When I got on the plane headed to Vegas on Saturday, I was greeted by this sign!
So unfortunately, I am not going to be able to divulge any details of what happened in Vegas, including any information about my first half marathon. Ok, who am I kidding? I am a blogger, of course I am going to tell you everything! 
I had Vegas sized expectations for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and Half Marathon that I participated in this past Sunday. Any why wouldn’t I? Everyone always raves about the Rock ‘n’ Roll events and Vegas has never disappointed me. Unfortunately, I could not have been more disappointed. The short version of the story is that the whole event felt like a fight. Here is the long version.
For me, the kick off of a race is at the Expo. And the Expo for the RnRLV race should have been my first red flag. The hubby and I went to the expo in the afternoon on Saturday. It was so crowded we could barely move. I had planned on spending some time looking at the booths and scoping out new race gear, but that didn’t happen. Once we realized how congested it was, we decided just to get our swag bag and race shirt and then escape the madness. Even just doing that took forever because once we got inside the expo we had to walk through the whole darn thing in order to get out. I felt like we literally had to fight our way through the crowd to leave the expo.
The day after the expo was race day! I woke up feeling pretty excited for the race. All the walking I did on the strip the night before, somehow alleviated the pain I was having in my knee, although I did develop blisters on the bottom of my feet from the cute boots I was wearing. I hydrated and fueled as I normally would for any other night run I have done. After putting on my awesome running outfit we took the shuttle from the Encore to the start of the race.
It was such a fun race outfit!
I was very surprised that the shuttles did not have a direct route to the race site. Instead we were sent along with all of the other traffic and it took FOREVER! Once we finally got off the shuttle we were happy to see that we were very close to our corral. However, I had a bag of warm clothes that I wanted to leave at gear check so we had to wander around until we found where it was located. I couldn’t believe how far away gear check was from the start / finish line! It was at least a half a mile away! It took a very long time to even enter the gear check building and even longer to make it through the crowd in the lobby of the building. Once I checked my bag we had to once again fight through the crowd to get back outside, use the bathroom and then walk back to our corral. I guess you could say I was very warmed up for the race.
See? I'm ready to race!!!
The corrals were very crowded and nobody was monitoring who got into what corral. At the start of the half marathon they released one corral every minute, just as they said that they would. That lasted for about 15 minutes and then all of a sudden they released the rest of the runners! All at once! It was crazy. When I crossed the start line there was literally a wall of “runners” ahead of me. I say “runners” because so many people were walking or jogging. And those that were trying to run were forced to jog because it was impossible to get around the slower people. I was averaging a 13 minute pace for the first couple of miles and I was fuming mad!!! I did not come all the way to Vegas to jog on the strip, I came to run it! I had put in 12 weeks of training and paid a lot of money to be there. I wanted to accomplish my goals!!! I started to zig zag in between people, hoping I would eventually get clear of the crowd. I was probably saying the f word every 30 seconds or so because I was so frustrated. I usually don’t swear, but I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to run my race! I tried to be polite to the other runners and say excuse me as I meandered around them. But as the miles continued to pass with no break in the wall of runners, I eventually just did what I had to do to keep my pace going. I ran in the median, over bushes and pushed my way through people all the while realizing I was wasting valuable energy.
I felt especially bad for the marathoners as they were supposed to have the left lane all to themselves. The bicyclists and the small orange cones separating the half-marthoners from the marathoners did nothing to encourage separation. In general, I think most people didn’t know where they were even supposed to be. I witnessed many verbal lashings between halfers and marathoners. In one occasion a marathoner yelled at a halfer to move to the right and the halfer told him he was an ahole. I had to bite my tongue from getting involved. But in my head I was thinking about all the training the marathoners had put into the race and at the very least they deserved respect and their space to run their race.
Throughout the race I saw many other failures of this event. A lot of the water stations I passed were empty or if they had water they couldn’t keep up with the demand of the runners. Not to mention it appeared that the volunteers were getting the water from a garbage can by dipping the cups inside it. Ick! Thank goodness I carry my own water and Gu. And port a pottys were few and far between.
