Las Vegas Turkey Trot Half Marathon 2022

Wednesday 11/23
Near the end of a half day of work, I took a home COVID test to see if I was still positive. The test came back negative, so the road trip to the Vegas area was on. My very first bout of COVID last week during a work conference involved coughing up a ton of phlegm. It finally had cleared up for the most part where I actually felt like running a half marathon was doable.

Negative COVID test

During the drive, I encountered the usual heavy congestion while driving through the Cajon Pass. With the longer battery range in my current Tesla, I was able to get all the way up to the Tesla Supercharger station in Baker with no range anxiety at all.

Baker, CA

I thought about waiting until I rolled into Las Vegas to charge the car again, but I decided to pull off in Primm to get a charge at the Tesla Supercharger station while I got dinner at McDonald's. I saw that they had added in 2 rows of charging stalls. The newer stalls were pretty packed, so I opted for the original row of stalls that was closer to McDonald's. After plugging in the car, I walked over and used the usual mobile app deal to buy 2 Quarter pounders with cheese for the price of 1. Once I was done with my 2 burgers, I went back to my car to wait for my car to finish charging.

Primm, NV

Quarter pounder with cheese x2

From there, I then drove up to La Quinta Inn Red Rock on W Sahara Ave to check into my room. I was assigned room #318. After I got my room keys, I went back to my car to get my bags. On the way up to my room, the lady that checked me in stopped me to give me a care package (bag of Cheetos and a bottle of water) for being a Wyndham Rewards diamond member. The layout of my room was a bit awkward, but it did have a small kitchen. What was hard to use was the very shallow bathroom sink.

Care bag for being a Wyndham Rewards diamond member

Thursday 11/24
One thing new with this race was the race director sending out emails informing us that there will be no race parking at the Hoover Dam Lodge and Casino. We were instead directed to Veterans' Memorial Park. We would park there and then take a shuttle to the start/finish area. I'm guessing that the race wasn't generating enough business for the hotel. The shuttle dropped us off at the Lake Mead Visitor Center.

Race parking map

Shuttle ride

There wasn't any signage to let us know where to go after being dropped off, but most of us just walked down towards the finish line area. I picked up my bib and race shirt before heading over to the building next to the portapotties to get out of the wind. I was assigned a pretty cool race number as the number 8 sounds like the Chinese word (發) for prosperity. Since I didn't have my car nearby, I had to carry that race shirt with me for the duration of the race. Eventually, other race participants showed up and joined me, trying to stay out of the wind.

Lucky bib number

Race shirt

Back of race shirt

At about 7 am, I used the portapotties one last time before heading up to the start line. I looked around to see if I could see any familiar faces. Originally, I was supposed to meet up with my local friend at this race, but she also caught COVID. We'll have to try again some other time to meet up. Eventually, I was spotted by Marathon Mitch. He had double booked on Thanksgiving races. I was for certain that he would opt to run his local races instead, but here he was.

Start line

Marathon Mitch

Start line pic from Mitch

Almost time to run!

Where's the water?

So dry!

Finish: 2:33:57
Click here for my Garmin data.

I tried to run that first mile just as I had prior to COVID. However, I found it hard to breathe as if I was running at altitude. It was also very crowded and windy once I got to the Historic Railroad Hiking trail and the tunnels. It ended up taking about 40 minutes longer to finish this race than the other 2 times that I've run this course. Thanks COVID. Mitch waited for me at the finish line. In addition to the finisher medal and a bottle of water, I grabbed a bag of Funyuns. We walked over to catch a shuttle ride back to our cars. After getting back to my car and getting everything in order, I drove over to the nearby Tesla Supercharger station to charge up the car.

Finisher medal

Post race goodies

Railroad Pass Hotel

On the drive back to my hotel, I stopped by Jollibee to pick up lunch. I got my usual Palabok fiesta with 1 pc Chickenjoy, pineapple quencher, and a peach mango pie.

