Inaugural Rock N Roll Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon Race Report

We arrived at the Rock N Roll Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon race starting area with plenty of time, regardless of my worries (see Pre-Race Jitters). The organizers had bananas, coffee and water bottles laid out on tables, which was awesome because there wasn’t a whiff of fresh food to be seen at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino at 5 AM. I chomped on a banana and swigged some water while we wandered around the parking lot area. When I went back for a second banana the volunteer cut me off, saying it was a “one per person” deal.

After checking my gear bag we jogged around the parking lot area trying to warm up. I check the sock on my left foot, feeling like it was bunched up under my toes. The sock was fine; the weird feeling was some numbness in my extremities. We jogged until I finally felt like blood was moving to all areas of my body, then we went over to the corrals.

My estimated finish time was 1:40, so I was assigned to Corral number 2, right near the front.

At 6:00 Bill kissed me goodbye and headed off to the tram. He was going to wait for me on the walkway over the street and try to take pictures. The race director did a big lead-up to the National Anthem and proudly introduced Celine Dion as… Cher! Oops.

The starting gun went off and I shuffled over the starting line about a minute later. My goal was to start slow at an 8:00-8:30 pace, then drop 0:45-1:00 about half-way through and then another 0:15-0:30 the last 5K.

At the 5K marker I checked my Garmin and was dismayed to see that the distance had registered only 1.5 miles. The timer was still going and the pace looked reasonable as well, in the 8:00 range. I shook my arms to loosen them up, looked at the Garmin again, and it had turned off! I turned it back on and re-synced it, but now the pace said I was trotting along at a 6:00 clip.

 At the 10K marker I stopped at a porta-potty for a quick pee and nose-blow. I went inside, sat down and proceeded to fumble for a good minute with getting the paper off the t.p. roll. I was the first person to visit this potty! That’s NEVER happened to me before.

There were a few bands playing, but their sound systems didn’t carry the music much past the stage, so music was not the happening thing the brochures touted when I signed up. That was kind of a bummer, as well as there was NO roadside entertainment at that hour of the morning. Some of the casinos were still lit, but as the sun hit the buildings on the west side of the Strip there was this feeling of standing between two dimensions; Vegas reality, and runner’s reality.

Right around mile 8 a pacer came up from behind. I picked up my tempo a hair to let him pull me a few miles, when I heard a girl say to someone that the pacer was going too fast for his 3:30 marathon time; he was 1:30 above pace, according to her watch. I checked this info with my Garmin and found that it was fluctuating between 9:20 and 6:50. In frustration I shook my arm and again, the thing turned off.

My calves were tight by now, and I didn’t think I could pull off a sprint. My best option was to keep a fast pace and just ride it out, figuring I was now doing a tempo run instead of a race. A runner started pacing with me and we chatted for a while, which was AWESOME. I confessed to him that races are too quiet for my taste; I’m used to being in a pack of chatty women, with conversation happening all around. His Garmin was tracking just fine, so we used his to keep our pace steady. He was a marathoner and was turning off at mile 10, while I was continuing down the Strip. We bemoaned the fact that we were doing different races, as it was an instant friendship and we each wanted the other to continue with OUR race. I gave him my Twitter info, and am hopeful that Dave from New York finds me so we can keep chatting.

The last three miles were hard. My calves were super-tight, my left Achilles was talking to me, and I could feel blisters forming in the usual owie places on my left foot. Lungs felt fine this entire time, though I was astounded at the slow pace, feeling like I was slogging through muck. I had no get-up-and-go, and at some point during mile 11 I slowed down and walked for a minute, hoping to stretch out my calves a little. This actually helped, and I started running again with a little relief.

Bill was waiting near the finish line, and I was so tickled to hear him call my name as I ran up to the finish shoot. There wasn’t a lot of spunk in my step at that point, and I was just thrilled to get over the finish line and start walking out the sore muscles.

I proudly accepted the finisher medal, received a Mylar blanket, and collected a ton of food from the finisher area (some for me, some for Bill). He was waiting for me near the barricade, so I didn’t have to go to letter Q to find him. Here’s a photo of me holding my stash, looking tired but happy.

Bill found my finish time (Bib # 2919) on Active.com’s website .  I finished in 1:42:30, a full 2:30 slower than what I was aiming for. 

Stats:

Bib #: 2919

Chip time: 1:42:30

Clock time: 1:43:27

Overall: 801

Sex Pl: 154

Div Pl: 34

Age Grade%: 65.3

When I got bummed about my time Bill laid the smack-down on me and informed me that I did GREAT and that I have nothing to be unhappy about.  So with that in mind, I will duly say that I did a fantastic job, even though I didn’t hit my goal of 1:40 or 1:35, and I know that I’m a strong athlete, and I get better all the time.  See, Bill?  I listened!

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