The DeLorme Family: Las Vegas Rock and Roll Recap

    We flew out to Las Vegas on the afternoon of Saturday,December 2nd, so my brother and I could run the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Joey, my brother, my sister, and me went. Joey and I are so lucky to have awesome parents that are willing to watch our kids for a weekend so we can get away.
When we landed, we headed to the Luxor. That is where we usually stay. The rooms are reasonable and they are pretty nice. Also, the Luxor was right up the street from where the race started, which was an added bonus. After we checked in, we headed to the expo to get our bibs and race packets. The expo was pretty similar to the one in Denver. We did find that they gave away a lot better samples and freebies in Denver than in Vegas.
   After the expo, we were pretty hungry. We decided that Bucca di Bepo would be the perfect restaurant to carb load at. We had some amazing pizza and baked ziti. I love Bucca and wish that we still had one in Colorado Springs. We walked around a little bit after we ate. My brother and I headed to bed shortly after. We wanted to be very rested for the next day.
   My brother and I found it to be a little harder to eat for a race that was so late in the day. It was also a little more challenging to eat for a half marathon while in Vegas. We couldn't bring food along and it was hard to find things that were good to eat. We ended up eating a decent breakfast. We also found a good place to get a turkey sandwich for lunch.
We hung around the hotel for most of the day. The Broncos were playing so we watched most of the game from our room. We were very upset to look out the window to see how windy is was. The palm tree leaves were blowing like crazy. Wind is the single worst weather condition to see for a runner. Running in wind is the worst possible weather condition. We just kept hoping it would die down in time for the race.
     The marathon actually took off an hour and a half before the half. Our hotel room faced the strip and we could see the runner's staging area. We had fun watching all the marathoners run by.
My brother and I were getting more and more nervous as it got closer for our race to start which was at 4:30. I just didn't feel as rested as I usually like to for races. I usually run races shortly after waking up and getting a full nights sleep. We headed to the start line about 30 minutes before the race started. My brother was in the first corral and I was in the second which was good because we didn't have to go separate ways until right before the race. I was still feeling pretty nervous, but I was more anxious to just get it over with. After months of training, and lots of anticipation, I felt ready as I ever was going to be.
    My goal was to beat the my time in Denver in September. I felt that I had a pretty good chance. The Vegas course was very flat and the elevation is much lower. I really thought that I was going to take several minutes off my previous time.
    When the gun went off, I started running. One of my greatest strengths as a runner is my ability to run a consistent pace. I credit it to the fact that I run almost all my miles on a treadmill. I know what my pace should feel like. I found the pace that I needed to run using my Garmin, and I tried to just stay there. I was doing an amazing job at it. Every time I looked at my Garmin my pace was always the same. I thought it was broken at first. Running down the Vegas strip was the most amazing running experience I have ever had. It was dark and the lights just looked amazing. Since they shut down the strip for the race, there were tons and tons of people lining the sides of strip. I honestly felt like a celebrity running down with such a large crowd cheering. It was amazing. The wind was bad at that point, but it was at our backs so the big gusts just sort of pushed me. I was feeling great for the first 8 miles or so.
    Around the 8th mile, we were no longer on the strip and went through a dark residential neighborhood. It was dark and just felt desolate even with lots of other runners. We then turned around and headed the other direction. This is when things went really down hill. We were now running directly into the wind. It was really, really strong wind. Big gusts kept coming up. At some points it was blowing me sideways. Running against strong wind like that was the hardest running I have ever done. You are using all your energy and giving it everything you have, yet your pace doesn't reflect that. I felt like I was running in place or running against a brick wall. It hurt so bad. I still wanted to PR, but I knew it was going to be tough. I kept running harder than I ever had. The last 3 miles were pure hell. I was in pain and so unbelievably tired. I didn't even look at my Garmin to see my pace. I didn't care what it was for I knew that I could not have ran any faster. I knew that the finish line was in front of the Mirage and I was so happy to finally see it off in the distance. I eventually got to the finish line. Last time, I really pushed it at the end, this time I had nothing left. Crossing that finish line was such a sense of relief. My time was about 1 minute SLOWER than my time in Denver. I was very sad to see that, but I truly knew that I could not have given it anymore. I left everything I had on that course.
    I quickly was able to find my brother. When I saw him, he too looked very defeated. He was really hoping to beat his last time. He experienced the same problems with the wind and was not able to beat his time. We met Joey and Katy at our meeting spot. The wind was gusting like crazy, so we found a cab and went back to the Luxor to get out of the wind.
   By the time the race was done, it was late and all the restaurants were very busy and had long waits. We finally just decided to eat at the House of Blues. We had to wait a long time and the food took forever. By the time the food arrived, I had not eaten for 9 hours and ran very hard for 13.1 miles. I was so nauseous that I could only eat a bite. I was not feeling well at all. We headed back to the room and we were all asleep by 11:00 that night.
   We woke up feeling pretty good on Monday. We went to a breakfast buffet, and once I got a decent meal I felt great. We spent the rest of the day shopping, eating, and sight seeing. We had a great last day. We flew home Tuesday morning.
     I would definitely do that race again. It was a great ending to a truly phenomenal year of running for me. My brother and I decided that it is not a yearly race because of the high cost that is involved. Once you factor in flight, hotel, race fees, food, etc. it really adds up.   I know I will run it again, I just don't think it will be anytime soon. I just hope next time it won't be as windy. I think the wind affected a lot of people's times. The males time that won the half marathon this year was about 4 minutes slower than last year and the females was about 9 minutes slower. That is a huge difference, and all the top times were much, much slower than previous years. I ended up getting 167th out of 13,488 females. I'm happy with that number. My brother got 56th OVERALL out of 22,088 runners!!! I am extremely proud of him. Like anything else, we are our own worst critics.
     I have ran in 15 races this year. I have also ran about 1,400 miles this year. I could not be happier with the way my running has gone this year. I really have become a much stronger runner and achieved goals I would never have thought possible until now. I have definitely decided to take some time off from racing. I need some time to just run without any pressure. I want to just spend the winter running off intuition and building a really good base for the spring. My next race won't be until March. I look forward to enjoying my runs and not having to do any specific training runs (even though I have already been mapping out different speed workouts in my head). I can't wait to see what next year brings.