Run the #StripatNight!
The Rock n Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon is a race unlike any other – an after-dark race up and down the famed Vegas Strip, where runners are treated to the neon lights of Vegas at night. It is a 13.1 mile fun fest, with bands and musical acts dotted along the way. The Vegas course is fairly flat, so it is a good race for first-timers who are looking to have a great time!
The Expo
The Expo was at the new-ish Resorts World, and it felt like a party! After walking through the casino, we entered the Expo through a dark tunnel lit with neon lights. The main expo was a dark room filled with dance music and glow-in-the dark signage. They even had full bars serving all kinds of drinks – the first I have ever seen at a pre-race event! Lululemon was the official apparel sponsor this year and there was a lot of cute merchandise on display.
Weather
February weather in Vegas is perfect for running – 50 to 60 degrees, low humidity, slight wind. On race day, they had a high wind alert, which I found a bit odd for 9mph winds (in Chicago, we get those when it is around 30mph.) In reality, the breeze was welcome while running. By the time we started, the sun was setting, making it even better running conditions.
Fueling for an Evening Race
This was my first evening race, and I was a bit stumped as to how to fuel. The day before, I had done my prerequisite carb-loading - trying to hit at least 350g of carbs. However, on race morning, I sat at Junior’s diner and could not decide what to eat - do I eat a bagel…was that enough food? Should I go for something more substantial like eggs or pancakes? It was 9:30am and I would not be running until 7 to 8 hours later. Eventually, I decided on eggs and bagel, as I never had pancakes before running (and as the saying goes, ‘Nothing new on race day’!) See below for a full list of restaurants I visited!
The Start Village
Unless you are staying at one of the hotels near the start, be prepared to walk quite a bit to the start area! Even though the hotels look close by on the Strip, they are actually very far. I was staying at Resorts World and it would have taken 1 hour to walk to the start village which was near the New York-New York Hotel. Fortunately, Resorts World was the official host hotel of RnR Vegas, and they offered us a complimentary shuttle to the start line. A helpful race organizer directed us to the shuttle, which arrived at the T-Mobile Arena start village just 10 minutes later. The start village was crowded but had a lot of photo ops with Vegas showgirls, cheerleaders, and the like. And of course, there was a porta-potty area, which was not big, but the lines were manageable. It was a short walk from the start village to the corrals and there were multiple outdoor seating areas on the way, which was nice.
The Corrals
In all honesty, the corral experience was a hot mess. There were 7 corrals differentiated by color – blue, green, yellow, red, orange, pink, purple. They published corral loading times – with Blues loading at 3:45pm and Purples loading at 4:35pm. However, they kept runners standing in the corrals for 45 minutes to 1 hour, packed like sardines, before start time. Unfortunately, my hubby (not a runner) had put down my marathon time instead of half-marathon time, so I was assigned to the last corral. When I tried to explain the situation, showing pictures of previous race times, the volunteers seemed confused and said nothing could be done. I decided to make some friends at the corrals and after speaking to quite a few runners, it was evident that many runners had put in random finish times, or simply did not know what to put. Rather than stand for an hour, I decided to sit on the side until the corrals were actually moving along. Finally, after just after 5pm, we inched towards the start line.
The Course
Vegas Strip is closed for the half marathon, giving runners a unique experience of running the entire Strip - from the large shiny resorts into older, less glam parts of Vegas. It starts at the New York-New York hotel, goes south for about 2 miles, past Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay, before turning back up the Strip to Bellagio, Paris, Mirage, Venetian, Resorts World, past the Strat and into older Vegas.
The first 2 miles were challenging as I encountered a LOT of walkers, and had to weave my way around them, constantly swerving left and right. In my mind, I felt my time goal slipping away as I ran significantly below race pace. After the turnaround point, the course opened up a bit and I was able to pick up speed and enjoy the slight downhill from miles 3-9. As we went into the older parts of the Strip, past the Strat and the bright ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign, the streets become noticeably different – full of potholes and cracks, less well lit. The turnaround at mile 9 was so dark that I had to slow down to make sure I did not trip on a pothole. Miles 9 to 10 are eerily quiet miles, with very few spectators in a more rundown part of town.
