LITTLE ROCK — The Little Rock Marathon is known for its hills, which are crowded by cheering spectators who believe that’s where their racing friends need the most support. Few line up along the section of the 26.2-mile route where racers are likely to face their toughest challenge Sunday.
That’s in Murray Park, says course designer Bill Torrey.
About six miles of the race route - Mile 18 to just beyond Mile 24 - run through Riverdale and the city park.
“Most people can get from 24 to 26 by the time you get there,” Torrey says, “but 18 through 24, that’s about mental toughness.
You’ve got to fight through and hope the body holds together.”
Even though there’s a big hill still to come - the marathon’s iconic slog up Cantrell Road in front of Episcopal Collegiate School - racers who reach that climb know they will survive and finish. A mind that has made it through the park is ready to overcome any dang hill.
But isn’t it physically easier to lope across flat land? Not after you’ve hit the wall.
“If you’re going to hit the wall, it’s typically going to be somewhere between Mile 18 and 22,” Torrey says.
Forty years into American fascination with running, nobody ought to need a definition of hitting the wall. But just in case, here’s how it’s explained in Running Encyclopedia by Richard Benyo and Joe Henderson (Human Kinetics, 2002):
“Wall, the: The infamous stopping or slowing point for many a road racer doesn’t have a fixed location, as at 20 miles of a marathon, but is related to a runner’s inadequate preparation or unwise pacing. It is physiologically tied to the point at which a runner runs out of stored glycogen in the muscles. ... See also bonk.”
Typically, racers use up their readily available energy somewhere in Murray Park. Furthermore, the route through the park is an out-and-back, which creates two problems:
You get to look at all the people who are faster than you as they lope back out of the park.
Traffic restrictions mean there will be few spectators.
But wait - there’s more.
“Most people here in Little Rock know that if you bike or run along the river, no matter which direction you go, the wind is always blowing in your face,” Torrey says. “Occasionally you might get a tailwind, but you’re going to be faced with some wind in your face there. And what makes it daunting is if the wind is really blowing, where you’ve got some gusts at 10, 15 miles per hour.”
Knowing what to expect helps, the coaches of the marathon’s training team agree. They have suggestions.
“Passing these flat miles is easier if you take the opportunity to visit with the runners around you,” says Tom Singleton, who with his wife, Hobbit, is head coach of the marathon’s group training.
Other ideas:
Instead of dwelling on how isolated you think the park is, realize that it’s not. “From Mile 20, we have an aid station every mile,” says Gina Pharis, the marathon’s co-executive director.
“We’ll have a DJ down there at the entrance to the golf course, too.”
Tom Singleton adds, “Remember to tell the volunteers ‘thanks for being here.’”
Hobbit Singleton advocates finding someone to talk to, with, or at. “Several folks I know have a subject for every mile and they and their running/walking partners discuss that subject until the next mile. I would save my most outrageous subjects for that stretch along the river and back down Riverfront to Cantrell.
“Of course, if you’re running or walking by yourself and discussing a different subject every mile you will be who provides a distraction for other folks.”
It’s easy to make friends during a footrace.
“Along the river is also the spot where I like to really look around me and see who is having trouble,” she says, “sometimes just speaking and walking or running with someone who is struggling will perk them up and keep them going, and it makes you forget about how miserable you might be.”
Decide not to think about the fact that everyone flowing past is actually several miles ahead of you.
Tom Singleton says, “It helps to cheer for the runners that you meet, headed in the opposite direction.”
Torrey likes to pick out someone he knows who’s going the opposite direction and study that person’s gait.
Think positive. You aren’t going slower and slower, you’re moving ahead. “I remind myself that every step is one step closer to the finish line,” Tom Singleton says.
Tap negative emotion for a jolt of energy.
Hobbit Singleton says that complaining about the driver who has somehow talked his way onto the marathon route and is driving his car through the big pack of runners down Rebsamen Park Road is always good for a mile.
“Seems to happen every marathon in just that spot, and the car is forcing runners and walkers onto the shoulders and sometimes into the ditch - usually the driver has their window down and they’re yelling, ‘I need to get through, I’m trying to get home.’” Grrrr.
Every so often, lift your sunglasses. Brighter light almost magically brightens mood.
Carry treats you can look forward to eating in Murray Park. “Your body will feel better,” Pharis says.
Decide that street signs and fiber optic cable markers are landmarks. Turn your head to watch them fall behind you as you pass. How fleet you are.
“You could look at birds,”Pharis says. Imagine yourself gliding like a bird. When you pass the yellow deer crossing signs, you are a deer, bounding along.
When all that fails, tell yourself to “man up,” she says. “That’s what we do.”
Torrey adds, “I tell people all the time that at some point you have to hunker down or decide to get mean, and decide this isn’t going to beat me.”
It won’t, he says, if you don’t let it.
ActiveStyle, Pages 23 on 02/28/2011