Little Rock 2014

Holy Cow, where to start?

Saturday morning:  ran my warm-up in shorts and a t-shirt.  Roasted.  Pacer breakfast.  Easy livin'.

Go! time

Saturday night:  got interviewed by the local news about winter weather apprehension for the next day.  Scoffed and said that we could handle it.


Sunday morning in the hotel:  multiple people are bailing out of the race to get home for fear of getting stranded.  Fayetteville folks are already posting Sleet-mageddon pics and dire travel warnings from Northwest Arkansas.  No going back now. We have a job to do.  Still deceivingly warm and comfortable outside, but radar confirms that we will be getting socked.

Pacers still warm and dry. For about 1 more hour.

Gun time:  Starting to get chilly.  Wind is really kicking up... conditions are about to change, and fast. Kept jacket on for the start. Excellent decision. Rain came as we waited on the starting line. Temperature dropped 30 degrees in 3 hours. By the finish, the rain was sleet.  Hard sleet.  Hands defunct by mile 20... can't open gel, can't re-tie shoe.  Still trucking at the 3:55 pace that I was assigned on the pace team with no fuel and an untied shoe.  Had a couple of eager finishers who were going to make it, and I was happy for them. We ended up just a couple of minutes ahead of pace, thanks to the urgency of the course closures happening just behind us.  Thank God for the VIP tent, space heaters, and hot chocolate.

 4 hours later. So. Cold. Wearing at least 3 coats. 

And that's it.  I stayed a few hours too long at the after-party and had a hair-raising drive to Conway, where one of my best college friends was prepared to host me for the big snow-in.  I finally made it home on Tuesday afternoon.