No Beer for BJ :(

I can't believe it's taken me until Wednesday to post about this past weekend ... I am really becoming a delinquent blogger!!! Bad Jenn!!

This past weekend was the Little Rock Marathon and I have to say, that for a relatively small race (about 1200 for the full and 2200 for the half) they really put on a class act. I did the relay last year and I was struck by the very enthusiastic volunteers and how friendly everyone seemed to be. Of course the medals are envious, the half marathon medal is fancier than any I have and the full medal?!? They are the largest in the world and just GINORMOUS!! I personally think that you get a lot for your money in the race. I registered back in November during early registration and paid $55 which would have gotten me the big medal, the traditional cotton race tee, as well as a technical finisher's tee ... assuming I finished. Shoot, I paid $80 to do that half in Denver and just ended up with a really cheap, see through cotton shirt.

Anyway, I was a little bummed that I wouldn't be participating in any events, but I took the opportunity to have some fun and cheer for my man!! On Saturday we both volunteered at the Expo, BJ handed out timing chips and I handed out race shirts. I was amazed at the diversity of people running the races, enjoyed talking to out of towners, and could see the excitement of people clearly running their first long distance event. I will definitely take the opportunity to volunteer again, though BJ was thinking it had been a bad idea for him to be standing on concrete for four hours the day before his first half ... didn't think about that when I encouraged him to volunteer with me ... sorry :(

Race morning was just beautiful! I couldn't have asked for better weather with temps in the low 60s. When we arrived downtown at the River Market the streets were flooded with anxious people. I was a little sad to not be wearing one of my signature racing skirts, but it was fun to be a part of it. BJ met up with his training partner Merk who is a co-worker that runs right on his pace. She's a former Marine, Mom to a three year old, has a hubby in Iraq and I honestly don't know how she does it all. I was glad that he had her to run with because it's nice to have company when you're on the road a few hours. I kissed him good luck then disappeared into the crowd so he could get his game on.

The start had been moved since last year and was ridiculously crowded. BJ complained about all of the walkers mixed in with the runners and I noticed in the paper that there were obvious walkers (they had W's on their numbers) mixed in next to the 3:30 pace group .. WTF? So from what I hear the first mile or so was pretty miserable with walkers right smack dab in the middle of things and runners having to head for sidewalks to get around. Of course I'm a big fan of how walker friendly the course is, but just wish they would have ensured they were well behind the runners.

The course was very spectator friendly and with just a little hustle, I was able to catch them at the 1 mile mark (they didn't hear me given how thick the crowd still was), 3, 6, 8 and then I scoped out a great place at the finish. All along, they both looked great!! I also got the chance to cheer for some of the Hot Legs runners along the way as well as just use my junior high cheerleading experience for the greater good of complete strangers.

BJ's goal was to beat 2:30 and he ended up at 2:25 which was just awesome!! To think that when we met, he was just talking about running! I gave him the link to the Couch to 5K, he did his first 5K in August, 10K in October and then a very respectable half finish. He was very excited and the best part was he just had a little residual soreness ... nothing like my extreme inability to move after the first half!!!

The only downer to the whole day was that BJ has seen my pictures and heard about my love of the post-race beer. Even if I only take a few sips, it's always like manna from heaven after a race. Well, we walk over to the beer area (he was even sure to have me carry his ID that day in case he got carded) and ..... they wouldn't give any out to participants until noon!!!! Stupid Bible Belt!! It was just after 10:30 so there was no reason to wait around that long, besides it wouldn't be the same. He was quite dejected, mad about living in Arkansas, and of course we had no beer at home, and it's not sold at all on Sundays, so he was just screwed.

Poor planning on my part. Next time I'll throw a fat tire in the cooler just in case!! But congrats to BJ and Merk on an excellent race!! Can't wait to join you next year!!