Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon - RunMarathon

I started off feeling good, knowing that I needed to keep a close eye on my pace since I tend to start all of my runs pretty quick on fresh legs. Everyone back home kept telling me that I would do great, and one guy even joked about me BQ'ing on my first marathon. And with how quickly I ran the last 20 training run, and how great I felt at the end of it, I had started to beleive that it may just be possible. I was looking at my mile splits everytime and checking my instant pace constantly on the garmin. A few times I guess I got excited and really had to slow myself down. Around mile 7 I felt like I had to got to the bathroom again. I knew I probably didn't really need to go, but stopped at an open porta-pottie just so I wouldn't be distracted by it anymore. Figured that was worth the couple of seconds on the clock. And that it would be much easier to get going again on legs that had only run 7 miles as opposed to many more if I had waited longer.

I was getting close to the start and turned to split off from the 1/2 runners. Shortly after this I noticed that my pace dropped a considerable amount (about 30-50 sec/mile I think). I just thought, "That's fine, I won't BQ, but I'll still get a pretty good time." There were two overpasses we had to run over and I reminded myself "Do NOT attack these!" I feel that I'm pretty strong on hills, so it was a mental effort to hold back.

All was going well until about mile 19-20. Then I started to notice the quads. It seems that they weren't all that happy with me over what I had decided to do. They started hurting more and more as the race went on, until around mile 21 or so they were screaming so much I had to walk the aid station. As the race went on I had to walk the remaining 2-3 aid stations, as well as twice in between. :( I was not happy I had to do this. It almost felt like I had been defeated and given up each time. But I knew it was doing some good, because after walking for a few seconds my pace jumped back up to much closer to what I was wanting before slowly dropping off again. About 1.5 miles out, I took notice of the guy who was pacing for 3:30. I looked at my time, distance, and pace on the garmin and knew that he was a little ahead of schedule. He knew this as well, as he slowed down and encoraged me and some other folks near me to beat 3:30. I passed him but he was still close. As we turned back onto the strip to run down what may possibly be the longest finishing shot on record (probably close to 1/2 mile), I could hear him getting the crowd pumped up for the few of us in the area. I thanked him for doing this afterward. As I was running down the chute I was simply focused on how much pain was in my legs, and that it was almost over. I heard my friend Tater (aka Jake) yell in the crowd and I caught a glipse on him in the corner of my eye. As I continued down the chute I probably ran about 50-60 feet at leasdt twice with my eyes closed just focusing on getting to the end. I was in so much pain, and I'm sure it was showing. As I got closer to the finish, about 100 yards out, I heard another "Yeah Eric! Wooh!" This time it was Lisa! I was so happy to have people there supporting me in my endevour. It meant so much to me even though I was probably too exhausted to show it afterward.

Intentionally rest more the day before. Slow down in the beginning.

After I crossed the line I drank a bottle of water in the minute it took me to go grab a sports drink. This race was giving Cytomax along the route and afterward. I must say it was pretty tasty, I might have to give that a try this year. I took one of the foil blankets they were handing out and wrapped it around my waist, got a picture with one of the show girls, then found a place out of the way to stretch. I have become a big fan of stretching after every run throughout training, and it was just as if not so much more important to make sure I got it in after the race. I'm posetive that a good stretching routine is what has kept my recently injured hip, as well as other joints the muscles around them, healthy through all the miles I've put on them in the last few months. After a good stretch, I moved on to eat nearly everything they were handing out.

I then left the secure athlete's area to go find my friends. Slowly, I waddeled my way through the crowd to where we had planned to meet. I found Lisa and her friend Cord there waiting for me, where I was greeted with a big hug and a "Congratulations!" I grabbed my jacket and it was of course time for some post-race pictures with us showing off our new hardware (Lisa ran the half that morning). Tater met us there and we hung out and watched the Brett Micheals show. For some reason I seemed to be the only one in our group that was excited to see this show, but I think they soon realized why as he played. During the concert I did a little bit more stretching because I could imagine the tightness that was to follow, and I wanted to postpone it as much as possible. After the concert Lisa and I walked the mile back to the hotel. It felt good to be moving, but I was glad to get back and rest just the same.


Poor race disipline/execution. I was warned many times about pacing myself, and I thought I was, but I should've gone a little bit slower in the beginning.


Very well organized and well executed race.