Rock n Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon 2011

Pre-Race
Originally I wanted to get into Vegas sometime Friday, but things didn't work out. So I ended up driving in very early Saturday. I drove straight to The Palazzo. I parked and walked slowly through the Venetian to get to the Sands Convention Center. I took a few pictures along the way. It was still awhile before the expo opened, but there was already participants congregating in front of the expo entrance.

Every year, the cowboy expo is always nearby. Next year, I will have to go in and take a look. I'll probably buy a hat.

The waterfall at the Palazzo

The Grand Canal at the Venetian

Stetson Country Christmas expo

Expo

After waiting in line for about an hour, they finally opened up the expo. Before picking up my race packet, I went straight to the Wynn booth to pick up a VIP bracelet for the XS after-party and to see if they have any beanies. They ran out of the beanies the first day. They only gave out 4000 of them. I then headed over to the packet pickup, picked up my packet and the race shirt. I then made it over to the Rock n' Roll area to pick up my Rock Idol heavy medal for completing 10 of their events in one calendar year. The medal was huge! I took a picture with one of the showgirls. I was hoping that they would have a Miss Nevada. :)

I then talked to a rep about the race and he told me that they have about 44k participants and had plans to increase that to over 60k next year. My first thought was that the place that they're using for the expo was not big enough for 44k. It was the standard expo setup for their usual 15k - 20k participants. The ING New York City Marathon has roughly 45k participants and their expo is held over 3 days. They have lines at the entrance to control the flow of people into the expo. Also the space that they use at the Jacob Javits Convention Center is at least 3 times what they used for the Vegas expo. Later I would hear from my friends that the expo was beyond crowded. I was glad that I went right when they opened.

Showgirl

I was a little hungry, so I drove on over to the Chinatown area to check out Anime Ramen. It was a good concept/gimmick for a ramen shop, but they probably should work on improving their food. The waitresses were in cosplay. I ordered their tonkotsu ramen with gyoza. It was decent, but not as good as Monta Noodle House. I was told that they used the same noodles as Monta.

Anime Ramen

Cosplay

Menu

Gyoza

Tonkotsu ramen

I drove over to the Hampton Inn to check-in. I love staying here in Vegas to be away from the craziness. The only downside is that the drive to anywhere on the Strip will take at least 30 minutes to get there and park. I laid out the goodies that I got as well as some snacks I bought at the nearby Albertson's. I usually load up on salty potato snacks days before a race.

Shirt and goodies

Pringles!

I relaxed a bit in my room before heading out to eat with the Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics at the Rio World Carnival Buffet. The food is getting worse and worse each time that I come here. This will be my last year at this buffet. It won't be too hard to find another one to go to with so many buffets in Vegas. :)

Rio World Carnival

The buffet kind of wrecked my stomach, so I didn't eat much between the buffet and the race. I just ate my usual pre-race Mojo bar. The pre-race Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics photo was at high noon at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. I parked there and hung out with Big Bird for awhile until everyone showed up. After a gazillion photos, I drove back to my hotel to change for the race. I was pretty much dressed in all orange for this race: orange tiger beanie, orange Team WorldVision shirt, and orange Asics DS Sky Speed. Color coordinated!

Welcome to Las Vegas with Big Bird!

Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics

Race gear

Starting line prior to the race

The past 2 years, the parking instructions were incorrect. For the past 2 years, I followed the instructions to the T and drove into barricades where I had to get creative in getting into the parking lot. Lo and behold, this year was no different. I made sure to leave extra early this year. I did an initial drive through to check out the parking lots which I found that the easiest place to park was at New York New York. On the second time around, I check out the lots at Excalibur and Luxor. Despite the instructions stating to park here, people were being turned away. The hotel staff was making sure you were a hotel guest before they would let you through to the parking lots. It was a slow grind, but I got myself out of there and headed straight for the New York New York parking structure. Instead of walking through the casinos, I decided to just brave the weather and walk outside which is usually faster since everyone is trying to stay inside.

The runner look is pretty common place these days, but I got plenty of stares by the non-running Vegas patrons. I guess I stood out like a sore thumb in Vegas even a few hours before the start of the race. I was noticed by a fellow Runner's World forumite. Out of so many people, I was so easy to spot. We walked over to the gear check area in the Mandalay Bay. We wished each other a great race and went our separate ways. I waited near the entrance for my Maniac friends that were running the full marathon. I bumped into Sef, Joy, Mitch, and Casey. As their race was about to begin, I headed out to the starting line area to snap some race photos. I only found room after the first left turn on the race course. After watching all of the corrals take off, I went back to the gear check area to check my bag.

