Phoenix Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Went to Tempe this weekend for the RnR half marathon. 


First, on Saturday, Fox did his first ever race, running in the 1 mile "Kids Rock"... the course went from the finish of the full marathon to the finish of the half marathon in a little loop.  He was very excited about doing it, and had fun... afterward he said he wanted to do my race too.  I told him he would have to build up to that.  I didn't get an exact time on his run, but it seemed like it was right around 12 minutes, which is great. 

After that we spent most of the day at the pool (which was freezing, but the hot tub wasn't bad).  Later that night we went to the supercross at Chase Field... that was pretty fun (not something I thought I would ever go see).  Maybe not the best preparation for a race, but it was fun.

So, the race.  I went into it with a goal of beating 2:30... and an outside hope of a new PR (would need to beat 2:22).  I ended up doing 2:35, which I'm pretty happy with.  It is way better than Vegas' 3:00+, and I paced myself out pretty well I thought.  I had some tightness in my left hamstring starting around mile 6 or so... the usual gradual degradation of how my legs felt/functioned by the end.  But, I did manage to pick up some speed after the 10 mile mark, with my pace slowing from 11:06 at 5k, to 11:30 for 10k, to 11:55 at 10 miles, but back up to 11:52 for the overall.

Las Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon

Well, I finished the race, despite being sick for the most of this past week.  I had resigned to a slow time, but I still wanted to try to make it something reasonable... I was hoping for 2:30 or something around there. 

The race was insanely crowded.  They claimed that there were 44,000 people running.  For some reason, after the first few start corrals moved out, the rest of them were just all started at once it seemed.  Once we turned the corner to head north they just said walk up and go.  This I think added to everyone's issues with the race.

Pretty much the entire race was like playing football or something.  I generally run/walk, so I wasn't angry at the people walking... but they didn't have to walk 4 side-by-side or things like that.  Each time I ran (for the whole race), I had to dodge and weave between people.  I thought it was actually kind of fun doing this (at least when it opened up a bit more later)... but I guess a lot of people hated it.  I do feel bad for people running the full marathon who had to START weaving through people after completing the first half of their race.

The water stations were not always that great.  And I didn't know that the water was coming from a fire hydrant until later (I didn't get sick).  The porta-potties were pretty sparse.  I had to stop at one around mile 6 and the lines were huge. 

Overall, I'm glad I did it... it was pretty neat to run on the strip... but I don't think I would do this race again.  The organization was just poor all around.  And the dangerous situation in the hallway between bag check and the Mandalay Bay was the worst fire hazard I've seen.  We were packed in like cattle for what seemed like 45 minutes, then got to a point where there was another herd coming from the other side, and had to turn back.  I saw a number of people getting sick and moving off to the side... I was trying to not have a panic attack myself.

Anyway, glad it is over, glad I did it and finished.  My time was a crazy slow 3:07... but it was good to end the year on a successful race (rather than the DNF at the Flag half-ironman).  I think I will need to pick out a schedule for next year pretty soon, and an overall plan for what I want to do (tris/runs/other).  This year was far too lax exercise wise, and I need to get it going back in the right direction.

8 week half marathon plan

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	2mi		2mi	:30xt		4mi		8mi
	:27		:25			:50		1:47
2			2.5mi	2.5mi			5mi	10mi
			:30	:28			:58	1:56
3		3mi		3 mi		6mi		12mi
		:41		:39		1:25		2:45
4	:30xt	3.5mi		3.5mi		7mi		14mi
		:44		:44		1:33		3:01
5		4mi				8mi		12mi
		:51				1:42		2:33
6		4.5mi				4.5mi	9mi	18mi
		:57				:55	2:04	3:56
7				5mi			3mi	8mi
				1:05			:50	1:55
8		rest	rest	2mi	rest	rest	13.1mi	17.1mi

So, feeling like the full was too much, I switched my registration to the half marathon in Vegas. Now I have 8 weeks for that, I feel it is feasible, so I'm doing a real 8 week plan for this starting NOW.