Race Recap - Revel Mt Charleston 2019

In case you missed it, the post covering most of our trip to Vegas can be found here:
http://www.runwhichway.com/2019/05/our-vegas-adventure.html


Revel Mount Charleston - April 27th, 2019



Click Image to visit website

We arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday evening so we would have plenty of time to visit the Expo on Friday.  On our travel day we put on over 30,000 steps between the airport and walking the Strip that evening.  I think this detail is important later.

Friday, April 26th

Even though we went to bed after 2am on Thursday, we got up by 7am on Friday.  This was planned because we wanted to get to bed very early since we had to get up around 1:00 am to be ready to catch our bus to the marathon start. We figured if we didn't get much sleep and got up early enough that getting some sleep the night before the race would be easier.  It was, but in retrospect it probably wasn't a good strategy.

Race Expo - UNLV Cox Pavillion

The Expo for Mt Charleston was a little bigger than the one for Revel Rockies which we did last year.  It was well organized, had several vendors and was held in a very spacious building.  The volunteers working the packet pick-up were helpful, friendly and efficient.

A few things worth noting about the Expo:

• There were quite a few vendors including Aftershokz, doTerra, Sprouts and several places to buy GU, electrolytes and gear.  We bought some salt tablets (since we forgot ours), a few GUs and a hat for me.
• There was an information booth with details about the race and you could get a wrist band for the beer garden after the race in case you didn't want to carry your ID.
• There were photo booths where you could hold up signs for fun pics (we didn't participate in it this year).
• They had a "tattoo station" with temporary tattoos
• The Expo was scheduled from 10:00 am until 8:00 pm which reduced the crowds significantly.
• Sprouts gave out free snacks (bananas and such).  I liked that they did this and I think it would have been a great idea for them to have food trucks on site.

Awesome Swag -

Good swag is fun to get!  We do quite a few events that give little to no swag so when we do a race that has plenty of goodies it makes my heart happy.  I'm not sure why this picture is sideways since I've tried rotating it a couple of times.

The GOODR sunglasses are my favorite swag and since Mitch doesn't care for how they fit I got two pairs.  We got to pick from blue and black frames and I now have both.  Revel is etched small on the lens.  I have to say that the bottle of probiotics is the most unusual thing I've ever got in a swag bag.
Note: The Trail Junkie sticker wasn't part of the swag.  I picked it up at the Nevada trail runners booth.

Course Preview -

After the Expo we drove out to preview the course as is our prerace tradition.  Revel Mt Charleston is a point to point course that starts at the Mt Charleston Lodge and runs downhill on a two-lane road for 21 miles before turning towards the city.  The views are pretty but we didn't get pictures.

When I say "downhill" I really mean it.  This race has over 5,000 feet of elevation loss.  There are a couple of small up hill sections but they are brief and not significant.  Many people complained about them but I didn't think the hills were nearly as rough as the one big hill in the middle of Revel Rockies.

Click Image to visit Revel Mt Charleston website

While we were out on the preview drive, we took a little side trip up another hill.  There are some great trails in the area so we went for a short excursion on the Robber's Roost Trail.  We didn't go far since we'd already put too many miles on our legs. 

We had dinner at the Draught House where I had beef stroganoff that was delightful.  After that we went back to our hotel and hit the sack by before 8:00 pm.

Saturday, April 27th - Marathon Day

We paid an extra $40 each to ride the bus from the Strip to the start line.  Our recollection from Revel Rockies was that the long ride on a school bus was uncomfortable and they had really nice buses for people that bought the premium ride.  It was convenient to drive a few blocks down the Strip to the hotel where the bus picked up rather than across town where the free buses were.  While they were more comfortable than a school bus, they weren't as "fancy" as the ones we saw in Denver last year. 

I was pretty irritated that we spent the money.  1.  They didn't even bother to check receipts to make sure riders had paid for the ticket.   2.  They used the same bus service for the free ride and we would have had the same kind of bus either way.  It was almost a complete waste of money.

