Las Vegas Marathon Race Report

Leading up to the big day...
Cliff and I flew from DFW to Las Vegas on Friday after work. Everything went smoothly, and we were glad we paid the extra $24 (round-trip total) for the CLS shuttle to and from the airport. We checked in (Fitzgerald's Downtown) and then decided to try the $5.99 prime rib special at the Golden Spike. It was risky putting my life in jeopardy for a $6 dinner, but it made for interesting people watching (including a homeless man at the restaurant counter who tried to pull down his pants to go to the bathroom and a person at the bar who literally fell off the stool unconscious). Saturday was packet pickup, so we took the bus to the Venetian. I didn't buy anything at the expo, but it was fun to look around and try a few free samples. We had a buy one/get one lunch at Four Queens (I tried to stick with something fairly light - a salad, teriyaki chicken, rice, and veggies), and we watched some of the football games and played some blackjack. My shin had been bothering me since Wednesday (when I wore boots to work and did too much walking). I did a good job icing my leg (even at the hotel), and I tried to stay off it as much as I could. It's really hard not to walk around in Vegas though! For dinner we went to Main Street Station. Cliff feasted on the prime rib, and I had a weird mix (pasta, pizza, chow mein, Mexican lasagna, etc.) of carbs. I was proud of myself for making it through two nights in Vegas without drinking, but it was pretty easy to do with my goal in mind (and 5 weeks of sobriety, which gave me plenty of momentum).

Race day...
I got a pretty good night's sleep (I just tried to ignore all of the crazy noise on Freemont) and woke up at 4:30 am, shortly before the alarm went off. I took a hot shower to loosen up a bit, and I ate a banana and a wheat bagel with peanut butter for breakfast. At around 5:30, we walked outside to find a cab. When we did the marathon in 2007, it was much easier logistically because we stayed at the Excalibur, which was a walk away from the Mandalay Bay start line. We figured a cab wouldn't be a big deal, but the cab driver was totally stressing us out about the street closures (even though I had the directions from the race director with me). He did a fairly good job though, and we got to the Mandalay Bay a little after 6 am. It was a perfect amount of time to relax a bit, potty a few times, and get to my coral without too much down time.

I decided on Saturday that I would try running with the 3:50 pace group. I was very confident with my training, and I felt like if I had a fantastic day, 3:50 was within reach. Looking back on it, I wish I had paced with the 4:00 group (or maybe the 3:55 group, if there was one). Just like in 2007, I went out too fast. Of course it felt comfortable and maintable at the time, but I was hurting around mile 11. I really hope I learn my lesson one of these days and try to start conservatively and maybe even negative split to reduce the "I might vomit all over myself" feeling to maybe the last 6 miles instead of the last 15 miles. I am proud of myself for going after a lofty goal and also trying the pace group for the first time. It was fun, and I would love to try running with a 3:55 or 4:00 group in my next marathon. The downside of the pacer was that he ran like the Energizer Bunny through the water stops, and it took a lot of my energy to catch up. I never walked either, but I was slowed down by the congestion/traffic. So here are my splits, and they pretty much tell the story of my race:

Mile 1 - 8:44
Mile 2 - 8:48
Mile 3 - 8:38
Mile 4 - 8:35
Mile 5 - 8:40
Mile 6 - 8:33
Mile 7 - 8:37
Mile 8 - 8:39
Mile 9 - 8:45
Mile 10 - 8:52
Mile 11 - 8:52
Mile 12 - 8:42
Mile 13 - 9:19
Mile 14 - 9:34
Mile 15 - 9:08
Mile 16 - 9:10
Mile 17 - 9:45
Mile 18 - 9:04
Mile 19 - 9:24
Mile 20 - 9:38
Mile 21 - 9:48
Mile 22 - 9:33
Mile 23 - 10:39
Mile 24 - 10:49
Mile 25 - 9:51
Mile 26 - 9:37
Last 0.42 (Garmin) - 4:03 (9:36 pace)

Garmin Total - 26.42 miles, 4:03:56, 9:14/mile pace

Actual results:
Chip Time: 4:03:54
Overall Place: 1616/5106
Division Place: 77/358
Gender Place: 431/2146



