Little Rock Half Marathon

I didn't know much about this race, only that the race medals are pretty sweet (and huge). Plus Little Rock is only a 5 hour drive from St. Louis.

Expo: I was a bit frustrated at the expo because I had absolutely no idea where to go. I would have appreciated some wayfinding inside the Statehouse Convention Center. I wandered around for a few minutes before I realized you had to go downstairs. Once I actually found the correct area, it was super easy to get bib and shirt.

Race Shirt: I thought the race shirt was okay... Mine had a printing error, and I wasn't a huge fan of the fit. And what's with women shirts always having a v-neck. I'm over it.

Race: I wasn't too happy about the corral starting area. My corral was covered by a building. Before I entered the corral, it was such a pretty sunrise... but then I couldn't see it. I also couldn't see the start line, so it was just kind of blah. I thought they would do a phased start. I was in corral C, so I thought I had time to get my music set. NOPE. I actually stepped to the side of the start line to get my stuff in line.

Race start.

It's always both scary and exciting to not know the course. I enjoyed running around downtown Little Rock and over the Arkansas River to North Little Rock, but miles 5 through 9 were just kind of, um, ugly. It was an industrial area, and I seriously was like... pretend that this is Monterey Bay and you're running alongside the ocean. It was also threatening rain, and I normally like rain, but the weather folks had it ALL wrong. I checked the weather daily for a good week leading up to the race. No rain. Friday, the local news meteorologist said that rain will move in during the late afternoon. Then Saturday night, they said there was a chance for light rain during the race. GRRR. I typically like running in the rain, but I have to be prepared. Heavy rain started falling around mile 9, and it lasted pretty much until the end of the race. I didn't have a hat, my shorts were chaffing my thighs, I feared for my phone. They had all this yummy food (and beer) along the course, like grilled pineapple (yum!), but I didn't want to mess with it since it was raining.

I thought the lipstick station right before the finish line was fun! I was a bit confused at first... were they going to put lipstick on us for a sweet finish line photo? Nope, they were handing out lipstick or gloss!

I almost had a PR! I finished in 1:55:57. I'm not going to say it was an easy run, but it wasn't hard. I didn't intend to PR since this was my first half marathon this year.

Mile 1: 8:36
Mile 2: 8:24
Mile 3: 8:30
Mile 4: 8:39
Mile 5: 8:30
Mile 6: 8:35
Mile 7: 8:47
Mile 8: 8:43
Mile 9: 8:59
Mile 10: 8:57
Mile 11: 9:07
Mile 12: 9:00
Mile 13: 9:05

Finish Area: This was super impressive. I liked that it was inside the Convention Center and it was super organized. I was so thirsty, and they had so many options!! I got water, OJ, 2 different chocolate milks, Diet Coke, and a Michelob Ultra. They also had pasta which looked delicious, but I was too cold and wet so I didn't want to eat. I loved that they had seating in the finish area.

What I loved most about this race is that I did NOT have those pre-race jitters. I'm hoping for a PR at my next half marathon (whenever that will be, hopefully before Iceland).