Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon 2010

Expo, food, and stuff
I drove up early on Friday to Vegas. I made pretty good time and got there in about 3 hours with a quick stop in Primm. I headed straight for the expo. I parked at The Palazzo since most people were probably parking at The Venetian. I got to the expo site about 30 minutes before they were open and there was a very long line. The expo was pretty good, the usual rock n' roll expo that I've become so accustomed to attending. I picked up a few Larabars. I like eating them before races. They're not too sweet. I signed up for The Country Music Marathon only because my race this year was cut short by a severe storm. I was leaving the expo when they were announcing that Josh Cox was being interviewed on stage. So I turned around and went back in to listen to him and his quest to break the world record for the 50k at the Arizona RnR event. Right before they concluded the interview, I headed straight for the Nissan autograph line. I was third in line. Took a few pictures with him and had him sign my bib.

Josh Cox 50k American record holder

race shirt and bib signed by Josh Cox

It was around 1pm and I was getting hungry. So I drove over to Monta Noodle House to eat the highly recommended tonkotsu ramen with nitamago. I also ordered gyoza which was not very good. The ramen was good. Much more my style. The broth is not as rich as Santouka's.

tonkotsu ramen

For dinner I ate the garlic shrimp rice plate at Ohana Hawaiian BBQ. Can't wait to eat the good stuff in Hawaii! Fruit of the sea! I love shrimp more than I love steaks.

Saturday morning, I went back to the expo. I went back mainly to buy an iFitness belt. The SPIbelt that I have doesn't work too well, so it was time to buy a replacement. Went back to Monta for lunch. This time I ate their miso ramen and a small pork belly rice bowl. It was a much better choice than the gyoza. I will have to try Raku next time I'm in Vegas. They're 2 doors to the left of Monta but they're only open for dinner.

I headed out to the Rio Carnival World Buffet for the Marathon Maniac dinner. But I decided to go about an hour earlier since I didn't want to eat too late. I was approached by a fellow maniac, Galen, while I was waiting in line. He figured I was a runner because of my physique. Well it turned out that I didn't need to wait in the line, but I wasn't in too big of a rush. Next time I'll remember that I can use the kiosk to pay for the meal. The food at the buffet wasn't all that appealing to me. I kept getting veggies, fried rice, dim sum, and some duck. I didn't even eat a single cocktail shrimp or crab leg. But it was a lot of fun eating with the maniacs. They are such a colorful bunch. It turned out that Galen was there early because he thought Vegas was on mountain time. It was fortunate for me since I had someone to eat with me while we waited for the others to show up.

Rio Carnival World Buffet

Eating with Marathon Maniacs at Rio

Race day
Race morning was a little bit of an adventure for me. The parking instructions said to exit Russell Rd, go west on Russell Rd, turn right on Polaris Ave, turn right on Hacienda Ave, and then turn into the parking lot. I first tried to get on Russell Rd from Las Vegas Blvd, but the road was blocked off way before Russell Rd. So then I hopped on the 15 freeway and took the Russell Rd exit. But the street was coned off at Polaris Ave. So I drove further down to Valley View Blvd which was also coned off. But the taxi in front of me drove around them and I followed him. Hacienda Ave was also coned off, but the officer let us through because we told him we were going to the Mandalay parking structure. Good thing I always leave super early.

I went up to the 2nd floor of the convention area where there was a lot more space and the bathrooms were essentially empty. It gets pretty busy on the 1st floor. As it got closer to 6am, I headed outside to the Mandalay Bay sign to meet up with other Marathon Maniacs for a pre-race photo.

Pre-race Maniac photo underneath the Mandalay Bay sign

I then headed over near the bag check area and started warming up. I checked my gear and waited in the portapotty line for one last time. I jogged over to corral 5. As they were moving up the corrals, somehow our corral got combined with corral 4.

Goal A: run 1st half in sub 1:50 then finish around 4:30
Goal B: finish sub 5
Goal C: finish without hurting a new body part

1st half - wheels came off by 10k
My race almost ended during mile 1. A big dude sidestepped right into me trying to avoid a walker. I smacked right into his back. I apologized and told him those darn walkers need to stop starting in the first 4 corrals! I saw my friend Mitch taking pictures right at mile 2 exactly where he said he would be waiting. The right calf started to feel tight at 5k. I knew there was no chance for a sub 1:50 in the 1st half. It was getting really tight by 10k. I took off my gloves as it was getting warm. I started to just cruise near the 15k mark because there was just too much discomfort from my right calf. As we approached Mandalay Bay I considered running straight and bail at the half, but my legs had me taking the right turn to run the 2nd half. There was a nice hill (freeway overpass) leading up to the halfway mark. I saw a few halfers doing a u-turn since they turned right by mistake.
1: 8:10
2: 8:04
3-4: 16:56 (8:28 avg)
5: 8:20
6: 8:23
7: 8:25
8: 9:31
9: 9:16
10: 9:39
11: 9:28
12: 9:27
13: 9:42

2nd half - lots o' walking!
The tight calf led to hip discomfort. So I did the usual walk/jog to the finish line. I liked the 2nd half this year compared to the other 2 years that I've ran in Vegas. I got to see some of my friends on the out-and-back sections. Maniac Galindo caught me around mile 17. Andrea spotted me and I must have given her a confused look because she yelled out her name. I was concentrating on hobbling along with my jacked up hip so I didn't recognize her. Deo and Jeri caught me around mile 20. I ran a little with Jeri while talking about our marathon battle scars. Casey caught me around mile 22 who went on to finish with a PR. I thought it was kind of funny when we took a lap around the huge Hustler building. I wasn't liking the Endurolyte salt caps too much. I felt like I was popping them like I was addicted to salt. I eventually switched to regular salt packs from the medical tent. I tried to run most of the last 2 miles but still had to walk some to alleviate the discomfort in my right hip.
14: 11:16
15: 11:07
16: 12:25
17: 14:02
18: 12:34
19: 13:31
20: 12:56
21: 12:38
22: 13:41
23: 15:51
24: 13:58
25: 11:08
26: 11:06
26.2: 1:30
Finish: 4:43:04

Finish line thoughts
I hung out with Casey for a little bit. We thought it was funny seeing a runner smoke a cigarette shortly after crossing the finish line.

I don't like Endurolytes. They do not work as well as Salt Stick caps for me. I bought S Caps to try next. But I might just start getting my salt supply from McDonald's.

Post race celebration

1. PBR at Planet Hollywood, lots of country music played here. yeeeeehaw!
   • 2 Guinness, my favorite beer
   • Big Bossman salad, huge and most unhealthy salad I've ever ate
   
   
   PBR - good place if you like country music
   
   
   Big Bossman Salad
   
   
2. XS at Wynn-Encore, hosted bar for 1 hour. Can't say no to "free" drinks! I'm sure the race reg fees covered the cost.
   • Grey Goose vodka martini
   • Red Bull with vodka
   • Grey Goose vodka martini extra olives
   
   
   XS - go go dancers!
   
   
3. Dick's at Excalibur
   • 2 24oz Widmer Hefeweizen