About one month following my South Carolina race, I had another race on the list and I was ready. Looking back, the Gulf Coast Series by Mainly Marathons Alabama race was one of my favorite races for a number of reasons. It seemed like so much went right this trip, from the place we stayed, to the interesting race location, and meeting my now fiancé’s son and his family for the first time. This Alabama race was special.
We stayed in a very cool Airbnb on a farm. The apartment was the upstairs of a barn, right next to the owners home. It was perfect with one bedroom, a small kitchen with all of the necessities, a full bathroom, and a living room with cable. The back porch was huge with a view of a green field and huge trees. Brett and I decided when we go back to visit his son in the future, we will definitely stay here again.
This race was set up for people to run in multiple states over a series of 5 days. Given what the race organizers, Mainly Marathons, do, it is pretty incredible that they actually pull it off so well. I only raced for day 2 in Alabama. The first day was in Florida and after Alabama, they were off to Mississippi, Louisiana, and then Texas. The people who run in these are certainly trying to accomplish a goal!
The night before the race, there is packet pickup with a pasta dinner, or you can pick up that morning prior to the race. It was an out and back course, but not out 6.55 miles and then back, more like out just about a mile and back seven times. The way you kept track of this was by picking up a rubber band and placing it around your wrist so that you know which “lap” you are on. Brett and I had checked out part of the course the day before, which was at the Historic Blakely State Park.
That morning, the full marathon runners started earlier than the half runners. They had head lamps on so they stayed safe along the path. The organizers gave a safety briefing and let us know how the race was set up. There was one hydration station, which you would pass multiple times, which was stocked up with snacks, water, gatorade, and an aid station.
This course was a little brutal. There was one big dip in the course, so it was fine running down hill, but you had to climb back up on the other side and keep doing it over and over again. On my fourth out and back, I started having to walk up the hill. The fun part of this race was seeing the same people multiple times and encouraging them, or high-fiving one another. I could see how people that race multiple days in this series might bond.
I met another person from my racing group here. We linked up on Facebook and I am happy to follow her and see all of the trips she makes to races around the US. I hope to make more friends in the future who share this interest.
At the end of the race, I felt exhausted from the hills. It took a little more time than it had in the past for me to catch my breath and bring my hear rate back down to normal. There wasn’t any big festivity after the race, at least not that I stayed around for. We had to get back to the Airbnb and leave to meet Brett’s son for lunch. I don’t know what kind of first impression I gave that day. I was in cushiony flip flops and comfortable clothes. His family was super nice and I was happy to have met them.
This race was great overall. I really want to do a couple races with them in a series and might just have to in order to knock a couple states off at once to cut down on the costs of traveling so far. I actually enjoyed the out and back that they did because I liked seeing the same people and saying hi, or being able to encourage one another. One of the coolest things was that I found out that I came in 3rd place out of the females. I don’t give myself too much credit because a majority of the people who raced had likely run the day prior but it still feels pretty good to have done that!
