My ET Half-Marathon Experience August 11, 2009
Posted by Staci in : Diet/Fitness, General Ramblings, Vacations , trackbackSo as I mentioned before a friend of mine and I decided to train and walk a half marathon. The one we picked was called the ET Half Marathon in Rachel NV. It took place along the Extraterrestrial Highway outside of Area 51. The actual finish line was at The A’Le’Inn which is an inn/restaurant/shop in Rachel NV.
Our adventure started on Friday Aug 3rd. We boarded a plane to Las Vegas. The flight was actually a bit bumpy the whole way through. Lots of turbulence and one of the flight attendants actually fell down while trying to serve drinks. Once we landed the fun started. We caught a cab to the Luxor and checked in. The room was on the 12th floor of the pyramid. It was actually quite roomy inside and I loved the Egyptian themed decorations. After we put our bags away we decided to get dinner at the café and then go to the Bodies and Titanic exhibits.
The Bodies exhibit was very interesting. The preserved bodes didn’t look real. They looked like plastic mannequins. It was pretty neat to see how everything connected together. They also had an area of embryos and fetuses that showed how a baby develops. It was interesting to see how they go from a mass of unrecognizable cells to looking like a baby in just a matter of weeks. I can see the educational uses of an exhibit like this. I didn’t find it at all disturbing or disrespectful of the bodies.
The Titanic exhibit was one I had visited before when it was at the Tropicana a couple of years ago. This one was basically the same, but there was an added piece. It is a large part of the hull called “The Big Piece” Up close it looks massive, but when you look at the drawing of the area of the boat it came from and the overall size of the ship it is just a small part. It sort of puts things in perspective.
After that we went to the Excalibur, the New York, New York, and the MGM Grand. We walked through them and took a few pictures of the strip from the walkway between the New York, New York and the MGM Grand. We journeyed back to our hotel and called it a night.
The next morning started with a fight in the room next door. It started around 1 and lasted until about 230 or so. It was pretty funny. They were shouting about who cared about whom more and the woman not being able to do her hair. We were joking about it while we got ready to head out. We stopped at a great Italian place at the New York, New York for pasta before the race. The bread was outstanding and the pasta was very good as well. It was a great choice for carb loading before the event. We then caught a cab to the host hotel to check in. The line was long and things were a bit disorganized. One line, separated into lines by name and event, back to one line for t-shirt and reflective tape pick up. The room was just a jumble of people. Once we got though that we went to the lobby and found a place to sit to wait until time to get on the bus.
The bus ride was about 2 hours long and the first hour was pure torture. It was bad enough that the bus was crammed with people, the seats for uncomfortable, and there was no way to stretch our legs. The worse part of the whole thing was how freezing cold it was on the bus due to the air conditioner and the drivers obsession with Michael Jackson Music. She had a CD on repeat. After an hour she finally turned off the A/C and about 15 minutes after that we were able to enjoy silence.
We reached the starting line for the marathon runners and were able to see them off. At the start they were all bunched together, but then when our bus drove by them to the Half-Marathon starting line we could see gaps forming between groups of people. One guy was out in the lead by quite a ways. He was really moving along. As our bus took us to our starting line I started to wonder if maybe I should not have signed up for this. Nerves were eating me up inside and I was really having second thoughts. But I wasn’t there alone so I had to get this done. Ruth and I got off the bus to wait for our start. We were freezing. Oh man it was cold. I was wearing 3 shirts. My Philly Kick shirt, the long sleeve shirt they gave me (because it was so cold), and over that my white shirt with my bib pinned on and my reflective tape. My teeth were chattering it was so cold outside. Luckily we did not have to wait very long before the race started.