As we approached the main Strip again near mile 11, roads smooth out for the last 2 miles. Here, I had to dig deeper to continue. It was completely dark now, getting colder (desert nights turn cold quickly after sundown), and I was ready to be done. I told myself I would really start ‘pushing the pace’ at mile 12. Of course, by then, I was feeling the slight uphill. All the giant hotels that looked so close at the start felt far away now. Finally, I saw the Bellagio Hotel up front and ‘sprinted’ towards the finish line. No posing for the photographer this time. I was cutting it really close to my goal time. I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 1:59:32, with only 28 seconds to spare!
The Finish Line & Long Walk
The finish line was the best party atmosphere I have ever experienced post-race. It was nighttime, we were surrounded by Vegas lights, the music was loud, and the DJ was fun! As usual, I tore into my bag of potato chips and proceeded to walk for an hour back to my hotel. Because the Strip was closed, we had to navigate up and down 5 sets of stairs as we wound around all the resort hotels. Of course, all the runners joked about how awful it was to limp down the stairs after a race!
I got back to my hotel room, showered, and proceeded to eat a giant piece of Junior’s cheesecake, before heading downstairs to celebrate with a slice of pizza and try my luck at some Vegas slot machines!
Where I Ate in Vegas
We stayed in Vegas only Saturday and Sunday for the race, so I spent much of my time at Resorts World and neighboring Wynn and Encore hotels. There are SO many options at each resort that there is something for everyone. Below are the places I carb-loaded at!
Brezza: A relatively new Italian restaurant inside Resorts World, with daily fresh made pastas. We started with the heirloom caprese and charred octopus which were both yummy. Since I was running the next day, I went with plain pasta in tomato based sauce (spaghetti pomodoro) as I always do before race day. I had a bite of the butternut squash agnolotti and the fresh pasta was really delicious!
Junior’s: I grew up in Brooklyn and went to high school near the original Junior’s so this restaurant has a special place in my heart. I LOVE their cheesecake! Race day breakfast was at Junior’s where I had a bagel with some scrambled eggs. The eggs were fluffy buttery and the bagel was more like circle bread (but I wasn’t expecting anything else given I was not in a bagel city!) Right after the race was over, I headed straight to Junior’s to get a piece of celebratory cheesecake and it was as good as I remembered!
Mulberry Street Pizzeria: Pizza is my fave post-race food – salt and carbs and some protein from cheese! By the time I was showered up post-race, it was almost 10pm so this was one of the only spots still open. Which was totally fine with me! The slices were big thin triangular NYC style slices and tasted GREAT.
Famous Foods Street Eats: This is one of the unique offerings at Resorts World – an Asian style street food court that offers a large variety of street foods from Vietnamese pho noodles, to Hainanese chicken & rice, to Peking duck tacos. The portions are a bit hefty which was perfect for carb loading on a Saturday afternoon day before the race.
Sun’s Out Buns Out: This all-day fast casual eatery offers an interesting array of items on their menu – egg sandwiches and egg-based dishes, to burgers, to poutine and fries! They also have a donut shop at one end of the restaurant and this is where I sampled the most items. The blueberry iced donuts and the sugar raised donuts were such sweet treats!
Terrace Point Café: A great spot for brunch inside Wynn hotel. The menu has typical brunch favorites like avocado toast, eggs benedict, steak and eggs, and my favorite combo – pancake and eggs – along with a variety of fresh juices and kombucha drinks. It was warm enough in Vegas that we were able to sit outside overlooking the pool and garden – which is lovely to be able to do in February!
Now that Vegas is done, next up...Washington DC! Zhenya & I will see you there March 16th!
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