From the Bench - Annual Marathon Column

The Annual Marathon Column (Plus Football Ticket Talk)

Robert Shields

For the first time in five years, I did not run the Little Rock Half-Marathon (also known as “the Better Half”). Instead, I filled in for a few people in other events as they decided they were not ready for the chore. I ran the 5K on Saturday and the first leg of the relay on Sunday.

So this week I will talk about the marathon and for another week skip talking about the Razorback basketball season. This may be the first time in more than 10 years of writing my column to never write about basketball all season. I guess I will still have to hand out my grades for Coach John Pelphrey once the season is over.

The weather on Saturday morning was great. After a season of training in the cold and snow, a day where the high actually reached average temperature was perfect. The 5K course in downtown Little Rock is one of my least favorites. For the fist half of the race, you spend the whole time in a gradual ascent up to Broadway, which is taxing (though not nearly as taxing as the hardest race, the Catholic High Rocket 5K).

The 5K course then comes back down LaHarpe with its small, undulating hills. It’s not a course for a personal record. The turnout though for the race was good, and this was the first year they moved the 5K to Saturday so that those runners wouldn’t have to deal with the madness of marathon race day on Sunday.

By Sunday when it was time to do my part of the marathon relay, my legs were somewhat dead. I did a poor job hydrating on Saturday after the 5K and instead spent most of the day drinking Mountain Dews.

Since I was a fill-in on the relay, I was stationed in corral D. I have never started that far back, and it was a good experience. Literally, I was at the back of the field. So when the race started, it seemed like a good five minutes for me to get from the beginning of the River Market to the starting line (gun time to chip time was actually at six minutes), and then it seemed to take another three good miles before there was running room. I never had an appreciation how many people actually run in the event until getting this perspective.

Starting at the back presents its challenges in addition to the slow start. Groups of walkers stay together creating a maze to work through as you make the slow gradual ascent up Broadway. On the second day, it was not as taxing because the pace in the large throng of people was slow.

I saw North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays out as usual greeting people to his fair city as you crossed the Broadway bridge. On the way back, I saw Shelly the Arkansas Travelers mascot. I did not stop for a picture with the moose or whatever Shelley is, but many runners inexplicably did.

At the first aid station, or as I like to call it the splash zone, I took a direct hit accidentally as one runner threw down his water in front of me. There were millions of cups, so I know others had certainly taken collateral damage as there were so many people and so many cups going down is such a small area.

What was awesome to see was a woman with a prosthetic leg pushing a baby carriage in the marathon, and she was booking. The Little Rock fire department had their usual rollout with the large ladder truck extended out gracing the entrance to the Broadway bridge.

Best costume for a pacer goes to the 4:30 pacer. Best name for a relay teams was “I thought you said telethon.”

The weather on Sunday may have even been better than it was on Saturday. Next year, it’s back to the half-marathon for me.

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Razorback Football Ticket Talk

After many articles in the past, I have been attacked verbally and gotten tons of responses from e-mail and various other communications. But my column last week that was critical on the ticket price increase for Razorback football generated the most responses that I have ever received, even during the Great Stadium Debate. I think the reason is that the price increase has hit a lot of families hard, and there is genuine outrage.

I always couch and ignore when I hear people say they are not going to renew their tickets for this or that. I know it’s more hyperbole than fact. But I am not sure this is the case this time. I don’t think it’s raw emotion speaking, but instead pure economics.

It is rare following a column that people seek me out to approach me in person about what I wrote. They did last week, with all of them telling me that the ticket increase is just too much for them -- not in anger, but distress.


Send your distress to fromthebench@yahoo.com


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