Nevada: Strip at Night in Vegas
On my next marathon adventure, we packed our bags and
headed to Las Vegas. This race was the first that I made into a mini vacation
with Kaela. Chad and his wife were joining again for the race,
making it a fun couples trip. I had battled some injuries during the summer
that held up training a little bit, so had that weighing on my mind. Also,
after not achieving a PR in Pittsburgh, I was determined to get one on this
relatively flat course. One thing I didn't take into consideration was you know, Vegas!
Race: Rock and Roll Strip at Night Marathon
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 11/16/2014
Finishing Time: 4:51:42
There were a lot of things on my mind for
this race that included a lot of "first time" jitters. This was the first time I had flown to a race
and was worried that I was unable to find proper nutrition for the two days
prior to the race. Along the same idea, being in Vegas, I had to make sure I
watched what I ate and how much I was drinking (which is a hard thing to do
with restaurants with extensive beer list). The last thing, and by far my
biggest worry, was that the race started at 4:30pm. Weeks leading up to the
race Chad and I tried planning out how we wanted to tackle the late start. Stay
up late night before and then sleep all day? Wake up early and then take a nap
before the race? When would we eat? There were so many questions leading up to
the actual race.
The day we arrived, Kaela and I spent the day
walking up and down the strip keeping my legs loose. We caught a show that
night and got to bed at a decent hour. The next morning after an all you can
eat and drink buffet (yeah bad idea) Chad and his wife had arrived and checked
into the hotel. Chad and I then took a few mile run to the expo to grab bibs
and check out gear. Back to the all you can drink in the morning. I was not
properly hydrated for the run and felt like I was dying by the end of the
couple miles to the expo. But being that its Vegas, rather than grabbing some
water on the way back to the hotel, we stopped and grabbed more beer. That
night we caught another show and grabbed dinner and again got to bed at a
decent hour. We had decided to just play it easy and get a good night sleep the
night before the race and try to nap a bit before race start time.
Race day came, except since it was an evening
race everything just seemed off. I just couldn’t figure out how to manage the
day in order to be prepared for the start. From a late breakfast to an abnormal
pre-race meal of Subway, things just seemed to be out of the norm. About an hour before the start we made the
mile walk down the strip to head to the start line. Being that this was a Rock
and Roll Marathon event, there were a ton of people. We were seeded into
corrals by bib numbers and Chad and I realized quickly that a lot of the higher
seeded people were sitting in our corral and we decided to make a push ahead.
Race start was at 4:30 and we were able to sneak up to about the 7th wave of runners. The start was in the low 50's which in the
dessert felt a lot colder than iI was expecting.
Funny side story about the weather. Every
marathon leading up to this race has had some sort of abnormal weather. We were
in the thinking that since it was in the dessert we didn’t have to worry about
rain like in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh but mother nature didn’t disappoint. It
just happened to be one of the coldest days they have had in years with
temperatures dropping to mid-40's by the end of the race.
The start of the race was on the south end of
the strip, and you head south about a mile to the "Welcome to Las
Vegas" sign and then take a u-turn and head right back up the strip. The
first 6 miles or so kept you distracted running up the strip. From seeing all
the "special" kinds of people you usually see in Vegas, the wedding
ceremonies happening at mile 3, and all the flashing lights, it was definitely
a sight to see. I later found out that the strip is only closed twice a year,
this race and New Year’s Eve.
After this we made some turns in residential
area and started making our way to Old Vegas. This is where I started to feel
discomfort. Before mile 9, I started to get some side pains that in hindsight
could have been the result of inadequate hydration all day before the race. At
this point I told Chad to just keep on trucking at his pace and not to wait on
me. I had walked about 1/2 mile before getting myself back together and back on
pace.
One of the coolest parts of the race was
heading through Old Vegas. They blocked off the center portion of the walk way
and we just ran between flashing lights, casinos, and lots of
"interesting" people. I think they over stimulated us during this
part because the next section of the race was going to be brutally quiet. Once
we left the lights, we made our way north to the residential side of North Las
Vegas. No real crowd support, and only street lights, traffic signals, and the
occasional police car as lighting. The only noise you heard were the footsteps
hitting the payment and heavy breathing from the runners. This was the first
time that I ever felt lonely during a marathon.
We headed 3 miles straight out (with one
little bump out for an aid station) to the 14 mile mark before heading back
same direction. Before I hit the 14 mile aid station, I was hurting bad.
Stomach pains, legs tired and heavy, and started to have the doubt feeling that
I may not be able to finish this after all. That all changed when I hit that
aid station. There was a huge crowd of volunteers cheering and bringing up
spirits, which was change of pace from the last 4 miles of quiet. I walked for
about a mile and then picked up the pace. Again we had an 2.5 mile out and back
before heading on the same dreadful quiet road on the way back to the strip.
This time however, the quiet didn’t bother me. I embraced it as a point of
focus to concentrate on the task at hand, finishing the race!
Before I knew it, I was back in Old Vegas and
was so happy to see those flashing lights. One thing I did notice is that I
must have been further back than I had realized because any crowd support that
was there on the way out, was completely gone. The only people cheering for us
where those that were making their ways between casinos. Leaving there, we took
a more direct route back to the Strip only making a few turns. Around mile 23 a
sharp pain in my side brought me to a stop. I tried walking it off but it took
almost 2 miles of walk/run to get it away. Just before mile 25, I saw the
flashing lights and casinos from the Strip and I knew that I was in the home
stretch. I put everything I had left into it and pushed to the finish.
The home stretched summed up my race. As I
was coming in you could hear music, but no real crowd. I had taken too long and
there wasn't much support left to be had. It was a tough race to swallow as I
ran that final half mile looking at the finish line and feeling alone. Then I
saw Kaela near the finish, cheering me on with a huge smile on her face. She
had been standing outside in the cold for the last hour waiting to see me
finish. That gave me the little boost of motivation to kick into high gear and
finish strong: 4:51:42.
I received my medal, grabbed my beer, and
hobbled my way to our hotel. Chad had finished about 45 minutes before me and
was already showered and changed by the time I got back to my room. It was a
tough pill to swallow again not having the race I would have liked to have. But
I have been reminded of this many times in running and in life in general, when
I try to make it about me, I will never succeed. I started running to give to
those in need and when I lose sight of the reason God gave me this ability and
make it about me, these kinds of things can happen to bring back my focus.
It was a difference experience, running a
marathon at night. I definitely learned a few things not to do if ever I run a
similar type of race. My PR goal was going to have to wait for another race but
I was still happy to have another race under the 5 hour threshold. If I was going
to give a review on the course and event, I would say that definitely would not
make it your first marathon due to the lack of crowd support for most of the
race. I did hear that because of the layout of the half marathon course, it may
be a better suited race for those wanting to do the half.
Well this was the last race of 2014. Next on the list, heading to Disney World in
Florida to get a little Goofy!