Little Rock Marathon https://littlerockmarathon.com/
The Little Rock Marathon is held the first weekend in March every year. I signed up for this one because I haven't run one in Arkansas and it worked out with my schedule. The race itself has a nice course with a mixture of hills and flat areas along city streets and some almost rural areas along a golf course. The weather started out in light rain but it stopped so we ran in overcast cool temperatures which is perfect for me. I ended up running it 3:47 and that is even with stopping for drink at an unsanctioned beer stand along the course.
Pros
- Well organized, pre-race e-mails were frequent and informative.
- Good size expo, not huge but it had what you needed.
- Nice course and somewhat scenic
- They want people to finish this race as the time limit is 8 hours!
Cons
- One of the worst race t-shirts ever along with a ridiculously sized medal (see picture below, that thing in my hand is the medal and the pink part spins). I found out one of the the Little Rock Marathon's claim to fame is the size of their race medals after I had signed up. The t-shirt has that design on it and the shirt is purple.
Colfax Marathon http://www.runcolfax.org/
The Colfax Marathon is held in May in Denver, CO and has been around in various forms for 12 years now. The course for these races (they have a full. 1/2, relay and 10 mile race) has changed a few times over the years. I signed up for this to provide a race review for a website and also because the timing worked with my schedule. It is the only marathon in Denver as the RnR Denver in the fall will only have a 1/2 marathon and no marathon. I also wanted to see if they have improved the race experience since I ran the 1/2 marathon several years ago. The race course itself is okay, good but not great. You get to run through Mile High Stadium out and back but you get the idea that the person setting up the course is not a runner but is trying to fit a course into as many sights as possible. The weather for this was a bit hot and considering how you are exposed to the sun you do need to hydrate well. I didn't run this one as fast as it was just over 4 hours but considering I ran in a kilt I was happy with it.
Pros
- The expo is well organized and it is easy to go through it as they hold it in the concourses at Mile High Stadium.
- One of the best race t-shirts ever! It's so nice to get a gray race t-shirt that has a nice classic design that fits well! I have enough t-shirts with funky designs in a weird color that will look dated in a year or two or my typical size L is huge.
- Course is good if you aren't from the metro Denver area as you will see and run through lots of different areas. This course has way too many sharp hairpin turns along with going over some rough roads to run a fast race
- Nice medals
Cons (I grade this marathon tougher than any other because it is in my state, this is the 12th running of this event and the fact that they overlook some of these things is inexcusable)
- There was no chip marker mat or sign or anything for the half way point of the marathon! This is race setup 101 and for a chip timed event there is no excuse for not having a mat or at least a sign at 13.1 miles.
- Starting the marathon runners and the marathon relay teams at the same time is a mess. Parts of the race course are on a narrow path along the Cherry Creek and relay runners were already walking a few miles into the race impeding marathon runners.
- A water station at mile 4 was not set up or staffed as we ran by it on our way out, it was set up on the way back past it.
- The start and finish for the race is City Park in Denver. It's scenic and pretty and also the worst place logistically for 10,000 plus people to try and get into and out for an event. There is no parking or availability of mass transit like light rail. The post race set up to try and get anything to eat or drink is chaos and most things are gone by the time many marathoners finish due to how many 1/2 marathon runners there are. PLEASE move the start and finish downtown to Civic Center Park which has parking and access to light rail!
Big Five Marathon - South Africa http://big-five-marathon.com/
This was the race for continent #5 and it was the toughest marathon race course I've ever encountered. This is the elevation map:
This was the slowest marathon I have done in quite awhile as it was way over 5 hours. I was happy to finish and enjoy the rest of the trip. I originally planned on trying to just enjoy this race and forget about my time. I even brought a GoPro with me to take pictures of animals I encountered but didn't see any along the race course. We found out afterwords that the game reserve rangers had to direct some elephants away from the race course as they were moving towards it at a fast pace!
This is a trail race and in hindsight I should have brought trail shoes, I had my road running shoes with me so I was stuck with them. The trail is very rocky in many spots and has deep, soft sand in spots. I made a few more mistakes other than just shoes. I made the mistake of picking up my pace from 10-20km as it was downhill and then ran/scrambled down the steep incline. In the process I banged both of my big toes against a rock and tree root and twisted my foot. Then I had to go back up the incline I had gone down in the 2nd half of the race. Did I mention this incline is about 2km long and is 45% degree in spots so you don't run up it, you try and hike it at a good pace if you can. After I made it back to the top of the incline the trail gets a bit more even and less rocky but my feet were a mess. I ran as much as I could but I slowed down a lot. The last 5k of this course turns into another really rocky trail and I was hurting. The last 3k a couple of the people I met on this trip (Carol and Jeremy) helped motivate me to get moving and try to finish strong. Honestly I was just happy to finish as my feet hurt. After the finish I took off my shoes and both big toes were a bit bloody but I had no major injuries. Another mistake I made is not hydrating better, I could tell I was bit dehydrated later in the race. Afterwords I drank over 64 oz of fluids (2 refills of my water bottle) before I started to feel normal.
Pros
- Interesting scenic place to run a race!
- Neat medal and nice race shirt
Cons
- None, be prepared that this course is tough and you need to hydrate because it's dry there.
After the race we stayed another 6 days doing game drives and going up to see Victoria Falls. I've posted more pictures on my Instagram page: cbielinski13
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| White Rhino |
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| Monkeys that sat outside our room |
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| Black Rhino |
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| Baboon sitting in a park |
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| Elephants that were on the side of the road |
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| Victoria Falls from the air |
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| Victoria Falls from the air |
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| Victoria Falls walking trail |
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| Victoria Falls walking trail |
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| Zebra butts |
