Good Friday was a work holiday, so I didn't need to take any time off for this one time only race. They put together this half marathon just to celebrate the 50th year of the Mustang. I left early enough from home to make it in time for some lunch after the expo. The expo was located in one of the bottom floor halls of the convention center inside Mandalay Bay. I waited in line to get into the expo to pick up my race packet. My local Vegas friend would join me shortly.
After we picked up our bibs and race shirts we met up at Jenni Pho to eat lunch. I ordered a bowl of their pho dac biet and some shrimp rolls. The pho was decent, but the shrimp rolls weren't that great. I think that I will stick to their Spring rolls.
Pho dac biet
Shrimp rolls
After lunch, I stopped by Albertson's to pick up some drinks. I've been drinking coconut drinks lately before races to try and stay ahead of leg cramps. Then I drove over to the Royal Resort to check into my room. Lately I have been staying here whenever I'm in town for a race just because the deal is too hard to pass up! With the number of races that I run each year, I have to penny pinch every chance I get.
Coconut drinks
The race shirt was nothing fancy, just another tech shirt. I was hoping for a cotton shirt. I pretty much stayed in my room for the rest of the day and relaxed. I went back out for dinner at my favorite ramen shop, Fukumimi Ramen. Then I got my race gear ready before calling it a night.
Race shirt
Race gear
Saturday 4/19 Race day
I woke up early, got ready, and drove out to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I followed the directions that were provided and parked at the lot after entering at Gate 4. As it got closer to the start of the race, I got my stuff together and walked towards the starting line at the track. It was pretty cool to walk out onto the track. People were checking out the giveaway car. It was a custom Mustang Shelby GTS that would be raffled off later in the morning at 11 am. Every participant had a chance to win it.
Win this car!
After using the portapotty and with less than 20 minutes to the start, I got into and waited in the corral where I would bumped into a bunch of familiar faces. Most of them were Marathon Maniacs. I saw a lady wearing a shirt that said "The Hot Flashes". Nice name for a running group! :) She was a pretty decent runner. She would end up passing me at around mile 11.
Friends at the start
The Hot Flashes!
First mile felt okay, but I went out too fast. At least the right hip felt good, so I kept with the pace. Then I started having left calf pain by mile 3. So I had to pull back on the pace. There was a little climb coming up to mile 4. The rest of the course was pretty much flat, but all exposed to the sun. It was already getting pretty toasty by mile 8. Besides the two first miles, I ran a fairly even race.
1: 7:19
2: 7:28
3: 8:41
4: 8:59
5: 8:27
6: 8:14
7: 7:46
8: 8:33
9: 9:23
10: 8:58
11: 8:30
12: 8:46
13: 8:32
13.1: 0:37
Finish: 1:50:16
My goal was to finish at 1:50. Whenever the weather is warm, I will usually bank time in the earlier miles while it's still cool. It almost never works, so I will probably have to just get used to running in warm weather in future races. During the final stretch, I knew that I would be coming up a bit short.
After crossing the finish line, I ate some post race food and got in some fluids. The race organizers were definitely ready for the warm weather. The weather was so nice, but too warm for racing. They had plenty of drinks at the finish. I then waited for one of my friends to finish, as I knew that she wouldn't be too far behind me. We then met up with some of our other friends.
Friends at the finish
For a one time race, I thought that the race was well organized. The course management was superb. The entire half marathon course was contained to just the speedway and the surrounding roads, so we ran through some of the same sections about 3 times. They had course marshals that helped managed the complicated course.
Bib and medal
After getting back to my hotel and getting cleaned up, I met up with my buddy Mitch to eat lunch at Sammy's LA Style Pastrami & Burgers over on Decatur. It's a small white food shack located very close to the street just South of the Boiling Crab. If you drive too far into the parking lot you'll miss it! You should be able to see it from Decatur. It looked like a two man operation. One was taking orders and passing out the food while the other guy cooked the food. It was actually pretty slow. Please note that if you choose to use your credit card, they will add a $1 transaction fee. I ordered the double pastrami burger for $10.99. It looked sinfully good and the taste was not bad. It was prepared the traditional way with mustard and pickles. Then throw in two hamburger patties. Unfortunately I've had better pastrami elsewhere. It was cheap for the price I paid, so it was well worth it for the amount of food.
Double pastrami burger
Then it was back to my hotel to get some rest and relaxation. I just planted myself and watched a bunch of TV. I went back out for dinner at the usual spot for a bowl of spicy tan tan men.
Fukumimi's Tan tan men
Sunday 4/20
After checking out of my room, it's time for me to go home! Until next time... bye bye Vegas!
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