Alabama

Order in which state was run: 5

Order in which state was admitted into the union: 22

Crimson St. Andrew's cross on a white field, patterned after the Confederate Battle Flag, and adopted in 1895. The bars forming the cross must not be less than six inches broad and must extend diagonally across the flag from side to side.

Prior to running my first marathon in 2000, Alabama was the only state other than Louisiana where I had run a race.  In 1997 and 1998 I ran the Azalea Trail 10k Run in Mobile.  I returned to Alabama in 2004 to run a half in Birmingham on February 8th.  The race was a companion half ran on mostly the same course as the Mercedes marathon.

This race had the most attended post race party of any event I have attended as the race host Mercedes gave away a vehicle at the post race party.  Winner had to be present so it was definetely worth your while to hang around to see if you were maybe the lucky one.

Mercedes was the US Men's Olympic qualifying marathon in 2004.  I was able to watch Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi, and Dan Browne qualify for the 2004 U S Olympic team.  This was my first exposure to the US marathon quallifying event as well as the first time I heard Meb's name.  Meb's still out there kicking butt today.  Meb went on to win the silver medal at the 2004 games in Athens.

Running a half in Birmingham was my second time running in hills after I had run a half in Nashville the prior year.  Birmingham was also the coldest weather that I had run in to date.  There were snow flurries the Saturday before the race while watching the trials as well as Sunday morning while running.

This was also my first traveling with a marathon chaser. 

Oops... I totally forgot that I returned to Alabama this year to run the first of the Gulf Coast Half events in Gulf Shores in January.

The Gulf Coast Series boast the world's most useful race medals.  Ever try opening a beer bottle with Mickey ears? Good luck with that!!!

Up next: Indiana