Rock n’ Roll Las Vegas Race Recap
I’m never going to run this race again.
Before I go onto that spiel, I completed the full marathon in 4:21:13 (official). This was my fourth marathon and my first Rock n’ Roll (RnR) series event, and after this, I’m EXTREMELY hesitant to run another RnR event in the future.
I was one of the first people to preregister for this race in March of this year for $121. When this night race was announced, at the time it seemed like it’d be a very cool race experience to literally run the Las Vegas strip at night with its lights. What I was concerned about for this race was that it had a 4:30 course time limit. My previous marathon times before registering for this have been over 5 hours, so in registering for this race I also gave myself the challenge that I would improve on my marathon time. I set for myself a 9 month training plan to be able to achieve a sub-4:30 and dedicated myself to it.
And I did! I improved in my level of running and endurance fitness by a LOT. From my training runs, it started becoming apparent that I could even sub-4:00 a marathon. Leading up to Vegas, I did another marathon, Space Coast, as a trial run to see if I could go the full 26.2 under a sub-4:30 and I found that I was able to hit a 4:23 with relative ease. (“Relative ease” being that a marathon is still difficult, but compared to my previous marathons, I came out of it pretty well since I had done it slower than what I was training at.) Though, without being overly ambitious, I had set my goal time for RnR Las Vegas to be somewhere around 4:05-4:15.
I did have my doubts in the back of my mind whether this race would go well considering the amount of people they had. I blindly put my trust that Competitor/RnR series knew what they were doing because it’s such a big organization that holds several large races around the country. Knowing the 4:30 course time limit, I truly believed that people doing the full marathon would be fast. Also, I truly believed that Competitor would in turn also have the expectation that they have their full marathoners finish at or under 4:30, and had made the necessary plans for us full marathoners to finish by that time.
The race began for the full marathoners at 4:00pm. There were 10 corrals for us, and each were released within 1-2 minutes apart from each other. I was in corral 8; originally I was in 9, but that was when I put an expected finish time of 4:30, but I changed my corral at the expo to 8 with my expected finish time to be under 4:20. The miles that the full marathoners ran before hitting the Las Vegas strip (miles 1-13) went by without a hitch. I had no issues with this at all, and I was hitting my target paces accordingly (9-9:30/mi). As I was finishing those 13 miles around the city streets and approaching the strip, I started getting excited to be able to run under the Las Vegas lights. That excitement was so, so, so short lived.
By the time us full marathoners approached the strip at mile 14, we merged with the half marathoners who had begun their journey. But there were several very, very serious issues with this merge.
Due to the MASSIVE number of half marathoners, the half marathoners were bleeding into the marathon runner lane. (To put into perspective, there were 10x more half marathoners than there were marathoners - 40,000 halfers and 4,000 fulls.) The only separation between the halfers and the marathoners were small 1-2 foot tall cones with a plastic sign that read marathon runners to the left, half marathoners to the right, most of which got knocked down.
Also, due to the MASSIVE number of halfers and full marathoners combined on Las Vegas Boulevard, the road couldn’t even take the capacity of the number of people on there at that time. The first thing that came to my mind to describe it was that it was akin to being at the Disney theme parks on New Years, and with 10% of the people trying to run a full marathon and 90% of the people trying to run (or walk) a half marathon.
There were bicyclists riding slowly along the cones and where the cones should have been, blowing whistles and trying to enforce “half marathoners to the right” but seemingly none of the halfers who took up the marathon runner lane bothered to do so. I was also left to wonder how on earth the cyclists could enforce it either - the only way to be able to tell if a person was doing a half or a full was if they looked at their bib, and more often that not people’s bibs were pinned to their front. The only way the cyclists could actually enforce it is if they were riding in the opposite direction, but even that is dangerous.
To my surprise and annoyance, I did encounter halfers with dogs and jogging strollers on the course. Competitors own race rules indicate
No coaches, bikes, in-line skates, skateboards, baby joggers or dogs will be allowed on the course.
And yes, I do know that they were halfers else I would’ve seen them in the first 13 miles that we full marathoners had to go through. On the side, I do feel extremely sorry for the dogs and the children in those strollers whom without I doubt know got also battered on the course.
The timing of 4:00-4:30 marathon runners merging with halfers who were WALKING was a complete disaster. Also, with just how it is with races, most people who walk (versus jog/run) a race, tend to walk in a group. So the halfers who were in the marathon runner lane were more often that not walking walls that all of us marathon runners had to go through. And I don’t mean to be disrespectful of walkers either. There are people who go out there and walk half marathons and full marathoners, and a lot of credit needs to go to them because usually those folks are out there longer than us joggers and runners are. But there is a time and a place for walkers and runners, and the timing of having the marathon runners collide with the walkers was the (big) problem.
Another frustrating thing was that halfers were also crossing into the marathon runner lane to go to the water stops that were on the left. I have no clue if there were water stops on both sides of the road because I couldn’t see past people to know if there was one on the right dedicated for the halfers, but it was also a nightmare coming to the water stops as people from the right would zip through across every marathon runners’ way.
