Everything below is my own opinion. I did not receive compensation for mentioning any of the places I dinned at or shopped.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done the Little Rock Half Marathon. Heck, I’ve even done the Liberty Half Marathon by now (more on that later). I’ve just been so busy with the kids’ schedules and I finally got to see Mom and my brother in Virginia during Spring break. It’s been a year since I saw her. I think I wrote a post about it because I did a nice long run in Little Rock in my old stompin’ grounds. She was there because she was in a rehab hospital after falling at home. I came to visit during the time she had in the rehab hospital. It was during the marathon weekend as well. She moved in with my brother after that. She just couldn’t live on her own anymore.
Driving back to Little Rock brought back memories of visiting Mom last year. That was the last time I was in Little Rock. I was going to say that we very rarely head back to Arkansas for fun things anymore. It’s usually a funeral or a sick relative, but that isn’t true. We still go for holidays and Hubby and I went to Hot Springs to do Hashfest with the Hash House Harriers in November. I completely forgot to write about that.
The Little Rock Hash does two big events a year. They do Hashfest in Hot Springs in November and Clearfork in the same area in the Summer. We almost always do Clearfork which is a campout. We haven’t done Hashfest in over 10 years. I think we did the math and came up with the exact year, but I don’t remember. I know we were living in Kentucky at the time. So, that might have been like 12 or 13 years ago. We stay at the Arlington Hotel or near it and have a pub crawl Friday night, a Red Dress Run Saturday, and a “Hangover” Run Sunday. It was just nice to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while. We had a lot of fun. Actually, Little Rock has started up another big event in Eureka Springs in March. They started it about 6 years ago or so but had to put the brakes on it during COVID. They did another one this year that we missed. They do basically the same thing as Hashfest but with the Green Dress Run. We’ve only been to one of those. We should go to more since Eureka Springs is closer.
Burlesque show we caught on the Friday pub crawl for Hashfest 
Construction happening at the Arlington 
Red Dress Run
Anyway, the fun stuff is usually a family drive. I usually drive by myself for the not-so-fun things in Arkansas. Being on my own and driving for a fun thing instead of a funeral or sick relative was a nice change, but like I said, it brought back memories. It was kind of a bittersweet trip.
I booked this trip for two reasons: to meet people from one of my Facebook groups, the Fanthropy Running Club and to catch up with the Little Rock Hash House Harriers even though I just saw a few of them in November. See the FRC for the last few years, picks a city to do a race, and decide to do a meet-up. They did Chicago a few years ago. They checked out the medals and really liked the theme for Little Rock this year. Not to mention, Little Rock’s medals are known for being HUGE. When I saw that they picked my ol’ stompin’ grounds, I said, “Hell, yeah! It’s on!”
I found out there were one or two people local that were driving from Kansas City to Little Rock from the FRC group. I thought about asking to carpool, but I wanted to stay until Monday so I could do the Hash on Sunday night and hang out with my friends. It would save money to carpool, but I thought it better to be free to do what I want to do. Speaking of saving money, my friends offered me a place to stay in Little Rock for the race. It would have been way and I do mean way cheaper if I had. I decided to stay in the same hotel with the FRC to do the whole “experience” and get to know people. I love my friends though. I can’t count how many times they said I should have just stayed with one of them.
So if I remember right, the drive down was a little cool and rainy. It was definitely cold in Kansas. It was below freezing and I was worried about snow or ice. The closer I got to Little Rock though, the warmer it got and less cloudy. I stopped at my favorite BBQ place in Arkansas, Whole Hog. I checked my messages. I decided to join the group FB chat and boy, I had a love/hate relationship with that. There were constant messages and side conversations. Since I couldn’t bookmark where I left, I started to comment or take a picture to figure out where I left. I guess I was adding to the chaos.
I checked in at the hotel, and I got a message while waiting in line at the front desk. One of my friends saw me and tried to talk to me at my car, but I was gone. I messaged back that I would be done soon and headed back to the car to move it, but he said he was already at home. Which is how close he lives to the start of the race.
