Rocking the Little Rock Marathon

Five is a magic number!  Yes, it's a magic number! 

On March 7, I ran my fifth marathon in Little Rock and ran a sub-5 hour marathon for the first time.   Since my first marathon, I have typed up random (and I mean random) thoughts and experiences during my marathons, more so I will remember them for years to come, but I am sharing it on my blog in case anyone is interested. 

The Little Rock Marathon is nice because it is a small race with approximately 1,500 marathoners and 3,000 half-marathoners.  This makes for nice conveniences prior to the race start:  incredibly short port-a-pottie lines and medical teams that are able to pass out sun-screen (which I had forgotten) throughout the corrals.  I was approaching the marathon as a training run for the Lincoln Marathon in May and had heard that the Little Rock Marathon has THE biggest marathon medal.  Dangling race bling is front of me is like dangling carrots in front of a bunny.  I decided to wear a 4:55 pace band which would allow me to run slower than my regular Saturday training pace, but still set a PR or maybe even break 5 hours.  I wasn't holding my breath for miracles though, since I was recovering from a shin injury.  I had also woken up and had one of those days where I just didn't feel like running, and 26.2 miles just felt so long.  I made the ultimate mistake of thinking it would be 1:00 p.m. by the time I finished the marathon, so the head games started early on. Galen (who was doing the 1/2 marathon) stood with me in the corrals until the race started.  The race got off with a confetti-bang, and it only took me about 1 or 2 minutes to cross the starting line.  After crossing the starting line, Galen the Speedster took off.  I would not see him again until I got to Mile 24 of the marathon and he had showered and changed from his race.

The marathon and half-marathon courses start on President Clinton Avenue.  The first mile took me past the William J. Clinton Presidental Library and park, and then headed west along 3rd Street to Broadway.  I ran under a suspended American flag to the Broadway Bridge and crossed into North Little Rock.

On the Broadway Bridge, a couple that lived in Little Rock approached me and asked how Eladio Valdez (my running coach) was doing.  They had lived in Kansas City run with Runner's Edge back when 50 people were in the group.  I enjoyed talking about the local Kansas City races with them, until we separated around Mile 3.  At Mile 2, I saw my first ever pink fire truck.  (It was early enough in the race, that I promise you I was not hallucinating.)  Miles 2 through 4 were flat and wound through "scenic" North Little Rock.  It wasn't the prettiest part of town, but the race was able to showcase the Verizon Arena and the quaint Argentine district. 

Mile 4 included the trek back over the Broadway Bridge (which was a rather long, but managable incline).  A spectator held a poster that reminded me:  "If it was easy everyone would do it."  A kind spectator During the climb, a guy asked me how Eladio's training was working for me.  He told me that he ran with Runner's Edge of the Rockies and we enjoyed a brief chat before wishing each other well and going our own pace. 

Miles 6 through 8 wound through downtown Little Rock.  I do not really remember too much about these miles.  I spent a lot of time looking at the ground.  Little Rock still uses a trolley system.  Between the trolley tracks, manhole covers, and rough road I was making sure my footing was secure. I was feeling good and ahead of my pace band by 3 minutes at 6.2 miles.

After passing the mile marker for Mile 8 as I headed west on Capitol Street, I thought to look up and had a beautiful view of the Capitol Building.  The course head back south and entered some old neighborhoods with beautiful southern homes.  The Governor's Mansion is located at the end of Center Street. 

Before Mile 11, the half-marathon and full-marathon courses split.  I continued to head west and got to run by the historic Little Rock Central High School.  There was a great group cheering on the marathoners in front of the high school.  They said they would see us again at Mount Saint Marys and hoped Kavanaugh was too bad.  (It's probably a good thing I didn't know what they were talking about.  I would understand about 30 minutes later.) Strangely, the half-marathon course rejoined the marathon course at Mile 12 before the two courses split again around Mile 12.5. 

At this point, I was surprised at how generally flat the marathon course actually was.  The race is advertised as being relatively hilly.  A good portion of the course up to this point had been rolling hills or slight inclines.  Nothing like the crazy hills in the Kansas City Marathon or Hospital Hill.  Little did I know that I had a special treat waiting for me.  In hindsight, I suppose most capitol buildings in most capitol cities do seem to be situated on higher ground....

After Mile 12.5, the course started climbing upwards slightly.  I turned a corner and there was the capitol building.  The grounds were beautiful, the weather was slightly overcast, there was a gentle breeze.  I was feeling great.  I crossed the Mile 13.1 mat 5 minutes ahead of my pace band.  A few of the runners around me started to say that it sure felt like it was taking a long time to get to Mile 16.  (I started to get kind of worried about what I might be in store for over the next 2 or 3 miles.)

I don't remember much about Mile 14.  Oh, but Mile 15.  What a treat.  I passed by the Arkansas School for the Deaf and then went up. Up. Up. Up. A lot of people were walking but I kept chugging along.  I passed two ladies that were walking the marathon and wished them well.  Chug. Chug. Up. Up.  I could hear some beautiful church bells as I neared the top of the hill.  (I later learned that was Mount Saint Mary's Church.) I turned the corner and...uh oh...more up.  I got to the aid station at Mile 16 and finally saw a downhill.  I set off down the hill, turned the corner and thought "you.have.got.to.be.kidding.me."  A short, steep up.  The rest of Mile 17 down to Mile 18 was downhill.  Steep downhill.  Watch your knees it's so steep down hill. 