My take on my results...
Of course I went through a whole rollercoaster of emotions, including some pretty low low-points, during the 26.2 miles. My main goal was to break 4 hours. By going after my "in the back of my mind but not talking about it much" goal of 3:50, it hurt my chances of breaking 4 hours. But if I had run with the 4:00 pace group and broken the 4-hour mark, I might have regretted not trying the 3:50 pace group. I am very happy that I beat my previous best time of 4:16:58 by 13 minutes. I am grateful that my shin held up and that I have recovered well. Since only a few days have past and I'm already excited about training again, I consider that a success. My mind is in a great place right now. I am looking forward to building on my hard work and achieving some exciting goals in 2011. I have my first "ultra," the Rocky Raccoon 50-miler, in early February. I also want to find a spring marathon where I can go after a sub-4 performance.

A little more personal...
I gave up drinking for about 5 weeks leading up to the race. I also replaced my normal desserts (about 150-200 calories) with sugar-free popsicles. I realized that giving up drinking wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I'm not sure how much it contributed to my weight loss (since I was running, eating healthy, etc.), but I know it definitely helped. I want to continue working on this goal of drinking less and enjoy social functions without feeling the need to drink. I was very pleased with my weight loss. I got down to 146 pounds before the marathon, which is just one pound over my ideal body weight of 145 (since I'm 5'9"). I got down to 150 before our wedding in Mexico, and I hadn't seen 14X on the scale in over a decade. I've gotten a few comments about being "too skinny," but I shrug those off. I was 135 when I was in top swimming shape, and I know I have some fluff to spare. I think 140 would be an optimal distance running weight for me... that would give me 5 pounds extra for leg muscle (because my legs were little twigs when I was swimming). I would like to get to a point where I can maintain a healthy weight and not stress out about it... but is that even possible for a female? I hope so.

Race nutrition:
I ate an expresso Gu at mile 5, a chocolate Gu at mile 10, a strawberry banana gel at mile 15, and a strawberry banana gel at mile 20. I mostly drank water at the aid stations, with the occasional Cytomax. I was a little annoyed at the sponsorship stuff. There were tables and tables of Cytomax before the water at every aid station. I felt like I was stuck in a Cytomax commercial. I think my nutrition was pretty good though. I still need to try training (and racing) with salt tablets. I had a ton of salt on my forehead after the race, and it was pretty warm out there (considering we were running in the desert in December). I didn't have to go to the bathroom at all, and my tummy cooperated. I took two of my anti-acid prescription pills before the race (like I experimented with for my last 20-mile training run), and I think that helps. This was the first time running with the spi belt, and it worked very well. It held all four gel packets and my chapstick, and it was pretty easy to open and close. It jostled during the first 100 feet or so until I got it positioned correctly (glad it cooperated since I didn't experiment with it during training).

Some other random race observations:
The first half of the course was amazing... nearly all on the Strip. I was surprised that we ran the first 12-13 miles with the half marathon runners, because they split off earlier in 2007 (and the course was way different... we went out on the strip and came back down the back alley of the strip). The second half of this race was pretty horrible. I'm not very familiar with Las Vegas streets/geography, but I think we spent a long time on Hacienda. I was anticipating the rolling hills. You can tell from my splits that miles 13 and 14 were uphill, 15 and 16 were relatively flat (we went down a different street), 17 was uphill, and 18-20 were downhill. It perked up my spirits towards mile 20, but miles 23 and 24 were my low point. Around mile 20 I still thought I could break 4:00, but then I started seeing 11:xx on my Garmin. The scenery was horrible. We were in some sort of commercial area near the highway, and I felt like we kept looping around different streets. I turned it around on mile 25 though and was back under 10:00 pace. I really did give it everything I had though. When I saw Cliff around mile 26, the finish line couldn't come soon enough. I don't think I could have gone much futher. I know a lot of that had to do with going out so fast.

My cheerleader...
My husband was a fantastic supporter, and we had a great vacation together. He took care of me on race day, and it was wonderful to see him cheering me on when I felt like death. I hope we can run the half marathon together in the near future and renew our vows (dressed up as Elvis, of coursee).