Palabok fiesta with 1 pc Chickenjoy, pineapple quencher, and a peach mango pie

I ate my lunch while watching the Brazil v. Serbia World Cup match. I hadn't even taken a shower yet when the fire alarm was blaring. I went downstairs to the lobby and found the hotel staff trying to turn off the alarm. Apparently, someone in one of the suites was cooking and set off the alarm. They knew that it was a false alarm. Thank goodness it happened in the afternoon and not during the evening when everyone was trying to sleep.

Later that evening, I was pretty wiped out and really didn't feel like going out to get dinner. Luckily I ate a big enough lunch, so I just ate my bag of Funyuns and called it a night.

Friday 11/25
I watched some World Cup matches while I got ready to check out of my room. I checked out pretty early since I wanted to get breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. I also wanted to hit the road right around the England v. USA match so there wouldn't be as much traffic on the freeway. I ordered the usual country boy breakfast with sirloin and a coffee. I got the hash brown casserole and grits as my 2 sides.

Country boy breakfast

After paying my bill and using the restroom, I hopped in the car to start my drive home. I exited the freeway at Primm to get a full charge. It would turn out that charging was free before 10 am. Even though I went beyond 10 am, the entire charging session was free. They have a lot more charging stalls here now with trash cans, but they seem to have an issue with the disposal of the trash. It was everywhere! It looked to be a combination of strong winds and crows.

Primm, NV

Free charging

Garbage problem

Those uphill climbs really ate into the Tesla's battery charge. I didn't think that I would have enough charge to get all the way home, so I pull off at Barstow to get a quick charge at the Tesla Supercharger station.

Barstow, CA

REVEL Big Bear Marathon 2022

Friday 11/11
Originally, I was going to drive out to the race expo in time for the 10 am opening. However, plans got changed. Instead I headed out after eating lunch. The drive was a total pain in the ass. The traffic was at a near standstill on the 60 freeway through Chino. This freeway always sucks ass no matter the time of day and the majority of people that drive in the area are inconsiderate assholes. It turned out to be a disabled vehicle in the carpool lane. How that ends up being a complete crawl for all lanes was beyond me. After I got past that, it was a rather smooth drive to my destination.

The venue for the race expo was once again the Club Center Events. Per the usual with a Revel race, it was a small expo with the packet pick-up process being very well organized and streamlined. After picking up my bib and clear gear bag, I found my name on the column with the participants' names. Then I received my shirt and a cap from my volunteer friend, Dexter. The cap had a velcro patch for you to attach a badge that you can purchase.

Expo

Dexter, volunteer extraordinaire

Race shirt

Back of race shirt

Race cap

On my way through the vendor booths, I bumped in one of the usual suspects, Eddie with one of his kids. He would be pacing the 3:50 group tomorrow. After picking up some samples, we ran into a couple of our pacer friends at the pacer booth. I excused myself after catching up briefly as I still needed to get home and finish up some work.

Expo goodies

Luis, pacer extraordinaire

As I walked back to my car, I overheard 3 ladies behind me making a comment about my shirt, "look at him, he just ran the New York City Marathon last weekend and will probably still run faster than us!" I turned around and told them that this was a very bad idea. Running a downhill course will not be fun on tired legs! The drive back was much more tolerable. The onboard navigation had me take the 10 freeway on the return trip. It was 48 mins versus 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Saturday 11/12
I left the house at about a quarter to 3 am. During the drive, I was passed by several cars that were going at least 100 mph and/or drunk. Other than that, there was very little traffic. The drive took about 35 minutes. I arrived at the shuttle pick-up location and parked at about 3:20 am. This year, I made sure to park closer to the buses near the corner of Carnegie Dr and Hospitality Ln. I met up with my friend, Albert and his friend. After we got our stuff in order, we got into the queue for the bus. There was actually no line to get on the first 2 buses, but no one in that line wanted to get on them because they were those school buses designed for little kids. The 2 race volunteers were quite unsuccessful in encouraging runners to get onboard those buses. Eventually, my friend felt bad for them and told us to just get on. I begrudgingly agreed. I ended up sitting next to a guy from Kentucky. His name was Mark (bib 2979). We had a pretty good conversation. He came to this race with his wife, who was running the half marathon. He was going to try and run a BQ, so I gave him a few tips on what to expect from the course. He asked me if there was anything to do out in Redlands or San Bernardino area after the race. I told him that most people go to Disneyland or Knotts Berry Farm if they're in the Los Angeles area. That wasn't their thing, so the closest thing that I could think of was Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, or Joshua Tree. He asked about beaches. Unfortunately, the ocean was pretty much all the way back to LAX, the airport in which he landed for this trip.