It was a complete zoo trying to get to the front corrals. We had to start squeezing through the barricades. I was only able to get myself up to corral 11. But that was good enough for me.

New things for this race:

1. Tiger beanie
2. Asics DS Sky Speed

Goal: finish around 2:30

The Race
It was pretty congested at the start. I tried to go out easy, but the right leg felt a little awkward. But it felt good to clock a few sub-10 minute miles. It was good to actually feel like I was running, but in reality it was still a slow jog that would only get even slower as the race progressed. I used this race to get reacquainted with my Honey Stingers since I've ran out of my favorite GUs and Powergels. They used to upset my stomach. When we started running with the full marathoners, I pretty much moved over to the right side of the road to avoid getting into the way of the marathoners. But I could hear the jostling and dodging that was taking place on the other side of the road. Sure, there were a few bike marshals directing traffic, but there was just too many half marathoners clogging the marathon lane. The signs were too small, the cones were too small, and it was too dark to read anything. I was scanning all over the place for the mile markers and still I missed two of them. The Strip at night... sure, an interesting gimmick, but a logistical nightmare. The finish line was when the nightmare began. There was a humongous crowd right at the finish line. I was fortunate enough to cross the finish line without the line being crowded.
1: 9:29
2: 9:46
3: 9:56
4: 11:00
5-6: 20:12 (10:06)
7: 11:34
8: 11:55
9-10: 24:56 (12:28)
11: 12:40
12: 13:31
13: 12:53
13.1: 1:08
Finish: 2:29:00

Post-Race
I picked up my medal and tried to get the heck out of there. But I quickly learned that it was going to require some patience. One of the worst possible piece of planning was that they placed the finish line photo area just a few steps from the finish line. This nice bottle neck was at the worst possible place when they need to provide plenty of space to accommodate 44k streaming into the finish area. After the photo area, the crowd was still moving like molasses in wintertime. The volunteers handing out the mylar blankets had to start tossing them at the crowd. I waded my way out of there not even trying to get a blanket or food. I guess it was a smart idea because I heard later that they were handing out green bananas. I finally made my way back into the Mandalay Bay out of the cold. I got my gear bag, changed, and tried to get back to my car parked at New York New York.

It took me forever to get through the Mandalay Bay casino. Just as I was about to head outside and use the sidewalk, I bumped into Marathon Maniac Hideki who was getting inside away from the cold. I then changed my mind and decided to go with him through the casinos since we were both headed to New York New York. It was slow going and the casinos make it pretty darn confusing to navigate, but at least we weren't cold.

I finally got to my car and drove back to my hotel. I showered and tried to meet up with my friends at the XS post race party, but that didn't work out. My friends were hurting or had gotten sick after the race, so I ended up flying solo. I wasn't there early enough for the free drinks, but at least I didn't have to pay the cover charge. The drinks took care of that... $14 for a black Russian and $17 for a Grey Goose martini. That was fine, but the funny thing was for that price they didn't even give me an olive pick for my martini. I asked the bartender for one and she told me to use a cocktail straw. Nice. Next time I'm pre-boozing if I miss the hour of comp drinks.

XS post race party

It was fun people watching. I got to see the bouncers bounce a few dudes that were trying to get on the pole dancing platforms. Sorry dudes, girls only. After that, I went back to my hotel.

The next morning I checked out and drove over to one of my favorite places for cheap good-tasting food, Ohana Hawaiian BBQ, for a little preview of my Honolulu Marathon trip. I ordered their special of the day which was the kalua pork. I brought Mountain Dew with me for the drive back home. I must have been a bit dehydrated since I was able to make it all the way home without a potty break while finishing my Mountain Dew.

Ohana Hawaiian BBQ - kalua pork

Despite a very poorly organized race, I most likely will be back next year to see the changes that they'll inevitably make. There is a good reason why they're taking over races all around the world. Their formula works, they listen to feedback, and they take action as soon as possible. I've ran plenty of Rock n' Roll races to see all of that first hand. People and companies need to be given a second chance or even a third chance to redeem themselves. My only wish is that they would give the marathoners more time to finish the race. Normally a 4:30 marathon wouldn't be too hard if one does some training, but it's no dice when you pick up an injury along the way from registration to race day.

Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon 2011

What? Another race?
Why was I repeating a marathon that I've already ran in Texas? Well, as a part of my marathon maniac farewell tour, I would qualify for the Rock Idol medal before this year was over. This race was a late add-on when the New Year's Eve half marathon race was cancelled. I flew out of John Wayne airport early Saturday morning. I got to see the new terminal C. Everything looked and smelled so new. Light rain was coming down as we flew off to where it would be sunny and warm.

Southwest - flying out of SNA

I had to find ways to save money while on this trip. One way was to take public transportation. I took the bus for $1.10 from the airport to downtown San Antonio. I hiked over to the expo at the Alamodome. Since I was here last year, everything looked very familiar. It always helps to know your way around.

I went through the expo picking up the usual freebies... Sports Beans, Larabars. I took a picture with Miss Texas. She was tall, I was surprised when she got up from where she was sitting. I told her that I had met one of her competition, Miss California, a couple of weeks earlier. I saw a few shirts that I would've bought if I hadn't already own a gazillion race shirts.

Expo

Miss Texas Kendall Morris

I run so I don't kill people :)

Triathlon

Another way to save money was to stay at a Motel 6. But it was a long walk to the outskirts of downtown. Along the way, I stopped in a Dollar General to buy some snacks. The room wasn't bad, but it was definitely in a not-so-nice area. The McDonald's next door had a security guard. Eating at McDonald's for my carboload meal was yet another way to save money. I seem to be having bad luck as of late with TV remotes. I had to go to the front desk to get some new batteries. I laid everything out and went to sleep pretty early.

Motel 6

Shirt and goodies

Carboloading McRunner style

Race day
I left for the little hike to the starting line a little after 6am. I didn't see other fellow runners until I got closer to the Riverwalk area. Some of the people headed to work waiting for buses were really staring down the female runners wearing tutus. Keep it in your pants boys! It seems like that look is a bit overdone these days. It may be the norm these days in the running world, but it is definitely weird to the non-running world.

I sat down at the curb in front of the UPS truck in the gear check area. The place was a zoo. For some reason everyone funneled through this area. At about 7, I checked my bag and headed for the corrals. Out of sheer coincidence, I bumped into a few of my friends. I ducked into corral 11 and stood in a portapotty line. For some reason the doors were facing inward towards the corral this year. This made it difficult as no one really knew who was in line. I made it with a few minutes to spare. I stayed in the very back of the corral.

Corral 11

The race
Again the right leg was noticeably better. But I just stuck to the jog and walk plan. I knew the weather was going to get hot, but I still wanted to try and finish around 6 hrs. In the second half, I had to slow things down. The heat was getting to me. I was getting cooked and started to feel a bit confused. People liked the Team Beef jersey in Texas. In the late miles, I walked a little bit with a girl wearing a No Meat Athlete shirt. She went on ahead of me. In the final mile, I tried to catch her. I almost caught her down the finishing chute which gave the people some laughs as John "the Penguin" Bingham pointed out that the No Meat Athlete was finishing followed closely by a guy with Team Beef. :)
1: 10:51
2: 11:05
3: 11:42
4: 11:27
5: 12:26
6: 11:47
7-8: 24:03 (12:01)
9: 12:31
10: 13:02
11: 13:49
12: 14:07
13: 15:08
14: 14:41
15: 15:50
16: 14:55
17: 18:27
18: 17:01
19: 17:34
20: 18:06
21: 18:35
22: 17:53
23: 18:05
24: 18:22
25: 18:56
26: 17:28
26.2: 3:01
Finished: 6:30:54

Post race
That was my 66th overall marathon and 12th of the year. Too bad it took me almost 2 hours longer than last year. I drank about 3 handhelds worth of fluids and never once did I have to pee during the race. There was no Cytomax at the finish area. I was cramping up during my walk over to the gear check area which was an ordeal in itself to get to after the race. You had to walk up and down a bunch of stairs. Not very fun after a marathon.

But I was prepared, I had some Powerade in my gear bag. I sat down in a shaded area and drank my Powerade. I really had no choice as every single leg muscle was seizing up. After resting a little while, everything was good again. I then made the long hike back to the motel. Again, I stopped by the Dollar General store to pick up some recovery snacks. I love Funyuns and Coke!

Go Beef!

Finisher's medal

Recovery snacks

My steak dinner was the only thing I didn't go cheap on. I ate at Saltgrass Steakhouse for my ribeye steak. I also had a Shiner Bock which took forever to show up. The steak was good. I was definitely zoning out as I was having a hard time comprehending the waitress' questions. :) I took a different route back to the motel. Along the way, I noticed that a lot of the streets were dark and the buildings were empty. I was thankful that I made it back in one piece. I kept thinking that at least there's a hospital nearby the motel.