At the marathon start, Mt Charleston Lodge was kind enough to open their dining room so runners could stay warm and sold coffee and hot chocolate.  We pulled up a small spot on the floor and waiting for the start.  Unfortunately, they love dropping runners off an hour or more before the start, which I'm sure is so everyone gets a chance to use the porta-potties.  Mitch recognized John Fegyveresi - a Barkley Marathons finisher from 2012 (we've seen the documentary a few times).  He wasn't 100% sure so we didn't go say hello, but later looked him up to verify that he was in the race results.

My Run -

To get a Boston Qualifier I would have needed to run 8:22 minutes/mile for the full duration of the race.  I knew going in that I wasn't going to get it.  I just wasn't running that fast in my training.  But I had some secondary goals I was shooting for - a 4 hour marathon (9:07 min/mile) seemed attainable.

Immediately I had trouble with getting my legs to turn over with any speed even going downhill though keeping a pace around 8:45 was sustainable and I did so comfortably as soon as I got over the first hill which came within the first half mile.  The temps were in the 50's - comfortable running weather.  That was short lived.  The temps were in the low 80's by the time I was done.  I really don't mind heat, but it does slow your pace especially when you don't get time to train in it.

Aid stations were set up every two miles.  They all had water and PowerAde and the latter stations also had GUs and/or fruit.  Two of the aid stations were out of cups by the time I got to them and I was about mid-pack. The volunteers did a good job improvising and I was thankful I decided to wear my hydration vest.

I hit the proverbial wall at mile 12 - SO. EARLY.  I was still maintaining a 10'ish minute/mile pace and hoped to get past the bonk in time to still pull off a 4 hour time but things only got worse.  My pace got progressively slower, I had to take more walk breaks and it hurt to lift my legs to run.  By my final mile my pace was in the 14s and I finished in 4:41:38.  It was slower than Revel Rockies last year and no where near any of my goals.  I don't think the impact of this hit me until days later.  I was very tired but thrilled to be done and excited to have another marathon in the books so at least I enjoyed the afterglow a bit (even though I don't look like it in this picture).

The finish line at this race was hands-down better than Rockies and they even kept all of the vendors and booths up through the end of the race.  Rockies was starting to dismantle well before the last runners came in and I think that is bad business when you advertise a certain course time.

The food at the finish was pizza and by the time I was there, it wasn't worth eating.  It is the same thing they served at Rockies and you would think that they would figure out by now that pizza doesn't keep well.  They also had snow cones for sale and the beer garden served a variety of Lagunitas.  I wasn't walking well so I relaxed in the shade of their tent and enjoy my beer before heading to get my drop bag where I kept the sunscreen.

Then I headed over to the finish line and watched Mitch run in.  He did awesome and it was dang hot by the end of his day.

Overall, Revel Mt Charleston was a great event.  Well organized for the most part (not counting lack of cups at 2 aid stations) and the course was one of my favorites as far as road marathons go.  The Revel races are put on by a company called Brooksee, LLC and their races are designed to be fast.  Mt Charleston is currently their fastest course and I agree that the elevation loss was a perfect grade to have been right for me to get a great time had my day gone better.

I know several "runner errors" that sabotaged my efforts for this run -

• I did too many miles of my training through the winter on my treadmill which was old and the paces weren't accurate.  It also meant I wasn't getting nearly enough downhill miles to prepare for the beating my body would take on this course.
• My sleep strategy leading up to race day was poorly executed.
• I put on roughly 50K steps (that's almost a marathon) in the two days preceding the race so my legs were tired going in.

Unavoidable elements that also influenced my day include the hot temperatures and airplane travel that was required to get there as well as work stress & travel that disrupted my training schedule in the final weeks.

I've never been as beat up physically after a marathon as I was after this one.  The first couple of days after I had to be very cautious while walking because my quad would just give out causing my leg to buckle at random times.  It took about 5 days before I could move around without pain.

