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| - This was my first marathon. I trained hard - well, not as hard as I could have, but as hard as I was capable of in the midst of an intense and slightly insane year. And I picked this race because (a) the marathon cap was low, (b) because I have family in LV it was a heck of a lot easier for me to get to, stay overnight, and bring my dog, than just about any other marathon I could think of, and (c) Mandalay Bay would keep my husband entertained and not bored for the 4.5+ hours I knew it would take me to run my slow but steady pace.
I was fascinated with the RNR Facebook page after this event. I experienced the oppressive crowds as everyone was leaving Mandalay, but I really think that the Mandalay event staff is the one truly at fault there. I grew up going to Wrigley Field, a stadium designed with uber-bottlenecks; you sure as heck don't get pushed around like that leaving Wrigley -- because the staff are experienced in controlling crowds. I did not get ill like many runners say they were; but as the public health organization's report stated, that does not seem to be directly linked to the race...so, next issue, please?
I also came to Vegas with the goal of running a marathon, not getting crunk the night before and then running a marathon. Living on the edge of the SoCal desert, I knew it would be cold at night. I trained hard and was fit and capable of finishing. I know a lot of non-rookies had issues with this race, but for the most part I couldn't help but feel a lot of people had unrealistic expectations, and that contributed to their problems. My biggest gripe was the shortage of portables, which probably added 15 minutes to my race time(!!). But even if they lined the entire course with portables, with 44K people, it still wouldn't be enough at times.
There are some kinks to work out for sure...but the mass hysteria on the interwebs seemed largely unwarranted to me, and RNR knows that they need to act to keep the race successful. If it's a course you want to run (and I loved the course - I got engaged at the Stratosphere five years ago, and loved running by that, and several other places that are so meaningful to me!), and you don't mind a huge production race like a large RNR event, and you come prepared (fitness and weatherwise) and intent on racing first and foremost...well, I think you'll be pleased.
Right after the race I'd said to my husband that I probably wouldn't run it again purely because I'd love to run future marathons in other places I love (Big Sur, anyone?!), but those reasons listed above for why I chose the race sure would make this an enticing repeat for me!
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