How was the race?
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| Start Line pic by Theresa Pritchard |
Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon. It was a very tough race, but ultimately I feel pretty good about how it went overall. It started off great. Christina & I were in corral 12, but we worked our way up to actually start with corral 7 to give ourselves a little time cushion. We started right at sunset, running out of town past the back of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, and then turned around to come back by the sign on the way in, and then down the Strip. I'd made a pace band for a 5:30 marathon, and at every mile marker I checked my pace and was staying about 3 minutes ahead for the first 10 miles and felt great.
At mile 6, I looked down the Strip towards the Stratosphere and just felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I was there, that I had the opportunity to have this amazing experience, and I prayed and gave thanks to God while I ran. This isn't the life I thought I would be having, and I'd still give anything to have my old life back, but since I know that isn't an option, I'm incredibly thankful that Option B includes moments like that.I continued ahead of pace and actually ran a half PR in the first half of the race. Shortly after mile 10, the full course turned off the strip and began meandering through side streets. There were still bands and DJs set up along the course, but no more crowds or funny signs, and really no sights to see. I had been taking nutrition and drinking Nuun just like I trained, but I began to struggle around mile 15. I remembered how I'd felt at mile 14 of my 20 mile long run a few weeks before, and how I got a second wind shortly after. so I kept pushing but that second wind didn't kick in this time.
