Have you ever seen a race medal that's bigger around than a dinner plate and so heavy that wearing it around your neck for any extended period of time would most likely result in a visit to your local chiropractor? Would you like to add one to your collection? Well, if you're willing to head down to Little Rock, Arkansas and tough it out through one of the most challenging hilliest courses in the United States, you can have a medal like that for yourself. And while Little Rock isn't necessarily known for being a major tourist destination, there are a few hidden gems around the city that history buffs or anyone who grew up during Bill Clinton's presidency will find interesting along with a riverfront that has a number of good bars and restaurants, all of which will make spending a weekend there for a race an enjoyable experience.

The race expo is fairly typical for a race this size - it's held at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock (near the river front) and has around 70 vendors. The race has a different theme each year and the expo, race bibs, medals, course markers, and t-shirts are all decorated accordingly. The theme when I did it was "Get Lucky in Little Rock" and the race had a Southwestern theme with horseshoe shaped medals.

One other notable thing about this race is that it has an early start option. The race starts at 8:00 am and has a 6 hour time limit, but anyone who doesn't think they can finish it within the six hours can get a special pass at the expo to start at 6:00 am instead. I've never seen a race that did this before and I thought it was a pretty cool idea. Not everyone is a fast runner (and this is a tough course even for experienced runners), so allowing the early start gives anyone an opportunity to participate without having to make everyone get to the start line by 6:00 am.
Course

I don't know when (or even if) I'm ever going learn this, but signing up to run a race in a state that normally has warmer weather during the winter is no guarantee that race weekend won't be unseasonably cold. The exact same thing that happened to me during Rock n Roll Arizona in Phoenix and The Mercedes Half in Birmingham happened again in Little Rock: I was expecting temperatures to be in the mid to high 50's (which is typical for Little Rock in March) but they were in the low 30's on race day. I had thrown a long sleeve running shirt in my bag so at least I had that.... but judging by what all of the other runners were wearing as we all huddled together inside of the one restaurant along the riverfront that was open so early on race morning, I could tell that I wasn't the only person who had been expecting warmer weather. So just another reminder to runners: if you travel for a race, I don't care how warm it's supposed to be wherever it is that you're going, if it's winter, make sure you pack a set of warm running clothes just in case.

If I had to pick one word to describe the course itself, that word would be "hilly". The Little Rock Half Marathon course is probably the hilliest course I've ever done in my life (and my list of races includes Anchorage, Sedona, Seattle and San Francisco), and from what I've heard, the full marathon course is even hillier. So if you live in a place like Chicago that's fairly flat and you're planning on doing either of these races, make sure to work a lot of hill repeats into your training or else your quads and calves are going to feel like they're about to explode by the time you finish running.

Hills aside though, this is not a bad course. It starts out by heading down the river front towards the Bill Clinton Presidential Library and then zigzags through downtown Little Rock and past the Arkansas State Capitol Building before heading through some residential areas. Eventually it heads back towards downtown Little Rock and the finish line is about half a mile away from the start line.

Here's another thing to pay attention for on this course (besides the hills): around mile 11 the course heads up a hill and at the top of the hill is a giant house. When I did the race, I noticed that there was a guy standing outside of the front gates of this house giving some runners high fives and taking pictures with others who wanted to stop for a minute. It didn't dawn on me until after I had already run past that the guy I saw was the Governor of Arkansas (and the big house that I had just run past was the Governor's Mansion). I'm sure that people who live in Arkansas knew who he was (and I'm sure I would have figured it out sooner if I wasn't feeling loopy from having just run 11 miles) but my point here is that regardless of what your political beliefs are, stopping to take a picture or just say a quick hello to a governor on a race course is always a cool thing to do because you never know if somewhere down the line that person might go on to be elected to a higher office. So if you do the Little Rock Marathon or Half Marathon, remember to look for the Governor's mansion around mile 11 and if you don't want to stop for a picture at least run close enough to get a high five.

There's a big post race party at the finish line with plenty of music, food and beer, and I spent a few minutes checking it out, but I honestly didn't stick around very long. Not because it wasn't a good party but because not long after I finished running, it occurred to me that it was still pretty cold outside and that I wanted to get out of my cold, sweaty running clothes ASAP. This actually turned out to be ok though because I headed back to my hotel, showered, changed, and then headed back downtown... where a lot of the restaurants along the riverfront have food and drink specials for anyone wearing a race medal. So after the race I was happy to kick back and enjoy a burger and a beer while I watched a hockey game on TV inside of a nice warm restaurant.

While you're in town for the race, make sure you also stop by the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. It's only about a half mile walk from the convention center and well worth checking out, especially if you grew up in the 90's. It's only $7 to get in and you'll get a chance to relive some of the great historical moments from when Bill Clinton was the president (there were some that I had even forgotten about myself) and you'll also get to see the presidential limo and some items that were kept in the Oval Office and various other rooms at the White House as well as a lot of other information about Bill and Hillary Clinton from their college days so that you can get a better understanding of some of the events that helped to shape their political views. If you're looking for a way to spend the rest of your afternoon after picking up your race packet, this would be my choice for sure.

So overall - tough course.... huge medal.... I would say that that pretty much sums up my thoughts on Little Rock and the Marathon and Half Marathon. This is a race that's definitely not for beginners but if you're an experienced runner and you're looking for a challenge, you should add it to your bucket list (especially if your goal is to do a race in all 50 states). There are also some interesting historical things to see around Little Rock and did I mention that the finisher's medal is huge? I don't typically travel to the same places to do races more than once (mainly because the list of races I still have left to do is so long and seems to keep getting longer), but despite the tough hilly course and colder than average temperatures on race day, I'm still considering going back to Little Rock to do the full marathon just so I can get a dinner plate sized medal. Plus, even though my trip to Little Rock was short, I definitely enjoyed the couple days that I spent there.