Las Vegas Marathon
This was my "backup road marathon" in case I didn't qualify for Boston at Silicon Valley Marathon. I planned to race this one aggressively: run 7 minute miles throughout unless and until I fell apart.
Race morning the Bellagio shuttled us to the start at the Mandalay Resort in some very nice vans. We still ended up walking quite a ways to get to the corrals. In the huge throng of people (over 12,000 competitors), even trying to get as far in front as possible, it took me a minute to get across the starting line.
I ran the first mile in 6:47 before slowing down to a more reasonable 7 minute pace. My splits were as follows: 6:47, 7:02, 6:55, 6:53, 6:53, 6:55, 7:11, 7:12, 6:53, 6:54, 8:18 (mile marker long!), 6:06 (translates to two 7:12 miles if these two miles were correctly placed), followed by 7:32. At mile 13, I was at 1:31:30 and hit the half marathon at 1:32:25 (chip time). Then up the hill of around 500 feet of climbing (although most people think of Vegas as being flat): 7:32, 7:30, 7:35, 7:35,7:12. All along the way spectators and grade school cheerleaders (in town for a national competition) cheered us on.
Around mile 17 I started to get a bad blood blister on my toepad (us trail runners aren't used to road pounding), slowing down to approaching 7:40 miles. Bummer. I should have worn thick socks for a road marathon. My splits from 18 onward were: 7:37, 7:38, 7:41, 7:29, 7:08 (downhill!) and 7:42. Turning right at mile 23 through the crowd of half marathoners on the backside of the strip all of the faster marathoners had to slow down to avoid the walkers in the half marathon. I held steady at 7:40 miles, as it was too hard to speed up amidst the crowd, and finished at 3:10:56 - a PR and good enough to qualify for Boston regardless of age (the open standard being 3:10 and change).
I felt good about the whole day. I think that with proper gear, no blister emergencies and a clear finish to the course I will be able to run 7 minutes throughout and post a 3:04 as my times from shorter distances indicate I should be able to.
Race morning the Bellagio shuttled us to the start at the Mandalay Resort in some very nice vans. We still ended up walking quite a ways to get to the corrals. In the huge throng of people (over 12,000 competitors), even trying to get as far in front as possible, it took me a minute to get across the starting line.
I ran the first mile in 6:47 before slowing down to a more reasonable 7 minute pace. My splits were as follows: 6:47, 7:02, 6:55, 6:53, 6:53, 6:55, 7:11, 7:12, 6:53, 6:54, 8:18 (mile marker long!), 6:06 (translates to two 7:12 miles if these two miles were correctly placed), followed by 7:32. At mile 13, I was at 1:31:30 and hit the half marathon at 1:32:25 (chip time). Then up the hill of around 500 feet of climbing (although most people think of Vegas as being flat): 7:32, 7:30, 7:35, 7:35,7:12. All along the way spectators and grade school cheerleaders (in town for a national competition) cheered us on.
Around mile 17 I started to get a bad blood blister on my toepad (us trail runners aren't used to road pounding), slowing down to approaching 7:40 miles. Bummer. I should have worn thick socks for a road marathon. My splits from 18 onward were: 7:37, 7:38, 7:41, 7:29, 7:08 (downhill!) and 7:42. Turning right at mile 23 through the crowd of half marathoners on the backside of the strip all of the faster marathoners had to slow down to avoid the walkers in the half marathon. I held steady at 7:40 miles, as it was too hard to speed up amidst the crowd, and finished at 3:10:56 - a PR and good enough to qualify for Boston regardless of age (the open standard being 3:10 and change).
I felt good about the whole day. I think that with proper gear, no blister emergencies and a clear finish to the course I will be able to run 7 minutes throughout and post a 3:04 as my times from shorter distances indicate I should be able to.
posted by Adam Blum at 1:10 PM
2 Comments:
Adam -
I'm a bit late to your post, but congrats! You gonna do Boston this year? It's a lot of fun.
SD
Thanks. Yes, I'm signed up for Boston. Should be fun. Will be last road marathon for a long time. Nice job yesterday at Woodside.
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