I got settled in my room real quick and did some work. I did not take the day off for the drive. I work part-time from home. So, I figured it would be better to do the drive and get there and then finish my work day. Thankfully the internet was fine that day, but the rest of the weekend it was terrible.
I messaged the FRC group that I would be heading down to the expo. Most people had been and were back already. I didn’t really get any takers. I met a nice lady in the lobby named Paula. She asked if I was with the group and wanted to go to the expo with me. We walked down together and took a look around at the merch after getting our packets. She mentioned she walked, I think she said, six miles a day. I was stunned. I can’t even imagine walking six miles a day! We took some pictures and I bought some Bib Boards to try out for the first time.
Offical Race Shirt
Friday night was a meet-and-greet type thing for the FRC. We were supposed to meet at the fire pit in the back of the hotel, but the fire pit wasn’t working. So, we meet in the dining/lobby area. They said BYOB. I brought a small over-the-shoulder cooler. Nobody else did. They either had a room close by or just brought one drink. A lady did dress up as a dinosaur. One of the main admins of the group, Brian, passed out the shirts that we bought. I bought two. Then he did a little FB live to talk to the group about an upcoming virtual event.
I felt a little weird. I kind of felt like I was getting a lot of side-eye. The group is very welcoming virtually, but they were definitely a little cautious IRL. I mean I’m a bit of an introvert myself, so I just assumed maybe that was it. People were definitely warmer toward those they already knew which kind of made me feel a little left out. I don’t know. I go back and forth between being understanding and being a little hurt. I’m not saying nobody was nice to me. I had some good conversations here and there and Paula was a sweetheart.
Some people did challenges where they did the 5K or the 10K Saturday and then either the half marathon or the marathon Sunday. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know I like a good challenge. This race was just so expensive. I decided to just do the half marathon. (Ha! Just!) Anyway, others might have come to the 5K or 10K Saturday and cheered the rest of us on Sunday. I did not get up early to cheer Saturday. This was going to be my one day to get some good sleep. I usually only get one of those now because of taking kids to school or my running schedule. I got breakfast and talked to some folks about a brewery tour that Little Rock does. The plan was to take the group photo and then see who wanted to walk the brewery tour. If some wanted to, we would get in a car and finish out the tour at the two places that were not within walking distance.
After breakfast, Paula and I saw the start of the kids’ run and the mascot parade. It was basically a bunch of characters like Batman, and Clifford the Big Red Dog walking along the race corals for the kids’ run. I think we went back to the hotel because I remember walking to the group picture by myself and bumping into some that were confused by the directions for the group photo. We kind of figured it out and waited together. We talked some more about the brewery tour. We figured since it was close to lunch we would hit one that had food and go from there. We got the group photo then rounded up any that wanted to join the tour and started our trek all the way from behind the River Market area, past the Clinton Library to Lost Forty Brewery.
It looked like quite a wait when we got there. We had about 11 people. We got on their list and waited at a bench outside. Some went in and got a beer to wait outside. Others were discouraged and headed back to the hotel or somewhere else for lunch. It didn’t take as long as they said and we still had a good-sized group when we were seated. I got a beer flight which is about four small glasses of different beers I wanted to try. The food and beer were delicious. The only thing was that they did not have was the brewery tour passports or the stamp for it. Our waitress got us some stickers to put in our passports though.
The lunch and walk were a way to know some of the people better. They seemed really nice. We walked to Stone’s Throw next. Again, they did not have passports and the bartender really didn’t know what we were talking about. She asked if maybe this was something that was quite old and they weren’t doing anymore. We ordered drinks and sat down. One of the ladies already looked up the tour and sure enough, it was from 2019! Oh, well, we had fun on our own tour and it was a story to tell.
It was getting late, some people were puttered out and others just wanted a break from drinking. We headed back to the hotel. While we were out another friend, Jeff, texted me and said that a group of hashers was meeting up at Vinos later for dinner along with some pacers from the race tomorrow. I texted another buddy, John, whom I had not seen this trip yet to meet us there. Jeff and Katie came to pick me up at the hotel. I had done quite a bit of walking that day and I still had a half marathon to go. So, I didn’t feel bad asking for a ride at all. John was there when we arrived and he signaled me to the side room before we ordered. I was so happy because I got to see Ron and Elanie! I love those two! They run, they hike, they rock climb. I mean seriously. I wish I had half their energy. Unfortunately, they were leaving and didn’t get to stay long. I thought I would see them the next day, but they did not make it to the Hash.