Saltgrass Steakhouse

House salad

Shiner Bock bread

Shiner Bock beer

Pat's 16oz ribeye

The next morning, I ate at McDonald's before checking out and heading out for a little bit of sightseeing. I walked through the Riverwalk area and ended up at the Alamo. Walking through the Riverwalk and the Alamo area always reminds me of a movie in the 80's, Cloak & Dagger, which had a few scenes in this area. I took a few obligatory pictures of the Alamo and went through a souvenir shop. If I come back to San Antonio, I'll have to make the time to visit the Tower of the Americas. I then walked over to the bus stop to catch the bus to the airport. While waiting, I noticed that about 90% of the bus riders were smokers. I first sat at the bus bench, but I had to move because I was being smoked out. I guess it was a small price to pay for saving money.

Sausage egg McGriddles with cheese

The Alamo Cenotaph

The Alamo Cenotaph

The Alamo

Close enough? :)

Tower of the Americas

Rock n Roll Savannah Marathon 2011

Travel, expo, and other pre-race stuff
I took a red-eye flight out of LAX on Thursday night right after work. Before heading to the airport, I stopped by Shinsengumi for some ramen before I headed to the deep south where the ramen is scarce. This was my first time flying with Delta airlines. After my trip, I would have to rethink having American Airlines as my default airline of choice. Sure, AA usually has the cheapest flights, but you get what you've paid for... bad service and old planes. For the first leg of the trip, I sat in an emergency exit row seat with plenty of leg space. I slept through most of this flight. When I got to ATL, I had to switch planes and then it was just a short flight to Savannah.

Shinsengumi - Hakata ramen for the road

Delta - Emergency exit row seat with extra legroom!

Welcome to Savannah

We got to Savannah a bit early, so I had to wait a bit before getting my rental car. They gave me a Hyundai Sonata. Their cars have vastly improved, but they still feel a bit cheap when you drive them.

I drove over to the Convention Center. Along the way, I crossed over the Talmadge bridge. I like driving in places where the freeways aren't so crowded. It was a good thing I went shortly after they had opened. I've heard from plenty of my friends that the traffic getting to the expo was horrible.

Talmadge bridge

I cruised through the expo since it was your standard Rock n' Roll expo. I tried on the 110% compression calf sleeve. It's pretty nice to be able to just shove an ice pack into the sleeve after you're done running. What's not so nice is the price tag. I'll stick to ice, zip lock bags, and towels if I have anything that needs icing. I bumped into a bunch of my marathon maniac friends. I soon left the expo, because I was getting hungry.

Expo that way

Expo entrance

Expo - it's Sef!

Maniac friends at the expo

I drove to the Walmart near my hotel to buy some snacks. I bought water, Odwalla juice, a 4 pack of Guinness, and a bag of jalapeño chips. I then stopped by Miwa Japanese Restaurant for a late lunch. I ordered the two roll lunch which came with a salad. The rolls that I got were the spicy tuna avocado roll and the G5 roll (tuna, salmon, white fish, crab, avocado, and masago). I guess I'm feelin' fly like a G5. har har! :) They charged me for hot green tea... I don't think real Japanese restaurants ever charge for tea. Unfortunately, I was the only Asian patron in the restaurant. I found it funny that they even sent out the Asian waitress just to wait on me. You know, I do speak pretty good Engrish. :)

Snacks and drinks

Miwa Japanese Restaurant - spicy tuna avocado roll & G5 roll

I drove to my hotel and checked in. The room had a fridge and a microwave, which was nice. I could've bought some hot pockets at Walmart. :) I emptied out my goodie bag to throw away useless stuff and sort out the goodies. I thought the race shirt was a bit too plain and somewhat ugly. But oh well, I'm sure eventually they'll be put to good use when I do my next round of donations to the Goodwill.

Hampton Inn

The bed

Goodies

Back of the race shirt

After relaxing for a while, I drove over to Romano's Macaroni Grill at the Oglethorpe Mall for some dinner with the Marathon Maniacs. I had the Shrimp Portofino. It was okay, nothing spectacular. I'm guessing the chefs had their work cut out with tons of runners eating here.

Romano's Macaroni Grill - dinner with the Marathon Maniacs

Romano's Macaroni Grill - Shrimp Portofino

I went back to my room and polished off the bag of chips. Lately, I've been loading up on the sodium the day before a race to try and stave off the leg cramps.

