This one is one of the Calico Racing Series, if you complete 4 of their races in 12 months, you will receive a SLAM, which is a ceramic plaque in a shape of Nevada with all the name of the races you have completed hand printed on it. So far I have completed 2 events, the ET Full Moon Marathon and this one, so I will need 2 more events to get my SLAM.
Since this race was on a Saturday and not too far from Vegas, I was able to still work Friday night till 10pm, then took a couple of hours of sleep and started to drive to Vegas in the middle of the night. I left my house around midnight and got to the Red Rock Casino at around 4:30am to take their shuttle to the start. They said the last bus leaves at 5:25am so I made sure I got there on time. The bus ride to the start was bout around half an hour, so it was a short ride.
Once we arrived, I made my way to the pick up my bib, shirt and timing chip, since this one does not offer the D-tag. It was really cold in the morning, I would say around between 40's to 50's, I only have a short sleeves shirt, arm warms and gloves cuz I didnt want to wear too much on me cuz it might get warmer later on during the day.
Race started at 6am , the view from where we started was amazing beautiful, I did this same race last year but they had a different starting point from last year because I heard that they want to switch it every year since it's a out and back course, so the location that we started this time was actually around Mile 14 or so from last year's. Below are the pictures of these beautiful scenic course at Red Rock Canyon.
A little group pic before the start
A quick shot at the start
Early in the morning, nice and cold, my face was freezing.
This was around Mile 3 that we had to run a little out and back section on this dirt road before we got back on the main road.
When I got to Mile 13 at the Visitor Center, I had to run a loop back to this spot before I could run back to the start..
Going back up this long stretch of hill was sure not fun, but sure was a pretty sight.
Beautiful Red Rock Canyon background.
Here is another shot of the beautiful mountain after Mile 17
Two of my favorite volunteers Bobbi and Javier were helping out one of the aid stations on the course.
Here is a little clip of me running this beautiful course huffing and puffing. =-)
h
This was after Mile 20, I like how the curvy road that I had to run up to.
Mile 25, one more mile to go!!!
I finished in 4:56.24, a very tough BUT very beautiful scenic course no doubt, would love to run this again next year!!! A group pic at the finish line.
This was my post race meal that they offered
Trying to have some fun with the photographer
Overall I really like this course, although it's a PR course, it's definately one of those courses that you just wanted to enjoy the scenery rather than finish the race as fast as you can. I will run again next year.
Next Race.......................L.A. Marathon, 3-20-2011
No comments:
Post a Comment