Rock n Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

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...:-)

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.

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.


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.


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!