. "3"^^ . "2"^^ . "0"^^ . . "1"^^ . "2013-11-21T00:00:00"^^ . "I have wanted to run in this race for years now and was so excited to finally get my chance. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. Not entirely, mind you, as there were still moments of the race that were awesome - especially the random drunk guy in front of Harrah's who handed me an ice cold bud light around mile 6. I wish he'd been there again at mile 10 or so, I could have used another! :P\n\nRunning on the strip at night was cool. Really cool. But that's only a few miles of the run. Once you start getting further down Las Vegas Blvd. into down town, the glitz and glamour wear off and are replaced by sketchy tweekers and homeless people shuffling up and down the sidewalks and actually onto the race course (which is not barricaded off anymore at this point). THEN at about the half-way mark, the course turns off of Las Vegas Blvd. for three miles of silent darkness winding through residential and industrial streets. And not nice ones. There were no barricades, no spectators, no course support except the occasional gas-generator-run light and a cop sitting by watching. It did not feel secure. It felt scary and sketchy and dismal. And depressing. Way to kill any race day motivation or runner's high i'd gained up until that point. Everyone else I talked to was suffering as well at this point. It was great to turn back onto the strip for the last few miles of racing, but at that point the damage was done: the pain and cramping had set in, and it was a slow, painful, disappointing finish to what I had hoped would be the coolest half marathon ever. \n\nLuckily, I only ran the half marathon - I can't imagine having SIXTEEN miles of nothing rather than the 3 I had to endure.\n\nOther things that added to my disappointment were: \n- I almost stepped on not one, but TWO dead animals (cats, I think, waaahhh) on the race course that had obviously been there for days. Would be nice if they'd bothered to clean roadkill from the course before the event.\n- Three miles of no bathrooms and no course support through that residential area. Also, the website had stated there would be a gu station at about halfway through the race - there was no gu station at all. Luckily i'd decided to play safe and bring an extra packet, but I feel bad for those who were counting on that and did not get it. That's kind of a big deal, right?\n\n- The \"swag bag\" didn't have ANY swag in it. Not even a packet of gu or a bottle of water. Just advertisements. That's not a HUGE deal, but don't promise this if it's not going to be given. Also, the actual bag and shirt are not nearly as nice as the ones I received in San Diego's R&R. The bag I got in SD has been my gym bag for the last 6 months, this one went straight into the trash - it's really cheap/flimsy.\n\n- The \"finisher's corral\" at the end was TOO LONG! I needed so badly to get off my feet at that point, but had to walk what felt like a mile to get to the exit so that I could walk to a hotel and catch a cab. This was not pleasant. I understand their wanting to make it a \"secure finish zone\" but that felt a little stupid after having just been sent to run past meth labs in the pitch black.\n\n\nThe positive points (yes, there were some of these!) were: \n- The finisher's medal is REALLY cool.\n- The results and photos were posted to the website remarkably fast. \n- It was well organized and I was not confused about where to go at any point.\n- They had BEER for me at the end of the race.\n- The portion of the race that was on the strip was seriously awesome. Spectators giving you high fives, funny signs, the whole nine yards. Had the race been this way the entire route, it'd be getting five stars despite its other shortcomings.\n\n\nAll in all I'm glad I did it, but am a little sad that it was not as awesome as I'd hoped. I really don't see myself doing this race again unless I'm asked to participate by a friend (whom I will try to talk out of doing it first). There were a lot of non-race factors that impacted my performance as well... such as the temptation to drink, being exposed to so much cigarette smoke, the difficulty in finding healthy food, and just how much walking is required for Vegas. Even going down to the hotel lobby to take a cab to a restaurant, then walking to that restaurant from the cab stop is pretty significant. It was pretty much impossible to stay off of your feet as much as you should the day before the race. As a result, i was foot-sore before the race even started. If I ever do run in this event again, I'll definitely plan to arrive the morning of the race rather than the night before, and have my pre-race meals prepped and packed already so that I can just check into my hotel and rest until race time."^^ . .