Biloxi - St. Augustine Trip Recap - Part 1 (Biloxi)

We just finished our latest Airstream trip, this time to Mississippi and Florida. The main purpose of the trip was to pick up the bed platforms David ordered for the trailer, but since we were going to Florida anyway, I looked for a half marathon I could do on the way, so we could accomplish multiple goals with the trip.

We hit the road on a Friday and made it all the way to Biloxi. Of course, it was late when we arrived, but we got parked in our spot and I took the boys for a walk before we settled in for the night.

The next morning, Milo and I went on a shakeout run for two miles along the beach. We ended our run at Starbucks and picked up a drink and peppermint brownie cake pop and then walked back to the campground.

After we all go ready, we went to packet pickup to get my race bib. Pickup was in a parking garage, so it was very dog friendly. Gus and I found my name on the runners’ board for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon/Half Marathon.

We walked along the boardwalk for a bit, but not much since I wanted to save my legs for the race.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing. The boys took a nap with me to rest up for racing.

On race morning, I got race ready and we all loaded up to go to the start line. The first approximately 12 miles of the race were on Hwy 90 along the coast. David and the boys didn’t stay for the start because the road was closing 15 minutes before the start and they wanted to get back to the campground. The temperature for the race was great, but the winds were high, 15-20 mph in a cross/headwind. I had hoped to run 7:15-7:20 miles and was on track for the first few miles, but then ended up slowing down and averaging about 7:40 after the wind really got to me. I also left my handheld water bottle in the pickup when the boys dropped me off. David handed it to me at the halfway point. I’m not sure that made that much difference though. Overall, I was disappointed with my performance, but I can still check Mississippi off my list and it was a very well organized race. The finish line was in a baseball stadium and David was able to bring the boys in. Gus even got his picture take by the official race photographer.

After the race, we went to the Gulf Islands National Seashore to get the stamp in our NPS passport book. We walked around on the trails. TMI, but we were all excited when Gus finally pooped since he hadn’t pooped since Texas!