With the swollen Arkansas River swamping Murray Park and closing the Big Dam Bridge, Wednesday's observance of Global Running Day in Little Rock has shifted to a more inland venue.
Runners and walkers can join the Little Rock Marathon team's annual fun run at 6 a.m. Wednesday in front of the arsenal of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in MacArthur Park.
Parking will be in public lots near the Arkansas Arts Center at 10th and Commerce streets.
Gina Pharis of Little Rock Parks and Recreation said last week that about 400 people had already registered through littlerockmarathon.com for this free, untimed group run. Many of them signed up as "virtual participants" though, and the change to a less familiar venue could dampen turnout, as it were.
Runners and walkers will be free to go whatever distance they wish on MacArthur Park's trails or, she said, they can follow directions for a 5K that's essentially the road-racing course used by the MacArthur Park 5K.
The team will not provide traffic control, but at 6 a.m. downtown there's little traffic in need of control.
Participants get to join in a mass start and take home a souvenir bib number that's good for a discount at Rock City Running, 10300 Rodney Parham Road.
Register at littlerockmarathon.com.
A moment of silence here for Murray Park's recently completed sand volleyball courts and the brand new rope climbing apparatus. That's a smudge of a loss compared to the ruined homes, businesses and lost crops in communities all along the river, Pharis says. But still it is sad for the central Arkansas volleyball teams who were just beginning to enjoy their clean digs.
"All that new sand is moving down the river," she said. "It's all gone."
Style on 06/03/2019