1st Double: Mississippi (Mississippi Blues Marathon) 1/9/10 & Alabama (First Light Marathon) 1/10/10

Soon after the holiday season was over it was time to get back to work and hit the road. I decided to attempt my first double and run 2 marathons in 2 different States in 2 days. I flew into Mobile, Alabama on Friday which was actually the place of the second marathon and drove to Jackson, Mississippi and met up with my wife. The weather forecast for the weekend in both States was very cold. As a matter of fact with wind chills it was below 10 deg. I wasn't sure how my body was going to take running over 52 miles in two days so I decided I was going to take both runs real easy. Things started off well on day 1 but by mile 13 my feet were freezing. It made it very difficult to run because of the pain but like always I pushed through it. With the weather being so cold my feet wasn't the only thing freezing. At the aid stations the water in the cups was actually freezing. Over all the course was challenging but they did a great job with the event. The post race food was good and they did a great job bringing in heaters and tents to keep us warm.

After the race we headed out to drive back to Mobile so I can get ready and do it all over again the next day. Morning seemed to roll around way to fast and I found myself back out in the cold standing at the start line. The temps were a few deg warmer but it was windy. My legs felt a little tight so I wanted to get back to running to help loosen them up. Once we got started it only took a few miles before all the kinks were worked out. The course was pretty flat for the first half and then had some good hills in the middle miles. There was great support on the course and they even had hot chicken soup at mile 17 which was a nice touch. As I started reaching the last few miles I could feel the fatigue in my legs. Before long I was crossing the finish line, completing the double and two more States done. Overall another great experiance and not as bad as I thought it would be. It was then time to head home and recover for the next one in Georgia in 6 days.