The Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon are this weekend and I'm getting pretty excited. Mike will be running the full and I'll be doing the half. I've been checking the weather forecast each day and this is what it says right now: low of 38 degrees, high of 59 degrees, and 4mph winds. Perfect! The race starts at 6:15 a.m., so it should be in the 40's for my whole race. I love it!
Seeing that the race is only 5 days away, I guess I should do a little planning. The most important thing first: what am I going to wear? I bought a new pair of running shorts for the occasion. After running the last month in tights, it will be great to be in shorts again. As for the shirt, our Thanksgiving Day run nicely provided an ugly, gold, long sleeve cotton shirt that will serve as the perfect throw away shirt for the start. I can always count on that race to provide a hideous shirt that I am happy to chuck to the side of the road. Some poor homeless person will probably end up wearing it, bragging to all of his friends that he ran a 5K in Indiana. I'll wear my tried and true tank underneath and hopefully will be comfortable within the first mile or two.
To bring a camera or not to bring a camera? The few times I have run with a camera, I have never stopped to take pictures. I'll be running by myself as everyone else that I know is either running the full or is a lot faster than I am, so I won't have anyone else to take pictures of. On the other hand, I've never run a race in Vegas before and I'm guessing there will be some picture worthy events and people along the way. Has anyone run Vegas before? Did you wish you had a camera? I would have to wear my race belt with a pouch to accommodate it, and I just don't know if it's worth the extra weight and jiggling. What to do?!
Since it is a race, figuring out what pace to run might be a good idea. I started thinking about my schedule for next year. In January, I already have two races penciled in. I'm hoping to do a 10K on January 1st and The Securian Frozen Half Marathon on January 23rd. I've decided to concentrate on the January 23rd race and train pretty hard for that. Since it's only 7 weeks after Vegas, I've decided to not push too hard for this race. I have some chronic hamstring soreness, so if I go all out in this race I may not be able to train as hard as I would like right afterwards.
Ultimately, I have to think about the two half marathons together. Vegas will be flat and ideal temperatures; The Frozen Half will be hilly and horrid conditions. Vegas will be fun and full of smiles; The Frozen Half will be miserable no matter what pace I run. My goal for Vegas is to finish in 2:15 and hopefully come out of it in reasonable condition. My goal for The Frozen half will be to beat my Vegas time by 5 minutes. Secondary goal for Vegas: to beat an Elvis or two. Secondary goal for The Frozen Half: to not freeze to death.
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11 comments:
I've run in Vegas before but never on the strip. My guess is that there will probably be plenty of picture worthy sites but I probably wouldn't want to carry a camera either. Anyway, I think you'll have a good time.
The Vegas half seems like it will be a blast and it would be cool to take pictures. Though, when I run by myself I have trouble taking pictures.
Don't bring the camera. If you want pictures of the strip, then take them when you visit after the race.
Any pictures that don't have people you know in them typically aren't worth taking ;)
My friends worked a tennis event there one February and winds were over 40 MPH and temps were in the 40's. Lets hop that the weather gods are right for you as I know the temps adn wind can make it harder. Looking forward to a report.
I took pics in SF while doing the Half there, and was really glad i did. For a destination race, I would do it again! Good luck this weekend to you both, looking forward to hearing about it!
Good luck this weekend.
Take the camera and get some goofy in-race photos for the blog since (unless I missed it) this isn't one of your target events for the year. Have some fun.
Who knows what you might see....
you will rock this race, Beth.
I've heard that Las Vegas is only partly scenic. You run on the strip, but mostly on a long stretch of nothing. (You'll have to report back in your rr).
Doesn't hurt to take the camera -- you never know how many running Elvis's (Elvi?) you might see.
Good luck and have a blast. I was also going to mention the Elvi!
Enjoy your trip and your race, Beth! And by all means, carry a camera. Better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have it!
All the best!
Hey Beth,
Good Luck in Vegas, have a lot of fun, be smart and have a great strategy. And as far as the run, good luck with that too!.
Best of luck! The last time I ran the Frozen half, it was over 50 degrees and I did it in a complete seatsuit. I've also done it when it was really cold and windy (along the river, there's no break from the wind).
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