As you may recall, my A goal for this race was to finish in under 2.5 hours. This was a very doable goal. However, by the time I reached mile 11 I only had 20 minutes left to meet my goal time. Normally I can run 2 miles in less than 20 minutes, but after fighting through 11 miles of craziness on the course I knew it wasn’t going to happen. (I also didn’t realize the my zig zagging was adding more mileage to my race, I ended up running 13.4 miles because of it.) At this point, I also tried to use my last Gu packet and my hands were so cold I couldn’t twist off the top. I had lost my gloves a while back ago when I was warm. I ended up sliding my arm sleeves down to warm up my hands and then I got my Gu open.
When I crossed the finish line with the time of 2:36:45 I felt a mixture of excitement at finishing my first marathon and disappointment over the conditions of the course. There is no doubt in my mind that the poor conditions of the course deterred me from finishing sooner and happier. And crossing the finish line did not mean my fight had ended. The wall of people in front of me made it difficult to retrieve my medal. I had to fight my way to the tables with water and food, when I had no fight left. The blankets were given out haphazardly and I never got one. Since my hubby was behind me in the race, I made my way alone to the gear check building. Once again I fought my way into the building and retrieved my bag. By the time the hubby and I found each other I was feeling horribly ill. People around me looked horribly ill and many were vomiting. One guy was shivering so violently despite being inside a heated building. No medical people or personnel seemed to be mointoring the runners. After about sitting there for an hour, the hubby finally convinced me to make the half mile walk from gear check to the shuttle buses.
Luckily I managed to survive the shuttle ride without getting sick, but instead did it on the sidewalk of the Encore. I am sorry to the person who had to clean it up. Before I went to bed that night I said I would never do a half marathon again and even said I was no longer doing the Tough Mudder in April. I have since changed my mind and I will certainly still be doing the Tough Mudder and other half marathons in the future. But I will never do the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll event again and would certainly steer away from any Rock ‘n’ Roll event anywhere. In my opinion, the RnR franchise placed economic gain over the safety and happiness of its participants and I will not encourage those actions. And believe me, I am not the only one who feels this way. Click here to read another blogger’s perspective and click here to read the Facebook page of the event.
Don’t let this bad experience sour you on other races, Betsy! While you never forget your first time, remember that your first is just a benchmark for you to beat next time! I’m looking at doing the Martian Half Marathon in April, run on Hines Drive and sponsored by Running Fit. That was my first half, and I did it 5 years in a row (even flying back from FL to do it as a form of ‘paying respect to my roots’). Good race, albeit unknown weather conditions – could be hot, cold, windy, snowy… and that’s half the fun. Plus, it has Martians – low key and fun – and well organized.
Trust me, I enjoy running and doing races too much! There are many races ahead for me, despite this experience! The Martian race is the same day as my Tough Mudder. Sure you don’t want to swtich and do the Tough Mudder with me. 12 miles with 27 obstacles???
Sounds like a pretty awfully organized event. I ran the Savannah RnR and there were also some hiccups in the system for that one. For the most part, these RnR series are well organized and run smoothly, if the city is accommodating. Both Savannah and Vegas (from the sounds) weren’t the ideal cities for transporting large crowds, so I think that has a lot to do with it.
Regardless, GREAT JOB on your first half marathon! A finish is a finish, regardless of your time. You’ll be back to do another one I’m sure. Maybe this time, in a smaller town? =)
Thanks! Despite all of the disappointment I am certainly proud of my accomplishment! My next big race is the Tough Mudder in April, but I will def run another half marathon in the near future! And yes, probably something on a smaller scale.
Wow, so sorry to hear that it wasn’t a great event. When I did the RnR in San Antonio I didn’t have any of those problems. The expo was great and the course was well maintained. At the end I had people come up to me three different times to ask if I was alright (of course I looked like death warmed over so they probably didn’t want me dropping dead in front of the food). But overall I have found that the smaller events are better from a ‘racing’ perspective. The huge races are really only good if you are at the front of the pack.
