Little Rock Marathon - RunMarathon

The objective of this race was to quailify for Boston. My only goal was to cross the line at 3:30 or less. I didn't train to go any faster than that. In fact most of my training runs were workshops in how to keep an 8:00 pace. In that effort I planned to run with the 3:30 pace group. I was also lucky to have Jacob (tribullbutter) run with me to help pace. Since he already punched his Boston ticket with a 3:06 at White Rock in December, this was a relatively relaxing run for him.

My training had been hampered by a few injuries. My longest run was 19 miles 2 weeks prior & I hadn't felt very good since. So I was concerned what the race would bring. I didn't know what to expect until I started running. Foretunately, those injuries never bothered me during the race.

The weather was cloudy & it was quite humid. We started out faster than I expected. The terrain varied quite a bit the first 6 miles as the splits showed. I started out with arm warmers but pulled them down after 2 miles. Since we were going to run past the hotel, Jacob took our arm warmers & ran into the hotel to drop them off at the front desk. He caught back up fairly quickly.

I had almost a minute in the bank by the half split. But the next 3 miles were going to be the hardest. At that time, I thought if I could make it to mile 16, I could make it to the finish. We gave back about 30 seconds those 3 miles. I was surprised it was only that much. Our pace group shrank considerably during that time, down to about 6 or 8. At mile 16 we ran downhill for over a mile. I held back going down & it was tough. Once we leveled out we had about 2 1/2 miles out to the turnaround before heading to the finish. After 18 I started cramping in my right thigh & calf. The next 2 miles were the worse. I was starting to have doubts. HR was fine, but the humidity was starting to affect me. I am a heavy sweater & if I don't have electrolyte replacement, I tend to not bonk but crash. I think I started hallucinating. The hairs on my arms looked so vivid, like I was looking at them through a microscope. I started drinking as much gatorade as I could. By the time we reached the turnaround, I felt much better.

The last 5 miles I focused on the next step. By this time I don't think we had but 1 or 2 others in our pace group. The 2 pacers were very heplful with motivation. Jacob being there in the front kept me going. At that time I wasn't going to let him down. At 22 we had 20 seconds in the bank. That didn't sound like enough but we kept a steady pace the next 3 miles. I dug deep to get over the last hill at mile 25. Once I caught my breath, I bid the 2 pacers goodbye & thanked them for all the help and Jacob & I ran as fast as we could to the finish. It seemed like it was a sub 7 minute pace. We just wanted to be done. Jacob kept counting down the distance. We went past 3 different people who told us, "1/2 mile to go!" That was a long 1/2 mile! We crossed the line with 51 seconds to spare. Mission accomplished.

Taken salt tablets. I carried a 16 oz bottle of endurance at the start. That proably saved me.

Waited 30 seconds for the pace group to finish. I think it was just the pacers at that time. Grabbed our huge finisher's medal & went for a beer. Walked back to the hotel.


I didn't want to go any faster. But I was hoping I would feel good enough to go faster, I didn't. So lack of salt/electrolyte replacement limited my ability.


Good course, great volunteers. Only drawback was the post race party didn't start till 4:00pm. Tough to stick around for that when you have a 5 hr drive home.