I have NEVER in my life ran ANY race where I’ve been elbowed, smacked, hit, and tripped on. In fact, it didn’t even feel like I was running a road race anymore as it did a game that was a combination of impossibly trying to get past people and some contact sport. I was trying to continue at my target pace through the crowd trying not to drop below a 9:30/mi, but my mile splits were getting progressively slower to about a 10:00/mi as certain points of the course narrowed.
It was miles 17 to just a bit over 20 when the course deviated from Las Vegas Boulevard. And just so you know, Las Vegas Boulevard was an absolute pain because it was just JAM PACKED. And when it did the deviation to these streets that were EVEN SMALLER, the nightmare just got worse. A marathon runner lane was absolutely non-existent. It was shoulder-to-shoulder runner traffic congestion. I was forced into running the sidewalks in the way of spectators at some points. Some people tripped on my feet. Other people tripped on mine. And also, in retrospect I really hope no one actually fell and got trampled on over either. It was the prime environment for something like that to have happened.
I had been watching my Forerunner time every so often, and when I realized that I wasn’t going to make it to the finish at that goal time, I just gave up. I wasted SO much physical and mental energy trying to squeeze my way in-between and past people and getting elbowed and tripped on and battered. I just ended up going with the flow of the crowd, which was about an 11:00/mi.
Mile 22 and onward when we were back on the strip the crowd started loosening up a bit, but one of the more concerning things with these last couple miles was that the water/Cytomax stops were really running low. I was fortunate to have been able to grab a cup on those last critical miles, but the scary thing was that I was grabbing them from the last 1-2 tables that were left. Inevitably, I did find out later that these stops did run out of water, Cytomax, and GU for the people who were behind me. That is absolutely and utterly appalling to me. Those were VERY, VERY, VERY critical last miles for halfers, let alone full marathoners! Can you imagine being at miles 22-26 without any hydration available on the course when you would come into a race relying on it? I’m very fortunate to have been able to get some, but my heart goes out to the other runners who had to brave those last couple miles without anything.
Given a good race, I think I’m pretty decent at sustaining even paces and splits. (And honestly because of that I think I could even be a pretty legit pacer.) But when you look at my mile split data for this race, it pretty much tells the story above.
Post-race, you’d have thought that the hell-ish nightmare would end, but it didn’t stop there. The lines to get my medal was super long. The lines to get my mylar sheet was super long. I was desperate for food and water, but all I was able to get was a bottle of water. I braved the long line and wait to get my finish line photo taken in the 38 degree cold.
I was supposed to meet my parents at the reunion area at the letter “C”, but when I found that they weren’t there, I called them and asked them if I could meet them inside Mandalay Bay. I was absolutely and utterly freezing. My running outfit was perfect for running in the 40 degree weather during the course, but when I finished and my body was cooling down after my run, I was shaking uncontrollably. Even when I was getting my phone to try and call Sean I was shaking so much and I lost one end of my mylar sheet when one of the 16-20 mph gusts blasted through. One of the spectators who was at C saw me having so much trouble getting myself together that he took the end that was flapping away and wrapped it around me and I thanked him for it.
As I was heading towards Mandalay Bay to get inside from the cold I was still shaking uncontrollably and talking with Sean … I was almost in tears given the miserable situation I was in. The gusts were also becoming so bad and the wind was blowing into the mic that I had to let go of him on the phone. I tried to go back into Mandalay Bay the same way I came out, but it was blocked. I followed a bunch of runners and other spectators who were also trying to make their way to Mandalay Bay and we were going through brushes and landscaping and sidewalks. Thank goodness I was wearing my knee high socks because those brushes could’ve cut me up easily.
Once I got inside I tried to make my way to hotel registration, which was the new meet up point with mom. I hung around across a large Christmas tree in that lobby because I figured that that would be an easy point for mom to find me. I sat on the floor against a wall, and even though I was inside I was still shaking uncontrollably. I was also having difficulty coughing and I was feeling my lungs have this sensation of just thickening up with mucus. It was getting harder for me to breathe and I started already making mental plans on what to do if I did have an emergency situation, such as calling 911. But even then I was skeptical if I could even call them! I was having so many issues trying to call mom because the network kept dropping the call saying that the network was busy.
I was in the lobby waiting for about 30-45 minutes for mom. Apparently she had gotten stuck in the crowds too trying to get into Mandalay Bay. When she found me she came running. She said I looked like a stray cat or a mouse shivering and she bundled me up with the jackets that she brought. During that time too, there were a couple runners who were throwing up in the lobby. Once I was able to get myself under control, we started heading out of Mandalay Bay to our hotel room at Bally’s. As we were doing so, we also saw a man collapse and there were calls for a medic.
