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Comments: The weather was a tiny bit warm, but with the sun setting, it was manageable and nice not to have to freeze at the start line waiting. The bigger issue was that a monster 18mph steady wind with reported 40mph gusts had moved in! It was crazy. Banners were blowing everywhere and signs were toppling. It was going to be a wild one. The gun went off and we headed south mostly into the wind. I tried to settle into a fast but manageable pace. 2:59:59 would require 6:51 min/miles so I couldn't afford to start easy and build. There were plenty of people to draft off so the wind was marginalized. we made the turn ~1mile and it was wild. I got out into the open and let it push me up the road. I was clocking 6:30's. Faster than I wanted/needed, but it wasn't because I was pushing. I was happy to have some time in the bank. At one point a giant orange jersey barrier broke loose and was doing 10min/miles up the road with the runners! It was a wild scene. We made it all the way up the strip and I was confident and happy. Things were going well and I was running right alongside a wheelchair competitor going my pace so it was nice to pace each other. I took my first feeding of chomps at mile 6 right in line with my plan of chomps or GU at mile 6, 11, 16, and 21. I know that is somewhat light but it had been working well in training, so I stuck with it and made it less to carry. In addition, there were two GU stations on the course, so I could use those for emergency/back-up. We turned back into the wind at ~8.5 and although the crowds had thinned considerably, I was careful to stay on the shoulders of other runners and avoid it as much as possible. I made it through mile 10-11 and another feeding, but it was one of the only hills on the course and the wind/hill combined to make me question myself for the first time. I plowed through 11-14 and although I was now working, I was able to stay on pace and hang with a group of 2-3 other runners. I had hit the halfway mark at 1:29. I had a minute in the bank, but that hard fought minute was no match for the wall I was about to hit. I fell off the group I was with and mile 14.5-16.5 was into the wind and just shredded what I had left. I started to realize that I was not eating enough and moved up my next GU, but at this point I didn't have enough to keep that schedule through the finish even with 2 more from the course. At the 16.5mile turn I realized I had not only been going into the wind, but also slightly uphill. It gave me a bit of hope to pick it back up and salvage the remaining race, but everything was hurting at this point. I saw Baldwin coming the other way and he was very encouraging. I was in survival mode though and just trying to prevent walking. I did a few walk breaks and a few miles dropped into the 10min/mile range, but I tried to hold it together. Every time I ate a Gu or Chomps, I would get ~1mi. of reprieve, but I was too far behind the curve to catch up entirely. I saw Nate at Mile 20 and he was a great sight. He came out of the darkness with no shirt on and crossed the road to give me a high five. Mile 21 was also really cool as we came all the way through Freemont street with a covered digital roof and bands playing. It looked like an awesome party to stop for a few beers, but I had to get home. At 24.5 the half and full courses came back together to finish down the strip. Jeff and I came together at the exact same time. Amazing timing, but we were both in another world and didn't have much to say. He was starting to cramp and everything from my waste down was aching, but we pushed on and With the crowds thicker now, there was a lot more excitement and even some 'pace booty' to chase. I cruised it in with whatever I had left and was as happy to see that finish line as any I've ever seen. I didn't hit my goals, but I got another state in the books and my knee didn't act up once, so I am very grateful. It's still my 3rd fastest marathon and a great learning experience. In addition, o matter what your race was like, when you finish a race in Vegas, you are now in Vegas! What would you do differently?: I think my nutrition strategy was optimized for a morning start. I think I would have been ok if I ate more or if I had not sat around all day and then races, but the combination was too much.  Post race
Warm down: Limped to find my bag and get back to the room. Was in pretty bad shape for a long time, but once I hit the shower, found out all my friends had done well and suffered through the same war, and had my first drink, I was a new man. We started a 48 hour party that will not soon be forgotten! What limited your ability to perform faster: Nutrition, wind, and knee issues affecting my final training and taper plan. Likely in that order. Event comments: Great race. I had a few small issues with the way aid stations were set up and directions/navigation before and after race, but volunteers, course, expo, etc. were all fantastic. Last updated: 2012-07-11 12:00 AM
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United States
Competitor Group, Inc.
Overall Rank = 135/3590
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 18/374
The entire idea of running the Vegas Rock and Roll marathon was to be part of one of our teammates 40th birthday celebration. They ended up cancelling because they recently had their first daughter, but the momentum was already rolling. As GU Ambassadors, K and I were able to get entries and we had friends, family, teammates, etc. already excited for the race and the party!!
We flew out on Sat morning (fairly uneventful) and once checked into the hotel, we headed over to the expo. It was over at the Venetian and was an excellent expo. No real lines for check-in, plenty of good vendors, and some cool things to see. They had tv's shoving entire course previews in 3D that you could sit and watch. We went over to the GU booth so check out their setup, see if they needed any help, and were happy to finally get a chance to meet Tyler. He was a really nice guy and has been with GU forever, and while we have been on the team since 2007, we had still not met him yet. It was cool to talk with him about the old days of Zoot/Gu and 2XU with Brook and Eleanor (predecessors to Kat). He also scored us a VIP pass that would help with bag check and some other things!
Since the marathon started at 3pm (half started at 4:30pm), there was a bit of anxiety about when to get up, what to eat, when to eat, and what to do all day. We decided to eat a normal breakfast in the Bellagio coffee shop, so I had a bagel with cream cheese around 8:30am. The NFL games would be on during the day, so we decided to bet all the games and lay around the room watching the games to stay off our feet. We lost more than we won, but it did keep our minds off the race. I had a last meal of PB&J at 11am since I have had stomach issues on afternoon runs in the past and wanted to err on the side of less food. more on that later...
Around 2pm?, we headed down to the lobby and walked to find a shuttle. Nate's dad sneaked us all on the shuttle from his hotel with his room key. I guess they bought it that 12 of us were all sharing a room! They dropped us off at the start line and we walked back to the festival to do bag drops, etc. (I used the VIP bag drop from GU). We walked back to the start line, said our good lucks and goodbyes and lined up.
I was in the first wave, right behind the elite wave. My training had been going great and I had visions of a sub-3 goal. The final few weeks were plagued with a weird knee pain, but I still felt ready to give it a shot. I had 5min and could use one more restroom stop. Luckily, I had the GU VIP wristband, so I got access to some port-o-potties right at the start line. Apparently others saw an opportunity and were jumping in as well. Everything was civil at first, but all the sudden there was a clash between an elite runner handler and some people cutting in with no access, and security literally pulled a guy out of a port-o-potty in front of me. Crazy. I finished up and headed back to the start to avoid any further drama.