9 of 50 states in the #50in50 done:

1. NEW YORK 11/4/18: @nycmarathon

2. NEVADA 11/11/18: @runrocknroll Vegas

3. PENNSYLVANIA 11/18/18: @Philly_Marathon

4. WASHINGTON 11/25/18: @seattlemarathon

5. TENNESSEE 12/1/18: @stjude Memphis

6. ALABAMA 12/8/18: @irunrocketcity

7. FLORIDA 1/13/19: @rundisney #wdwmarathon

8. LOUISIANA 1/20/19: @thelamarathon

9. MISSISSIPPI 1/26/19: Mississippi blues Marathon

Today I woke up early in Jackson, MS for the Mississippi Blues Marathon (#9 of 50) to drive about 15 minutes to the start. I met Vicki Dufner downtown Jackson, where she was about 2 blocks away front he start.

We had a quick bit then walked over to the start. We met up with Will Pearson, his wife Georgia, and their friend Sarah (her college roommate who now lives in Jackson). Will was running the half and Georgia and Sarah were running the 5K. Sarah’s husband Michael stayed at home with the kids.

We all decided to stick with the 4 hour pace group. It was a pretty cool day and we felt good, so we went for it. I had a foil sheet and gloves, so I was ready. It was a slightly hectic start since all the race lengths started at the same time. Several of the runners didn’t seed themselves properly, so we had to dodge a lot of slow runners and some walkers during the first mile or so.

I stuck with the pacer. About 5 miles in or so, Vicki fell behind a bit. I was surprised by the lack of water stations. I’m used to water being at almost every mile or two. This race had water every 4-5 miles. That caused me to become slightly dehydrated by mile 19. I know when I’m becoming dehydrated when I start to feel nauseous. I had to fall back a little take a few minutes of break time to rehydrate and recover. I took a honey stinger early. I usually have a honey stinger every 4 miles, up until mile 20, then depending on how I feel I might have one more at mile 23 or one at mile 22 and another at mile 24. So I do 6-7 honey stingers during a race. I always use caffeine-free. Caffeine spikes my heart rate too high and doesn’t work for me. I prefer Maurten or Honey Stingers. 

I was on my own at that point. The course is fairly hilly in some parts. There’s an especially long hill around mile 20. Several of the runners I spoke with agreed the course was long, about .3-.4 miles long per their GPS watches. My watch (Apple Watch 4) registered even longer at .75 miles, but some of that is probably my own doing. I do have a Garmin 910xt, but I don’t use it for running, only for triathlon and bike riding.

I’m going to start posting my splits here from now on. Here are my splits from this race:

Will finished his half in about 1:58. He went back to Sarah and Mike’s place to shower then met me back at the finish line to watch me finish. That was really nice of him. I finished in 4:08:56. The medal is pretty cool, in the shape of a guitar.

I picked up my race shirt from the art museum by the finish line and a couple of waters. Will walked me back to my car, which was in front of Vicki’s hotel. I waited in my car for Vicki to finish and got a pic.

She’s ran another marathon in Alabama the following day. Overall, this was a good race. Looking forward to running Mesa-Phoenix Marathon tomorrow (#10!).

Next marathons on the schedule:

• AZ (Mesa Phoenix) 2/9

• TX (Austin) 2/17

• MA (Hyannis) 2/24

• SC (Myrtle Beach) 3/2

• AR (Little Rock) 3/3

Join me on the #50in50 for the Gweneviere Mann Foundation, with many ways to get involved.

Please download Gweneviere’s song

She was excited about releasing an album that she had just finished, but she passed before she could realize that dream, so we just recently released a single "What I Can Be" off of her album for her so that we could fulfill that dream for her. Download it here

Together we will save lives through early detection programs for lung cancer and brain tumors.

I ❤️ you Gwen.

-Yasir