This was my last marathon of 2015, and I registered kind of late. It was a Saturday race, which is sometimes a little harder to get to, and Little Rock was a little expensive to fly into, but it was worth it. There wasn't really an expo, just packet pick up at a running store (which happened to be next to a grocery store...score!! Race morning breakfast purchases made!). I prefer no expo, so again, this was a good thing in my opinion.

I stayed at a hotel just a mile or two away from one of the two designated parking spots. This was pretty convenient - no need to worry about getting to the start and parking. Instead, I parked in a large church parking lot and took the bus to the starting area.

The start was great. It's the only marathon I've run where there was a heated tent for runners to hang out in, which in December, was very nice. They had coffee, water, and snacks pre-race and we only had to walk around the corner to the start. There were plenty of portajohns nearby as well. Definitely one of the best pre race starting areas I've experienced. The sunrise was lovely too!

The start was smooth. The whole course was really nice; I was astounded by the quantity and quality of footpaths by the river. They were asphalt and in great condition, with nice views pretty much the whole time. The last 10k was more in a park with small, rolling hills, but also pleasant. You cross three bridges (hence the name) which meant some incline, and there are a few minor hills during the course as well, but nothing bad in my opinion. The bridges were like milestones, I started looking forward to them because they had nice views and meant we were making progress.

Aid stations and volunteers were great. It's not the type of race you run for thousands of cheering people along the course, but it was very pretty and quite enjoyable and I met some cool runners along the route, one of which I ran with for about 16 miles. I tend to prefer scenic over crowd anyway.

You run back by the finish around mile 20 and cross a bridge that leads into that park area by the river. On the one hand you're thinking "crap that's the finish but I'm not done..." but on the other hand it's a party atmosphere and the announcer calls your name and where you're from on the PA, so that's cool. He also says it again as you re-cross the bridge to finish right at about mile 26.1. It didn't bother me to pass the finish but some people might find it a bit of a bummer.

The post-race atmosphere was fun and there was a good selection of food and drink. The shuttles back to the parking lots were also great, as they ran pretty frequently right by the finish area, and dropped you off at your lot. From there I only had a mile or two to drive to my hotel.

The t-shirt was a nice long sleeve tech shirt. The medal was so-so but not bad. The real prize, pun intended' were the age group awards. I placed in my division and collected a SWEET plaque to hang on my wall. Great swag in my opinion, with minimum hassle and a beautiful, extremely well-organized race.

Bottom line, if you need Arkansas for your 50 states quest, I HIGHLY recommend this race. It's one of my favorites, and not just because we had beautiful, sunny, cool weather. It really felt like a marathon for runners, by runners, and it showed with every detail. I don't anticipate running repeat races if I can help it, but this is one I would consider running again just because I enjoyed it so much.