Eventually, I found out after the fact that mostly everyone who finished the race also had the same idea of trying to get inside Mandalay Bay because of the extreme cold and wind. Apparently there were people who were collapsing at the runner’s reunion area outside, in the crowds trying to get inside, and inside Mandalay Bay (like what we saw). Also, like what we saw, they were several people who were throwing up either during or after the race too.
I came out of this better than most people that I saw trying to head back to their respective hotels, but I was still in bad shape. I was severely dehydrated and malnourished post-race since I was only able to have a bottle of water.
Recapping this honestly makes me very angry and disappointed at the race director (RD) and Competitor at the lack of planning and organization with this race. I had been going through the comments on the RnR Las Vegas Facebook page, and there are some comments from halfers and walkers being upset that marathoners were trying to get past them and that walkers are angry that they’re being blamed for causing all the traffic. It’s not the fault of the half marathoners who were running, jogging, or walking. It truly is the fault of the RD and Competitor. The root of the problem was that:
- Competitor sold WAY too many registrations than what the course could handle
- Competitor didn’t schedule the waves properly enough where at the merge, 3:30-4:30 marathoners were colliding with half marathoners who were walking
There are some silly arguments that essentially say, “There were 44,000 people! What else would you expect? You really think you were going to hit your goal time?” Well, here are a couple things that I did expect:
- I EXPECTED that there were considerations for both the full marathoners and half marathoners to have been able to run their race within their given time. Competitor had made the rule that marathoners had to finish in under 4:30, and half marathoners finish in under 5:00. I finished as much as 15 minutes slower than what I was supposed to due to the crowd of people on the street. I’m very sure that the delay was propagated for people who had expected to finish at 4:30 and ended up finishing 15-30 minutes later through no fault of their own.
- I EXPECTED that the water and food aid stations would be well equipped to handle the capacity of the race. Having no water, no Cytomax, no GU, and inedible green bananas for half marathoners — let alone FULL marathoners — towards the end of the race is just a sheer lack of regard for runner health.
- I EXPECTED that runner safety was of importance. Never in my life have I ran a race where I had been battered from fellow runners. And it’s NOT their fault either. We were all FORCED to run shoulder-to-shoulder because of the number of people who were out on the street at once.
- I EXPECTED that every runner who finished their race would get their medal. I found out later that some half marathoners didn’t even receive a medal for finishing such a fucked up race, and that some of those half marathoners received a full marathon medal instead. Honestly, as a full marathoner who survived that run, that’s a slap in the face. I honestly don’t know how they got this wrong. ## runners = ## medals. The only answer that comes to mind is that they could have been stolen.
- I EXPECTED a pre-race where everyone would get a t-shirt and goodie bag. Apparently not everyone didn’t, which is horrible. T-shirts in particular aren’t supposed to be a first come, first serve thing. When you shell out the money to register for a race, you are GUARANTEED a shirt, a goodie bag, and if you finish, a medal. Again, the only answer that comes to mind on how this got screwed up is if they got stolen. And by the way, runners did shell out a pretty hefty amount of money for this. I paid $121 during pre-registration; when registration was officially out, people paid $175. And you would think that for $175, a person would at the very least get a damn shirt.
- I EXPECTED a post-race that, entertainment aside, could be able to assist runners who just finished a half marathon and a full. It was nearly impossible to grab a bottle of water immediately at the finish since we even had to wait in long lines for that. I couldn’t even grab a bite to eat. And also, given that Competitor was aware of the weather situation I would have thought they’d plan it where runners could finish inside Mandalay Bay instead of braving that cold. There were so many incidents of people throwing up and passing out at the post-race area and the lack of immediate medic/EMT support to those fallen runners is just simply INEXCUSABLE.
It’s no longer about “I put x months of training” or “marathon runners being babies about people being in their lane”. While yes, races do go wrong with some people not being able to hit their goal times, what makes this particular event stand out is that Competitor put their own runner’s health and safety at risk.
I feel sorry for the full marathoners and half marathoners who chose this race as their first race at their respective distances, and I hope that this doesn’t stop them from their future running endeavors. There are many “smaller” races out there which put together spectacular race events that go NOTHING like how RnR Las Vegas went.
For me, this being my first Rock n’ Roll event makes me very apprehensive with ever doing another Rock n’ Roll event, period. Like how I mentioned, I spent a LOT of time preparing for this race to be able to finish within their 4:30 course time limit. Though I did, I don’t even feel that the time and effort I put towards preparing for this race mattered considering how much of a disaster this was. At the very least, my preparation got me enough to where I was one of the last people who got those last cups of water and Cytomax at the end of the marathon.
Technically I am signed up for RnR Miami Beach which is this upcoming Sunday, but that is also an inaugural event. (Technically, Vegas isn’t an inaugural event, but running it at night was.) I honestly don’t even want to bother with it and am ready to call that registration a loss. I know I shouldn’t let one bad event stop me from participating in others, but RnR Vegas was just beyond anything a runner who wasn’t there to experience it would call a “bad race”.
Honestly I, in all seriousness, feel lucky that I came out of it alive.