Mile 18 was the start of another treat.  An infamous out and back.  I was still feeling pretty good at Mile 18.  I was about 4 minutes ahead of my pace band.  The mind starts to pull tricks on you when you are at Mile 18 and can see people head back in the opposite direction to Mile 24.  Around Mile 19 I decided to walk for a minute. And then two minutes.  And then three minutes.  I started to hear this funny chuckling sound.  I look to my left and see a boggy swamp area.  I kept expecting some sci-fi creature from the black lagoon to emerge.  The rhythmic "hee-hee-hee hee hee-hee" (from what I concluded must have been frogs) kind of creeped me out enough to start running again.  I walked for a minute at Mile 20 but forced myself to keep jogging at least until I got to the turnaround.  The pace band was starting to stress me out so I removed it and reminded myself that this was just a training run and I didn't need to be stressing out.

Around Mile 20.5 I got to turnaround and was headed for the home stretch on the out and back. My brain had stopped doing math around Mile 21.  In a conversation with Galen (who was waiting for me at Mile 24), I told him I only had four miles left.  It was my friend Pritha, who told me via cell phone, that I actually had five miles left.  I still had 1 hour to make to to the finish line and beat 5 hours.  I tried to push myself through to Mile 24.  At this point the marathon becomes a test of how much you can endure pain and keep pounding the pavement. The sun was really coming down on the asphalt, and I was starting to feel really warm so I took several 30 second to 1 minute walk breaks.  When I was jogging, I felt like I was really moving along and would get discouraged when my Garmin told me I was only doing a 12:00 minute pace.  Regardless, those loud, creepy frogs kept me moving on to Mile 24.

At Mile 24, I saw Galen and was all ready to stop for another walk break, but he had the camera out so I had to keep jogging.  At this time I was about 25 minutes away from breaking 5 hours, and I had high hopes that I could accomplish the goal.  Then I saw that I had to climb an overpass.  Galen said it was no big deal, that there was only one more hill after the overpass.  @#$%!!!  I was tired. My knees hurt.  My quads were cramping.  (Shin felt great though!)  The last thing I wanted to do was climb hills.  I pretty much settled in my mind that I would set a personal record but not beat 5 hours.

I walked up the last two hills.  Let me just say, the hills would not have been bad if they were located anywhere else in the marathon.  There were a bunch of supporters at the top of the hill at Mile 25.  "Low Rider" was playing and a guy rang a cowbell in my face, fist pumped me, and told me to earn more cowbell.  I was feeling reenergized at the promise of no more hills.  Lots happened in that last mile.  First, I realized I had about 15 minutes to make it 1.2 miles, and I could still finish sub-5.  I felt like the clock was speeding up and I was moving slower.  I was focused.  The some guy offered me a beer, I smelled it, and almost threw up.  Passing that hurdle, I then had two women ask me to take their photo.  I shot them a dirty look and kept going.  They seemed offended, but are you kidding me?!?  We aren't at Disneyworld here, folks.  Who would expect someone to stop and take their picture with less than 1 mile to go?!?  At Mile 25.9, there was a Lipstick Stop.  Cute idea, but no time to be high maintenance.  My clock was ticking.  I think I still had about 5 minutes to make it to the finish, and I knew I only needed 2 minutes, but I was entering panic mode.

I passed Mile 26.  Life entered slow motion.  (Insert "Chariots of Fire" theme music.) I could hear the announcer tell the crowd that things were going to get exciting because the runners coming in were likely going to beat 5 hours.  Hearing that brought me to a dead sprint.  I felt numb.  I saw the clock said 4:58:44 and, my brain not being able to do math, I thought I only had 15 seconds to beat 5 hours.

I did it!  Official chip time:  4:57:29.  I crossed the finish line with tears of joy and relief.  Then I got my coveted medal.  It measures 6" x 7" and weighs more than a pound.  Definitely a wonderful momento of my 5th marathon and my first sub-5 hour marathon!



General thoughts: 

1. Race day weather was perfect.  The low was in the upper 40s and the high was in the upper 60s.  There was a cool breeze, and it was overcast for a good portion of the race. 
2. I would not say that the marathon was "easy" but I didn't struggle as much as I had in the past with other courses.  This was the first marathon where I didn't swear off running for the rest of my life, or at least marathons.  Most other marathons, this occurs by Mile 22.
3. No blisters!
4. I was impressed by the support of Little Rock.  The volunteers did a great job.  There was a decent amount of crowd support for a smaller marathon.  The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette actually had a pullout section for the marathon in the Monday paper.

Sidenote:  Here's a true story about finishing a marathon.  After I showered and changed, and Galen and I had gone for pizza, we walked back over to the finish line area to take some photos.  It was probably about 2 hours after the marathon course had reopened for traffic.  The clock was still running over the finish line.  Two volunteers were still standing there with medals.  A race director told me there were still two women on the course.  I kid you not.  It was the two women I passed on the hill at Mile 15.  They had been walking for 10 hours.  10 hours!   As they crossed the finish line, no one was around except for several people on the patio at a nearby bar.  Everyone on the patio starting cheering for these ladies.  It was a truly inspirational moment, made even more special knowing that I had actually taken the time to cheer them, and had actually told Galen about them over dinner.  Running a marathon isn't just about how fast you can do it, it's a test of strength and determination. Cheers to the Mile 15 Walkers!

Let me model this medal one more time: