XTERRA Lake Las Vegas Trail Run - 21k - RunHalf Marathon

This was my first half marathon and I certainly choose a hell of a race to make it the first! I have barely run off road yet on a whim(and a great deal on Groupon!)I decided to just go for it! I have ran 13 miles only twice before and they were on pavement so you could say that I was not the most prepared for the off road trail. But I showed up and was ready to go.

The first mile or two was heading out to the desert and was mainly up hill. My goal in this race was to to stay below a 155 heart rate so I could maximize my energy use but that plan went out the window within the first 10 minutes! Once we made it over the hill we had a down hill which brought us out to the desert. "here we go" I thought and wondered what the hell I signed up for!!!

But I have to say once I got going on the trail I was truly loving it. It was like something that I'd imagine in the book "Born to run", out in the middle of nowhere just running where the body takes you. Thank goodness that they had cones out there because there were times when it was difficult to find people in front of you so it would be easy to get lost with out the cones. The first four miles were good, but once I did a few up and down hills my knees started hurting. I wondered if I would make it all 13.1 miles. i realized that my knees were hurting from the intense pounding of the downhill running as well as jostling between rocks and other desert items. This was something fairly new to my body, something that I certainly had not trained for. But I knew my cardio was there so I just told myself to deal with the pain. At 50 minutes I passed the third aid station and decided that now would be a good time to start my gel consumption. I could feel my body starting to slow descent to the "bonking" stage. I had a hammer gel with me but wanted to save it for the end because it was "espresso" with caffeine, so I decided that I would try the powerbar gels that they had at the aid station. I was apprehensive because I have had bad experiences in the past eating gels other then Hammer, but to my surprise I had no GI issues. YES!!!!

Once we made our way near the lake it turned to tall grass and a small trail. This was around miles 8-9 and I really started to feel the pain in my knees. But the scenery was keeping my mind off the pain and I was truly smiling through this part. I knew at this point that long distance endurance events are for me. I love the fact that I need to pace myself instead of just going all out. I love the fact that I will be out on the course for hours instead of minutes. It took me a year and a half to reach this point in my training but it was truly the pinnacle in my short endurance career this far. Big smile on my face!!!!!

Once I left the tall grass it was back to the desert and I meet up with part of the original trail. And then I looked up and saw the steepest, longest hill that I have ever encountered in any event! All I saw were people walking and stopping, this was the only time I probably had anything other then a smile. I slowly walked to the aid station appropriately stationed at the bottom of the hill. I grabbed my third gel, some water and told myself there are only 3 miles left. Lets do this!!!

After a long walk and actually passing people who had stopped, I looked down this huge hill that I just climbed and realized that it was pretty much down hill from here. Something inside me clicked and I just took off. The people that had been around me for almost the entire race were distant memories and I was now chasing down a couple who were way in front of me.

As I turned out of the desert back onto the road this small lady who I had used as a pacer for almost the entire race passed by me. "no way" I thought to myself and stayed right with her. I looked at my watch and saw we were running an 8 min/mile and just had to smile! "Holy Shit a 8min/mile at the end of my first half marathon" I thought. This was my own little "iron War", lol!!! So I stuck with my pacer for what seemed like eternity, somehow sucking down my espresso gel that I had pre-mixed with water. I could start to hear the emcee of the race and I knew we were getting close. At a sharp turn near the end my pacer stayed straight while I took a left following the Xterra signs to make it to the finish. "Hey" I yelled, "you are going the wrong way!!!!" She looked at me and laughed, then said thank you. That would be the last time I saw her until after I crossed the finish line and she came in after me. I almost caught up to the couple and probably could have got them right at the finish line, but I saw them grab hands and head toward the finish line. I wasn't about to ruin their happy ending. As I headed to the finish I smiled and lifted my hands in the air. I just completed my first half marathon!!!!

I must say that this was the most fun that I have ever had at any race, triathlon or running. I was thinking about it all day after the race and just kept smiling!


Wow, I just don't know if I would do much differently in my first half marathon! I mean I signed up for an off road race with very little trail running under my belt so I was actually very happy with myself. I wanted to beat 2 hours, but for the hills and rocky terrain I was happy with my finish time.
My hydration was good, as well as nutrition.

Drank a gatorade recovery and ate a banana, both at the Xterra tent for racers. I also drank my Endurox R4 drink once I made it back to my car. I didnt stretch, which i always do after a long run. I think this is one of the reasons I was in serious pain later that day and the next few.


Not training off road, limited long distance running.


They did an outstanding job with this race and I will definitely do it again next year. Plenty of aid stations with very friendly volunteers.
Race started 20 minutes late due to so many people who did not pick up their race registration information until the morning of the race.