March 19, 2025
We parked under a seaborne sunrise for a midweek early morning 5K in Gulfport, Mississippi, a cool breeze ushering the morning sky from black to orange to blue. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful place to run a few miles.
The Gulfport 5K was the 3rd of four races in the Mainly Marathons Gulf Coast series, with races on consecutive days in Beaumont, Texas; Jennings, Louisiana; Gulfport, Mississippi; and Pensacola, Florida. Mainly Marathons organizes 75 events across 13 race series taking place in all 50 states. By coincidence, our Durango, Colorado 5K was part of Mainly Marathon’s Southwest Series. By another coincidence, we had a race credit from another Mainly Marathons race that we had signed up for but were unable to run, which we were able to use to cover the fee for this race.
Mainly Marathon races are multi-race events that include a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon, a full marathon, and a 50K. Runners in all races start the lap course at the same time and run back and forth along the same 1.1 mile stretch of pavement, each running the number of laps required to complete their race distance. We ran two out and backs to complete our race – the full 2.2-mile round trip followed by an abbreviated out and back to round out the 5K.
Running back and forth along the same stretch can become repetitive, but it was a gorgeous scene to repeat. The course ran a segment of concrete boardwalk that lined the Gulf coast for miles. Back and forth we ran, buffered by a cool breeze coming off the Gulf, a strip of sand between us and the vast Gulf waters.
A consistent theme in the 46 5Ks we have run on this trip is that race fields tend to have noticeably more women than men. This race was no exception, with about twice as many females than males participating.
There was no awards ceremony and no age grouping of results in this race, but that didn’t stop us from looking online to see where we landed. Ryan finished 1st of 26 overall in the 5K and Julie finished 6th of 26 overall and 3rd among 17 females. Upon hearing how high she placed, Julie, who consciously ran her slowest 5K of the trip – with a time that wouldn’t get her on many podiums, replied, “That’s not okay.”
Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds
Ryan’s race report was pretty simple. With Julie having been sick during all of Mississippi, Ryan had done 100% of the driving. He also had a midweek elliptical session at the hotel we stayed at while we waited out the severe weather that left his calves a different kind of sore than he was used to. So, he approached this race with a recovery attitude and took it as more of a jog than a run. Of course, for Ryan, a jog is equivalent to what Julie can deliver when she is in her best shape. He ran the first two miles fairly consistently around 8:20 and sped up a bit on his third mile from naturally loosening up. He felt good and, more than anything, he enjoyed the sunshine, the gentle breeze and the views along the course.
When Ryan asked Julie after the race how she had felt during her race, she replied, “Like a garbage bag flapping in the wind. And, hey, if you are going to be a garbage bag, flapping in the wind is definitely the best possible place to find yourself.” Julie came into the race still battling a cold that she had been sparring with since our first day in Mississippi, now 8 days prior. And while she got fantastic sleep the night before the race, that came on the heels of a terrible night completely absent of sleep two days prior and a body battery that was still pretty low as a result. That said, she woke up that morning feeling the least sick of any of the mornings so far. It was the perfect morning to interrupt a healing process that was just getting its footing. Actually, it really was the perfect morning to finally get some movement. Julie had exercised pretty much zero since getting sick, outside of a few nice walks. And you couldn’t have picked a more perfect day and location for a run. The temperature was perfect, the breeze was so wonderfully refreshing, the course was completely flat and the view couldn’t be beat. Julie definitely wanted to run rather than walk, because she didn’t set out to walk 5Ks in 50 States (and one District of Columbia), but, for those of you that have followed the blog, Julie also has been striving for the personal growth balance between ambition and intelligence, trying not to stray too far into the realm of stupidity that is so deliciously tempting to an ambitious soul such as herself.
So, staying healthy and supporting the healing process was also a top priority. She figured she would go out and run nice and slow and walk for short spurts if necessary. When the run started, Julie took off at a nice and easy pace and was surprised to see that pace at about 9:45s. In her last 2 races, she had noticed that her overall body was showing signs of tiredness when even a 9:45 felt like actual work, a pace that, typically would be a casual jog. Now, after 8 days of being sick, it felt as light and easy as could be. One could make the case that those previous 2 races were indications that she was ripe for getting sick as her body was showing signs of wear and tear. And that case would be valid. Either way, Julie definitely falsely evaluated that easy breezy feeling of mile 1 and didn’t think about how much it helped to have the wind at your back. As soon as Julie looped the cone at the beginning of mile 2 and started running into that lovely wind, and with one mile under her belt in a body that had spent a great deal of the last 72 hours in some kind of mucousy stasis, the realities set back in. Julie was happy with how she immediately adjusted and started listening to her tired body and slowed down until she felt the sense that what she was doing was manageable. Where mile 1 clocked in at a 9:48, mile 2 was an 11:30. By mile 3, her body was ready to fully remind her the circumstances surrounding this lovely, sunny, seaside run. The 11:30 of mile 2 turned into a 12:03 for mile 3. Julie made sure to stop and walk to keep her heart rate below 170. Her hope was that she would still be able to finish in under 35 minutes, making it the official slowest 5K she had ever run, except of course for those 5Ks that she accidentally turned off of the course and ended up adding many extra Ks. Julie was happy to cross the finish line in 34:36 and in a state where she felt confident that she didn’t do too much damage to the healing process that her body was attempting to escort her through. She was happy and also definitely felt like a trash bag of viral aches, pains and mucous, but, also one that was enjoying flapping in the refreshing breeze. And, if you are going to feel like a garbage bag, that is definitely the best way to feel like one.
R and J in the USA 
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