LITTLE ROCK — If you like 5Ks, this weekend is filthy with them. You can run around raising money for animals, keeping kids off drugs, touring the old college campus, meeting an Olympian, getting high on Hot Springs ....
The calendar at www.arkansasrunner.com lists a dozen 3.1-mile footraces. But the most remarkable has got to be Little Rock Parks & Recreation's annual Mud Run - in which giggling grownups who are unwisely attired for a footrace soil their otherwise perfectly good clothing by wallowing in muck.
More a goofy romp than a competition, the event lures all manner of people to Two Rivers Park, an underused maze of paved scenic paths through what used to be the county penal farm. Families with little kids in Halloween costumes make a good showing, as do middle-aged Muggles dressed up as Harry Potter.
Everyone walks or runs a more or less 3-mile route broken up by some sort of surprise obstacle; then comes the big finish, a 300-foot slog through what the organizers humorously term a spa treatment.
Online registration has closed, but you can enter in person for $25 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today in the basement of Little Rock City Hall, 500 W. Markham St. If you don't want a T-shirt, the fee is $15.
Race-day registration costs $35 ($20 without a shirt) and will be accepted at Two Rivers Park from 7:35 to 8:45 a.m. Saturday.
Even those who preregister will want to arrive early enough to park and not miss the ceremonial introduction of the mud marshals, official hosers and so forth. At 8:55 a.m., the Little Rock Hash House Harriers lead a warm-up. The running, walking or whatever commences about 9 a.m.
More information and photos are at www.mudrun.org. An authority figure might answer the phone at (501) 371-4639.
HEART & SOLE 5K
If you prefer serious competition, Olympian Al Joyner is the celebrity guest at Saturday's Heart & Sole 5K in Jonesboro. This 3.1-mile, certified-course footrace includes ChampionChip timing, age-division awards - the total package.
Registration costs $25 and is available, along with packet pickup and hors d'oeuvres, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today in The Forum, a renovated theater at 115 E. Monroe Ave. Joyner will speak at dinner, whichbegins at 6:30. Racers can dine for free; others pay $15 ($10 for kids ages 12 and younger).
Race-day registration will be accepted from 8 to 9:15 a.m. near Cardiology Associates, 201 E. Oak St. The 3.1-mile race begins there at 9:30 a.m.
Outback Steakhouse will serve racers lunch; nonrunners can eat for $5. More information is at www.ridgerider.org.
WALKING
The Dogwood Trailblazers Walking Club of Joplin, Mo., will hold three Volkssport walks this weekend, two Saturday through Holiday Island and Eureka Springs, and one Sunday in Eureka Springs' Lake Leatherwood Park.
Walkers will register between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday in Holiday Island at The Barn, for either of that day's events. The Barn is at Shields and Lakeside drives next to the fire station. Walkers can nosh on finger foods there from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and picnic on hamburgers and potluck at 5 p.m.
Walkers can begin Sunday's walk in Lake Leatherwood Park between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. and must finish by 1:30 p.m.
At 6:30 p.m. Friday, the club will have a meet-and-greet reception at The Island Motel, 5 Woodsdale Drive in Holiday Island.
More information is at www.ava.org/clubs/DogwoodTrail blazers. Walkers can contact Glen Conyers at glendorisc@netzero.net or (417) 434-0977.
BIKE AND RUN
Russellville's Fall Fest on Saturday offers a 5K footrace, a 1-mile fun run and the Tour de Pumpkin bicycle ride.
The 5K begins at 8 a.m. at the west end of the Russellville Train Depot, 320 West C St. A 1-mile run for kids begins at 8:45 a.m. Raceday registration costs $20, $10 for ages 10 and younger, and will be accepted beginning at 7 a.m.
The Tour de Pumpkin bike ride (not a race) begins at 10:30 a.m. at Poppa Wheelies bike shop, 316 West B St. For $20, riders can pedal 17 or 30 miles on rolling hills.
More information is on the calendar at www.bikearkansas.com.
PANCAKES
Lewis & Clark Outfitters in Little Rock will feed pancakes to bicycle riders at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Area cyclists are invited, including those who will just have finished the weekly shop ride, which begins at 10 a.m.
The store is at 207 N. University Ave. More information is at(501) 537-1401.
WILDWOOD WALKING
Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts will have a free guided walk on its grounds Sunday.
The pavilion will open at noon for picnickers. Bring your own or reserve box lunches and drinks for $9 a person at (501) 821-7275. A children's box (peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chips or fruit, a cookie and a drink) is $3.
Walks will begin at 2 p.m.
Wildwood is a 20-minute drive from downtown Little Rock at 20919 Denny Road. The Web site is www.wildwood park.org.
TOUR DA' DELTA
Saturday's first Tour da' Delta in Helena-West Helena honors the memory of Tom " Chip" Kinnebrew. The popular cyclist died after crashing his bicycle on Brasstown Bald Mountain at the Tour of Georgia, where he was a spectator. For $40, you can choose to ride 30, 62 or 100 miles at your own pace around and on Crowley's Ridge.
Registration will be accepted at 7 a.m. Saturday in the park where the tour begins and ends - Mississippi River Park just over the levee from the Phillips County Courthouse. The Web site is www.tourdadelta.org.
RAID THE ROCK
The annual Raid the Rock adventure race begins sometime Saturday somewhere in central Arkansas.
Three-person coed teams and a few solo racers will run, canoe, bike, hike, orienteer, bushwhackand rock-climb or rappel (or both) on a course they have to figure out by plotting coordinates on topographic maps. Nobody knows where they're going until after the race begins, so they really could be anywhere. Teams can enter for $375; solo racers pay $200 and must be approved by the race directors, Nate Siria and Greg Eason. Racers check in from 3 to 6 p.m. today at the Arkansas Boathouse Club, and a briefing for them and for volunteers is at 7 p.m. The club is on the North Little Rock riverfront next to Interstate 430.
More information is online at www.raidtherock.com.
To contact Off the Couch, call (501) 918-4525 or e-mail cstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend, Pages 75 on 10/26/2007