My brother from NYC thought that a race in Death Valley sounded irresistible. He and a friend/co-worker soon registered for their first half-marathon, and in their infinite wisdom bet the price of airfare on the outcome. Nothing like a little extra pressure for your first.
On the flight down La sat with us, also running in Vegas. We arrived in Vegas at 7 local time (10 our time), grabbed a rental car and met my brother Barry and Jan at the hotel. Dinner around 10 PM was Mexican, yes less than 12 hours before the race. Dave skipped that.
Left a little late for Death Valley, around 5 AM. Stopped an hour later in Pahrump for a coffee. Moments later we stopped at the side of the road to look at the sunrise in the desert. Also because we were the first on the scene of a car rollover.
The lovely Stephanie wasn't hurt bad, minor cuts, and actually took it pretty well, just a little shaky. We got a call through (before it dropped) to 911 and police came. They decided to dispatch an ambulance, as her neck was starting to hurt. After about a half hour, we were back on our way to Death Valley. Most admitted that their first thought on stopping was that we would miss our race, but we made it in time.
It really was an amazing place to have a race. Very unique scenery, and perfect weather: 48-60 degrees F, no wind. The race director liked giving speeches, so we shivered and started late, the half ten minutes after the full.
Barry had said his goal was 1:50, but I knew from his training that he was faster than that. I was hoping for around 1:37, but hadn't run a road race since May and wasn't sure what speed to expect. The course turned out to be harder than we knew; lots of long easy inclines. Jan and Barry stayed with for the first half, running at 4:35 pace, right on track for a 1:37. First 2 K were easy downhill so it was a fast start. Then a steeper uphill for the next 2, the easy downhill to the 10.5 K turnaround. I pretty much knew that the return section would be tougher, and I was just on pace until the half. At that aid station I noticed that I might have a stone in my shoe. I tried to ignore it and it seemed to fade. When I walked at the 16 K aid station it felt like I had a nail in my foot. I stopped and took my shoe off, didn't actually ever see a stone. Cost me a minute though. Barry had been pulling ahead slightly there, but I thought he might fade towards the finish. Jan was by this point fallen way back. I had been slowing down on the constant uphill, still had hopes for my B goal of sub 1:40 until the shoe incident. It was a long 2 K uphill to the finish and I came in at 1:41:09. That was 3/11 in my age group and 27/198 overall. My brother Barry, 47 years old, ran his first half marathon in 1:38:33. Fellow physics teacher Jan limped in just under 1:50 with knee issues. dgrant figures the course was 2-3 minutes longer than a fast course like Mississauga or Toronto. So I'm really not too disappointed in my time, it just wasn't my day or an easy course. I had a toonie-sized blister on the bottom of my foot, bandaged at the finish.
We took the scenic route home, through Badwater, the actual lowest point on the continent. Very cool. It was nice but not crazy hot, being December.
Totally below sea level.
Back in Las Vegas we spent some time walking around the race expo. I wasn't too impressed, no deals. Then Barry Jan and I had dinner at a German restaurant; I had a few beers. Later Dave and I went to see Willie Nelson at Planet Hollywood. It was a good show, but I was starting to nod off. It had been a very long day.
Part 2, Las Vegas Half Marathon.
This was just now for fun, because we had run hard the previous day. Barry and Jan flew out that morning. I was in corral 2 and Dave moved on to corral 1. Today I ran alone, with 27,000 others. I had been worried Saturday afternoon, because my legs were plenty sore. My blister had burst walking after dinner, and was fine now. Start was at 6:15 AM, still dark out.
I started out very slow, 5:30 first split. By the third I was at around 5:12, and stayed there for most of the race. Easy but not lazy. My knee hurt for about ten minutes, then when that passed my hip hurt a bit for about ten minutes. After that I was fine. It was a little laboured, just getting up to start in the dark, never done that before. Some spectators out there in the cold dark. but not a whole lot. As neat as it was running down the totally closed Vegas strip, I was glad to see the turnaround. Coming back it got easier, and I actually picked up the pace for the last 5K. Ended up with a 1:51:23. Right after the finish Bunsontherun spotted me, still in the water and capes zone. We had our picture taken with a showgirl, that was fun. Didn't stick around long at all, and I was actually at our meeting spot in the warm Tropicana before Dave. By 9 oclock I was showered and back in bed. A guy can only take so much good times.
Great pics and report too.
