Race Review: Vegas Mustang 50th Half Marathon

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Wow, has it ever taken me a while to sit down and write this. I've just been so busy there hasn't been time to think about blogging, never mind actually doing it! We had a great trip to Vegas and a nice mini vacation, but now it's definitely back to real life and of course training... but more on that later this week.

Let's rewind back to the Saturday before last when I woke up and headed towards the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to run a half marathon! As I headed down the elevator of Planet Hollywood to catch a taxi to the shuttle pick up point, most people were headed back to their rooms quite intoxicated. I got a taxi fairly easily (yay Vegas!) and the driver asked me if I was headed "home" for the night, where I insisted that no, believe it or not, I just woke up! I suppose it's rather unusual to wake up at 5:00AM in Vegas.

Anyhow, thanks to the taxi driver knowing exactly where to go, I found the shuttle between the Luxor and Excalibur quite easily and hopped on the first bus. I was keeping my eye out for Brandi & Kendall, but never spotted them in the dark.

I knew it was a bit of drive as I'd been there once before, well near there anyway, so I did my best to sit back and relax and not worry about how warm of a day I heard it was going to be...

When we arrived, we made our way through the tunnel and into the speedway. I've been to a drag strip before, but never inside a Nascar stadium. It was definitely a sight to see, way bigger than I imagined. The sun was coming up and even though it was windy and chilly at first, it warmed up quite quickly. They drove the winner's prize through the crowd of people standing around while everyone ooooh'd and aweee'd. Personally, I don't see what all the fuss is about, but obviously I didn't win the car lol!

I spent the next 20 minutes scanning the crowd for Brandi and Kendall and I finally found them in the restroom lineup! It was nice to see a familiar face and of course take some pre race pictures!

It sure was a gorgeous sunrise!

As we got ready to run around the Nascar track, which we would do twice during the race (once at the beginning and once at the finish), I started to think more about the course... I had looked at it very briefly and realized that we wouldn't be going very far away from here, so there was a very likely possibility that this was going to get rather repetitive.

Well here's the answer, it did. As far as courses go, I hated it. I ran 6 kilometers much quicker than I should have, like 33 minutes and then I found myself here.

An ugly dirt hill on the outside of the Nascar track and behind the drag strip. This is where they park all the motorhomes when there is a race, so the pavement is all rutted and dust was blowing in my face and yea, it was getting really hot.

I ran another kilometer and then I did something I've never ever done in a race, I turned around and ran in the opposite direction. I knew Brandi and Kendall were somewhere behind me, and I no longer wanted to do this by myself. I ran for a bit in the opposite direction then got tired of the people asking me what the hell I was doing, and parked myself for a few minutes to try to spot them.

Thankfully, they showed up shortly thereafter and off we went together. Brandi and Kendall had both just done a half marathon 6 days earlier, so their plan was just to finish and at this point, that sounded great to me.

For what I thought was going to be mostly a flat course, there were a few hills in there that surprised me. As we came up on this one though, we got the best view of the day. You can see the Las Vegas strip in the distance.

It was at this point, that we turned the corner and were back once again at the entrance to the Nascar track and the 2nd time we saw the mile 11 marker when we were not at mile 11...

Now we headed out onto the "roundy-round" track or the road course which was basically running or walking a lot in cone circles... Not exactly very entertaining. Here, Brandi demonstrates how it felt:

I guess we were about 13 kilometers in when they changed the flag from green to yellow because it was getting very hot. We continued on, stopping to take pictures whenever we felt like it.

My favorite part of the race was running down the drag strip.

After that, we came back out onto the road to once again enter the Nascar track which we would have to circle one last time before coming into the finish. It was just before this that I caught possibly the best picture of the day!

Way to go Brandi!

In the end, it certainly was no PR, not even close in fact, but I really did have a lot of fun and with my foot the way it has been, that's all I could have hoped for. So with a finish of 2:56:41, here's to another one in the books!
Thanks to Kendall and Brandi for getting me through another very hot race.

Race Review Summary 

Package Pickup/Expo:
There really was no expo, just a room to pickup your package at Mandalay Bay. For a one-off race, I expected some merchandise for sale, but there was nothing.

Price/Value: $95
For an out-of-town race, it was a pretty standard price. If they were going to be doing this race again, I would be griping more about the course, but it was part of the theme I suppose.

Aid Stations: 
There seemed to be lots of them for the size of race it was.

Course Difficulty: 
Wasn't very complicated other than the uneven broken pavement in places.

Medals:

I'm glad they put some effort into these, I think they turned out great!

Preamble to the Vegas Mustang 50th Anniversary Half Marathon

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Tomorrow we're off to Vegas for my race on Saturday. I have mixed feelings about it. My foot pain comes and goes and though I'm pretty confident I can finish the half marathon, I'm starting to get really nervous about the marathon distance in June for Calgary. Speaking of which, the deadline to switch distance is tonight at midnight (in case you need to)... Every time I run now, that's in the back of my mind.