The drive up to the starting location, Greyback Amphitheater, took just over an hour. Boy, was it cold! Garmin showed that it was 18°F at the start of the race. There was even snow on the ground, surrounding the perimeter of that parking lot. The gloves, mylar blanket, and throwaway Marine Corps Marathon throwaway jacket was barely enough to keep me warm! After using one of the portapotties, it was time to wait about an hour for the start of the race. I walked around looking for familiar faces, but I was only able to spot my friend, Luis who would be sweeping the course, pacing the 6:30 group.

Start race staging area

Taiwan 加油!

Start line

These guys are ready to pace!

Latino Heat pre-race

Nothing new on race day, right? That's arguably the single best advice to give to anyone that's looking to run a marathon. However for this race, I tried out the sample packet of Outdoor NOM endurance power to mix into my handheld bottle. It tasted stronger than what I am accustomed to with other brands of electrolyte drinks, so I ended up only drinking water at aid stations. Also as I was swallowing any liquid, I could tell that most likely I was coming down with something. I felt tired and a bit under the weather, but I kept chalking it up to all of the recent travel and races.

During the majority of the first half, I kept running into a group of 4 runners. Eventually, I struck up a conversation with one of the dads. It was a couple of dads running with their kids. He told me that the kids were going to BYU in Provo, Utah. The father that I was talking to was Ben from Mesa, AZ.

I don't think there was snow last year!

Leapfrogged with this group for many miles

I struck up a conversation with one of the dads

Where's the snow?

Still feeling good enough to give a thumbs up

Finish: 4:37:46
Click here for my Garmin data.

Strategically speaking, this was probably my best executed race when it comes to pacing. I believe that it was my first time running a negative split for a marathon in 235 tries. While the downhill course was conducive for such a result, you can definitely blow up by running the downhills too hard earlier in the race.

Finish line

After getting my finisher medal, I picked up a cold wet towel to put over my neck. I then got a bottle of water, a couple of Bob's Red Mill bars, a banana, and a paper bag to carry everything. I saw my friend to the right of the chute. I was a bit surprised to see him there since he was supposed to have finished behind me. He told me that he had fallen and had to drop out, taking a DNF. Bummer. I forgot to ask him for details on what happened, but I'm guessing it was some of the black ice on the road early on in the race. Further down the chute, I saw Judge Craig Mitchell from the Skid Row Running Club. I said a quick hi to him before continuing on. He beat me by about 17 minutes!

I then exited the finisher area and veered to the left to get my post race donut. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but it sounded pretty good after running a marathon. I then headed over to the beer garden to meet up with my faster friends. Per the usual, I gave Heather my beer ticket. After shooting the breeze, taking a few post-race photos, and eating my donut, I walked over to the results tent to get my printout.

Finisher medal

Post race goodies

Time for a post race donut

Post race amenities

Dexter!

Heather!

Eventually, Latino Heat and I got in line to get a shuttle ride back to our cars. The bus we got on was a white school bus which reminded us of a prison bus. :) Unfortunately, one of his friends had posted that she was a victim of a smash and grab. :( It would seem that lately, thieves have targeted cars parked in race parking.

Pic from Eddie

On the way home, I stopped at the local Chipotle to pick up lunch. I wasn't too hungry, but I needed something to tide me over to a big dinner later tonight to celebrate an anniversary.

Steak burrito bowl while watching Wolves v. Arsenal