Two years ago, and knowing I was a runner interested in upping my mileage, my friend Jessalynn S. jokingly suggested we should run the Vegas half-marathon.
Hahahah, I replied, as it was obvious that this would never happen owing to logistics (she lived in Oregon, I in NYC and other friends who would join us from Denver, D.C. and LA) and, frankly, getting anyone to agree on dinner is hard enough, let alone getting them agree to pay for a race and travel (sometimes) halfway across the country. But the race entry fee wasn't that bad (in 2009 it was $85) and it was a relatively central location for us to all meet up. Despite the freezing cold, we had a blast of a good time and enjoyed the course well enough (up and back down the strip) to ignore the terrible pre-race wrangling and the generally lame post-race logistics (finding a cab to get back to our hotel was next to impossible) to have ourselves a great time. We decided then and there to come back in 2010.
And in 2010 we did come back, and generally the same amount of fun. The prices were at the upper echelon of what we considered acceptable for a half-marathon ($145 whether you did the half or the full) but this year I had a new goal -- to run my first ever full marathon, which I signed up for and indicated on my race information. The weather was considerably better this year but the course was pretty boring once you finished the first 13 miles -- out and through industrial and office parks, with kind volunteers but not much in the way of entertainment or support. The citizens of Vegas haven't quite caught on to the race yet, which is not to say they should be up at 8am on a Sunday morning, but that it would be nice.
But this year things have changed. In addition to a high price demanded for the race fee ($130 in a special pre-sale in March), the time of the race has now changed from early Sunday morning to 4pm Sunday afternoon for the full and 5:30 for the half.
Now, this is important for two reasons:
1) the marathon, which already isn't that exciting in terms of course layout or community support and not designed for five hour finishers (all the entertainment was completed well before I finished last year), has been reduced to a 4.5 hour time limit (I finished in 5 hours last year, which means I'm not going to run it this year) and
2) This completely screws with the timing of the trip if I'm coming in from out of town.
Now, instead of arriving Saturday morning, getting my race packet and going to bed, I now will have two whole days to kill until the race starts. Since registration is required to be in person, I won't have the ability to arrive on Sunday morning and stay 'til Wednesday -- no, now I have to get in Saturday morning, do nothing all day Saturday and Sunday, and stay 'til Tuesday. Basically, I'm paying for a four day trip, but only really getting to use a day and a half.
I think my friends will probably still talk me into going -- the trip has been a highlight of my social calendar the last two years. But with the price so high, the concerted effort to get rid of the marathon and make this a half-marathon only (at least that's what it seems to me) and the schedule adjustments that reduce the amount of time I actually get to hang out in Vegas, I don't know how many more years I'll make this a definite stop on my running destination list.
And that's sad, because this could be an awesome race.