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 Run
Comments: Well, regarding my performance - I think I was exhausted from lack of sleep and/or being on travel for the previous 2 weeks. I hit my target HR zones - first 5k Zone 3, second 5k Zone 4, then the rest with whatever is in the tank, but this was a slow run, even for me. The volunteers were very enthusiastic and great! Regarding the event course: Mile markers were missing/hidden and/or inaccurately marked, which is, I am told, a mortal sin for marathon race organization. They had water every so often (didn't seem very frequent on the back half of the race). There were several bands, which didn't really do much for me.  Post race
Warm down: The half-marathon and full marathon courses merged together right before the finish line. Got a massage, had a water and banana and some sort of yogurt thing. The food pickings were already pretty sparse, and the marathon finishers were just starting to arrive! I found out later they basically ran out of what little food they had. I don't get it - you can't have people running for 4-6 hours then just not have any food. Pretty sad. Event comments: Negatives: Poorly placed mile markers, sparse water stations, terrible start area organization, inefficient bib pickup process, cheap and unremarkable t-shirt, insufficient quantity of finish-line food ... Positives: It's an excuse to go to Vegas if you are looking for one. Weather was nice but a little windy. Overall, this was the worst organized event that I have ever done, which is baffling because it is the ONLY one that I have done that had a professional event management company running it! I swear the triathlons I have done that used all volunteer labor were better organized than this. I expected way more for my $85, and I doubt will go out of my way to do this one again. Last updated: 2006-08-20 12:00 AM
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United States
Devine Sports
50F / 10C
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The road trip with the guys was about all that made this race worthwhile. We left Los Alamos on Friday about 3pm, drove to Flagstaff AZ, where I had booked three rooms at the Best Western Kings House, on Historic Route 66. However, the Best Western Kings House had negelected to mention that it was also located along the Historic Railroad Tracks that parallel Route 66, and that a train goes by and blows its horn about every 30 minutes all night long. Needless to say we did not sleep well. However, day 2 of the journey included a drive over Hoover dam and a stop to take some photos and check it out, which was enjoyable.
Arrive at the Luxor at about 1pm - had a buffet-quality lunch at the Buffet, then stood in line for 30 minutes to check in, only to be told that there are no rooms ready yet and please come back after 3pm. So we walked over to the Mandalay Bay to the expo, which must have been a mile and a half away. Stood in line at the expo for 30 minutes to check in, including ?having to look up our own bib numbers from a binder? huh? Everyone was disappointed in the T-shirt, cheap one-sided silk screen on a cotton shirt. Very disappointing for the $85-$95 that we had each paid. This was a sign of things to come regarding the level of organization and quality put forward by Divine Sports.
We hoofed the mile and a half back to the Luxor front desk and, after another 30 minute wait, were finally able to check in. Tom and I went to mass at the little church on the strip and then met up with the rest of the guys at NY/NY for dinnner - had some extremely average Mexican food, milled around in Coyote Ugly for a bit, then headed back to the rooms to call it an early night.
Let me also say that I realized on this trip that I really just don't have that much interest in Las Vegas. I don't gamble, don't drink much (esp. the night before a race), don't do strip clubs and, while I am interested in the high-price shows, I can't bring myself to shell out the bucks to watch one by myself.
Slept fine and we met up in the lobby at the Starbucks closest to our "inclinator" (the Luxor, remember?). Walked over to the Mandalay Bay and man it was a huge disorganized crush of humanity. 16,000 people or so all trying to figure out how to get across the parking lot to the start area. We ended up climbing over a crowd-control fence and down a hill to get to the street. We had not received any kind of instructions as to whom should go where. It was a mess - walkers mixed with slow runners mixed with fast runners. Apparently there were some corrals somewhere but I never saw them. Also things got started about 20 minutes late.