Sorry for the delay, But here it is.
Enjoy...
WARNING: this is really, really long.
Well, more of a weekend report than a race report! For just the race report, scroll down!
To start with, neither Laura nor I have ever been to Las Vegas. Vegas is everything I ever could imagine, except BIGGER. We were graciously met at the airport by Mars, who drove us to the hotel by way of a couple of blocks on the strip? wow. Mars dropped us at the hotel where we checked in and stashed our stuff in the room. The weekend was also the final weekend for the National Finals Rodeo, so there was a gross over-abundance of country music, cowboys, and everything western. We wandered across the street into the forum shops at the Caesars palace hotel. And very quickly got lost within the hotel/casino/mall/spectacle. We just as quickly realized that the point was indeed to get us lost.
After some wandering through the shops, and around the fountains of the Bellagio, we met back up with Mars. He and Mrs. Mars took us out to a wonderful Mexican restaurant, it was quite nice to get off the strip for a little bit. By 8:00pm (LV time ? (11:00pm YUL time) Laura & I were both pretty pooped from our long day of travel, so off to bed with us.
Saturday morning we both naturally woke up at about 5:00am (our bodies stayed on MTL time the whole weekend). We made our way down to the ?Champagne brunch? at the hotel before meeting back up with Mars at the expo. I would guess that the expo had about 100 vendors/ exhibitors. Both Laura & I, and Mars as well probably spent more money that we all planned on. I left with socks, t-shirts, a running jacket, sunglasses, a magnet, and a load of temporary tattoos. I saw for the first time the scope of how many people will be running this event, and how many volunteers were involved with the event. I later found out that there were 7500 volunteers ? more people than I have ever even run with in other ?large events?.
After the expo we hit a quick lunch followed by a drive out to the ?Red rock canyon? park system. We drove (and stopped a few time) around the very beautiful 15 mile loop. Another great carbo-loading dinner at the Olive Garden, and back to the hotel for an early night before race day. We got back to the hotel and managed to get all the pre-race preps done.
RACE MORNING STARTS HERE
I actually had a decent nights sleep on Saturday night, as I wasn?t too stressed out. I felt like I could survive the distance, and didn?t really have any time concerns ? I was informally aiming for somewhere in-between 4:30:00 & 5:00:00, but I really didn?t care a whole lot. Woke at about 3:00am, had some ?imported? bagels with peanut butter that I had brought from home.
I had a pace band to put around my wrist, except that instead of having numbers & times on it, we had laminated a number of photos of my two girls with some packing tape. I got dressed and we made our way to the lobby to take a cab to the Mandalay bay where the start was being hosted.
In the hotel we met up with the Mars?, and made our way towards the start line. The thing I noticed about this race was the sheer amount of people. We stopped to stretch on the edge of the main corridor heading towards the start line, and couldn?t believe the constant flow of people ? 8 people wide, and non-stop! The other fun thing about this as compared to other big races like NYC, is that most of the porta-potties, are in fact indoor luxury bathrooms in the hotels!!! Much nicer than freezing your tukus on a cheap smelly piece of plastic!
Once everything was checked twice (bib on straight, chip on shoe, gels, gloves etc?) we were off to the start line. We arrived to see the huge mass of people all lined up on the southbound side of that 4 lane road. We hit the side of the road and could barely make out the start line in the distance; however, we could not see the end of the line of people. The 4:30 and 5:00 pace bunnies were right in front of us in the crowd and separated by only about 40ft. We quickly realized that these bunnies were not to be trusted.
We listened to some MC type guy on the microphone, then heard Robin leech spout off some bizarre story about Roy (from the Seigfeid & Roy show) who walked the previous day?s Santa 1 miler with a cane, only to toss the cane with a ¼ mile to go, and go the rest under his own power. Wow what remarkable progress!!! Yeah, next time- don?t get eaten by a tiger! Anyway, then MC guy introduced Blue man group, and the Race was on. I guess there was a bit of a confusion on the start time, because MC guy said he would give us a one minute warning, and about 15 seconds later, he was yelling GO, GO, GO, GO!!! I really liked the blue man group thing, they were very funky, and had a great groove to get pumped by. The kept playing all the while people crossed the start line. I figured that it took up about 10 minutes to cross the start.
RACE STARTS HERE
I ran with a disposable camera and snapped off a bunch of pics while running, Most of them didn?t turn out too well, but the ones that did are pretty good. I snapped some pics of Blue man group, the start line, then some of the bigger hotels like the New York, the Venetian, Circus Circus. At about mile 5, we ran past the ?on the run? wedding chapel for those runners getting married while running, followed by about 10 the Elvi? giving high five?s to everyone while drinking beer (at 6:45am!!). The camera ran out of film by the time we hit the chapel & Elvis?s. At mile 6 we Mars & I started looking for our personal support crew (some of you might remember Mrs. Mars ?How-to? manuals for race support crew). Mile 6 was also the start of the ?Fremont experience. If you have never seen the Fremont area, it is defiantly worth the trip to that area. I?m not sure what happened, but we never saw the ladies anywhere near mile 6. That?s ok, our next spot to see them was at mile 12. Miles 8-16 started getting a little boring, and a little uphill all at the same time. Not a big uphill, just enough of a slope to take a little bit extra out of the legs.
