I successfully completed my first half marathon last night with a time of 2:00:38!!!
I had a blast and loved every minute of it! Aside from practically dying during the last few miles.
But running through the STRIP and NIGHT was spectacular. There were SO many people (44k) - it was just a solid wall of runners for more than 13 miles. (the marathoners merged with the half marathoners.) I was weaving in and out the whole time as best as I could without tripping over anybody - or cups or discarded hats and bags and gloves and cones. Oh yeah - CONES in the middle of a street with tens of thousands of people running through - bad idea. I almost tripped over one and would have been trampled by the crowd. But since I have never done a race with more than 100 or so people this was AWESOME and I enjoyed the crowds, even if I got stuck between slow people sometimes!
It was really cold, and I couldn't feel my feet when I was waiting in the corrals to start, but I quickly warmed up and felt great! Lucky for me, the race was around 2000 ft elevation and I normally train between 3500 and 5000 - so it was much easier.
I had two wide open blisters on the bottom of my feet from running on a treadmill, so I put honey and a pad on them, taped it securely to my foot, and wore my Jaya vibrams. The blisters have been just fine, no pain even during 13 miles.
My left foot likes to cramp up in the cold - and it did after a water station near mile 11 that had puddles of water all over the ground. It hurt and I was scared for a second I would have to stop running. So I pretty much hobbled best I could while still running until my foot complied.
I run lopsided. That is causing me issues. My left posterior ankle is so tight and sore - I cannot even bend over or stretch it in the least without bad pain. Is this an achilles problem? And then my right knee. I have never had a knee injury. I don't even know what this is. It hurts all around my knee, mainly in the lower part and inside back and well, all of it. Going down stairs is very hard on both the left heel and right knee.
I just hope I will be good as new soon! The half marathon was SO worth the pain! I would definitely do RnR Vegas again! Holy excitement! I know there are a lot of criticisms about the race organiztion and safety, but I personally had an amazing time and loved it.
I had a blast and loved every minute of it! Aside from practically dying during the last few miles.
But running through the STRIP and NIGHT was spectacular. There were SO many people (44k) - it was just a solid wall of runners for more than 13 miles. (the marathoners merged with the half marathoners.) I was weaving in and out the whole time as best as I could without tripping over anybody - or cups or discarded hats and bags and gloves and cones. Oh yeah - CONES in the middle of a street with tens of thousands of people running through - bad idea. I almost tripped over one and would have been trampled by the crowd. But since I have never done a race with more than 100 or so people this was AWESOME and I enjoyed the crowds, even if I got stuck between slow people sometimes! It was really cold, and I couldn't feel my feet when I was waiting in the corrals to start, but I quickly warmed up and felt great! Lucky for me, the race was around 2000 ft elevation and I normally train between 3500 and 5000 - so it was much easier.
I had two wide open blisters on the bottom of my feet from running on a treadmill, so I put honey and a pad on them, taped it securely to my foot, and wore my Jaya vibrams. The blisters have been just fine, no pain even during 13 miles.
My left foot likes to cramp up in the cold - and it did after a water station near mile 11 that had puddles of water all over the ground. It hurt and I was scared for a second I would have to stop running. So I pretty much hobbled best I could while still running until my foot complied.
I run lopsided. That is causing me issues. My left posterior ankle is so tight and sore - I cannot even bend over or stretch it in the least without bad pain. Is this an achilles problem? And then my right knee. I have never had a knee injury. I don't even know what this is. It hurts all around my knee, mainly in the lower part and inside back and well, all of it. Going down stairs is very hard on both the left heel and right knee.
I just hope I will be good as new soon! The half marathon was SO worth the pain!
I would definitely do RnR Vegas again! Holy excitement! I know there are a lot of criticisms about the race organiztion and safety, but I personally had an amazing time and loved it.
