Rock N Roll Vegas 2011

The Rock n Roll Vegas Half Marathon was quite and experience.  I ran it last year when we started at 6 am.  Thought running the Strip at Night would be Awesome.  Well not so much!

Mr Incredible and I arrived on Saturday ready to have a great time in Vegas.  We checked into the Monte Carlo, we stay at a different hotel everytime we come to Vegas.  Do you stay at the same place when you come to Vegas? 

We then headed for the long walk to the Veneitian to check out the Expot.  All I can say is WOW!  Talk about overwhelming.  There were more people at the expot then residents in my town.  Wall to Wall people.  I picked up my race number, swag and t-shirt.  I tried to walk around and check out the vendors but it was so tough to even walk.  I ended up leaving, Mr Incredible was thankful.  He does not do very well in crowds.

We gambled some on Saturday night before heading to bed.  Lost our shorts!  But we had fun while it lasted.  Slept in a little on Sunday Morning, felt kinda werid not getting up to run.  We headed out to find me some pancakes for breakfast.  Yummy, Love me some pancakes. 

I pretty much took it easy all day.  Trying to stay relaxed for the big night.  Started getting ready around 2pm and headed to Mandalay Bay at 3pm.  We tried to take a taxi but all the roads were closed for the Marathon.  We ended up walking, what a great warm up.

Dropped my bag at gear check and headed out to the corrals.  Boy it was chilly.  We had to head back in to stay warm. Most of the runners had the same idea.  Stay Warm!

We got to our corral, there were so many people.  Lots of runners were jumping corrals.  We were in corral 15 and we saw a lot of 20 - 30's in our corral. Not sure runners understood that they needed to start in the right corral. 

We made it to the start and we were off running.  Well sorta.  It was slow going, so many runners.  Thats okay I like to start out slow.  Only problem, by mile 5 we were still so congested.  It was tough to weave around runners and pick up the pace.  There was not going to be a PR.

It was so hard to get to the water stops so I kept running till around mile 7.  That is when I was able to get something to drink.  Yuck!  the water tasted horrible.  I went ahead and drank it.  I really needed to hydrate.  And I was getting so cold.   I got water a couple more times and it did not taste any better. 

I crossed the finish line in 2 hours 42 min.  Not my best but not my worse.  I can live with it.  As I crossed the finished I was freezing.  I got my medal, which glows in the dark, and tried to get to the food.  The finish was so crowded, I was stuck in the middle and could not get to the food.  I noticed so many runners throwing up and some even passed out.  What the heck.  I was not feeling the greatest but I just figured it was from all the crowds, cold and I really needed some food.

It was a nighmare getting back to my hotel.  Who would of thought.  I was stuck in the Mandalay Bay for quite some time.  Finally we were able to get out through the parking garage.  And catching a taxi was out of the question.  The lines were horrible.  We started to walk.

We made it back to the Monte Carlo at 11:30pm.  All I wanted was a cheeseburger, beer and a soak in the tub.  Mr Incredible went to find me some food while I started to soak.  I was feeling queasy but figured it was from the werid race conditions. 

I read later that the water we were served at the water stops was from fire hydrents.  And that a lot of other runners where very sick.  There was even an article in the Las Vegas newspaper.  I feel so sorry for all the runners that got sick.  I am so glad I did not stop and drink water at every water stop.

Mr Incredible and I had a fantastic time in Vegas.  Even came home Winners! 

I will not be running this race in the future.  It was really unorganized and I thought way to many runners for my taste.

If you are going to run Run Half Crazy!