I had told Ben that I really wanted to PR, but definitely break 1:30. With the way my running has been going, though, I thought a 1:28 may be in the books. Since the strip is slightly downhill at the beginning, and then slightly uphill for the last 6 miles, I figured if we ran 6:40s down and 6:50s up, I would be right on target. I was told by coach not to have HR on the display, and I obliged. Right before the gun, Ben looked over at me and said lets get that 1:28. Fist bump and off we go.

Even being in corral one, it was more crowded than I thought. We did a good bit of jogging around people, and I was trying to keep it slow to not blow up on the first mile [Sidebar: Holly told me the night before the race that she didn't want to hear anything about going to fast in the first mile. She knew that if I was running with Ben, that could happen]. However, Ben was content with pacing me, and after the first mile he kind of went ahead and started pushing the pace. We were doing 6:35-6:40s and it felt very comfortable. I knew that most of that was because of the slight downhill and awesome weather. I figured it would start hurting after 7 or 8 miles.

We worked our way down the strip as the sun was coming up. We saw Ben's cousins out there, as well as a man in a speedo (it was 32 degrees) cheering on the runners. The bands were pretty good. At mile 6 we heard one band playing, "We will rock you" and that was a nice lift. Ben kept the pace really steady, and I just worked on not losing him. Again, this was easy b/c he had his donkey jersey on with the carrot on the back. I just kept trying to catch the carrot ;) I think he asked me about mile 3 how the pace was, and I said if we can do this pace on the way down, 6:50s should be very do-able on the way back, getting me to 1:28. I was amazed how steady he kept it, although I felt like he wanted to go faster.

As soon as we made the turn at the end of the strip and headed back up things started to get tough. The sun was shining in our face and we were starting to go up the small grade, and the pace felt harder. However, mile 8 was the same, so we pushed on. Mile 9 and 10 were the hardest, but we kept it in range. With 5K to go, I was pushing harder, but the pace stayed the same. Breathing was getting a tad louder, too. Mile 11 and 12 I continued to push. Somewhere around mile 12 Ben picked out a rabbit for us to catch. She was about 30-40 seconds in front of us, so I wasn't sure I could pull it off. With 1.1 miles to go, Ben went after her and was shoulder to shoulder with her after about 1/4 mile. I tried to answer, but could only muster the same pace (at least I wasn't slowing down), but was closing the gap. As we got into the chute area, she only had about 10 seconds on me, but I thought there was no way to catch her. I saw Holly and Becky and went over to give them a high 5. When I looked up, I could see Ben at the finish line, and I thought WTF, I might as well see if I can pass the rabbit....and that I did. All out as fast as I could go, I crossed the line just in front of her. Probably, looked like a bit of a tool, but whatever, it felt good to see a target and then beat it (even if it was a girl ;) [flame on if you have to, but she was a very fast girl].

Gave Ben a high five. Its nice to work with him, in that this was more of a C race for him AND his marathon pace is about my 1/2 marathon pace. Perfect, and his pacing made this race much easier for me.

Lap/HR

1m: 6:54, 144ahr
2m: 6:33, 151ahr
3m: 6:38, 153ahr
4m: 6:34, 151ahr
5m: 6:39, 152ahr
6m: 6:39, 153ahr
7m: 6:38, 154ahr
8m: 6:38, 155ahr
9m: 6:42, 156ahr
10m: 6:47, 157ahr
11m: 6:41, 158ahr
12m: 6:36, 158ahr
13m: 6:38, 160ahr
0.28m, 5:38, 165ahr

Oh yeah, check out:

http://las-vegas.competitor.com/features/finishreplay/ And punch in 1604.

You will see Ben finish with his Donkey gear, and then me cruising in about 15 seconds later to beat our rabbit ;)

Maybe start more of a push at the 5K point, but not sure I could have sustained it. Maybe less carb loading on Friday, but maybe that helped with all the hydrating on Saturday?

Talked with Holly/Becky and then got our food/medals/pictures. More socializing. Head back to watch Terri (joerunner) finish, then go watch Clint finish. Hit the bar for some burgers and beer!


Nothing. Although, I know I still have a faster one in me ;)


Rock and Roll puts on a great marathon. Good bands, good times and lots of water at the aid stations.