They were definitely enjoying the theme (as you'll see from the medal), since the race was taking place just two days before Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras). We meandered through the expo for a few minutes and wound up talking for a bit with one of the women who was handling one of the therapy dogs -- such a sweet fella and a nice, soft coat. After picking up a bag of intoxicating-smelling cinnamon almonds, we headed out on a bit of a walk to the state capitol for a little sightseeing.
As I would notice on walking back towards the convention center, the capitol was Mile 14 of the marathon course. (For some reason, I thought it had been Mile 7 when I ran this a few years ago.)
The interior of the capitol is nice, and, of course, I had to take the obligatory photo aimed straight up at the inside of the dome.
Given our timing, we managed to make it to the State Treasurer's office a few minutes before they close. And they are the only one that actually allows visitors to go into the back where the safe is and hold a large pile o' cash. That stack? $600,000 of cold, hard highly-rubber-banded cash. How much does it weigh? Apparently 21 pounds. Not too shabby. Unfortunately, I had to hand it back before departing.
Outside the capitol, we saw a couple of their monuments. I would wind up seeing a couple of other monuments during the marathon, running around the other side of the building that we didn't see during our walk -- the Little Rock Seven and what would appear to be the Liberty Bell.
Of course, the trip into the city wouldn't be complete without a quick jaunt into Hurts Donuts for a tasty treat. Jesus - that was a good donut. (Don't get offended, now. The name of the donut is Jesus.)
Saturday was a pretty relaxing day. After a really good breakfast at a local franchise of the Black Bear Diner (damn, their biscuits are enormous!), we partook in an escape room that was Potter themed. Cute, though several of the puzzles didn't work quite right (as the magnetic elements are very finicky). Italian for dinner was really good, and they even had a live pianist -- we were able to identify the vast majority of songs that she was playing, thankfully.
Finally, race day arrived. It was COLD in the morning. I was very happy that I had brought my NYC Marathon poncho to wear out the door and to the convention center, and then put that in the gear check to use a fluffy warm blanket outside. But it was definitely ideal running weather.
That forecast was from a few days earlier. Turns out that it was closer to 38F to start the morning.
First up, we swung by Hurts Donuts. My friend got herself a donut to have after crossing to the convention center, while I got one for her to hold for me in her backpack for after the race. Shortly thereafter, the Marathon Maniacs had the fastest meet-up for a pre-race photo I've been part of yet.
Little Rock is a relatively small field and there are only a few scattered pockets of observers cheering people on, so it's a largely quiet course. While I usually don't like it so quiet (as I like feeding off the energy of the crowds), it really wasn't so bad this time around. And, what's great about this course and my friend who was cheering me on is that there are several spots along the course where a single person can easily walk to while the runner is meandering the extra mileage in between. She wound up cheering me on at Miles 3+, 13+, and the finish line. (Stay tuned -- she may have the opportunity to write an entry on the blog about "how to be a good marathon spectator." There's actually a lot to it if you are supporting a specific runner.)
Little Rock is a hilly course. I knew this from last time. I thought I had done sufficient preparation for the hills. Apparently not. And, what's worse, is I unwittingly went out too fast -- I didn't recognize how much ahead of pace I was at 10k. Apparently my predicted time at that point was 3:09 -- far faster than my plan. And having not recognized it in time, that must have sucked out enough extra energy that I could have really used once I got to the nasty hills later in the course. By half-way, I was only slightly behind my planned pace, so I thought I would have a chance to make it up and hit my desired 3:15 or faster.
Nope, that wasn't in the cards. I had a couple of people who were in front of me by a good 25 to 50 yards who I was trying to use as rabbits for quite a long time. And, while it was working up through about Mile 19 or so, they slowly but surely drifted further away from me. My split times and their pulling away was what cemented my realization that my desired time would not happen. I was hopeful that I could at least place in my age group (as a consolation prize of sorts) given what last year's results were.