I know you’ll be out there again so chalk this up to a learning experience. Plus you have a great story to tell. You ran a great time even thru all the obstacles. It was the Tough Vegaser
Lol A Tough Vegaser, I like it! I agree with you about the smaller events. My next race is the Rock CF relay. Are you doing their half marathon again?
Love your review. I was there, and thankfully I got in and out of gear check fairly quickly. I picked up my bag, sat on the floor for about 5 minutes, long enough to get my sweats on and organized before I made my way back to Excalibur. Thank God I was only 2 hotels away. My 1st 1/2 marathon was a 2 loop night time course, and it was awful, not as awful as this, but awful still. Thankfully I had the San Jose R&R event already scheduled, otherwise I probably would’ve wanted to quit. I have 3 more R&R events scheduled, but after those, I believe I will stick to smaller venues. Next year I intend on doing CIM, instead of Vegas, and what I hear a much more organized race. The grow each year by 500 participants, It’s a gradual increase, not like the Vegas fiasco.
Happy to hear you liked the review and glad you were in and out of gear check quickly. It certainly wasn’t large enough to accomodate the number of runners who needed to utilitze it. I will definiely be more selective about any future races I sign up for. My next big one is the Tough Mudder in April. I was already nervous but not I am even more so. LOL
I also ran the half at Vegas and can echo all of what you said. Lucky for me this was my 2nd half. It was supposed to be my first, but I snuck one in Moab, Utah 8 weeks ago.
Don’t give up on Half Marathon’s! This was a terrible example. I have volunteered for marathon’s, half marathons, ultra’s and IronMan races, and have participated in 15 events this year alone. NEVER have I seen anything even remotely like the mess that race was.
Do, however, give up on RnR and Competitor. I am.
It seems a lot of runners feel the way we do about RnR and Competitor. I will give up on them but not on running. I’m glad your first half got to be a good experience. I will never forget my first, that is for sure.
Betsy,
I was sorry to see that you had as many issues as others I’ve read about. There’s no excuse for a corporation that runs races to be this much of a cluster. I hate that it happened in your first one too!
Trust me – it was the event not the distance! Keep going and don’t give up.
I’m so sorry for your bad experience! I feel for you! As a fellow runner I know how hard you worked for the big race. Hopefully R&R will learn from all the negative input. Wishing you a really great race next time! Keep on running!
Thanks, Anja. You know us runners, we keep pn keeping on. LOL
Betsy — We would love to have you experience Indianapolis. Registration is still open for the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon; the nation’s largest half marathon with 35,000 runners/walker. May 5, 2012. Guaranteed to be your best experience. You get tech shirt, tech hat, medal, plenty of food, 17 water/Gatorade stations and over 100 entertainment groups; PLUS, you do a lap on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Event sells out in December – so don’t wait. http://www.500festival.com
That does sound great! Thanks for the info!!!
I did the Indy Mini 500 2010, it was Awesome!!! My PR lives in my local town Modesto CA, and this will be our 3rd year of the Modesto Marathon. I did the 1/2 the 1st year and the full the 2nd year. I’ll be doing the full again this year.
I have a lot of great races close to me that have never disappointed. Makes me appreciate those even more!
Wow, what a crazy experience! I’m certain you could have crushed your 2:30 goal had the race been better organized. I’m sorry you had a bad experience. Great job finishing the race strong!
Thanks. I am happy I am a half-marathoner now, even if the race was a let down.
I’m sorry you had such a rotten experience for your first half marathon. It sucks to put so much training and effort in but then not be able to reap the rewards because the race was so poorly organized. In any case, you still finished and no one can take away your “half marathoner” status.
I would strongly recommend you look at running the Grand Rapids Half Marathon in October 2012. Awesome race director and staff, extremely well organized, beautiful and relatively flat course. Just a thought
Thanks! I have heard from many people that the Grand Rapids race is awesome! I just may have to look into it!
I’m sorry it was so bad for your first.
I ran Rock & Roll Seattle and it was much, much better so they aren’t all bad but I won’t run another R&R either. I hope your next half is a breeze and a lot of fun!
Thanks! I love races so this bad experience won’t keep me away from other non-RnR events!
