Little Rock Marathon

Runners have an unprecedented obsession with beribboned hunks of bling —and races are happy to satisfy.Little Rock, Arkansas · In 2014, the Little Rock Marathon gave out its biggest finisher's medal yet. At 8 1/4 inches across and weighing 2 1/2 pounds, it dwarfs the race's inaugural 2003 medal (at far left). Specially reinforced racks were needed at the finish to hold the combined weight of 3,000 of these medals (7,500 pounds). Each year, co-executive directors Gina Pharis and Geneva Lamm (who call themselves the Chicks in Charge) mandate that the medal be bigger than the previous year's. "Both Gina and I are medal junkies," says Lamm. "We believe that our finishers should take home a medal that represents their achievement. I know when I finish a marathon, my effort is not a quarter-sized effort. It is ginormous."Text by Kit Fox