The Little Rock Marathon has a huge reputation... for its bling. Every year, without fail, you see people sporting these medals that appear to be the size of a dinner plate! Well, it just so happens that Little Rock is among the various Abbott Age World Championship-qualifying races, so win-win! I signed up for Little Rock when it was supposed to be held in early March 2021, and then thanks to everyone's favorite "C" word, it was pushed to November 21.
In the lead-up to this past Sunday, the weather forecast was all over the map, but generally speaking horrible, calling for rain, cold temps, and moderate wind; even a possible thunderstorm before my expected finish time. (Give me rain or cold temps, not both.) I worried excessively about just how many different outfits and possible throwaway clothes I would need to pack. As race day neared, the temps moderated, even though the call for rain was still on. So, in addition to my usual outfit, I packed a few cold-weather items (Dunkin' beanie, gloves, hand warmers, and a space blanket), my plastic poncho from the Tokyo Marathon (in case the rain was considerable enough), and my contact lenses (which I wear instead of my glasses if it is expected to rain).
All the way up until going to bed the night before the race, the forecast was still showing 50%+ chance of rain starting about 6am. Damn.
Then I woke up as planned at 5am to start my pre-race routine and to get dressed. I looked out the window, and was greeted with a cloudy sky, dry pavement, and no precipitation falling. What is the weather expected to be?
Meander up to the convention center where the expo was - the same space was being used for the athlete's village. (So nice to have a warm place away from the elements to hang out, and one with PLENTY of real bathroom availability.) They had a vendor there selling clothing and other supplies (for anyone with the emergency of having forgotten something essential), some food concessions, lots of tables (mainly intended for post-race), a few games available to play, and several massage chairs. Sure, you're never supposed to do something new on race day, and I've never actually used one of those massage chairs before, but I figured... what the heck. It was occasionally awkward, but overall, it was a good experience and I think generally helpful.
Finally, they made the announcement for us to make our way outside to our corrals. 30 minutes to go. They go through the standard pre-race speeches, national anthem, etc. During the whole spiel, I was bouncing along with the music, but to the casual observer I look anxious and fidgety.
The wheelchair division set off 5 minutes before the rest of the field.
And then... we're off!
It's a quick initial lap around the block to get us to 1 Mile and the bridge to take us over the Arkansas River the first time. As we go over, we meet up with part of the early-bird group that set out 2 hours before everyone else so that they could have the maximum 8 hour time allowed. Around a couple of the neighborhoods, and it was back over the bridge to get to Mile 7 of the race.
While I was on the other side of the river, I met up with a couple of guys who were running about the same pace I was, so I asked them what their goal was -- 1:30. (They were running the half marathon, being held simultaneously.) I said I'd stick with them as long as I could, since I'd love to break 3 hours (though my goal for the day was 3:05 or better). They pointed out the woman that was with the relatively small group of people about 30-45 seconds ahead of us -- Tia, who they knew was looking to break 3 hours today. (Little did I know until reading the newspaper coverage on Monday that she was the 4-time champ, looking for (and getting) win #5 on Sunday.) I made note of the outfit and told myself I had plenty of time to catch up, if things were going well enough.
I was able to stay with them until about the time they broke away to finish their half marathon where the marathon course continues onward.
Then came Mile 14. Around that point, my friend cheering me on in multiple spots called out that I was doing great. Presciently, I noted that I hadn't gotten to the hills yet.
During Mile 14, there's a nasty (but mercifully brief) hill on the approach to Little Rock's legislative building -- very pretty. And a really nice downhill where recovering the time that was just lost is very easy. However, shortly after that comes a rather brutal 2-3 mile stretch of relatively steep uphill, with minimal dips to allow for recovery.
Several miles beforehand, I had met up with someone else who was looking to finish in 3:05, and we paced each other rather well. But once the nasty uphill portion happened, he kept on going strong at the same pace but ever so slowly pulled away from me. I knew then that there was no prayer that I would manage to hit my goal.
OK, that's fine. Do what you can, right? So I finally get to the top of the hill and looking forward to regaining some speed on the downhill. Nope! This downhill portion is crazy steep. While I certainly went faster than my previous pace, if I were to do anything to truly make up a considerable amount of the lost time, I would have been risking serious injury. The entire stretch, I was pulling back on the pace to not overextend myself and go flying, the entire time saying -- very much out loud -- "don't go too fast, take it easy, pull it back" to emphasize the point to myself. Epecially since there was no medical tent there, and it would have been a while before anyone could have gotten to me to patch me up if it were needed.
Tired and a bit slower from the effort, I finally made it to Mile 20. This is where the one out-and-back portion of the course occurs. Knowing this, I started to count the runners on the other side of the road (just like I did for the Sufflok County Marathon). This time, I counted myself as #19 by the time I got to the turnaround point and knew there was no one else ahead of me.
I slowly gained on and passed #18 and pulled away steadily. While I didn't see any of the others, being too far ahead, I was feeling really good about my placement for the race. And then Mile 24 hit. While I knew ahead of time there was a hill there, I just wasn't prepared for it. A few seconds into the ascent, I bring it down to a walk -- I just didn't have enough in me to handle it. And during that walk, I dropped from #18 down to #23.
Finally, at the top of the hill I knew I could pick it back up again. Our course merged back up with the half marathon course, and it was straight on to the finish line.
3:16:54. Nope -- there is no chance that I will be able to qualify for the 2022 Age Championships. Oh well. (That means I can forego running another marathon in December, at least.) I've done well, with approximately 6260 points (out of the 8000 maximum), but won't know just how far down in the rankings I am until the close of the race season at the end of December.
Apparently there were about 6,000 people who were running among all four events last weekend -- down from their pre-COVID levels. And there were a lot fewer people out cheering along the course -- some regulars were telling me while waiting online for the post-race massage that it wasn't well enough publicized, so people who would normally cheer didn't even know the race was happening.
Certainly a race to recommend.
Oh.. I almost forgot. The bling!
If you're in it for the bling, Little Rock is *definitely* the best place for it, so far, that I've run. (Though the medals that Disney gives for marathon weekend are pretty sweet, especially in anniversary years. Don't know exactly what they do for their top awards.)
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