Las Vegas Marathon 2008 Race Report

Friday night, we got all our packing done early, so we had very little to do for packing, other than go over the packing list again and again. Set all the alarms for 6:00 am to get ready for our flight, which was at 8:40. Got a shitty nights sleep, which did not bode well for the marathon. Usually, you count on a good nights sleep on the Friday night, so that when you are all keyed up about the race on Saturday night, you can survive the race. Ended up at the airport at 7:10, plenty of time to get through customs and onto the plane. Sat in lucky row #13.

Fitness fair was not as impressive. Few name-brand vendors. ASICS was there, Nissan was a named sponsor that was showing off a few vehicles. Other than that, very few places. Saucony was there last year, not this year. They also did not have the film of the race route, which as I said was strangely compelling last year. Bought a kewl Zoot top, looks really nice. Helen tried on Asics Gel DS trainers, which is as close as they had for racing flats, but they had a funny ridge on the toeline, so didn’t get those. But she did find some New Balance shoes that seem comfortable so far.

Got a good nights sleep before the race. This was very different, as I can never usually sleep before a race. I tried something different, which was to specifically visually getting dressed for the marathon, as I fell asleep. Usually, I let my mind wander, and I find myself thinking about race strategy, starting slow, when to speed up, handling water stops, and visualizing the run. What usually happens is that gets your heart rate up, and makes you pumped, as you think about running. This time, I fell asleep thinking about putting socks on, greasing up my toes with Vaseline, etc etc. All really boring stuff, and easy to fall asleep to, and made for pleasant dreams.

Race Morning. The alarm goes off at 4:00 am. I pointed out to Helen that’s its 5:00am mountain time, so this is only 1 hour earlier than she got up yesterday. Still had to harangue her to get out of bed. Had 2 packages of oatmeal, and 2 cups of coffee. It worked this time, had a good poop before the race. This is another thing that never usually happens. Surprising how happy this makes you feel.

Head out to the race start, line up for porta-potties, which moves quite well. Kiss Helen goodbye, and wish her a good race, as she heads back to the end corral. I decided to do some warmup runs in the open area beside the corrals. I can get about 30 seconds of running in one direction, so I do a couple of back-and-forths, stretch, and then run some faster back-and-forths to get warmed up. The hamstring and piriformis are still feeling a little tight and sore, but this is as good as it is going to get. I stretch out as best I can.

I head to the corrals, and jump into the one that seems appropriate. I ask the people around me what corral they are in, what time they intend to complete in. Seems all the people around me intend to finish in 4+ hours, and I am in the wrong corral. Jump out of that corral, and head to the next one forward. As I get to the entry point and ask, the guy tells me it’s the sub-3 corral. I was in the right corral, everyone else around me was in the wrong corral! WTF?!?. Head back to the same spot, and migrate my way to the middle.

Ended up in front of three women from Toronto. Chatted about marathons they had done, and how this one was shaping up. We were all happy the weather was better than last year. It felt like it was about 10 degrees C, and the prediction was for highs of 18-19. Ideal racing weather. It was crazy crowded, so forget about stretching any further, and no more warm-up. It is nice enough that I can shed the shirt and warm-up pants. It all seems really confused, including the announcements. They are right on time when predicting the start time.

And we are off. The fireworks go off, and I am able to see some this year. I actually took the time to turn and look at some of the fireworks behind me as the race started. The race itself was really slow to start, and I ended up doing a 5:26 for the first Kilometer. I don’t worry about it, telling myself that my race today is a good 32K run to set up a great 10K race, so no stress. I pick up the pace, and try to settle into my zone.

I am finding that if I pace myself with anyone else, I cannot hit my paces. This is making it really hard, because I naturally tend to run with others, and also an trying to reign myself in and do a negative split, so I don’t want to go too fast and hard to start. The group I am with gets passed by a good looking blonde wearing too-tight pink shorts. I comment to the fellow next to me that I could follow that for the next 20 miles, and get a smile out of him. No one is very talkative.

We pass a bunch of weird religious types near or just pass the Wynn hotel. They are yelling religious stuff as we pass, and it makes little sense on why they think that runners need to be saved. One is holding a sign that says “You are on the road to Hell, unless you embrace jesus” I loudly comment that “on the road to Hell? I thought we were on the road to the finish line”. I get nothing from the people around me. Tough Crowd I think.

Ran beside two women as I heard them comment about how fast they ran the last mile. I tell them that we are doing an 8:00min/mile pace now, they thank me, comment that they need to do 8:15, and therefore can afford to slow down just a bit. As I pull away, I hear a comment about how great it is having people with GPS’s around them.

Chatted up a fellow with a Valley Of Fire Marathon shirt. Helen and I have run the 10K there in the past, and it was always fun. This fellow I told the story about the last year we did it, and about the missing bus. He actually rode in the truck with the stock racks that ferried people to the start line. Good memories. Told me about the St George Marthon, which many people seem to like. Its done as a lottery, and if you don’t get in twice in a row, you are guaranteed for the third year. A Hispanic looking woman caught up to us, and asked up what our target was. I said 3:30, and she said great, I will hang with you. We ran together for a while before she pulled away.