As some time has passed and I've had time to digest the unfolding of my goal race for the year it has been a hard reality to come to terms with.  I trained for this one event for 32 weeks.  I followed a plan specific to helping me hit the paces I needed for a Boston Qualifier and though toward the end I felt my speed was still lacking, I knew I was closer to getting there.  I was faithful to the plan with some exceptions due to illness and made some modifications for work travel but even if you count those times, I did 26 weeks exactly as prescribed.  I ran 6 days a week and during the peak of training was putting in over 60 miles/week.  I ran in the dark.  I ran in the cold.  I did long miles on a treadmill.  All of it with just this one goal in mind.  For over a half of a year I ran, ate, slept and breathed running with the hopes of getting a time to qualify for Boston and in the end I came up short.  Way short.  I didn't even hit a time that made me feel like it was attainable and I'm having a difficult time being okay with it.

I know I need to go back to the drawing board.  I need to reassess and determine what I can do to improve. There won't be a next time without a back-up plan, that much I know.  I've done 6 months of training and put all my eggs in one basket this season and I don't have a secondary race planned to see if I would do better given different circumstances or a better day.  I'll walk away from all that training empty-handed this year and that's a mistake I won't make again.

So here's to learning from it all and using those lessons in the future.  Now I get to move on to trails and crazy distances in the mountains with my husband.  At least these blog posts will get infinitely more interesting and have prettier pictures.

While I really don't love race pictures and Revel's were no exception, here are a couple from Mt Charleston because you can see the beautiful views that I didn't take the time to get shots of during the race.

Today we are putting our application in for the Bridger Ridge Run lottery.  Wish us luck!

Our Vegas Adventure

We're back!  What a whirlwind of days it has been!  Today's post is about our Vegas trip (more pictures than anything).  The race recap will be up on Sunday.

Our vacation started on Thursday of last week (Wow... has it been a week already???) with our first commercial flight together.  I fly for work all the time and we've flown together in private planes (Mitch is a pilot) but we've never done this before.  I made sure Mitch got the window seat on every flight.  We had a long layover in Denver which I was happy about because Denver has a pretty awesome airport.

We arrived in Las Vegas around 5:30 or so - a little late because someone packed dry ice in the same compartment with an animal on the plane and they had to fix that.  By the time we picked up the rental car and drove to the hotel, it was closer to 7pm.  We almost doubled our rental car price by adding the insurance.

We stayed at the Stratosphere... actually now called The STRAT.  Cool things happen on this tower, like people jumping from the top on bungee cords.  Yikes!  There are also rides at the top, but we never got around to going up there.

I booked our room through Hotels.com at a pretty awesome rate.  Unfortunately, to get a room with any amenities (like a refrigerator) we had to pay another $25/night.  Between that and other "fees" our room cost almost doubled.  At this point I'm starting to think Vegas is stupid expensive. The room was sufficient, but certainly not impressive.

After an expensive buffet for dinner we decided to go for a walk from the hotel.  It wasn't our intent to head all the way down to the Strip, but that is what we ended up doing.  We walked over 5 miles from our hotel almost to the other end.  I cannot believe how many people there were.  It was so crowded.  The sights were amazing though and I loved watching the Bellagio fountains.

On a day that we spent 3 hours on an airplane, we still managed to get SO. MANY. STEPS.  That was even after taking the Monorail from the MGM to the STRAT rather than walking back.  We capped off our first night with a trip to the hotel bar where I paid $10 for a 12 oz beer and Mitch paid $3 for a glass of ice and a splash of diet coke.  Bedtime was around 2:00 am. 

Friday & Saturday are mostly about the marathon so I will leave those details for the race recap post but in those two days we did get to Fremont Street.  On Friday it was during the day and Saturday we went at night so we could see the lights.

 I love this guy so much!

 

 One of the best places we ate the whole trip:  Mickie Finnz

The street tacos were really good and not too expensive.

 

 Entering Downtown Vegas (not the same as the Strip)

 

 Fremont Street at night was cool!

