2016 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon

2016 Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Race Report

In early August, I signed up for the 50th Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Las Vegas. With the 'Running the Strip' tagline, and 'at night' - it sounded cool. My first marathon was RnR San Diego in 2001, and I did the first RnR Half that year in Virginia Beach. I had taken off most of the first half of the year from running with a cold Minnesota winter, some knee issues, and I honestly don't remember (8 years later as I write this, and have no weekday notes for months, so I wonder if it was just working alot after our move up here the year before?).

Anyway - once I started ramping up my runs, I decided to do it.

It may sound like an easy decision, but there's a catch. My brother was running the 24 hour World's Toughest Mudder that same weekend (just outside Vegas) for the 3rd straight year, and I was going to crew him yet again. This has involved being awake for most, if not all of the 25.5 hr event, with it ending at 1:30pm, and then going to the race that started at 4:30pm.

So - to recap the WTM event - I crewed my brother Pat, with some support from his oldest son overnight, and he completed 60 miles, which is incredible! 20 obstacles on a 5mi loop, 817' elevation gain per lap (and 2miles of penalty loops if you failed certain obstacles), plus jumping from a 35' cliff into the lake numerous times. He did 12 laps over exactly 24 hours and finished 4/100 in his age group, 125/1235 overall. 

Finisher pic!

I did not sleep overnight as I crewed him, took photos, and kept him updated on times, obstacles and made sure I had everything ready for his time in the pit every lap. I know I put in about 17 miles over that 24 hour period. I had him practically packed up and ready to leave as he finished. Got checked in the hotel on the strip - he crashed, and I headed to my race!

Pre-race concert - Snoop Dogg!

Snoop Dogg on stage

With the race starting at 4:30pm (November 13, 2016) , I had been awake for 36 hours straight already. It was 72° and my feet were already sore from the desert course. I made my way through the Snoop Dogg concert and waited in the throngs on the concrete for the race start.

I wore my gray Harbison 50k shirt under my blue WTM Crew bib, standard black hat and gray shorts, with my one handheld water bottle (and my basic Timex digital watch I always wear).

Other than sore feet, I felt decent and ran comfortably - by the airport, by the "Welcome to Las Vegas' sign (didn't stop for a photo), and by Planet Hollywood near the 5k mark in 30:48. Pat's family was there and saw me although I didn't see them. 

Kept up the 9:20-9:30/mi pace and hit 10k by the wedding chapels in 59:23.

We finally turned off the 'Strip' around mile 7, ran through Fremont Street for a few blocks and back down the strip - going through 10mi in 1:36:16. I hit the halfway in 2:06:25 and wound around near the World Market Center. (There were numerous times we would wind around larger parking lots, or in between buildings - not a very interesting course at times)

I was able to (mostly) keep my pace under 10min/mi through mile 15 (after 2:24:39), and pushed some to do that. Fatigue set in pretty quickly then, and hunger (didn't have my Gu like I thought), and was just Tired, while my feet got more sore.

I ran 10's for 4 miles, had the only real hill as we went under I15, and settled into almost 12 minute miles from 21-23 (I hit 20 in 3:18:04) as we wound around the Festival Grounds near Circus Circus. 

The last bit was on the strip, except for one part where we took a sharp right for an out and back, which was awful, away from the lights and crowds. I recall getting one callout in the last straightaway for the WTM bib.

I hit the finishing chute and ended at 4:32:49! Not nearly my slowest (El Paso), but a very memorable one! (I finally got to sleep after being awake for about 42 hours)

Finisher!

 Recovered well and was back to my normal training after a week!

2014 World's Toughest Mudder (WTM) CREW

Outside Las Vegas, November 14-16, 2014. I helped crew my brother Pat and his buddy Jeff for the 2014 World's Toughest Mudder. Pat had done a few TM's, Spartan races, and other mud/obstacle events (Jeff had too), but neither had done anything like this before. Having set a goal (good or bad) for 50 miles would require traversing the 5 mile loop course (with ~23 obstacles each loop) 10 times. You had to start your final lap within 24 hrs, and were given a 2 hour window (for 26 total hours) to finish.

We all got there Friday afternoon and after doing some shopping, went to secure their 'pit' area and set up much of their stuff. We checked out some of the visible obstacles (rappelling, Berlin Walls, some good, short/steep hills, some electric wires, some new and old obstacles. We checked into the nearby host hotel, rested, I ran an errand, and we ate dinner with the other participants and got some clues on the course. With a 10am start on Saturday and a long weekend ahead of us, we all went to sleep early.  

