The Buddy Bones Turkey Butt Marathon

After falling off the wagon with some deep fried turkey butt on Christmas day, Buddy Bones and I knew we had to hit the road for some serious mileage. We had another eating to attend for the evening of December 26^th, my brother-in-law’s birthday party. So Buddy and I planned to leave the house around 11:00 am and make a long circuitous route to Carroll County. I lifted weights in the morning and got delayed resulting in skipped lunch and leaving an hour late. What could possibly go wrong?

We hit the road at 12:00 pm, crossed the Yazoo River, and headed out Grenada Blvd. As usual the boulevard was heavily trafficked and not a pleasant place to run. When we made it to Highway 7, we crossed over onto Grenada Blvd Extended and had a pleasant mile and a half until we had to get back on the highway. But we only had a half mile or less before we got on the Big Sand Creek Levee and headed east for the Carroll County hills. By then, I already knew it was going to be a tough day. My legs were tiring and we had a long, long way to go.

When we got on the levee, we were fewer than five miles from my front door and were seeing something totally new for us. I had never run, walked, or driven here before and that gave me a thrill. We crossed a couple of gates that made me a little uneasy. Eventually we could see some hunter orange way up ahead on top of the levee. Since I am nearsighted and don’t wear glasses, I couldn’t tell what it was until I was very close. It was a hunter.

We chatted a little and he must have said five times that he had never seen anyone run this levee top. I do a lot of things no one else around here does, especially since I started hanging out with Buddy Bones. I don’t know why I didn’t remember his name. He said he was the land owner and lived in Greenwood. I went on ahead and as I was nearing the end of the levee at the hill line, a truck came up from behind and stopped. He was also nice and I remembered his name, but told me it wasn’t a good idea to be running out. “We’ve had a lot of trouble in this area,” Justin Acey said. “I lot of people are going to be looking at you.”  I told him I was trying to get to that little road that ran along the foot of the hills to Highway 82. He pointed out a turn row I could have taken or the railroad tracks up ahead. We chose the tracks.

The abandoned C&G Railway line was grown up so thick we had to walk the ditch beside it, but we found the little road and started shuffling towards 82. We crossed the highway and headed towards Pelucia Creek and got on the levee there and headed west towards Humphrey Highway. Once more, when we got on the levee, we were in brand new territory and we ran and walked and walked and ran until we made the highway a little under six miles later.

On Humphrey Highway we headed south back towards the hills again. I was really tired now and was walking a lot. It was getting late. The birthday party was to start at 6:00, and I didn’t think we would make it. Surprisingly, I was able to shuffle up the big hill, a difficult feat even with fresh legs. It was dark now and once on top, it began to rain on us. I was ill-equipped for rain and the temp was dropping fast. That’s when my father and brother-in-law drove up. Buddy and I tapped out. We had only covered 23.5 miles, but we had fun, ran off some turkey butt, and saw some new territory. For us, that’s what it’s all about.

 

The time was terrible, but we had a good time.