 

Possibly Mitch's favorite attraction - A giant preying mantis that shoots fire to music (in this case Funky Cole Medina)

Sunday was ROUGH.  I've never been so beat up after a race - even walking on flat ground was difficult.  But not being the type of people to sit around when visiting a new city, we headed out to see Hoover Dam.  Our stay at the STRAT was done anyway so we booked a room in Henderson and got out of the city.

 Boulder City is on the way and if I had to live in Nevada, I would pick here.  What a beautiful city and who could resist the opportunity to bump in to aliens.  We stopped at the local brewery where the beer was good and the service sucked.

 

 Hoover Dam is an amazing feat of engineering (yes that's my finger... don't judge)

 

 Equally as impressive as the dam is the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (view from the dam)

 

If you pour water over the dam the wind will blow it back at you!

 

 

Our evening in Henderson was blissfully relaxing.  We had dinner at a little Mediterranean grill and then walked over to Boulder Station Casino.  This is the only place we put more than a couple of dollars in a machine.  We put in a $20, played for about 45 minutes and cashed out at $30.  We're not big risk takers.

 

Our last full day we headed back to Las Vegas because I booked a room next to the airport to insure an easy departure.  We liked Fremont Street so much that we went back and wandered around.  I finally made it to Banger Brewing, suggested to me by one of our friendly Billings Area Trail Runners, Jessica.

 

 The beer and the service were good and the happy hour prices were reasonable.

 

Mitch was hoping that Nellis Airforce Base would have a display area that we could visit but they don't allow any civilians on base.  Instead we parked the car out by the Vegas Motor Speedway and watched as several jets took off.  We eventually moved to a street at the end of the runway but we were asked to leave by a couple of soldiers who didn't have a sense of humor.  As we headed back in to town we saw the Thunderbirds practicing and coming in for a landing at the base.

 

 Our last big meal was at Hash House a Go Go - This chicken pot pie was the "small" version.  I can't imagine what the full size plate looked like.  This was so much food and I don't think I got through half.  The food was delicious, not super expensive and the service was good too.  By this point, I'd given up ordering beer with my meals because it cost almost as much as the food.

 

 We took one more opportunity to visit the Strip, but spent most of the time exploring Caesar's Palace.  This place is incredible.  So much you can't see from the Strip... like an indoor walking mall.  The artwork and statues were amazing.

 

 With our hotel being right next to the airport, we asked for a room that overlooked the runway.  They put us in a huge, handicap accessible room with a perfect view of the runway and the city.  Mitch was in heaven watching the planes take off and land right outside our window!

 

 

I let my anxiety about large airport security get the best of me and we ended up wandering the Las Vegas airport for 3 hours.  It was the dirtiest airport I've ever been to and everything was unreasonably expensive.  I never thought I would think Denver Airport food was cheap.... but I do now.

 

To sum it all up, Vegas was a fascinating place to visit but overall way too overpriced.  I ate too much, drank very little and walked 41 miles NOT counting the marathon.

 

What's next?  We're heading to Helena in two weeks to run Don't Fence Me In 30K on Mother's Day weekend.  Everything else we have planned this season will be on trails and for that I am thrilled.

 

Don't forget to check back on Sunday for a recap of the Revel Mt. Charleston Marathon.



First Race of the Season, Spring has Sprung & My Weak Link

Last weekend was Run to the Pub - the kick off race to our season.  We finally got a decent break in the weather and we didn't freeze to death.  I will be posting a race recap and review later in the week so stay tuned.  Spoiler alert:  We finished!

I felt pretty good for that run consider the mileage I put in during the preceding days.  I did a 20 miler the day before.  I had never done this route.  I basically ran from one end of the city to the other and then back tracked to my office where I'd left my truck the day before.  The snow and ice made it challenging and seemed slow.  I don't know if I'll do that again.

 

 

I took the Monday following the race off from work and since I would be flying out for work on Tuesday, I hit the roads for my Tuesday Ten on Monday instead.  Spring weather is finally here!