Then I got to about Mile 24/25, and it was another nasty hill. I knew I would not be able to handle running it - I just didn't have it in me. So, I walked the hill, and then was in a position to run the remainder. Ever closer to the finish, I switched the screen on my Garmin to the one that shows predicted finish time, and saw that I was ever so close to finishing just under 3:20. (A BQ, but not an improvement on the one I already have for 2026 that I wanted to beat.) Finally, I pushed through the end and finished in 3:19:44.
While my legs were actually doing fairly well, despite the hard course profile, my post-race recovery did NOT go smoothly. I picked up all the post-race food (they've got a decent assortment) and relatively quickly made it out to the reunion area, met up with my friend, and got to a table.
While I slowly went through some of the goodies, I started to recognize some never-fun symptoms. My face was starting to tingle a little bit (and I was ever-so-slightly lightheaded) and my hands were also tingling (actually, more than my face). And, apparently my pausing and concentrating on what my symptoms were caused my friend (in her third year of medical school, mind you) a bit of concern -- especially since it seemed like I was also losing some color in my face. And by this point in time, I was getting cold (having lost my body heat from lack of movement and the table we sat at was close to the open back door) so I donned my poncho. But everything combined in such a way that Jess sought out someone from the medical team to come over to assess me. While she was doing so, I slowly continued to consume some more food and drink (by this time, finally getting to the banana and orange juice). When she came back, she had three of the medical personnel in tow. (Apparently it was a slow day for the medical volunteers, since there weren't any heat-related problems.) They made sure I elevated my legs and covered up a bit more. By the time they had arrived, the carbs I had just consumed had already started to work to some extent. After a few minutes, they returned to the med tent, noting that if needed, they could come back.
As time progressed and I couldn't converse smoothly because I was still breathing as heavily as I was, my friend sought them out again, noting that they might bring over a wheelchair to get me back to their medical area if they needed to use any equipment (stethoscope, pulse ox, etc.) since I was still tentative enough about standing up at that point. Again, three people came over, and the one new person in the group was doing a more in-depth assessment. She was talking with me, asking me various questions (effectively making sure I was lucid, etc.) while ostensibly taking my pulse (though, in earnestness, she was more likely counting my breaths per minute). I was fine other than the fact that I still couldn't fully catch my breath, even though it was over an hour since I had finished the race. While I wasn't huffing and puffing, it was still enough that (in hindsight) it could actually have been classified as hyperventilating. It took a fair bit of concentration to actually take deep breaths to try to slow down my breathing.
After an abnormally long post-race recovery time (90 minutes), I was finally in sufficient condition that I could stand up and start walking away. After a brief pit stop, we made our way back to the car and to the house.
After showering, changing, and lounging about for a little while, we made it out for dinner for my standard bacon cheeseburger. (Having had a decent bit of food/drink after the race, we skipped lunch, which worked out well for me given some of my other issues that I've had in the past.) And we went to the perfect place for a Williams College alum:
Monday was a nice relaxing day with only one thing on the agenda: going to a float spa. Ooh, that was relaxing. We each had a large pod to go into that had about 10 inches of water in it but so much epsom salts dissolved in it, that we were floating effortlessly. And they have it set up so that you can have lights on inside (or not) and soft music playing (or not). I chose to have the lights off but the music on. One hour in pitch darkness, floating, having no awareness of the passage of time. I just may add this into my routine. While I hadn't experienced any soreness beforehand (that usually sets in two days post race), I certainly haven't experienced any in the few days since, either. There's a place not too far from me where it's actually 90-minute sessions, and the prices are actually pretty reasonable, all things considered. I definitely recommend doing it at least once.
Tuesday, I managed to get onto an earlier flight than what I had booked -- there were nasty thunderstorms and possible tornadoes that were going to hit by the time of my originally scheduled flight, so I wanted out, and thankfully I got the last assigned seat for that earlier flight. And, what's more, I managed to get onto an earlier connecting flight, too. And, just like with the outbound flights, both of these flights arrived well ahead of schedule.
Next up? Boston. And this year's twist will be the costume that I run in, in honor of the 250th anniversary of Patriots Day. Stay tuned for that.