Race day
I drove over to the Convention Center to park my car. Only those who had registered early for Convention Center parking was given a parking sign to park here. Coincidentally, I parked 2 spaces away from my friend, Mitch. I saw his super bright maniac jacket while he was sitting in his car. After we got ready, we both headed over to the dock to take the ferry across the river. It was then a short walk over to the starting line. We were early, so eventually we headed to the lobby of the Holiday Inn to get out of the wind.

Once it got closer to 6:45am, we headed back out for the Marathon Maniacs photo op. The group was huge since we included half fanatics and the 50 States runners. After about a thousand pictures, I headed over to the Hampton Inn to get out of the cold and use their restroom. I then got into the back of corral 13.

Marathon Maniacs, Half Fanatics, and 50 States runners

Goal for the race was to average around 15 min/mile and finish around 6:30.
I would only finish the full if I can get to the halfway mark under 3 hours.

The "race"
From the very first step, things felt much better than last weekend at the LA RnR Half Marathon. I still had a hitch in my stride, but at least the gait was starting to resemble a jog. For about 5k, I jogged with a couple. The lady had injured her knee, so she was "only" jogging the half marathon. The guy said he was going to finish last. I told him, not if I'm in the race. :)

The course was a bit crowded. It only thinned out at around mile 11 when the halfers and full marathoners split off. I went with the full marathoners since I knew I would get to the half under 3 hrs. I got to the halfway mark at around 2:48.

The portions on the freeway was not very pleasant. We spent about 5 total miles on it. It was windy and cambered. Maybe it would've been better if I could actually run through this portion.

Even though I was walking and jogging, I somehow managed to bonked really hard at mile 25 and 26. One runner gave me her Powerbar Gel. Thanks to her, that helped me out for the final .2 down the finishing chute.
1: 11:53
2: 12:19
3: 12:57
4: 11:54
5: 12:12
6: 12:33
7: 11:49
8: 12:06
9: 13:07
10: 13:29
11: 13:44
12: 14:34
13: 14:28
14: 16:15
15: 17:08
16: 16:15
17: 15:59
18: 16:18
19: 17:02
20: 16:45
21: 16:37
22: 16:17
23: 16:59
24: 17:39
25: 19:22
26: 19:41
26.2: 2:42
Finished: 6:32:03

Post-race
I like running Rock n' Roll races. You always know what to expect at their races. If there is a problem, they'll eventually address it. If you run their races year after year, you know that they're always trying to improve their races. I thought this inaugural race went well.

The medal matched my race shirt

Finisher's medal

After getting my medal, I started my long hike up to the ferry. Before exiting the finisher chute, I saw a guy from outside the barricades taking about 6 bottles of Cytomax. He might as well have taken the entire case. No shame.

When I got back to my car, Mitch was there relaxing in his car. We chatted for a while, I then headed back to my hotel and Mitch headed to Raleigh, NC for another marathon the next day. Some maniacs are just crazier than others. :)

I cleaned up and drove out to Longhorn Steakhouse to eat dinner. I like eating at Longhorn because they're very similar to the Claim Jumper here on the west coast. It was crowded. I had to wait about 30 minutes before being seated. They don't have a very good beer selection, but a Killian's Irish Red was good enough. I love their wild west shrimp and of course their ribeye steak cooked medium rare. After returning to my hotel, I stopped by the business center and printed out my boarding passes for my flights the next day.

Longhorn Steakhouse - Killian's Irish Red

Longhorn Steakhouse - Caesar salad

Longhorn Steakhouse - wild west shrimp

Longhorn Steakhouse - ribeye

I had to return the car by 10am, so I checked out of my hotel at around 9:30. Then I drove across the street to gas up the car and headed to the airport to drop off the car. My flight was later in the afternoon, so I waited in the airport courtyard doing my sudoku puzzles. I then proceeded through the TSA checkpoint. As I got through the metal detector, I was "randomly" selected for extra screening. The extra screening involved a TSA agent swabbing the insides of my bag probably to see if I had been in contact with explosive materials. This was something new. I've had my hands and shoes swabbed before at other airports. As I was packing up, there was a lady that was extremely irate because she was having her ice packs confiscated. I guess they were larger than 3 ounces. Oh, the joys of flying the not-so-friendly skies.

Savannah Airport courtyard

I had lunch at the Dewar's Clubhouse Bar and Grille. The place looked pretty nice and there was a lot of TVs to watch sports. But apparently the food sucks here. I had a corned beef reuben and it was one of the worst I've had. The bread was soggy. But still I guess it was edible.

Dewar's Clubhouse Bar and Grille - Corned Beef Reuben