 

I bought a new pair of shoes - Topo Magnifly 2s.  I wanted something that is low drop (zero) and wide in the toe box with a little cushion.  I tried on a pair of the Altra Torin's, which I have loved in the past but the current model had way more fluff than I wanted.  The Topos are very nice, but I'm not sure yet if they are going to work for me.  I'm suffering from pain in my right foot and at this point I'm unsure if that is a result of these shoes or the sandals I wore for 3 days while traveling.

PS.  Somehow I already have a sock tan line.  How is that possible?

After my ten-miler, I took myself on a date to the 406.  The restaurant has been open at least a couple of years now, but this is only the second time I have been there.  I was highly unimpressed the first time.  This apple-brie grilled cheese was pretty decent though and the beer was delicious (sadly I can't recall what kind it was).  Sometimes it's just nice to go on a lonely date, but it was entirely unnecessary since I would have to do it a couple of times while I was traveling anyway.

I went to Oklahoma City on Tuesday.  I knew it would be difficult to get in my training, but it was my goal to do it regardless.  Unfortunately, traveling is my weak link.  I eat terrible and work too late in to the night and I didn't get much running in at all.

I did get a running tour of Bricktown on the first night.  I ran from my hotel to the canal trail and through downtown, along the canal again at the Botanical Garden before heading back to my room.  I loved the trail along the canal but construction areas made it so that I couldn't easily get from one side to the other.  I do love this city. 

This is the Botanical Gardens (can you see the trees growing inside?).  From the front it looks like a space shuttle capsule. The canal trail goes under the building which is pretty neat and the canal is full of enormous Koi.  I took a picture, but it didn't do them justice.

On Wednesday and Thursday I should have run 9 miles each day but I was up until after Midnight working both of the preceding nights.  Getting up early just didn't happen. So I got a quick mile on Wednesday and 4.5 on Thursday using the hotel treadmill.  My view from the treadmill was kind of cool but nowhere near as awesome as running the city.

I've listened to the audiobook version of "My Year of Running Dangerously" by Tom Foreman a few times.  It's really good book and the author reads it himself.  He's very engaging to listen to unlike many of the audio books I have downloaded on my Audible app.  The first several chapters of the story is about how he and his daughter decided to do a marathon together and his training adventures while working as a busy news anchor.  This guy worked 100 hour weeks, traveling all over the place, running on strange streets and on strange trails (even after dark without a headlamp) and always managed to get in his miles. I need to be more like this guy.

I took Friday off because I had to finish preparing for my final work meeting while in OKC and then my travel home wouldn't get me in to Billings until 10:00 pm. 

Then I ended up taking Saturday off as well.  My right foot has been bothering me quite a bit this week.  I opted to work on getting out kinks so I did some hot/cold therapy - switching back and forth between ice and heating pad and massaging it with a golf ball and Tiger Balm. 

It feels much better and I am heading out for 18 miles shortly. 

I'll be home for a week and it's hell week on my training schedule.  I have 3 days of 10 milers in the middle of the week and a long run of 21 miles on Saturday.  There are no rest days over the next two weeks.  I will need to evaluate if that is a wise strategy for me as I put on the miles.  I have another week of work travel coming up too.

Four weeks until Revel Mt. Charleston.  I feel really good about my endurance, but I'm not overly confident about my speed.  I'm perfectly capable of maintaining the necessary pace on down hills but I haven't had enough training on extended down hill to know if I can maintain the speed as long as needed.  My training has been very hilly with plenty of ups and downs so I'm hoping that will translate in to a solid base over all.  For better or worse, the time is near and I'm excited to be going to Vegas regardless.

BTW... I'm still working on Mitch, trying to talk him in to letting me do Javelina Jundred in October.  It's more the traveling logistics that are complicated (and expensive) than anything else.  If you have any great suggestions on how to get all your 100 mile gear for a HOT weather race to a location 1200 miles away and still be somewhat frugal, I'm listening.