Rock n Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Las Vegas, Nevada
United States
60F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 52m 18s
Overall Rank = 14894 /19169
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 1652/2154
Pre-race routine:

Pre-pre race: A few days before the race, I hyperextended my ankle while playing with my dog, Stardust. After icing sessions, it felt okay, but the inner ankle area was hurting pretty bad. After a few days, and a short easy run, I felt ready to go, but I was more nervous about that than anything else actually. Oddly, it wasn't even an issue at ALL the day of my race!

Pre-Race routine - had cereal (not going to break a habit on race day!). Skipped my normal tea consumption since tea and running triggers migraines. My mind was buzzing with the excitement of doing a half-marathon the night before. Two years ago, I wouldn't even consider running for more than 5k because I hated the feeling of slamming my feet on the ground. Can you believe how much have changed within the past year? Finally got up around 4am to get dressed. Dressed conservative. I knew that I would get quite warm, and the last few days in Vegas at round 7am to 9am has been a WONDERFUL temperature. I'm glad I did. A lot of people were shedding outer layers of clothes, but at least they're going to be donated to the local homeless shelters.
Event warmup:

Parked my car at MGM and walked for about a mile or so to my corral at Mandalay Bay (took the Tram, walked through the Casino, walk to bag drop and walked all the way to my corral 28). Before bag drop, I took off my warm pants, warm jacket and put on my arm warmers. Stretched good, but felt like the walking was all the warm up I needed. In a hindsight, I think I should have stretched my quads better...it was going to be painful lesson later on.
Run
  • 2h 52m 18s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 13m 09s  min/mile
Comments:

Told myself to pace yourself the first 6 miles, then zoom off. Of course, I never listen on race day. Told myself to at least run for a mile without stopping, it got a little too addictive..."Run a mile more, then walk for a few mins, then do it again." Nope...ran straight for about 5 to 6 miles without stopping! The first mile I was cursing a little bit because my right foot fell asleep and I could feel the ankle pain searing through my leg, but decided to ignore it, and luckily all of that subsided just around mile 2. Although at around mile 4, the insides of my legs were slightly aching, but nothing I couldn't handle. 1:16:10 for first 10k, 12:15 pace. I saw Roy and then I finally decided to give myself a walking break. I congratulated myself for doing 10k without stopping, I nearly cried because I was so proud. However, I didn't realize that walking after all that running actually made the pain slightly worse. Kind of interesting because all I've been doing in training is walk/run method and never had any issues...I guess I do have issues when I run straight on. Anyways, after walking for 30 secs, I was ready for more actually! Kept on running! The last few miles were slightly brutal. 4 miles before the finish, my insides of the leg was hurting more, and hurts more when I walked, so I just did the shuffle. Stretched a little bit, and felt ready to go. At around mile 11ish, I finally looked at my watch (didn't want to keep watching my watch while running, otherwise I'll drive myself batty...but I did update my FB status! Yes, Running and Texting at the same time. I saw that I was making real good time and I had HIGH hopes that I'll beat my 3:30 guesstimate finish time. Picked out landmarks and ran to that landmark, and said, "don't walk for more than two minutes! I rarely walked for 2 mins, usually I would start running again after a min or less. Saw MGM coming closer, looked at my watch again, and knowing that I had a mile left to go. I was SO EXCITED to see I was 2:42:xx. Convinced myself that I could at least TRY to sprint just a little bit, but not too much, to the end and I'll make it UNDER 3 hrs! All the cheering crowd kept me going. Slowed down just slightly to see if I can catch Roy again (of course, he was on the wrong side - he was on the Marathon side! LOL). But regardless, I went through the finish line and screamed, "YES YES YES YES!! I DID IT!!". Then my legs just plainly gave up. Got my medal, HEAVY, and a space blanket (my first, and I think it's so cool!). Found Roy, and I was ready to be done. I know I gave it all on the course because I felt like I couldn't go anymore, unlike many many training runs when I had so much left in the tank.

Nutrition - Had Cytomax (ooh it tastes so good!), and drank small amount. Skipped a few Aid stations because I wasn't thirsty and felt really good. Had one gel per hour. So everything was SPOT on with Nutrition.

Sights - many dressed up like Elvis (seriously people? c'mon...that's so old, especially for Vegas!), saw some people dressed up in various costumes. A few got married through, "Run Thru Wedding Chapel", and you can tell by the people wearing bride dresses/ groom outfits and they got a special boutique. Saw the Bellagio Fountain show, Mirage volcano show, many bands were playing, and many large screens were showing live TV of the races. I was NEVER bored! Saw a few old people running, cheered them on. Etc etc. Only in Vegas...:-)
What would you do differently?:

Stretch my quads a little bit better. Other than adding more mileage to my training, jumping from 8 miles to 13 was a tad bit much, but I had it in me to finish regardless what the outcome was. I could have walked the last 4 miles, but I didn't. :-D

ADDENDUM: Lesson learned...just because it's December doesn't mean you won't get a sunburn. I didn't get sunburned, but my lips did. I think my lips hurt MORE than my quads. Dangabit! That hurts!! It was a PERFECT weather today, unlike last year where it was in the 40's.
Post race
Warm down:

Kept reminding myself to keep my legs moving for at least 20 minutes. Not too difficult actually - went to get my gear, find Roy, and walked around and took the Tram to Excalibur, and walked to MGM to my car. I had Bunco event to go to, so I left my shorts on - thank goodness I did - it acted like compression, and I think that helped with my quads a little. Luckily, at Bunco I was always moving around. Ate some food, grapes, water. Felt pretty good. Stretched my arms, back, and calves. The insides of my legs were just hurting to do too much, so I massaged it for a long time.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of running experience, but from my experience, I don't think I could have done any better! I *totally* expected to do at least 14:00 pace or do a little less than 3:30. So I'm pretty proud and ECSTATIC on how well I did.

Event comments:

Can't beat this race. It was just SOOOO much fun, and again, I was never bored. I'm so happy I picked to do a Rock and Roll. Everything was great! Expo was excellent! So much to see! Should have gone one day earlier!

Perfect way to close my season. Will rest up for a little bit, do a few runs here and there, then off season starts...is there one? LOL!

I think I've reached my limit of half-marathon. Maybe later I'll do a marathon when I got better training regime!




Last updated: 2010-05-22 12:00 AM
Running
02:52:18 | 13.1 miles | 13m 09s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/2154
Overall: 0/19169
Performance: Good
Course: Las Vegas Blvd (The STRIP) to Fremont Street, and back!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5