E.T. Full Moon Midnight Marathon - RunUltra Marathon


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Rachel, Nevada
United States
Calico Racing
Total Time = 8h 00m 40s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Since this was a midnight race, I thought it would be a good idea to stay up all night the two nights before to get my body adjusted to staying up all night. After all, we were staying in Vegas so there was plenty to do all night. As it turned out I would later regret this decision.

The first night we walked to the strip from our room at the Comfort Inn on Paradise Road. It seemed like it would be just a few minute walk, but distances are very deceiving in Vegas due to the size of the huge buildings. The few minute walk ended up being a 40 minute walk and after the first 10 minutes I knew the shoes I was wearing were a big mistake. My feet felt raw by the time we got to the strip and I bought some cheap flats at Urban Outfitters to wear the rest of the night. The damage was already done though, and my feet hurt and throbbed all night. I didn't get a chance to look at them until returning to our hotel room at 6am, and when I did I saw that my left foot had a quarter size blister in the center of my forefoot and my right foot had a huge blood blister extending from the middle of my forefoot up between three of my toes. Luckily, by the time of the race start the blisters had gone down and didn't cause me too much trouble. I fell asleep around 7am and was wide awake at 11am, I stayed in bed until around 2pm dozing off and on but not getting any really good sleep.

The next night we took the free shuttle to the strip, lesson learned. I tried not to walk too much, since I knew I needed to rest my feet for the race tomorrow and didn't want to do anymore damage to the blisters. We had dinner at PF Changs ( combination fried rice) and took the shuttle back to our hotel to save the leftovers for tomorrow's pre-race meal. Eating before the race was a bit of an experiment given the unusual start time. We got back to the hotel around 7am and slept for a couple hours, I couldn't get back to sleep at all, so I got up still exhausted.

We walked over to the Hard Rock Hotel at 4pm and got our packets, then went back to our room, across the street, to rest and relax until the bus pick up at 8:30. We headed back over at 8:00pm and waited for the bus to load.
Event warmup:

After getting on the bus for what was supposed to be a 2.5 hour ride out to Rachel Nevada, we headed out of town for about 40 miles, then the bus took an exit heading back to town. WTF? We saw all the familiar buildings getting closer and closer until we were right by downtown again and then got on a different highway. Apparently our bus and one other got lost, which added an additional hour to the bus ride. We arrived at the start just seconds before midnight instead of at 11pm as planned. They delayed the race start 10 minutes so we could all get off the bus and line up.


Run
  • 8h 00m 40s
  • 31.69 miles
  • 15m 10s  min/mile
Comments:

We were all required to wear head lights, reflective wear, and most of us also had glow sticks attached to us. It was fun watching all the glowing runners at the start. Within the first couple miles, I decided this whole running at midnight thing was stupid, and I didn't want to do it. I was exhausted from lack of sleep and mentally I lost it. I started walking, and I walked and walked. There was no scenery to watch in the darkness, and I felt like I was on a treadmill ( I despise treadmills). My husband and I had decided to run this one together, since I was a little unsure what it would be like out there in the darkness by myself. As it turns out this too was a mistake. Don't get me wrong, I love him dearly and it was really sweet of him to stay with me when he definitely could have finished faster, but had I been on my own I think I would have wanted to hurry a bit more. Running (well mostly walking) with him made it seem less like a race to me, and I had someone to talk to while I was walking, making it not quite as boring as it would otherwise had been. We also fed on each other's negativity. He was the first to suggest we just do the marathon. Poor guy was probably just wanting to get this over, with all the walking and bitching I was doing. This is very unlike me during a marathon, I am usually smiling and really positive the whole way, but this race had me in some very dark places both literally and figuratively. The decision was made to just go to the marathon turn around and in that moment I didn't care at all about finishing the ultra distance.

Then a couple miles later, from behind us came Crystal and Stacey. They were beaming! Crystal asked if we were doing the 51k. I responded, "not anymore", and she said, "Come on we have plenty of time. We have 3.5 hours and only 14 miles to go." As they trotted past us, Gary mumbled, "yea, maybe if your running" and that set something off in my mind. I COULD do this, and I DID want it! I started to run. Once I started running again, I didn't want to stop because I was afraid I wouldn't get started again. Crystal and Stacey stopped to take some pictures of the Extraterrestial HWY sign, but as much as I would have liked to take pictures I knew I didn't have time for that. And, I knew now that I did indeed want to finish 51k tonight. About 5 miles later, the sun rose and I finally got to see the beautiful landscape of the Nevada desert. We were surrounded by mountains in the distance, sharply contrasting with the flat plains. the full moon was still up in the sky, and it was absolutely breathtaking. Again, I would have loved to have a photo, but knew we were cutting it really short time-wise. We passed the Little Aleinn (the finish line) and headed to our turn around, a police car with lights flashing about 5 miles ahead. I watched those lights flash, seeming never to get any closer, as we passed the marathon turn around and knew I was now committed.

We leap-frogged with twins during this section, running some and walking more. They were from Georgia, and the funny thing is, we discussed the different road kill we had seen along the route. You know it's a bad sign when the interesting sights are road kill, a few rabbits and snakes and one scorpion. We did see some amazing shooting stars too, so that was cool. After finally reaching the police car and turning around, I was wondering where Crystal and Stacey were and hoping they would make it. About a mile past the turn around we saw them, still smiling and moving forward. I saw a police car following them and figured it was a sweeper car, taking that as a good sign that they would let them finish so I had plenty of time. I wanted to slow down. Gary kept telling me we needed to pick it up to beat the cut off, and he kept a speedy walking pace and I kept up with him. I saw the twins in front of us and rallied enough to run and catch up with them. Shortly after this, with about 2 miles left, someone drove up and told us we needed to pick it up if we were going to make the cut off. So, I started running to street signs or mile posts with walk breaks in between. It was a good thing Gary hadn't let me slow earlier. With .2 of a mile left, the guy drove by again and told us we had 2 minutes to get to the finish line or we were done. It pissed me off that he was so rude about it, but it did inspire me to run it in the rest of the way and finish at 8:00:40. The twins finished about a minute later, and Crystal and Stacey were picked up. I felt so bad for them, because I knew how much they wanted to finish, and without a doubt, I would not have finished 51k without them. I do hope that they at least got credit for the marathon, since they went well over that distance.
What would you do differently?:

Not stay up the two nights before and just sleep in as long as possible the day of the race. I don't think running at night is for me, so I wouldn't do another night time race unless it's a short one or perhaps part of a 100 miler :)
Post race
Warm down:

Got back on the bus for the long ride back to Vegas.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of sleep, mental attitude, not enough consistent training

Event comments:

I don't really know how the post race activities were, since I got directly on the bus after crossing the finish line. I do think they should allow a little more than 5 minutes between the race cut off time and when the buses leave, but all in all it was well organized and definitely a unique event. It's also impressive that they had so many volunteers willing to stand out there all night to support the runners


Profile Album


Last updated: 2011-01-20 12:00 AM
Running
08:00:40 | 31.69 miles | 15m 10s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Bad
Course: The course is a long false flat with some steeper uphill grades for the first 13 miles. It's at 4400ft up to 5600ft elevation on the Extraterrestial Highway near area 51 with aid stations every 3 to 3.5 miles
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4