2018 Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Recap

On Sunday, November 11, I ran the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. I planned this to coincide with a scheduled writing retreat in Sin City.

I approached this race as a fun departure from recent marathons. Since I already got my Boston Qualifying race for the year (St. George, with a time of 3:14:00), my goal at the Vegas RNR was to take my time and enjoy the sights. And that’s exactly what I did, finishing with a comfortable time of 3:34:32 and stopping a bunch of times along the course to take photos and high-five people in the crowd.

Highlights:

Running the Strip

The Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon course started on Las Vegas Blvd. near the Monte Carlo casino and ran south to loop around the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. From there, we ran the entire length of the Strip, up through downtown Las Vegas and right up to the Fremont Street Experience (Old Strip), then headed south again. Marathoners got a detour that took us through miles and miles of city streets and parking lots, and then we hit the Strip again and finished right by the Mirage.

The experience of running the Strip was amazing. It was actually a little eerie, being on a street that’s usually packed with cars and noise. Going past so many major landmarks in one of the most familiar city in the country was almost worth the price of admission. Almost. See below.

Race Expo

This race had the largest expo I’ve ever seen. It took up an entire hall in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Just the Brooks booth (Brooks is a major sponsor of the race) seemed to occupy a third of the floor space. It was great to see so many vendors and get a chance to see so many running-related products.

The Concert

They don’t call it the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon for nothing. The headliner, Capital Cities, was great. I was surprised to find that I actually knew a few of their songs. Since I wasn’t actually racing the race, I was able to enjoy some of the performance. I was actually kind of sad that I had to leave to start the race.

The Crowd

The crowd was bizarre. In some areas, it was rambunctious, with people calling out your name and screaming and cheering. In other places, the “spectators” were obviously just tourists trying to get from one place to another. Some seemed irritated that they couldn’t cross the street right in front of the runners. In the places were actual race fans were congregating, though, they were really supportive.

Lowlights:

“Rat Maze” Course

I didn’t realize this when I signed up, but the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon is primarily a half marathon—at least based on the number of participants in the various events. The course is perfect for a 13.1-mile race. In order to get the full 26.2, they have to send runners on two separate wild goose chases through the streets and back alleys of Las Vegas. In two areas in particular, they extended the mileage by looping us around in parking lots. Not scenic at all. I would’ve rather run the half marathon course twice instead. Maybe that’s not practical, but it certainly would’ve sucked less.

Take, for example, the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd. and Main/Paradise. We passed through the first time at the 7.5-mile mark, heading north toward Fremont St. Then we did a buttonhook turn at the 11-mile mark to run 10 miles of boring city streets. Full marathoners passed through the same intersection again at the 21-mile mark on our way to the second parking lot maze. As you might expect, this opened the door to some course-cutting.

Rat Maze #1: The first parking lot maze wound in circles around a series of long warehousey-looking buildings. I think the total mileage of this section was something like three miles or so. They had speakers and flashing lights lighting up the sides of the buildings, but it was still exactly what it felt like: running around in circles just to add mileage. I was trying to make it a party, singing along with the music, but the runners round me didn’t join in. Jerks.

Rat Maze #2: The second section of rat maze was almost two miles in a giant casino parking lot (the Circus Circus, I think). We literally just ran around in loops marked by cones. There were two different bandstands in the area, and one of the bands was pretty good. I was actually tempted to stop and listen to them, but I didn’t. But seriously—who doesn’t want to spend a Sunday evening running around in circles in a parking lot? Yes, that’s sarcasm.

Finisher’s Area

After crossing the finish line, runners still had a long way to go. We walked 30 yards, then got a bottle of water. Then another 30-40 yards to get a granola bar. Another 50 yards for Gatorade. And on and on. It probably took a half mile of walking just to get to the end of the runners-only enclosure. Then I walked another quarter mile to reach the bag pickup location. Now this is a big race with lots of runners, and it was good to cool down and keep my legs going. On the other hand, I would’ve liked to have a comfortable place to sit for a few minutes. No such luck.

Chocolate “Milk”

A fundamental truth of the universe is that the best races have chocolate milk at the finish line. There’s simply no way to explain how amazing chocolate milk tastes after running a race. When I saw the ice buckets full of chocolate milk, I was ecstatic. (Your brain gets a little giddy after you finish a marathon.) I accepted one greedily and opened it up. Took a swig. Something was wrong.

That’s when I really studied the carton. I’d just run a frickin’ marathon and they’d given me FAT FREE chocolate milk.

In my opinion, fat free chocolate milk after a marathon is a crime against humanity. Please, just stahp!

Race Medal

In the preview photos, it looked really cool. The way the “cards” move is pretty cool. But it’s dinky and aside from some glitter on the cards it’s devoid of bling. Wasn’t this a Las Vegas marathon? Maybe I’m spoiled by my local races, but I was a little disappointed by the medal. (Photo for comparison.)