Gulf Coast Marathon weekend kicked off Saturday with Margaritaville 5K Run

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - Hundreds of people laced their running shoes up Saturday morning, which marked the start of the 5th Annual Gulf Coast Marathon weekend.

The event is made up of four different races, two of which took place Saturday, the Margaritaville 5K and the Chevron Kids 1-mile race. COVID-19 has caused many events to cancel, but this run managed to go according to plans. Many runners said they’ve looked forward to feeling the after math of a race.

“Accomplished,” said Beth Victoriano with Ainsley Angels. ”You feel like you’ve done something almost invincible. I actually train to run so that I can outlast, so I know that once I finish and done everything I’m suppose to do there’s nothing that can stop me.”

Ainsley Angels led the run with children who couldn’t physically participate on their own.

“We pair an able-body with someone in the special needs community because we believe in inclusion for all people.” said Victoriano.

With efforts to keep everyone safe, there were markers set up to help with social distancing and each row of runners were told when to take off. Also, masks were also required at the start and end points of the races.

“Haven’t run in years and started because of the COVID thing,” said Paul Pratt. “It’s something you can do outside, it’s healthy, builds your humane system so hopefully that’s all working, and we’ll see tomorrow when I do the marathon.”

Once runners finished the race, Harrison Central High School baseball team prepared more than 2,000 bags packed with a granola bar, chips, and fruit.

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