by a lady who was very enthusiastically cheering the runners on. She kept yelling “you’re half way finished!!!” I immediately took offense to this because we weren’t half way finished. It was only mile 12. Then, for a split second, I thought maybe she was right and somewhere during the misery, I blacked out for a mile. That conversation went on in my head for about a mile and then I saw the 13.1 mile marker. I knew she was wrong …and rude (obviously, this was a much bigger deal in my head than it should have been, but I was hurtin’). As I passed the actual halfway mark, I decided to walk again. My first half clocked in at 2:13…ouch.

As it turns out, that would be the last time I walked for the next 10 miles. During mile 14, it started raining. I immediately felt a lot better and picked up the pace. I saw Lori again between mile 15 and 16, standing in the pouring down rain (actually I could see her bright HBP pink umbrella about a mile earlier!). I think she could tell I was finally feeling better. Over the next 9 miles, my pace hovered around 8:30 (+/- 10 seconds) and I was actually passing other runners. My Ipod shuffle eventually died during mile 19 from all the rain. Normally, not having music would slow me down considerably, but not this time. Apparently, all I needed this day was the beat of the skittles shaking in my back pocket. I remember thinking during mile 22 that I was really having fun. There was absolutely no fun associated with mile 22 in my previous two marathons. Then, I start doing the math. I spent the next couple of miles trying to figure out what I need to run to set a half-marathon PR during the second half of this marathon. My previous PR was 1:54:30 during the first half of the Mobile marathon last year. I finally figured out that I could definitely beat that time. Here comes Lori again between mile 24 & 25. She seemed amazed at how good I looked and how fast I was running. I was feeling a little cocky at this point and I told her to get to finish line and get her camera ready because I’m gonna PR on the second half. She zoomed off on her bike (OK not really, by this time there was a pretty good headwind and it was still raining, so she wasn’t moving all that fast). As she headed off, the first calf cramp hit me …hard! In all the excitement of the last few miles, I completely forgot that I might start cramping. I ended up having to walk a fair amount in the last mile and half due to the cramping. In some instances, I stood still for 10 or 15 seconds. There was a final turn before the last 0.3 mile stretch to the finish line that I knew was coming. Since I was (am) embarrassed that I had to walk just before the finish line in the last two marathons, I was determined to make it through that stretch without walking. No cramps and I actually kicked a little! My time on the 2nd half was 1:56… no PR, but I’m still pretty proud of mile 14 through 26.2. My total time was 4:09. While it’s not my best time to-date, I am definitely more proud of this marathon than the other two.

Notes to fellow and future marathoners: There were about 100 people in the full marathon. The course was ridiculously flat. If you take away the aid stations, there were less than 15 spectators on the whole course. Bottom line….BORING course and event. My recommendation would be to not consider doing this particular marathon.