Pre-Event: We got the pit all set up, walked around, checked out the 35foot high jumping platform over the lake that would be the last obstacle of each loop. Stopped for a nice photo op with Amelia Boone. (It's worth it - go check her out!) 

My goals were to see them (in the daylight) as much as possible on the course, be ready with whatever food and information they needed each lap, help them in any way possible to get their 50 miles. 

The lead up to the race start was lengthy with the motivational speech of Sean Corvair, National Anthem, and other standard pre-event info. But at 10am, with the expected leaders (including Nick Hollan, Ryan Atkins, etc) up front - they started!
Long conga line to start and I got quite a few photos before they headed out away from the pits. I went back to camp. This first lap had no obstacles - but the leaders were still crawling thru the pipes before it was corrected. Saw P&J head up a short steep hill by the pit entry and I went back to wait for them at camp.

So, for most of the daytime - I went back and forth from camp to various points on the course - to see them and take photos. I think 'Tight Fit' was the only obstacle I did not see. I stayed moving constantly - sometimes second-guessing myself where they would be.

Random notes from the day on the obstacles:
Saw them about 1.5-2 miles in...at Weigh Too Much
They had to put the correct weight (plus or minus a certain amount) of either sand/gravel or concrete (I think) as directed, and walk a short loop. If the weight was off - had to try again - re-load and walk and weigh. Some people weren't even putting the right stuff in their buckets...
Birth Canal...sliding underneath a pool of water. Some lines were much longer than others.  

Grappler - going to the dinner the night before and hearing how to do this really helped. Not 100% - but the idea of it helped. Some (Amelia) just bypassed it without even trying at times. Didn't lose too much time either (with Berlin Walls and some extra distance).
Swingers - Started out allowing people to ring the bell with their feet, then changed it (too easy I guess) that it had to be your hands.

I waited for them two times at the Cliff and somehow missed them go by. Once - just assumed I missed them and ran back to the camp and there they were; the other time, I saw Jeff had posted something. Ooops! Not a good pit crew move.
Camp time with them was mostly getting stuff they needed - food/sandwiches, drinks, clothes, etc. Breaks seemed kind of long to me, but it seemed to all be going well on their end. I knew I had a good 20-30 minutes at camp after each loop to prep for the next break before I could get to where I could see them on course. Even got out to mud mile once.
Once night came, obstacles and the course changed slightly. I know it would be difficult to see them on the course, so there was more time in camp to prep. I think it was 11pm or 12 before I really sat down and rested for a few minutes. At some point, Jeff had to get a new timing band so that made for some extra work/worry.
The wind was starting to pick up around 1am. They were out on lap 6. I had everything settled in the canopy and actually got into the small tent to close my eyes for a bit. The wind kept whipping the flaps and it was getting louder and harder. I got out and saw one neighbors tent/canopy start to blow away. I helped them for a bit before our own canopy was in a fight with the wind/sand. I had some help too and it was tough to just lower it down to half its height. It had already bent the metal at that point, I stood couching under the center just holding it down so it wouldn't blow away for about 30 minutes...other neighbors were in the same mess.
I eventually had the canopy dismantled and it was in shambles. I tossed it over to the side in no-mans land and gathered our stuff that was now spread around. I was still finding written stuff the next morning across the way...
(Swingers got shut down; Ladder to Hell was lowered)
I stuffed whatever I could into bags and grouped them together, About this time, Pat and Jeff came back. Once they realized I was ok and there wasn’t much they could do, they just went back out for another lap. Needless to say - they had no reason to stay long. One of their shorter pit stops.
I did manage to get things in some order and the small tent was fine. So after Lap 7, they took an 'extended' break. It was 2:45am or something, they needed just three more laps. I knew Jeff was ready to go, but Pat was almost done. I am not sure I ever got to sleep, but I prodded them awake and between some white lies and some persistence (do one more lap, THEN take a break), they got up and back on the course at 5am (?). They moved fine and once they left out on Lap #8 after just a 5 minute break, I knew they had it. I spent a good deal of time with them on lap 8 and 9. Didn't talk too much, just kept with them.
There was practically no break after Lap 9 and they were right back out there, I packed up the tent and bags, took much of it in just 2 trips to the entrance. Ran for the car and parked it closer. Filled it and then parked it again and hustled back to the pit. I did make it to the Cliff for one last jump and got them as they finished at about 10:20am, after 24 hrs 20 minutes and 50 miles of WTM 2014!
Couldn't be more proud of those two and all they accomplished - and doing it side by side every step of the way (except penalty things of course!). I was honored to have helped them reach their goal.
(I started this a month after the event and finished it up with many details still missing almost 1 year later! I'll do better all around next month!)