3 Races, 3 States, 3 Days
Posted by: Jesse Garrett
On September 5th, a number of Roadrunners set out on a weekend trip that truly redefined the word “awesome”. Not for the weak of heart or stomach, the weekend began on Saturday when LRRC crossed the river to invade and conquer the Clear Mountain 5K; continued on Sunday in rural Tupelo, Mississippi where we trampled the weak and hurdled the dead in the Tupelo Marathon and 14.2 miler; and ended with a Monday of fun and mingling with mascots in beautiful downtown Memphis, Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A 5K.
Saturday, September 5 - ARK Clear Mountain 5K - North Little Rock, AR
(The LRRC Racing Team blog post can be found here.)
Saturday started very early for most of us as we met before dawn to condense all of our baggage into two vehicles. Some pre-dawn thunderstorms had concerned us, but luckily they all went away as soon as the sun came up to make for a picture-perfect morning come race time. Then came a delicate conflict of interest as, since this is the 5K Championship in the Grand Prix, we wanted to give our best effort and earn points for our team and ourselves, but leave enough in the tank for the 29.3 or 17.3 miles that we had ahead in the coming days. This was not a problem for the LRRC team, whose 22 men and 12 women claimed the team championship, led by Justin Radke and Leah Thorvilson who started off her list of weekend accomplishments with a female course record and a female overall win. Sweaty, smelly, and giddy, we 10 humans and a horse named Sparticus set our sights on Tupelo.
Due east we traveled, getting a brief glimpse of Memphis and what was in store for us on Monday. Monotonous farms and soybean fields met us as we veered south into Mississippi, which was pretty much all we would see for the next day and a half.
Tired and anticipating our weekend ahead, upon our arrival in Tupelo, we picked up our packets and headed to our hotel rooms to clean up and get ready for the delicious Italian feast in store for us at Vanelli’s, where we would meet the rest of the Arkansas contingent (dubbed the “Five Families of Arkansas” in mafioso fashion). Much fun and much great food was had between the 18 in our party. Deep in enemy territory and with numbers on our side, SCS’ famous Sassy Gaines led us in a raucous Hog call which was returned by silence and apathy. Where’s your fans, Mississippi? After the meeting of the Five Families concluded, everyone returned to their room to rest before the dreaded 3AM (or earlier) wake up call.
Sunday, September 6 - Tupelo Marathon and 14.2 Miler - Tupelo, Mississippi
For those not familiar with Tupelo, there’s not much in the town of 36,000. The only thing the town is known for is being the birthplace of Elvis Presley, which was glaringly reflected in the goody bags we received for the race. The bag itself had Elvis on it, half of the items inside were Elvis related, the main tourist attraction is the house in which he was born, et cetera, et cetera. Believe me when I say that I never thought that I would ever find myself at an abandoned furniture warehouse in the rural outskirts of west Tupelo, Mississippi at 4AM on a Sunday morning, but I can honestly say that at that place and at that time, there was no place I would rather be. Unfortunately, everyone’s favorite running reporter Michelle Rupp fell ill on the morning of the race and made the very difficult but wise and correct decision not to run. It was up to the rest of us to put in our best effort in her honor and make her proud.
For those not familiar with the Tupelo Marathon, it is a very low-key affair. Due in part to its location on rural highways and starting so early, I have seen more fan support at 90% of the 5Ks I have run. But this is its draw. After the starting siren, I have never found such peace while running as I did amongst 549 other runners with nothing illuminating the road ahead except for a nearly full moon, the multi-colored headlamps of runners ahead and behind, and the glow bracelets on my wrists. I must preface this opinion by saying, being a relative newbie, my full marathon experience is nil, and I have just 3 half marathon finishes on my resume, but I feel I’m not alone in saying that the glitz and gimmicks of larger corporate marathons can sometimes bog up the complete experience. The Tupelo Marathon strips all of that away, leaving nothing between you and your finisher’s medal except for the powerful love of running that got us all into this sport to begin with. There are no bands on the course, only the beautiful sound of footstrokes of the runners around you.
