Race Reports

The second annual Joplin Memorial Marathon was held on Saturday, 20 May 2017 in Joplin, MO. You may recall Joplin was devastated by a tornado in 2011; this race raises funds to help in the recovery process. Severe weather hit the region on Friday, and there was concern the race might have to be canceled, but the system moved past Joplin just in time. Remaining cloud cover helped keep temperatures reasonable (low 60s). The local populace came out to cheer on runners although since Joplin only has about 50,000 citizens, support was a bit less than you might see in Boston, New York, or Chicago. Unfortunately Joplin also has about 50,000 hills, and we ran every one of them. Although I have run a couple marathons that were hillier, this course was the worst for having one hill right after another; there were very few flat spots. Anyway, I did manage to finish the race and get to the beer tent. Unfortunately, their idea of beer is Michelob Ultra. We are fortunate that many regional races (including Charleston, Hilton Head, and Myrtle Beach marathons) serve quality beer afterwards. I do recommend that people give this marathon consideration if they need to run a marathon in the Show Me state.