Glad you are going to get back out there and do another half!! You totally need to and it’ll be great! It’s so sad all of these reports! What was making everyone so sick out there? BUT you did look cute in your race outfit AND thank God you had that Garth concert! =)
LOL I love you girls! My race outfit was super cute and Garth was AWESOME!!!
Wow. Betsy, I’m so sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience. I will echo what the other commentators wrote – don’t let this one race ruin your running career! Some of what you explained I would say is what typically happens at large races (expo being crowded -> there was actually a line to get into the NYC marathon expo when I went this year, baggage claim can often be upwards of 1/2-mile away). But most of what you wrote is inexcusable – especially the water issue. That’s just insane and extremely dangerous for all those out running.
I totally think you could crush the 2:30 you had set for yourself – you were running 13 min miles to start and managed to get your time down considerably!
My favorite races are medium-sized ones – usually under 10,000 runners – you get awesome support – but it’s not too large to negatively affect you b/c of overcrowding!
Love the race outfit!!
Thanks! I agree, I will be sticking to smaller races so that it will be more enjoyable. Glad you liked the race outfit, I got a lot of compliments on it!
Betsy, I’m so sorry you had such a lousy experience. I suppose this is the issue with these enormous races; when they go bad, they go really bad.
Don’t let it dampen your spirits! Might I recommend a smaller run? I’ve had great experience with those . . .
I love recommendations! Throw them at me!
CONGRATS on your first half! I am so happy to hear you will complete another! I can not believe what a fiasco it ended up being, and I hope RNR will listen and do what they can to fix all of those problems. I ran RNR Philly and Chicago and they were nothing like that. Keep us posted what your next half will be, as you will for sure run under 2:30!
Thanks! I am very proud to be a half marathoner! Glad to hear other RnR races were smooth!
my husband texted me at/before mile 12ush and said woohoo I see you made it. He was watching my runkeeper live and I was showing 13.22 miles already. I was still dodging people I got sick of it and was trying to go between them and try we’re acting as if it was a leisurely walk in the park and not a half marathon. My local half sweeps the course at three hours and it’s really motivating to get your butt moving. I ran half the local half with an impinged nerve that I could barely walk on and still beat my RnR time by 7 minutes.
Yikes! It was ridiculous. Never again!
I’m so so sorry about your experience! I know how excited you were to actually be able to do this race after being injured. I think how they treated people and the organization was totally out of line for a big event like that! No excuse for what happened.
I couldn’t agree more! Hope they suffer a little bit financially after this from runners who choose not to run their races any longer.
[...] The Rock ‘ n’ Roll Half Marathon may have been the primary reason I went to Vegas, but I certainly did a lot more than run 13.1 miles while I was there! The day before the race, we arrived in Vegas around 9am. Luckily we were able to check into our room at the Encore as soon as we arrived. Since I work for Marriott, I will admit to being a little bit of a hotel snob. I am pretty particular about the hotels I stay at and I have no tolerance for poor service. However, The Encore certainly did not disappoint! The hotel was beautiful! The employees were friendly and personable. Our room was amazing and had lots of bells and whistles for me to play with. Our room had it’s own doorbell and digital display that we could change from “Do not disturb” to “Please make up room.” On the nightstand next to the bed was a control panel that allowed me to remotely open the drapes and turn on / off various lights throughout the room. We had a fax machine, a radio with an Ipod docking station, plush bath robes and much more! My key even had my name on it! Yep, I took this home with me! [...]
[...] 2011 was full of a lot of firsts for me as well! I ran my first relay, my first mud run, my first obstacle race, my first destination race and my first half marathon! [...]
I’m with you! NEver doing a Rock n Roll event ever again. Such a disappointment. Got married during the event and was hoping to make it an annual thing (vow renewal) but not a chance.
Oh, I’m so sorry you felt the same way as me. Hope the wedding was good at least.
Reading this brings back such horrible memories from that night on the Strip… I’m so sorry you got sick. Congrats on you and your hubby finishing it strong!
Thanks. I know what you mean, it was just awful. But I learned a valuable lesson … Stay away from RnR events.
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