We had a nice dinner. I met some local hashers and saw some of my OG hasher friends. I meet one hasher that I had already met in Hot Springs. I was a little embarrassed that I needed my brain jogged. I mean, I had been drinking beer and I’m no “spring chicken” anymore. John doesn’t have a car, but he offered to walk me back to the hotel after dinner. I had rested enough, and I was fine with it. We stopped a Dugan’s Pub for one more beer since it was super close to my hotel. It looked like the type of place you might want to visit on St. Patrick’s Day. We got one beer and then John got an Uber or another car, and I headed to the hotel.
Wow, I’m just now getting to the race. Do you know why? Because it was a whole experience for me with the virtual group and IRL running pals. I got up bright and early Sunday morning. I had a hard time with my Bib Boards. I usually can get my bib pretty straight with pins while I’m wearing the shirt, but not with the Bib Boards. Man! I had to take off my shirt and lay it on the bed. Even then, I had to try three or four times before it was straight. They did stay in place though.
I got downstairs and there was a nice group ready to head to the start. We walked to the hotel near the starting line and went inside to stay warm. Now Katie told me last night at Vino’s to not wear a long sleeve shirt under my short sleeve shirt. She said I would get too hot. Looking at the temps, I thought I would be cold. When I finally got outside, I was happy I had the second shirt, but she was right, I did get hot. Although the bright side is that my long sleeves kept me from getting sunburnt.
I didn’t see many of the FRC ladies in the coral with me. A lot of them were in corals behind me. I think maybe Maggie was in a coral with me because she passed me later and said hello. I saw Geneva Lamm. So weird hearing her name like that. I was so used to hearing Geneva Hampton. Also, I felt super old knowing she had a son old enough to MC the event. Oh, I’m not sure I’ve mentioned my background with Geneva.
It got hot that day, but the guy in gold told me he wouldn’t suffer because he was fast.
Once upon a time . . . LOL. No. Way back when I lived in Little Rock in the early 2000s (so yeah, she could have a son that old after all). The hashers were invited to an event Geneva called Foamfest. We would do a red dress run and either get in for free or at a discount price. I remember one year we helped her market the event by showing up super early in the morning to two different local news morning shows. I think I uploaded those interviews to Youtube even. They had me riding an empty keg on a dolly as a joke, but I was terrified the keg was going to roll off the thing since it wasn’t tied down to the dolly.
Anyway, the race itself was pretty cool. We went to North Little Rock, ran around the river area, came back to Little Rock, and ran around downtown. In all the years I lived in Little Rock, I never once went by the governor’s mansion. We ran by it. The gates were closed and some people were taking pictures. I sadly didn’t take many pictures. Later, one of the hashers told me that every governor before Sarah Huckabee Sanders would be outside greeting and taking pictures with the runners. He was quite upset to hear she did not keep with the tradition this year.
Oh, I’ve also never seen that much alcohol on a race route! I mean back when the Little Rock marathon started, the hashers were like rebels for giving out beer. Sometimes we would worry we would get in trouble. I mean holy cow! The hashers weren’t even on the half marathon part of the course and there were at least two beer stops, several fireball shot stops, and one or two mimosa/champagne stops. I only did two beer shots and a champagne shot. Fireball and I don’t agree. I was a little upset at one of the beer stops. I think they gave me an IPA and they didn’t tell me. I HATE IPAs. Ick!
I started to pick up the pace when I got behind the buildings back along the river where the corals were, but I forgot how far the end was. I decided to stay with the pace and even passed the nice ladies giving out lipstick. I don’t wear lipstick, but I kind of wished I had stopped just to check out their setup. My time was 2:41:35.2. Not great, but not bad for me. I walked through the snack and drink line and tried to pick up as much as I could. I wished I had a bag or something to get all I wanted. The pasta was a turn-off for me, but I wanted chocolate milk and a banana. I got two beers. I think I got some yogurt and something else I can’t remember. Of course, that is what I get for waiting over a month to write this.