Eventually, I told the fellow that I had to pick up the pace, and moved along. Once we got past Fremont street, it gets a bit boring Nothing in particular happens, other than hitting my paces. I noticed that for the first 10k, it seemed my heart rate was staying around 144, and any time I noticed it higher, I was able to correct my form, and bring it back down. Breathing really easy, and making sure I never tempo, never match my breathing to my paces. I am taking a salt cap every 7k (35 minutes) and a gel every 8k (40 minutes). If its close, I try to match taking a gel with the water station, to have lots of water to process the carbs.

I also note that I never have sloshy stomach. Even with big drinks of water, it never bothers me. I think the salt caps work really well for me in absorbing and using the water.

I try running through the first water station I take water at, squeezing the top to slurp it. I comment to another run that I successfully poured a glass of water up my nose, and he laughs at that thought. I took about 6 ozs of e-load in a water bottle, and carried that for the first part of the race. I like doing this, because it let me run through the first 2-3 water stops. These ones are always chaotic, as people forget to get out of the way, forget how to grab water, etc. It always seems dangerous to get water at these, because you almost always trip over someone. I take a sip from the bottle every time the garmin tells me another Kilometer is done, and finish the bottle at about the 5k mark, and toss it at the water station.

I actually manage to squeeze the top down enough on a water glass to make it act like a straw, and drink on the run. But that only works once. I end up taking water at the odd numbered water stations, and I walk once I have my water. I count 1-1000, 2-1000 as I walk and drink, and the time limit is 20 seconds. Most water stops I only walk for 10 seconds, but some are still at 20. I manage to get back up to my paces very quickly after every walk.

There was no one manning the Mile 17 water station. The tables and supplies where there, just no one to hand out water. So much for stopping at odd numbered stations. I get water at Mile 18. I was thinking about the cheerleaders from last year, looking forward to them. I hear some screaming and cheering ahead, and this really raised my spirits. Its just a great water stop. No cheerleaders this year. Bummer. There was no wall at 20 miles either. Bummer, as I told many people about this.

When I get to 31K I start picking up the pace to threshold. I am ready and feeling good. I had decided that it was not bunny chasing for today, but that I was the fisherman, picking out fish, and reeling them in. I start picking out people ahead of me, and purposely picking people with colorful outfits a long ways away. This allows me to kind of zone, as I just concentrate on the horizon. I hear the fast pace alarm going off, and this makes me feel happy, but I keep my race face on.

From this point on, no one passes me again. I catch up to many people I has seen earlier, and comment that its time to start reeling people in. I eventually catch up to the Hispanic woman, and she says that she will try to keep up with me. I pull away. I start channeling Simon Whitfield. Thinking about that last 10k run at an awesome pace. I think that I should look like a tri-athlete, keeping my chest high, shoulders back, and think about pulling my belly-button to my spine. This helps me keep my stride long, and my form proper. This pace feels good, and I am still below threshold, as I can easily control my breathing. I have a thought about that I should have run faster in the first 10K, and should not have had such a slow middle. I push it away, saying all I need to think about is reeling people in, and I focus on that. Doubts leave, and I continue to push the pace.

At the 37k mark, I pick out a fish, a woman with a brown shirt tied around her waist. As I get closer, I can see it’s a Chicago marathon shirt, she is hardcore. I get to within 20 meters of her by the finish line, but I never catch her.

When we get in the last 3K, we join up with the half marathon people. This is 3:15 since the marathon started, and there are people still doing the half-marathon. I remember being really angry last year that they were letting spectators walk on the course, but remembered that these were competitors too. I blow past them all.

Last Kilometer. I am pouring it on. I am dry, thinking that I should not have passed that last water station. I gulp, and realize I am not that thirsty. Press on. The crowds are getting larger, and the cheering is louder. A fellow pulls up even with me, and we both accelerate. I manage to pull away from him before the finish line. I run hard and cross the finish line in 3:31:50. A personal best, by nearly 12 minutes. And I ran an awesome last 10k. I think its about a 48:38 10K, which is only 3 minutes off my personal best for that distance.

Helen finds me right away at the finsh, and I give her a great big hug. She is shivering uncontrollably, but this doesn’t clue at the time. We get water, and I drink an entire bottle in front of the water guy, and then ask for another bottle. Half it is gone right away. As we walk to the end of the chute, I am almost feeling recovered, and Helen is still shivering. A woman (1/2 marathon competitor) stops us, tells us to stay put, and heads off to find some covering. There is no mylar sheets, and we hear later that they ran out at 8:00 am. We get a garbage bag for Helen, and the woman tells us to go to the medical tent to warm up.

We get to the med tent, and sit Helen down, and they wrap her up in a blanket. I do some light stretching, but its really weird. I feel fully recovered at this point, and not very sore. Very weird. I leave Helen in the tent, and head back out to see if I can see Tony Bell come in. Another fellow waiting comments on my Canada Flag tattoo on my calf, and says that he saw it at about the 22 mile mark as I passed him, and he used it to drag him along to the finish line. A weird feeling, that others were using me to pull them along.

We meet up with Tony and Cheryl just inside the Mandalay bay, as Tony needs a break. His back is wrecked and sore.

The traditional bottle of champagne was tasty. We end up meeting with Tony and Cheryl just downstairs from Polo towers, and drag them out to supper at planet Hollywood.

By 9:00 pm, we are done, and crawl into bed, and get 12 hours of sleep. Nice end to a nice day.