Skip to main content

Rock n Roll Marathon: Las Vegas

EVENT: Rock n Roll Marathon: Las Vegas
DATE: Sunday, December 6, 2009
LOCATION: Las Vegas, NV
RACE BEGAN: 6:15 am
FINISH TIME: 04:20:46

While at the Run/Ex/2009 (Expo) for the Acura Bike Tour, I noticed that this race was being offered at a $15 discount and a free T-shirt for on-the-spot registration (not including the savings of the online reg fee). Upon conferencing with "The Ukrainian," we signed up!

We got to Vegas on Friday. It was a party of four with me, "The Ukrainian," M, and Tea Time. I feel like those two days before the race were full of eating, gambling, and resting. It started with holiday pancakes at IHOP. Fortunately, we made a stop at the CA-NV state line to a Nike Factory Outlet store, where I scores some capri tights for less than $30 (review to come later). Then, I had my next meal at the very crowded expo. With ~25k runners in this race, you could imagine that staying in the host hotel (Mandalay Bay) was insane!


Above: A tiara that I got from the expo + slots = ???

Besides making a crepe run on the strip (La Creperie, Paris), I did not really walk around too much to preserve my legs. I played lots of penny slots but didn't really do too well. The night before, we went to Border Grill, where I simply had a meal of chips and Spanish rice.

It was 34 degrees on race morning. In gloves, two tech shirts, capris, hat, and bandana around my neck, I had never worn so much clothing to race. At 6:15, fireworks were set off in the morning sky. It was great to be able to see the Las Vegas strip without cars! The first miles were flat, until after the half-full marathon split point. I always hate having to go on the "Marathon" side at those! Tea Time got to take the left side, finishing in 1:52.


Above: Self-taken on race morning... I don' wanna goooooo!

My fingers were freezing, but I was mostly feeling good. I managed for the first time in a month to control my breathing pretty decently, and my ab strain was not really bothering me (probably because it was frozen, lol!).

I took my first gel at mile 7, second after 13, and the last at 20. The second half was rather boring with slightly rolling hills. I had been slowly deteriorating, as you can see below, but I was really defeated after mile 20 where my legs were already spent.

At mile 25, I could see the finish hotel in the distance, but the short, steep hill they had for us there was enough to break me for good. I could not run for that last mile, no matter how much I wanted to. I managed to squeak out a running finish, but I was disappointed that I was a minute behind my PR.

Overall, though, I had a lot of fun over the weekend and even at the race. This was my first out-of-state race/marathon and my last race of the year! Of my now-four marathons, this one was probably the most subjectively easy. I think that in spite of the low energy spell I've had as of late, my week-long carbo-loading helped me run mostly comfortably and for once have a good time.

And although I just missed my PR, I proved that last time was not a fluke and that I didn't need "The Ukrainian" to get me to run this sort of time. (Not that I wouldn't run a marathon with him again, but it definitely made me feel like I really have gotten better at this all on my own.) It makes me wonder if I could improve by training better, which I admit to not really doing this time. Either way, I think this marathoning stuff is getting easier with each one I do, and for that, I don't mind my times!

Post-finish, I didn't partake in any post-race things and walked allll the way back to our hotel room just in time for the 11 AM checkout. I quickly showered, and the four of us were out of Vegas well before noon to avoid the traffic. I got a leg cramp in the car, but that was to be expected. I think I only had dinner as my only real meal of the day due to all the traveling, but as I said, it was a fun weekend!

P.S. Rock n Roll did a great job organizing this race!

P.P.S. "The Ukrainian" came in at 3:22. Maybe one day, I can vicariously live out a BQ through him (and score a trip to Boston as well).

I am posting many race photos this time, since I was smiling in many of them, for once! That's a testament to how much fun I was having. Unusual!








Labels:

Comments

  1. joyRuNDecember 8, 2009 at 12:08 PM

    Nicely done!!! Congratulations on another marathon, with a awesome time to boot!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MadisonDecember 10, 2009 at 5:19 PM

    Good race report as always. Good job on the finishing time as well!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Giveaway Winner! -- Sony W Series MP3 Player (Update)

Updated Post: 3/20/11 As promised, here are the Sony W Series giveaway winners: -- both have been contacted and prizes sent -- Please e-mail me at (Gmail) Nobel4Lit2 with your addresses, and I'll ship out the units soon! Thanks to everyone who entered.  Stay tuned for another giveaway soon (maybe later this week)! (Note: I ended up putting everyone's retweets starting after the comments when it came to numbering the entries.) Original Post: 3/10/11 Sunday, March 20 2011, the day I will run LA Marathon for the 4th time (and embark on my 8th 26.2 journey overall), will also be very special because it will mark the 5th year since I did my FIRST training run with the intention of running a marathon.  (Check out that life-changing post HERE ). Yep, on March 20, 2006, I went to the track and ran my first 3.25 miles with the dreams of marathon glory (or even half-marathon glory). I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  I was a sprint/tra...
61 comments
Read more

Rebecca Michaels Performance Clothing (Giveaway)

UPDATE: 6/21/12 -- This giveaway is closed, and the winner is #43, Jacqueline!!  I will contact you, but if you miss it, please e-mail me! ------ I'd like to credit in advance "The Ukrainian" who helped me stage some photos for this post. =) Perhaps because I don't dress well when working out, I was offered the opportunity to try some fun pieces from the Rebecca Michaels summer collection. Since I complained about my issues with headbands staying on my head, I also got to try their Violet Love headbands.  "The Ukrainian" didn't hesitate in throwing one on, and I think he said he looks like Rambo in it. Anyway, I'll start with my experience with the headbands .  They are very soft and actually look SUPER cute on!  They also cover a large portion of the top of your head, so those little fly-aways don't come drooping down.  Or is that just me?  My hair is normally cut in layers, so I do experience this quite a bit. Unfortun...
51 comments
Read more

Sharkies Prize Pack (giveaway)

It's giveaway time! On a long run recently, I took a couple packs of Sharkies Organic Sports Chews  with me to keep me going on a hot day.  I got through those 15 miles  eating these, versus normal gels.  I've been opting to eat chews over gels in my running nowadays because I just find them more palatable and easier on my stomach for some reason.  Plus, they do pack a few more calories, which is a good thing in this case. I normally associate cute little chews with candy, but these actually contain natural electrolytes.  Plus, they were light to carry and very tasty, too!  Each pack is about 140 calories.  The only downside I found to the sport chews is that they stuck to my teeth a tiny bit more than my normal choices, and the packaging gave me a fight at times.  This could easily be solved by conslidating them into a baggie pre-run, or eating them BEFORE running would be much easier than during. Want to win the prize pack below?...
54 comments
Read more