When the bell went off we started moving forward. Ruth and I got separated during the start of the race because of the excitement and the crowd. We joined up again about a quarter of a mile into the race. We had planned to walk the whole thing so being behind everyone was fine with us. We started out at a faster pace than we wanted, but around mile 2 we had settled in. Then the hill started. I knew with my asthma the elevation might give me a few problems, but I didn’t count on how bad it would be on the hill. The first 6 miles were all uphill. I wasn’t sure I would survive to make it to the top, but we pushed on slowly. Our pace suffered on the hill. We expected that, but the added effort really took a lot more out of us then we counted on. Around mile 5 we had a bit of a scare. Ruth is diabetic and her sugar dropped in the range of the 60’s. She ate two protein bars and a gel while walking and it wasn’t helping at all. We knew if she stopped moving she would fall down so we continued to push forward. We knew they had sports drinks at the aid station just past mile 6 and the sugar in the drink would help her. We made it to the aid station and stopped for about 3 minutes. I must say that every volunteer at every aid station was wonderful, but this group even offered to sacrifice their own personal cookie stash to help out. However the energy drink and another gel was all that was needed since the protein bars had finally kicked in. Ruth’s sugar went back up into acceptable ranges and we decided to push on. We were close to the top of the hill and we figured everything would be better after that. Mile 6-7 was our slowest mile due to the climb and the extended rest at the aid station. At mile 7 we were in the downhill stretch and while it was still tough going, it was better than the uphill struggle. At mile 9.5 we refilled our water at another aid station and once again decided to keep going. We were more than halfway finished and figured we could make it the remaining 3.6 miles or so. At mile 10 I just started repeating in my head over and over again “3 more miles to go” I kept that up until mile 11 and then I was repeating “2 more miles to go” I so badly wanted to stop. I was miserable. Every part of me hurt. I hated myself to deciding to try this. I was wondering how I had let my insane brain talk me into thinking this was a good idea. But I refused to quit. I was almost done and I had not suffered this much misery to DNF this close to the end. We could see the sun coming up over the mountains when we had about a mile to go. The sight of the finish mats was such a relief. We crossed the line together and finished with a time of 4:44:25. We were congratulated and handed our medals while another volunteer removed our timing chips. There were 291 entrants in the Half and we finished at 289 and 290. So we weren’t last, but even if we had been we would not have minded because our goal was just to finish and we did that. We had planned on finishing up at around 4 hours and 25 minutes so we were 19 minutes past our goal but considering the hill and the misery, we are totally fine with that.
After the finish we picked up our drop bag and went inside for breakfast. The food was good and helped to warm us up after almost 5 hours outside in the cold. We then boarded the bus for the 2.5 hour ride home. Once again the seats were cramped and uncomfortable, but at least this time the a/c was off and there was no Michael Jackson. It was nice to see the scenery that we had walked though all night long during the day. At night it was so desolate and dark, yet very pretty. During the day we could actually make out the shapes of the mountains and see the desert in all its glory. We also saw cows. I was glad we had not encountered one while on the road, but I knew they were out there somewhere. I tried to sleep a little on the bus, but it was too uncomfortable. We got back to the host hotel and then took a cab back to the Luxor. We fell into be almost as soon as we walked in the door. The time was about 830 am and we slept until a little after 4pm. Considering the fact that we had been awake for more than 20 hours before that, I was surprised we woke up as early as we did. We took it easy the rest of the day. Lunch was the buffet, and then dinner later at the Café followed by Starbucks in our room while watching TV.
On Monday we went back to the Italian place at the New York, New York for lunch and then slowly (very slowly) went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. It was packed with people so we didn’t really spend as much time as we might have in there, but we did take a few good pictures. After that we picked up our bags from the bell desk at the Luxor and caught a cab to the airport. Our flight home was uneventful. It was nice to be back home.
We have decided that we will continue to walk together and will enter events again in the future, but for shorter distances. Our goal was to have fun though out the process, and while I did have good experience overall, the 13.1 miles I walked was the most miserable 4 hours and 44 minutes of my life. We figure that going forward we will stick to 10k (6.2 miles) so that we have a better overall experience. I don’t regret it at all though and the best souvenir of the trip is the medal that I got when I crossed the finish line. I earned that medal. I worked hard for that medal. I am so proud of us both for crossing that finish line. We set a tough goal and reached it with a lot of hard work, determination, and pain.
Our walking splits.
Mile 1 – 18:39 faster then we wanted because we got swept up in the start.
Mile 2 – 19:58 almost right on the pace we were shooting for. We figured on a 20 minute mile pace.
Mile 3 – 20.59 the elevation is really messing with my breathing.
Mile 4 – 23:04 this included a minute or two at the aid station so still doing pretty good.
Mile 5 – 23:15 the uphill is getting steeper now.
Mile 6 – 22:24 all we want at this point is to get to the top of this hill. It is slowly killing us.
Mile 7 – 25:19 this included about 3 minutes at the aid station and also the very end of the hill.
Mile 8 – 20:35 the downhill has begun and we are struggling to get back on pace.
Mile 9 – 20:20 considering how bad we felt at this point I am surprised our pace was this fast.
Mile 10 – 21:43 there was a very short rest at the 9.5 mile aid station here. We are still moving along.
Mile 11 – 21:26 I want to stop so badly but I refuse. I hurt everywhere.
Mile 12 – 20:53 I still want to stop, but with only a mile to go I am going to continue on.
Mile 13 – 22:31 we are still moving, but more slowly now.
Mile 13.1 – 3.19 FINISHED! Overall it took longer than we wanted, but we were happy with the outcome all things considered.
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