The pain in my foot seems to have migrated into the back of my ankle, where I'm starting to wonder is maybe where it really began, and perhaps the arch pain was a result of continuing to run on it or overcompensation. Anyways, there's not much I can do about it at this point, except continuing to focus on recovery and running smart. I think the timing for this injury is what perplexes me the most. Sometimes I feel like I can only be good at one thing at one time if that makes sense. Lately I've been more focused on school because I haven't been enjoying running as much because of the pain, which I suppose isn't entirely terrible, since I need to finish it. Also, it could be a lot worse, as my foot actually seems to be managing the half distance before becoming excruciatingly painful, so I'm definitely counting my blessings in that respect. That's a huge improvement since LA.

Mostly I'm looking forward to a vacation with Cody. We have a really busy Summer coming up with friends getting married and my practicum for school, so this will be our main vacation this year other than hopefully some camping and I think we both need the time away together.

Other than the race, I don't have any plans to run. Supposedly, it's set to be 30+ degrees or high 80's Fahrenheit. Personally, I do not run well in those temperatures, but hopefully because the race is so early in the morning we will be able to beat the heat...

Do you have any exciting plans for the Easter long weekend? Any suggestions for what to do in Vegas? We are seeing a couple of shows, but so far that's it.

Race Review: Running from an Angel Half Marathon

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I was nervous about this one, it wasn't until we arrived just outside of Boulder city at the Hacienda Hotel that I had my first glimpse of what I was in for the following morning. It was then that I had a hunch that I may have misunderstood the course description. The fiasco of realizing I didn't bring my running pants and racing to Target when I should have been sleeping only added to my pre race nerves. I went to bed shortly after we returned from Target ready for what I thought would be just another half marathon.

I awoke as planned at 7:00am, we planned to leave the hotel at 7:30am as we weren't exactly sure where we were going and how to enter Lake Mead National Park. Off we went (check out the beautiful wallpaper/carpet combo in our hotel, eww!):

We arrived pretty early and chose to sit in the car until the last possible second as it was freezing out, actually below zero in the desert... Then it was time. As I approached the starting line I got my first good look at Lake Mead, though freezing and windy, it sure was beautiful out:

Before I knew it we were off and running! No matter how big or small the race (this one being less than 500 people) I always find the starting line very exciting and the adrenaline usually pushes me through the first few kilometers with a smile on my face. However as we started off I gradually noticed the "rolling hills" mentioned in the course description, but after the first mile marker, there was no rolling... it was just up...

up...

and more up...

Every time I rounded a corner thinking we must be almost done with this hill, it kept going. The further I got into it, I wasn't sure how my time was going to be, I decided I better abandon all hopes for a PR and focus on finishing. I quit doing 10 and 1's which normally improves my time (10mins run/1min walk) and knew that I had to run when I could and walk when I needed. It felt like we went straight uphill for 11km. Having now looked at the elevation chart I know there were some dips, which then became hills after the turnaround. When we reached the top of the incline, we were at 1539ft: 

At this point there was a short bit of downhill and another very steep incline up to the turnaround, which of course I had to repeat backwards once I turned around. The rest of the race definitely went smoother. I knew the majority was on a downhill and there was a chance I could still finish with a decent time. At about the 10th mile marker I reached a point at the top of a hill where I could actually see the finish area, very far off in the distance, but I could see it. It looked like an oasis in the desert, sparkling water and palm trees... I got a short lived burst of energy and made it to kilometer 19, from then on we were in the "rolling hills" from the beginning, but after all that uphill/downhill my knee was done. I pushed and I pushed, I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, but I did:

I crossed that finish line and left every last ounce of energy behind me. I was so happy to see Cody and get out of there. This was by far the MOST difficult course mentally and physically for me. I generally always find hills challenging, but usually in hill training its only a kilometer at a time or so and then you get a short break, this was so constant, it really got to me. On the other hand this was also one of the most beautiful courses I've ever run, the combination of the stark desert against that crystal blue lake water was breathtaking and I know I will never forget it. So the first race of my 13 in 2013 is now complete! 

Chip Time: 02:26:33

After a quick shower and checking out of our hotel we were on our way to LAS VEGAS, it was a great reward having just completed that challenge! The first stop: In n' Out

Las Vegas was a great way to relax and let off some steam after the race, but it was only a short trip. Today we drove back to Palm Springs, 4.5 hours through the desert, a lot of which I spent reflecting on this past race and the ones coming up. I also couldn't wait to get back and see my little boy, this was our longest time apart since he was born. Here are some pictures from our drive:

Now its time to prepare for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon on Sunday. I'm excited about this race, as it will be my first with my mother-in-law, Cindy, it will also be her very first half marathon! My son Griffin will be taking part in his very own 100m race on Saturday. So now it's back to eating properly and getting those last training runs in. Training and running while traveling is a completely different experience then being at home, exhausting but fun! Except for perhaps the ton of laundry and repacking I have left to do before our departure to Disneyland...