My medal was so heavy. I sat down at the first table that had room and started to eat and drink. I don’t normally eat before a race. I think I had a protein bar that morning, but that was it. Maggie joined me. She had already finished. She was a little over 2 hours. She said her PR was under 2 hours. I would be lucky getting a 2:12. She went to go change and I saw the FRC admin guy, Brian, walk by the table. I told him Maggie was with me, but he said something I couldn’t really hear and walked on. A few minutes later his wife, Dawn, came walking by the table. I told her Maggie would be back, but her husband went . . . well that way. I mentioned I didn’t really hear what he said. We chatted for a bit and she left to go find him. Once Maggie came back, I was done with my food and drink. I wanted to get changed to meet with the hashers and walk their hash run after the marathon.
My plan the day before was to just freshen up a bit since I was going walking with the hashers and getting sweaty again. I was going to grab some Hurt’s doughnuts along the way and eat them at the hasher aid station. Last night Katie asked if I would bring her one. I said yes, but then later I did some math. She was pacing the marathon and she is fast. She is one of those people that can do a whole marathon in the time it takes me to do a half. I wasn’t feeling like eating a doughnut anymore and I figured she was going to beat me to the hash aid station anyway. Jeff said earlier he would bring doughnuts, the kind she likes, anyway. I texted that I would be skipping the doughnuts.
My original plan was completely out. I was so salty and gritty from sweat. I mean it felt like I had a layer of sand on me. I took a quick shower, put on a fresh change of hasher running gear, made myself a sandwich and some other snacks, and headed to the aid station two miles from the start. I was worried about getting in trouble for being on the race route. So, I avoided it as much as I could. I found their aid station right before a bridge.
Picture of the medal
Man! They’ve gotten fancy! Back in the day, I know I sound like an old coot, we just had a table and a few beverages and that was it. This year they had tents, several tables, BBQ, and an assortment of beverages. I mean it was nice. I was so happy to see them. I got hugs and a welcome from some friends I had not seen yet. John came up and handed me a nice cold dark beer. I mean the man knows what makes me happy. I sat down and ate my sandwich. I wasn’t there too long before the end of the race was called. The crappy thing was that cars were being let loose on the route without warning which is how we knew the race was done. I don’t think any runners got hurt. We had a few runners come by a few minutes before the first car zoomed by us. We didn’t hear any news of anybody getting injured.
Hash Aid Station
I sent messages to the FRC virtual group a few times to see if they wanted to join us for the hash run. There were no bites. The trails took us to some interesting areas including right by the state capitol. We did circle or after-run festivities and then parted for dinner or on-after. People split off to different restaurants. I ended up with a nice size group that ate at a Mexican restaurant we ran by earlier. They had really good food. I messaged my friend, Charles, since I hadn’t seen him yet. He ate dinner with us and we all had a nice chat. I caught a ride back with two real nice hashers. I mean I did a half marathon plus probably five more miles. I even got a Garmin badge for walking 40,000 steps in one day.
Love my friends! 
View from restaurant 
State Capital
When I got back to the hotel, a nice group of FRC people was still up and about chatting in the lobby. Mo did the full marathon and she had her medal. I wanted to see how heavy it was and she wanted to check out mine. Her medal was twice the size of mine, but they seemed to weigh almost the same with the full marathon medal being a bit heavier, of course.
Photo Credit: Mo Reeves
I slept pretty well and only saw a few people the next day. Paula gave me a hug before she headed out. The FRC group had posted a link to a video in the FB chat several weeks before the race. Apparently, there was some controversy over a statue of a banana that was donated to the city. People thought the city paid for it for some reason. I guess they didn’t read the fact it was donated. It was placed in a park near where I used to live and close to downtown. I had to drop by and take a picture on my way out of town. The trip back home was a lot nicer than the one into Little Rock. It was sunny and nice and pretty much that way all the way home. So, one half-marathon down, three more half-marathons to go.
Goofy For Twins 