The Mississippi Trail 50 is held in early March each year on the Longleaf Horse Trail in the De Soto National Forest just south of Laurel, MS. The race was moved from Leland to Laurel in 1996 by Carl Touchstone, a local dentist and accomplished ultra runner. All distances are …
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The Mississippi Trail 50 is held in early March each year on the Longleaf Horse Trail in the De Soto National Forest just south of Laurel, MS. The race was moved from Leland to Laurel in 1996 by Carl Touchstone, a local dentist and accomplished ultra runner.
All distances are run in the DeSoto National forest on gently rolling pine forest, mostly single track with some double track logging roads. Packet pickup at the the trailhead on Friday night for the 50M, 50K, 20K and on Friday morning at 10 a.m. for the 100M. Post race food on-site at the start/finish line. Finisher mementos. Belt buckles to 50 Mile finishers and 100M finishers. The 100 mile event is an all or nothing event. The 100 milers only start at noon Friday and either finish 100 miles by the cutoff at 6 pm Saturday or get a DNF. In the other events, runners start on Saturday morning and will be allowed to switch races after one or more loops (anyone who switches during the race will not be eligible for a trophy, but will be counted as a finisher). This makes the Mississippi Trail 50 a great place to try a first 50K or 50 Mile. If you get part way into the run and decide you have bitten off more than you can chew, just switch down to a shorter distance. The only way to get a DNF in the shorter events is to not complete at least one loop. There is a 12 hour time limit (dictated by the NFS permit) for both the 50K and 50 Mile events. The cut-off for the 50 milers to finish three 12.5 mile loops and start their first of two 6.1 mile loops is 8:45 elapsed, 2:45 pm, and the cutoff for everyone to start their last 6.1 mile loop is 10:15 elapsed time, 4:15 pm.
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Mississippi's Flagship Trail Race
I have been to this event as a spectator 3 times and run it twice. Only the short distance, but it counts. It is indeed a race you want to … MORE
I have been to this event as a spectator 3 times and run it twice. Only the short distance, but it counts. It is indeed a race you want to do in Mississippi. This race draws some of the best trail spirits in the state and from many states. As you drive into the forest to the race site, you get the calming feeling of being away from the world for a while. All the happy people are there and they are super friendly. The RD’s, although friends of mine, are some of the nicest folks you will spend a race day with. Great food, swag and depending on the weather, you might have a dry day on the trail or you might cross a raging creek. But in the end, you’ll know this was a good choice. You owe it to yourself to run MS50 at least once.
Great Race!
Small, well organized event. The description of this course is very well described, flat and fast with several creek crossings. This year was dry, which apparently is an exception to … MORE
Small, well organized event. The description of this course is very well described, flat and fast with several creek crossings. This year was dry, which apparently is an exception to the normal conditions. A normal year, plan on getting wet and muddy! Aid stations were appropriately spaced and good racing food. The course well marked, and nice finisher swag. As far as scenery goes, lots of pine trees. The high value for me was the peaceful venue and the natural quiet that came with it. Finisher swag was nice with a decent jacket at the finish line and a nice medal to add to my 50 state board!
A muddy challenge
Overall Rating: It was ok. Course Difficulty: Challenging. It was two 12.5 mile loops and one 7-ish mile loop. The course on a dry day would have been fast with … MORE
Overall Rating: It was ok.
Course Difficulty: Challenging. It was two 12.5 mile loops and one 7-ish mile loop. The course on a dry day would have been fast with many runnable portions, but with all the rain it was a slick muddy mess. Many water crossings, some waist deep, with the first one being at mile 1. Your feet will be wet all day.
Course Scenery: Good scenery in tall pine forests. Nice trail.
Race Production: Ok, not great. First of all, if you plan to run this race, have a 4×4 or high clearance AWD; if it doesn’t rain, you can make it in a 2WD, if it does, you’ll have a hard time. Next, while everything was technically in place, at times I just felt lost, like no one knew exactly where to send me, or at the least weren’t forward about it. I still ended up in the right place, but for whatever reason, it just felt there was not clear leadership…
The trail was marked really well and the aid stations were excellent.
Race Swag: Custom medal, t-shirt, and finisher hoodie..
My Performance: Better than expected. I was using this as a long slow training run for an upcoming 100 miler and wanted to average 13 min/mile. I was actually quite surprised at my finish time based on the number of creek crossings and the challenge of the mud.
Final notes: If you need to cross MS off of your list, this one will get it done, just be prepared that all of the challenges you will face may not be on the course.
Tupelo Marathon w/ a little extra oompf
Needed an ultra distance for MS, since the page won't let you edit marathon distances for marathon events and we decided to run the tupelo marathon but go a bit … MORE
Needed an ultra distance for MS, since the page won’t let you edit marathon distances for marathon events and we decided to run the tupelo marathon but go a bit further to get over 26.2 (virtually but in MS of course), so here we are tweaking this event. Drove to Tupelo again. This time from home. Ran the event but ran direct from the car to the start to get the extra oompf needed. Race swag was great as always.
Flat and fast trail run
In a dry year, this course would be very flat and fast. Much of it is on old Forest Service roads that are smooth and level with a soft pine … MORE
In a dry year, this course would be very flat and fast. Much of it is on old Forest Service roads that are smooth and level with a soft pine needle cushion. This year was very wet in the days leading up to the race, which turned the lower parts of the course into a muddy bog. The weather was almost ideal though, with temperatures in the 50’s and a good cloud cover. There was plenty of Longleaf Pine trees though, so there would be shade if the sun had come out. The field was small enough that you could enjoy the quiet solitude of the trail and listen to birds and possibly see a white-tailed deer or two. The aid stations were well supplied to meet almost anyone’s needs, although there wasn’t any hot food except for bacon. All runner’s were given a shirt and a Ulitimate Direction hand-held water bottle. I also received a beanie cap and a nicely designed medal as finisher’s awards. I waffled back and forth as to whether or not to give this a 4 or 5-star overall rating because I would have liked to give it a 4.5 because of a lack of a post-race meal which is becoming more and more common at ultras, but everything ran so smoothly that I decided to give them a 5.
Back to nature in Mississippi
Multiple loop course on a trail used primarily by horses. Nicely flat, but with several streams to cross, the horse traffic makes those areas muddy. As the RD said in … MORE
Multiple loop course on a trail used primarily by horses. Nicely flat, but with several streams to cross, the horse traffic makes those areas muddy. As the RD said in announcements, you may as well go straight through – it is possible to find a less muddy path / hop the stream, but I found this introduced briars that left my legs with tiger stripes. One other runner planted his foot with a loosely tied shoe – leaving the shoe behind. Another runner’s bib got caught on a briar – he was very appreciative when I stopped and let him know. Volunteers and supplies were amazing. I was thankful that we had a relative of my friend who drove us into the park – great crew and nice to have people who know the area. Race swag gets the highest rating because they give a shirt and a belt buckle. I wear both with pride.