Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon

Photo Credit

Race morning! Tom and I awoke to see the message light on our hotel phone flashing. This was a wonderful sight, because it meant that our luggage had been delivered to the hotel sometime during the night. Tom is not exactly what you'd call a morning person, so while he burrowed himself into the bed covers, I went down to the front desk to collect our bags. And then I reveled in having all our stuff again!

The race didn't begin until 4:30pm, so we spent a quiet morning and afternoon trying to find a healthy breakfast, and drinking lots of water. Andrew and Ashley (aka Crazy and Crazier) arrived on an 8am flight, after celebrating at a wedding until 2am that morning. They stored their luggage in our room until theirs was available, and then attempted to have a quick nap before heading to the start line to pick up their race packages.

Wings and race chips.

Tom and I laced in our shoe wings, and attached our race chips. Then the four of us headed down to the start village around 3:15pm. The strip (Las Vegas Boulevard) had been closed to traffic since 1:30pm, so we took advantage of the shuttle Aria/Vdara was offering to their guests.

While it had been a balmy 22 degrees the day before, race day temperature had a high of about 13 degrees, and was about 10 degrees while we were waiting for the race to start (or 11 degrees if you trust my Garmin watch!)

We all ended up running the race individually, so we snapped a quick family photo before splitting up to check bags, hit the port-a-potties, and pick up race packages.

And then began the waiting game... Good God! It was cold, waiting in the start corrals. There were something like 35,000 people that ran the race, and we were divided into about 40 start corrals. In theory, the crowd was divided by expected finish times, with the fastest runners at the front. Tom was in corral 6, while I was in corral 19. They staggered racers by letting runners go in start waves. About 1000 people per start wave, and 60 - 90 seconds between each start wave release. So Tom waited about 10 minutes in the cold before he started, and I waited about 30 minutes-- with shattering teeth! When we finally took off, it took about 3km before I warmed up, and then I was relieved that it wasn't any warmer out. 10 degrees it great weather for running, but not for waiting!

The race route started near McCarran airport and Mandalay Bay. We first headed south out of the city, and the looped back around so that we were running the opposite direction past all the remain racers in their start corrals. It took awhile for my eyes to adjust to running in dark. In some of the early sections of the race, the road was not very well lit, and the shadows of other racers around me kept tricking me into thinking I was going to run into someone!

Race route.

Running down the main strip was definitely the best part of the race course. The sidelines were jammed with spectators cheering and ringing cowbells, and the lights of the casinos and hotels were quite a spectacle. We progressed down to the old Las Vegas strip, and I began to see racers coming back towards the finish line on the opposite side of the street. I tried to keep an eye on their race bibs, in hopes I would be able to see Tom. At first, there were race bibs in the 2000's and 3000's, and I knew that Tom would likely be in a pack of 6000's. But my multitasking was not very successfully, and almost collided with several people when I kept checking the other runners for Tom. Eventually I told myself I had to focus on what was ahead of me, and stop looking! But wouldn't you know it? A few minutes later, I glanced over at the other side of the road, and saw Tom running past! He killed it, coming in 1090/25215 participants-- the top 4% of runners!

This race was less of a mental struggle for me than some of the previous races I've run. It was (of course!) challenging, but I trained hard for this race, and I felt good when I crossed the finish line. I think, if (or when) I run a race again, I will try to focus more on strength training. My cardio was telling me I could go faster, but my leg strength started to fail me in the last 4-5km. I finished with a time of 2:04:21. I didn't break that elusive 2 hour mark, but it was still a personal best.  Overall, I am quite pleased! I finished in the top 19% of participants, and the top 12% of female competitors.

Finishing medals and race bibs.

Following the race, Andrew, Ashley, Tom, Jasmine and Joel (who also killed it in the race!) and I gorged ourselves at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. Mmm... Margaritas!

The following morning, we hit the hotel hot tub to ease our aches and pains, before catching our flights home.

And that's it! The 2014 race season has come to a close.

Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

Saturday morning in Vegas. Having arrived in town the night before with no luggage, Tom and I attempted to execute our Saturday plans as we had originally hoped. We picked up a rental car just before noon, and headed to the Las Vegas Convention Center to pick up our race packages. It was a ZOO inside, so we worked our way through the crowd as fast as possible, and got the hell out of there! Our next stop was the Fashion Show Mall, so we could pick up some fresh clothes for our day trip. But it was not meant to be... We drove around and around in the packed parkade, and finally gave up. Instead, I navigated us out to Red Rock National Park, just a short 30 minute drive out of the city.

Once in Red Rock, we took a 13 mile scenic drive in a loop around the park. If we had been dressed appropriately (i.e. had our luggage), we probably would have done a short hike, but that was not going to happen in our grungy, day-old plane clothes.

One of the first things we noticed was how busy air traffic was in the area. There were at least 6 contrails visible in the air overhead, with more planes coming and going. Our first stop was at Calico Springs, a beautiful outcrop of sandstone that was covered in rock climbers and tourists like ourselves.

Calico Springs, Red Rock Canyon.

We walked down to the base of the rock formation to take a look, and took a walk through a relatively narrow canyon.

The name definitely delivered-- we saw a LOT of red rocks.

Our next stop was at Sandstone Quarry, which gave us good views of an interface where the lower red rocks were exposed to an iron solution that caused them to turn red when the iron oxidized. The rocks directly above were not exposed, and remained a dull white.

Of course, a stock selfie of ourselves in Red Rock Canyon.

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On our way out of the scenic drive loop, we got a great view of some of the limestone mountains to the west. Tom managed to capture this great shot, with the sun streaming over the mountain.

Afterwards, we headed back into the city and stopped at an outlet mall on the way, where stocked up on some clothing essentials. Our luggage arrived in the wee hours of the morning that. And up next, a recap of race day!

Luggageless

I flashback to an instant message conversation I had with Jasmine hours before we caught out flight to Vegas for the 1/2 Marathon on Sunday:

Jasmine: You guys are not checking a bag, right?

Me: We are checking one bag.

If our life was a movie-- that's what they'd call foreshadowing! In this case, the producers would use ominous music to let us know that something terrible is about to happen!

Fast forward 6 hours.We are standing at the McCarran airport baggage claim in Las Vegas. It's fully of bags, and as people pick them up, the number starts to dwindle. And Tom and I are still standing there... Bagless.

Yes, indeed! Air Canada did not load our luggage onto the flight, so we spent the first 36 hours of our trip wearing the same clothes, compulsively checking our baggage tracer status online (which, FYI-- is really useless).We finally hit an outlet mall late yesterday so we could grab new socks, underwear, and a change of shirt.

The funny thing is, I almost always pack a spare shirt, a pair of underwear and socks into our carry-on backpacks when we fly-- specifically for this reason! But this time, I thought, "It's a short direct flight, I'm sure it will be fine."

 

Our bag did arrive at our hotel sometime in the early morning hours. It is now in our possession, just in time for the race. Sweet, sweet toiletries! Running shoes! Fresh clothes! It is amazing just how unsettled you feel when you don't have your stuff.

A little more than four hours until the half marathon starts!

Eeee!