Hot Springs AR Anniversary + Race: Little Rock Marathon
When we had planned this whole Oklahoma see the Grand Daughter (and everybody else of course) trip, we saw a great opportunity to hang weekdays in the land of the Grandkids, and then scoot out on the weekends to nearby locations and do races (New Orleans Marathon, Little Rock Marathon, and Dallas Half). During the week I could work from OK and Grandma could smother the youngin’s with attention and love, all was great. Only thing that didn’t line up perfect was the fact that our anniversary was to fall during the time we were on the trip and the date was mid-week. As much as I would like to say “hey sweetie, let’s just call the Little Rock Marathon our anniversary trip” there was no way I would get away with a trip that included eating turkey sandwiches and going to bed at 8:30 on a Saturday night so that she could wake up at 4:30 Sunday and go sweat for 5 hours a real anniversary (and I think all you that know her would agree and are nodding your head now). So I had to come up with something, and something I did - a perfect couple of days in Hot Springs Arkansas at an amazing little Bed and Breakfast. Yeah… I’m the man with the plan (gimme’ them props).
Talk about working out perfect, heck we could even sit in the “hot springs” and it would help our bodies recover from back to back to back races. It was on the way to Little Rock (in fact only an hour away) and is actually considered a ‘romantic destination’! I’m telling ya’ - gimmie’ them props, because it gets even better. Our B&B Hilltop Manor, was awesome! A cool old house built by a mobster (Hot Springs was big Al Capone and buddies hangout back in the day) and now owned and hosted by the nicest people. We had a great stay, with a Jacuzzi in the room, a huge fireplace to sit in front of, and an amazing breakfast location even if we did just want the oatmeal and whole wheat toast versus the big spread the place is famous for!
For the most part we just spent our time chilling in the room or walking the quaint little town’s shops and stores all mostly centered on what they call “Bathhouse Row”. The street has about 6-7 of the old bathhouses where folks used to, and still do sit in the spring water baths, get treatments, massage, etc. Along with playing in the water ourselves one morning, we also did a tour of one of them that is now ran by the Natl. Park Service. Kind of cool looking at all the old equipment, heavy marble everywhere, elaborate decorations, etc. For sure that ‘old rich folk hangout’ feel to the bathhouse.
The time in Hot Springs also included a couple of pretty cool runs, including one where Kimberly and I seemed to have the whole woods to ourselves and great dinner with easily the best bread dipping Pesto I have ever had at Belle Arti Ristorante. One of the most memorable parts of the trip was our last day we decided to go check out the Horse Track - Oaklawn. Oaklawn is a fairly famous track and the season had just started so the track was open with several races throughout the day going on. Long story short Kimberly had never been to see the horses run fast - and I mean FAST so we decided to go check out a few races. Wanting to participate in the fun we of course did a little wagering on the three races. Seeing Kimberly chose her horses based on how happy there were, I cut her wager amount down because the dang horse was the long shot and in the real world long shots never win. Yep, long shot won…. In fact we ended up winning some bet in every one of the 3 races we hung out for and unlike most folks walked out with having paid for everything and money for a nice dinner. It was midday now and I guess we had to fess’ up, the Rest and Relaxation was over and it was off to Little Rock to run a race.
Little Rock for the most part was all about the run. Which means little touring and nightlife and more ‘get to Whole Foods and get the dinner we will eat in the room before we sleep early and wake up early to run’. We did spend a little time checking out the town. Tried one pizza place the night before that was highly recommended (let’s just say Little Rock awesome - but - knowledge of good pizza - no), and we were able to check out the downtown area some when we went to the Expo to get our race packets, but for the most part it was just race related. I would for sure go back, and maybe then we could get to the Clinton Libraryand other sites in town.
So pretty much normal pre race night and morning and we were off to the race start area. Kimberly with the jacked foot was doing the half and I was running the full. We setup pre race at a specialty tent that was just perfect. They had hot coffee, food if you wanted, bathrooms right there with little line, they even had food afterward - best $20 spent in a long time. So we chilled for a bit, and then headed over to the corrals and as always next thing you know it’s time to run long.
The course is pretty cool. You cross the Arkansas river a couple of times, you pass the famous Central High School, scoot by the Clinton Library and generally hit all of the Little Rock highlights. While a smaller town, I have to say I was impressed with the course and the crowds. Overall we had both had a really good run. Considering Kimberly was nursing an injury it was amazing she could run at all. She played it safe (mostly) and still finished her half in 2:07:29. I had a good run and even came close to beating my NO time from last week on a much harder course (they have a motto that says “what hills” so you know what that means…) with a 3:24:17 which was good for 78th place overall. I also have to comment the medals are the biggest of any race in the US. I could barely keep mine on - it’s like dinner plate size!
After the race we enjoyed hanging around the festival for a little after as it was a perfect weather day. But by 1:00 we were on our way back to the land of the Grandkids and had little Ariana in our hands by dinner.
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