I ran my third half-marathon overall and my second in 2014 –
the Las Vegas Rock ‘N Roll Half – on November 16. What an experience! The racers – right around 40,000 (that’s
right, forty thousand) combined, run down the Las Vegas strip at night. This race is one of two events where the city
of Las Vegas closes its famous strip.
The other is New Year’s Eve.
My friend Sue and I flew out of snowy SLC at 0700 on
Saturday morning. Race weekend started
with packet pick-up at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The logistics of organizing a race this big
are mind-boggling, but they had obviously done it before. From packet pick-up, to shirt pick-up, to the
vendor area where the latest Rock ‘N Roll gear was being sold, to other vendors
selling everything any runner could possibly need or want, the runners moved
smoothly. The volunteers were friendly
and helpful, and there had to be over 100 in the convention center alone.
Sue and I took on the Remix Challenge – run the 1st
Annual Las Vegas Rock ‘N Roll 5K on Saturday night the 15th in
addition to the half-marathon on the 16th. After all, what else is there to do in Las
Vegas on a Saturday night? It turned out
to be a fun warm-up, followed by a great concert by Chromeo and of course, a
free beer.
It was a good thing the race shirt from the 5K had long
sleeves. A cold front came through the
next morning and I was unprepared. Come
on – it’s supposed to be warm in Las Vegas!
While we saw the occasional runners in tank tops and shorts – and even a
man wearing a white tie and black Speedo – most of us were dressed for a warmer
race.
I have never been in a race with this many people. Obviously 28,439 people (marathon and half-marathon
racers) can’t start at the same time, so they organized us into corrals based
on our projected finish times. I was in
Corral 13. The corrals started about 80
seconds apart. The vivacious woman
announcing the start of each corral worked hard to get the racers and
spectators excited about each corral’s countdown to start. I wonder if she was still as energetic when
she finally counted down the start for Corral 47.
The course was amazing.
We ran down the strip, through some back streets, past a number of wedding
chapels, and up Fremont Street before we came back down the strip. Fremont Street had the brightest lights and
reminded me of the Las Vegas of the 60s – when my parents used to drive us down
the strip at night. And all along the
course there were people cheering us on.
At the finish, we received our medals, a much needed bottle
of water, and a Mylar blanket. That
I have to admit I was disappointed in my finish time. I finished in 2:05:22, exactly 2 minutes and
23 seconds slower than I finished the Salt Lake Half and only 17 seconds faster
than I finished the Mesa Falls Half. I
was hoping to set a new personal record, and was counting on the lower altitude
to work in my favor. But what I wasn't
counting on was slowing down so frequently to plot my next move around slower
runners. While it didn't seem like I was
slowing down very much, I guess 10-15 seconds per mile of slowdown adds up.
Always one to find the positive, I have to consider the
following: There were more people in my
division (Women 55 – 59) than ran the entire Mesa Falls Half-Marathon. More people crossed the finish line ahead of
me (5043) than ran the entire Salt Lake Half Marathon. And even though I didn't beat my own time, I
did much better in the standings in this race than I have previously. I finished in the top 5% of my division, the
top 13% of all women, and the top 20% overall.
Maybe that’s because more slow runners were in this race. Or maybe that’s because everybody’s time was
impacted by the sheer number of racers.
In the spirit of continuous improvement – it’s time to do
some serious speed work.
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