Las Vegas Marathon Race Reviews
Rating: 
Link to Web Site: www.lvmarathon.com
Date of Run: 4 Dec 2005
Reviewed By: Foo Blue Monkey
Comments: It's a completely different marathon! They decided to take it BIG TIME, and shot for 15,000 runners. They only got 11,000 (only!), but it was still one hell of a show. This year they shut down the strip and allowed all the runners to go through. It is also now a circular course, going north for 8 miles, then west, then back down south on Torrey Pines, then next to the Freeway (I-15?) to finish back at the Mirage (the host). We made a weekend trip of it, flying down Friday (from a blizzard in Spokane), renting a convertible and driving around the strip with the top down (in a summery 58 deg), going to see Blue Man (my brother got us tickets -- thanks Jeff), renting a condo and watching movies all day Saturday, hydrating, etc. We ran the race Sunday and flew back Monday. 3 Monkeys -- the nucleus of the Blue Monkey Marathon Team. Mullet just missed his 4-hour goal (pretty good for a first marathon), and Big Wave creamed his previous PR of 4:08 with a 3:37. Fun race. And you should have seen the leggy Santa's helpers dancing at mile 20.
And yes, through a fluke of rescheduling the "New" Las Vegas Marathon to the weakest part of the season, Foo got to run the Las Vegas Marathon twice in one year.
Rating: 
Link to Web Site: www.lvmarathon.com
Date of Run: 30 Jan 2005
Reviewed By: Foo Blue Monkey
Comments: Attendance this year near 3500 marathoners, so it's kind of a big one. I decided to let lots of slower people ahead of me at the start so I'd have lot's of motivation later in the race (passing people peps me up, even when I'm toasted late in the race). I started so far back in the pack that it took me two minutes to reach the start line. All runners wear a chip on their shoe so they can record your actual start and finish time, and your time at the half, so starting late doesn't affect your overall time. Another good side-effect of starting that far back is you don't jack-rabbit and kill yourself early. There's just too many people going slow back there to allow you to dodge them all and go fast. Any - the race: Start line is WAY south of town in the town of "Jean", which is on the old highway from (to?) LA. When you see the large paddle-wheel steamer in the middle of the desert, you're near the start. The new freeway parallels the old 2-lane at a distance of a half-mile or so, so the noise is not too bad, but it's always there. Nothing but sage brush for scenery, though the hills surrounding are kindof pretty in the rising sun. Course rises 200ft in the first 8 miles to an elevation of 3000ft, which is getting up there. Then it drops 1000ft over the next 10 miles 1.5%ish grade, very easy, but it's enough to drop 20sec/mile off your time, and gets your through mile 18 feeling pretty fresh. Then it flattens out for the last 8 as you enter town on Las Vegas Boulevard (the strip). The course turns off the Blvd before you actually get to "the strip", so it wasn't that cool. Next year is the 40th anniversary, so they plan on running the entire length of the strip, which would be cool, but I kinda like that downhill stretch in the middle. Eventually the course turns east, following McCarran's main runway. I remember smelling burning rubber from landing planes, but I remember little else after mile 22. Finish was in Sunset park, Las Vegas' largest.