All of my training leading up to this point has gone really well.
There have been no injuries to speak of. The mileage was a slow ramp up to race day. I had long runs of 32km, 32km, and 34km, with the longest one coming 3 weeks prior to race day. The only downside to my training plan was the plan in itself. I modelled it after a plan I saw in Runner?s world that was called the 3 day plan. It basically set out 3 different runs per week while adding some cross-training at the same time. The cross-training it recommended was either cycling or swimming. Well, lucky for me, I happen to cycle to work every day! Now, I admit, later in the training plan, I was no longer cycling, but I believed that the cardio was now in place because of it. I chose this plan specifically because it left time to spend with my young family. I also chose this race, because the timing worked really well with my work schedule, and allowed the bulk of the training to occur in late summer, when work is a little slower for me. In my current job, a spring marathon will never be an option.
The other problem with miles 8-16 was not only the slight grade increase, but also the terrain got really boring. We were now well off the strip, past the Fremont ?experience?, and into industrial areas that included vast fields of nothing. And in the desert, fields of nothing are grey/brown, not even green. There was a small airstrip, and a lot of very large vacant lots. At about mile 12, when we had not seen the ladies again Mars told me to continue on while he made a ?very quick? pit stop to call the ladies from a payphone right on the side of the road to update them on our progress. At this point I did as I was told and continued on my merry way. Sure enough, at about mile 14, I saw the ladies walking on the side of the road towards me. I pulled over and asked for ?Advil?. At about mile 7 or 8, my knee was starting to make its presence known with a small tinge. I walked it off a few times, but Mars? suggestion was to put some ?Advil? to work on it. Sure enough it did the trick. When I saw the Ladies, I changed my hat for a fresh one, got a few Advil, a quick drink of water, stocked up on a pair of ?Gu? gels, and started off again. As I was heading off, I saw that Mars was just arriving to the ladies. That was the last time I would see Mars until after the Finish line.
After that point I started losing track of when the walk breaks and gel intakes were supposed to be. Not because of exhaustion, but more because I was having so much fun. The crowds were great.
By about mile 14, we were quite into the heart of suburban residential Las Vegas. People were bringing out their lawn furniture to yell the names on the bibs. Water stations were great as well. I know that there was supposed to be water at all mile markers, and Gatorade at every other mile marker. In actual fact, most of the stations that I remember were serving both. Volunteers were great. I heard that there were about 7500 of them. Most of them were super cheerful as you went by, and I took the opportunity to try to thank as many of them as possible.
By about mile 16-17 we were able to make out the strip in the distance. That was great in that you could almost see the finish line, but terrible in that it seemed that the finish line was constantly looming, and never seeming to get any closer.
At around mile 18, I saw the ladies standing near a street corner screaming their fool heads off. They were certainly sight for sore eyes. Another hat change, another little advil, a little salty kiss, and I was off again.
At about mile 20, I could start to feel ?the wall? starting to creep in. I kept telling myself ? almost chant like ? ?screw the wall?, ?forget the wall? and a lot of other nasty versions of that. This is where I really start to forget some of the details. At about mile 21, we came across a wonderful downhill section that went on for quite a while. I admit that I was taking some more leisurely walk breaks by this point. I met a woman from Atlanta who admitted to me that she had been following me for at least the last hour. She commented on how wonderful my support crew seemed to be. This was her 6th marathon. When we ran together, I tended to drift ahead, but on the walk breaks, she would chide me on to pick it up.
Miles 24 & 25 seemed to take forever to cover. We could certainly see everything on the strip, but it?s all so huge, that it never seems to get any closer. And we were running on the backside of the strip, basically in the parking lots and service entrances of all the hotels. By the water station at mile 25, the crowds were getting thicker again, and more cheerful. I saw the mile marker for mile 26, and started getting a little emotional. I managed to kick it all up a notch and pull out a sprint through the last 100 or so metres. I even managed to pass about a dozen dawdlers through the final metres of the race. I made it through the finish line with just enough energy to raise my arms a little, happy to have just completed the distance.
Past the finish line mats, I got my chip off, got wrapped in a space blanket, GOT MY MEDAL wrapped around my neck, and found the ladies waiting for Mars & I just past the finish line. I popped a few more Advil, and got a congratulations kiss. I chatted with the ladies for a few minutes while we waited for Mars to some in. He was only about 5 minutes behind me. I was so honoured to have Mars with me in many ways, as our personal tour guide through Ls Vegas, as my running partner, and as a great friend with whom I started running with in Montreal and now really miss now that he?s moved.
I had no real time goal in this race. There were times I thought would be nice to achieve, but I managed to really not obsess on needing to make a certain time. To be honest I had hoped to land somewhere between 4:30 & 5:00. I landed with a chip time of 5:03:36. Am I happy? You?re **** right I?m happy. I managed to survive not only the distance of a full marathon, but make it through the training for it without a single injury. And I did it with a time that will easily (but not too easily) fall when I run my next marathon.
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Yours,
JB
Sounds like your first was an all around great experience, the ole library chick is happy for you.
