Las Vegas Marathon Report

Now that I have a few days between me and Las Vegas, I'm ready to do a race report!

First of all, I have to commend Devine Racing for really shaping up the LV marathon. I ran the race last year and the race organization left a LOT to be desired. This year, I thought the race organization was much better, and certainly being able to run up the strip was a super highlight.

The best part is always the expo for me -- it's so full of hope and excitement! The booths seem to scream "Of course, this doohickey will make you run much faster!". As usual, I buy into the whole thing and grab a bunch of stuff, which of course I use the next day, because I am a total sucker for running nerd stuff.

After the race and seeing Avenue Q at the new Wynn hotel and casino (both of which are fantastic by the way), we went home to organize. I take setting my race day equipment out for the morning as seriously as I used to take triathlon transition area organization, so it takes me a bit to get everything organized just so.

At 5am my Dad and I started out from our hotel towards Mandalay Bay. Perhaps it is my Alaskan-climatized blood, but I found it downright warm! On the way, we had to pass through the casino (nothing like walking through smoke filled casinos to get you ready for a marathon!).

I will say that the start was a bit disorganized. The entrance to the area was a very small opening in a fence, and it took a while to get through. There were also not enough signs to indicate where the bag dropoff was, for example. Once it was 6am, there were fireworks and the "Viva Las Vegas" anthem, but it took at least 10 minutes to get to the start line!

Once on the strip, things were great! It was still dark, so all the casinos were still in their neon-filled splendor. LOTS of people were lined up and cheering for us! I really enjoyed the first few miles, and, since it was windy, was trying to take a bit out of Lance Armstrong's book and tried to keep aerodynamically positioned behind someone bigger so that I did not have to be in the wind (like last year).

I felt pretty good through the strip and Freemont Street. We had had fun at Freemont Street the day before, with a security guard almost kicking me out of Golden Nugget for taking a picture, and Mom being accosted by "the Bead Lady" who had "free beads" apparently only for those that came into the casino. I made faces in their general direction while running by.

I think around mile 12 I really started to feel not so good. Maybe I should have preempted my nutritional plan around mile 11, because I think I was just hungry. I also was in that uncomfortable place between being too hot and too cold. In addition, there is a significant stretch in the middle of the course that was windy and also kind of barren. These factors contributed to a HUGE slowdown between mile 12 and mile 15.

When we turned onto Torrey Pines, I started to feel better. There was a wind at our back, which certainly helped push us forward. But honestly, most of the race is a blur to me until about mile 18, where all of the sudden I had a wave of I-FEEL-GREAT! come over me...so I ran strangely fast all of the sudden.

It's that great feeling that got me through the rest of the race! It definitely was not my best day, but I did try to make it special and am proud of finishing in 4:51.