At mile 9.2, I see the pace police vehicle with a tall fellow behind it, wearing… an Arkansas singlet. I almost didn’t recognize him because of the rolling hill I was climbing, but sure enough, our Radke was in the lead. 0.5 miles later, with no other runners in between, I saw a familiar face–the female leader Leah Thorvilson. I cheered her on and held up Gumby, my running companion, and she smiled and held up her steed Sparticus in return as we passed. I saw no other runners until 3 minutes later, when I saw more male marathoners coming my way. I went past the marathon turn-around point to finish my 14.2 Miler (to much Arkansan fanfare, including a famous Sassy “WHOO-HOO”, which I will never forget) to find that Imari Dellimore had won it! Steven Preston came in 3rd, Jenny Weatter was the 3rd female to cross the line, and SCS’ Charles Gattin was 2nd in the Masters’ division. LRRC and Arkansas had dominated the 14.2 Miler, and now began the wait to see whether we would own the Marathon as well.
The suspense was too much for Imari, who drove down the road to get an update of the leaders of the pack. Upon returning, he reported that Radke was still in the lead, but was being held together by “testosterone and duct tape”. Not too much longer, Radke came running up to the finish, received a very loud fanfare and stepped on the mat for a time of 2:43:14. Not three minutes later, Leah and Sparticus came galloping up the home stretch to finish in 2:46:10, clinching yet another course record.
Over the next few hours, more and more members of the Five Families finished their 26.2 mile feat. Dan “Master Plan” Belanger had the honor of having both marathon champions go back out on the course and escort him in. Eventually, Lisa Luyet, Presto, and I went out to join the Dan support group. Being the complete goofballs we are, it was decided that the last .1 mile was to be skipped (as in, frolicked). Rounding the final corner, hand in hand with some of the greatest friends I will ever have, skipping to the finish line for Dan’s stylish finish was an experience that I will never forget. It was also an experience that many onlookers will never forget, as I counted many faces of puzzled bewilderment. Sorry folks, you just wouldn’t understand.
Soon afterward, we rolled out with an exit worthy of rock stars, blaring music and yelling “Thank you, Tupelo!” to the wonderful volunteers still present. The Tupelo Marathon is a perennial trip for many of our group, and you can bet that I’ll be there next year.
It was with great relief that Michelle’s migraine had subsided and she was feeling much better. This news was dampered by some bad news, however: Michael Harmon had a pain in his lower leg that he had not felt since he had a stress fracture on his other leg two years ago. His suspicions ended up being correct. Heal up well, Harmon!
The night ahead brought us to the casino town of Tunica, Mississippi where we had many adventures on the town that perhaps shouldn’t be recorded or mentioned here. We had a blast. I’ll leave it at that.
Monday, September 7 - Chick-fil-A 5K - Memphis, Tennessee
The last day of our trip took us to beautiful Memphis, where we ran with 1,700 other runners in the Chick-fil-A 5K. The events of the last two days had left everyone beaten and sore, and the only reason we were here in the first place was to have fun and so the t-shirt would make sense. Dan and I ran the entirety of the beautiful (if not a bit too hilly for our achy bones) course together, which took us on Riverfront Drive, up Beale Street, and finally to a finish on the field of Autozone Park, where the Memphis Redbirds baseball team plays. I shouldn’t have been surprised to find out that Leah had completed the trifecta and won this race as well, and Imari, Presto, and Radke all got age group awards.
Imagine all of our surprise when we learned that because of her victory, Leah was also throwing the first pitch at the Redbirds game that day! It was a perfect end to a nearly perfect weekend that left me, and everyone else, reeling for days. Exhausted, and sad that it was all over, we crossed over the I-40 bridge over the Mississippi into Arkansas and began our journey home.
At the risk of turning this blog post from a race report into a sales pitch, I can truly say that I have become friends with some of the most outstanding people I have ever met and will ever meet during my short time as a member of LRRC. Seven years ago I drove through Tupelo without giving it a second thought. Never did I imagine that, thanks to my amazing clubmates, I would have one of the best weekends of my life there.
A few of the Little Rock Roadrunners invaded the Pacific Northwest this past weekend, including our very own Leah Thorvilson (hoping for revenge from her 2 second loss at Green Bay). The weather was perfect. It started with an early morning chill and a search for a vacant potty! By mid-day, the temps only reached into the low 70s with little to no humidity.
