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| - I really wanted to give this race a higher rating, but I just couldn't do it. Yep, another long review, but only because I want to make sure I hit everything...
It started with completing the full in December 2009 (amazing)/pre-Rock n Roll, and I've since run the half for the last two years with friends. I honestly like the atmosphere, but with the race having been changed to a night race and upping the registration fees ($170 at the highest) and amount of registrants to 44,000, I'm starting to second-guess my love of running this event.
I went to the expo on Friday and was somewhat disappointed. Yes, they had cool gear, but if you didn't get there early enough and put down an item that you were contemplating buying, kiss that sucker goodbye. The clothes were amazing, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a shirt that I didn't know how many times I would actually wear. The Brooks display was cool--carnival style games with skee-ball and a raffle. I also checked out some of the shoes, but with a $10 discount on the Ghost 4 shoes, decided I'd wait it out for the newer version.
I'll admit that Zappos had a cool area where they took a series of 30 pictures and you could simulate crossing the finish line. Afterwards, you could email it to yourself. That was one of the most fun events that I happened to do there.
There were some other sponsors that were doing the "sign up and get a prize bit"--Dodge, Nutrilife, SanDisk, Geico, Brooks, and the Spartan Race people--as well as other vendors giving samples--Cliff, MGD64, someone giving out tomatoes, Barefoot wines, Snickers, the egg white people, people with electrolyte tabs and goo/gels, and PR Bar, but I was disappointed that there weren't more samples (to balance out the amount of vendors). I feel like the San Diego expo definitely had more. Free is free though, right?
The race:
Props for getting us into the corrals and making sure that we were as organized as we could be, as well as blocking off areas (a cop held back an ambulance as we ran down Las Vegas Blvd) and directing traffic to other areas. However, there was some confusion about the separation of corrals, location of the electrolyte drink was vs. the water at the aid stations. I feel like they should have had the electrolyte drink better separated from the water, since I feel like I just ended up with water every single time. They did have plenty of the Gu gels, so I was happy for that.
They had some cones with signs (when you could find them) designating where the half and full marathoners were supposed to run (in addition to bicyclers yelling where we were supposed to run). While trying to maneuver through the crowds, it seemed almost impossible to get over to the correct areas, or even to pass people (walkers, marathoners, bikers, half marathoners, etc). I honestly feel like I was running and looking at the ground so as to not trip over random articles of clothing, people, and wasn't able to enjoy myself as much. I also was almost trampled a couple of times and I too ran into people while trying to pass. To be honest, I seriously couldn't wait to be done with the race as a result of these factors. l also feel like there were less photographers at this event, or it's possible that I missed them since I was more focused on finishing the race vs. posing.
At the end, I was happy to just go and claim my medal (glow-in-the dark) and grab a mylar sheet so that I could warm up. There was just a cluster of people gathered around all of the sheet stations, and it seemed like the sheets were going quicker than the rolls were being able to be set out. They also had the standard post-race recovery supplies: waters, Cytomax, pretzel packs, bananas (needed to ripen a bit), Snickers bars, and Go Gurt.
The lines for the photo booths seemed to be lengthy, so I just opted to pass by and head directly to the meeting area, by the stage, and skipped out on the bags of ice distributed by the medical tent. They had more of the golden tomatoes, some other Geico paraphernalia, and a few other vendors, but at this point, I just wanted to go inside and thaw out.
We headed inside of Mandalay Bay, but it seems like everyone had the same idea, since we got stuck in a huge group of people--some there to check out Mandalay Bay, but most of the others were either marathon/half marathon participants or spectators--almost like the post-race area migrated indoors.
I did enjoy the energy of the volunteers and the spectators, although I believe that the spectators may have retreated indoors after awhile since it started getting colder, windy, and began to rain later on, which caused plenty of foot traffic inside of Mandalay Bay.
I didn't have a chance to go to the pre or post-race parties (and probably never will) since I was pretty tired/hungry.
A shout out to the tons of volunteers (race crew, medical, police officers). Your support was appreciated.
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