Race Report: Rock N Roll Half Marathon Las Vegas 2010

Rock and Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon – Dec 5, 2010

Since I do plan on posting a food/friends/fun post on Las Vegas, this’ll be just the race report! The night before, I tried to get to bed early, and I think I succeeded with about 6 1/2 hours of sleep. Still not optimal but better than 4 hours!

I got up at 5:30am and got ready. We stayed at our friends’ timeshare so I was able to make my usual peanut butter sandwich and coffee. (I’ve started to drink coffee as a pre-run drink because I haven’t had time to go to a Sport Chalet to pick up more FRS concentrate.) Daisy woke up early as well and we spent some time chatting. I did some light stretching and put on my new Zensah leg sleeves. (Yes, I knew I shouldn’t have worn them for a race but I sort of wanted to use them as leg warmers. It was freaking cold.)

Outfit:

• Champion/Target running skirt
• Nike running cap
• cheapo Gap fleece gloves ($5!)
• REI blue long-sleeved tech shirt
• Wrightsock double-layer running socks
• my very old fleece/half-zip sweatshirt
• my new black Zensah leg sleeves
• lululemon Ta-Ta Tamer sportsbra
• sunnies, ipod shuffle, greta the garmin, ifitness belt

Surprisingly, esp to myself, I chose not to bring a water bottle or use my Nathan 2 belt. (A water bottle is my security blanket.) Daisy and FTH convinced me that I would be ok with water stops at every mile-ish. (And they were right!)

FTH and Daisy drove me to the starting line. Luckily our timeshare was south of the Strip and they were able to make the u-turn back when they dropped me off. I got out and followed the crowds. I couldn’t figure out how to get to my corral. There were barriers all along the street – perhaps I went the wrong way… Anyway I found an open spot between barriers in Corral 20 and walked backwards to 22.

Looking behind me, this was the crowd

Even when the race started, we waited a good 15-20 minutes before it was our time to get going. Being in the crowd kept me warm, but as soon as we started to start at the line, the crowd scattered and whoosh, it was chilly. My shins started to hurt almost immediately. I was hoping the Zensah sleeves would “shjoop” them up, and they held up pretty well. My shins began to relax (?) as I got into the mileage.

What a fun course! I really enjoyed myself, running this course. There were some funny signs along the road but my favorite was early on at Mile 1:

“You can do it, Mom! Don’t Die!” – bwhahahahaha!! I loved that sign.

I had to take a pee break and wait for a porta-potty at Mile 2. I didn’t go before the race, and it crept up on me. I hate my bladder sometimes. I lost a few minutes there.

I kept a steady 14-minute mile (slow as hell!) for pretty much the entire course. I tried to take photos and tweet them:

• http://yfrog.com/12kq40j
• http://yfrog.com/5kteovj
• http://yfrog.com/jjkikej

By the time I got to Old Vegas, I finally felt warm enough to take off my sweatshirt. That was around Mile 7! 😛 I walked a lot of that mile. A lot.

The U-turn from Old Vegas back to the Strip was probably the longest and most boring for me. There were tons of junior high and high school cheerleaders along the way, and that was nice. There were also bands playing at some of the water stops as well. Once I got past the big Brooks blow-up balloon, just south of the Old Vegas sign, I started to get my pep back. Well, I was back on the main Strip!

As I ran past Miles 9, 10, and 11, there were a lot more tourists out and about. I got to Treasure Island and kept trying to pick up my speed. Honestly, I was starting to run out of gas. I had a packet of SportBeans and half a granola bar. I passed Caesars Palace and texted my friends. I think I was around Mile 10 there? I texted them again at Luxor as they asked, and that was the last text. I just wanted to finish. I noticed Greta said 2:50-something, and I wasn’t sure I’d make my 3:00 goal.

I rounded up to Mandalay Bay and just kept running. I kept my eyes peeled to see which side FTH and Friends were going to be. Then I saw them! Final time: 3:11:26. Not bad. Not super, but def respectable for not training in the last 4 weeks before the race!

(I’ll add my split times as soon as Greta is re-charged.)

Posing with my medal (and bagel)

Additional thoughts…

I have to say, I felt that the Zensah sleeves helped. It kept my legs warm and “together” (if you know what I mean). I’m also glad I wore a running skirt and kept my sweatshirt and gloves on for as long as I could. One thing I should change is my sunglasses. I didn’t bring my cheapie Target sunnies with me, figuring one pair would do – running and regular touristy stuff. But next time I’ll wear my usual sunnies or the cheapo aviators I had been wearing for training. Either way, it won’t be this pink pair anymore.

I also need to fuel up a little more. In total, I only had one bag of Sportbeans and half a granola bar. It was a conscious choice I made during the race to stop fueling up at the end, but that was a bad decision. I should have opened up another bag.

The water situation… I’m glad I didn’t bring the water bottle. There was enough water and Cytomax at the water stations to get me through each mile. I would drink a cup of Cytomax and chase it with a cup of water. I’ll always train with a water bottle but maybe at races, I won’t have to depend on it anymore.

Next up, the Disney World Princess Half Marathon with Patty!