Archives for November, 2014

Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon Race Report

Posted on Nov 23, 2014 under Race | No Comment

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The Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & Half Marathon is probably one of biggest races of the year, definitely on one of the most famous stages that you can imagine (running down the Las Vegas Strip at night!). I forget the exact number, but this race has taken place in Las Vegas for a few years now and I’ve always wanted to run it since I heard about it. I had a friend run this race the first year they had it in Vegas and heard about a lot of issues for the inaugural race. Fortunately, the Rock ‘n’ Roll team learned from those mistakes and have improved in those areas. The real reason I ran this race was because a friend who had always wanted to run a half marathon chose this particular race to be her first half, not a bad choice. I was also able to convince another friend to sign up, so we tried to make this a group event. There were many perks for running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas half marathon, which I’ll get into. But Meb Keflezighi was also going to run this race and was pacing the 1:45 half marathon group. As mentioned in my Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego half marathon race report, you may remember that I tried to run with him for the 1:30 pace, but was only able to run 7 miles with him before falling back. I was very confident that I would be able to run the 1:45 time and was looking forward to running the whole race with Meb. Here are the official results: 1:43:35 (7:55 min/mile), AG: 94/778, gender: 695/9340, overall: 871/25,172.
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FRS Two-10 Discovery Challenge Review

Posted on Nov 21, 2014 under Reviews | No Comment

I still remember the first time I tried FRS, it was in early 2010 after I PRed in my half marathon and had run a near perfect race in Carlsbad. FRS was handing out samples of this energy drink at the vendor booths. I was able to try quite a few flavors and really liked each one. Unfortunately, I was never really able to find them sold in stores so haven’t had it much since then. So when I heard about this campaign, I was more than happy to participate in the Two-10 Discovery Challenge. Read the rest of this entry »

Running GPS vs. Course Length [Infographic]

Posted on Nov 11, 2014 under Race | 2 Comments

For anyone who has competed in a race before, you must have crossed the finish line, got your medal and when you finally look at the results on your watch, you’re surprised to see a distance that is not the exact mileage you expected to run. I just checked all of the half marathon race reports I published in the last few years and here are the ones where I had something other than the official 13.1 mile distance: 13.23, 13.22, 13.54, 13.23, 13.16, 13.06, 13.01. I think most runners know about things like running tangents and how the start of a race may involve zig zagging around slower runners. But it’s interesting to read how each race is actually measured. Check out this infographic from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series that describes the very detailed process and special tools that are used to measure each one of their courses. Cool stuff!!

Running GPS vs Course Length Infographic

Los Angeles Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Race Report 2014

Posted on Nov 08, 2014 under Race | 2 Comments

Rock 'n' Roll Los Angeles Half MarathonThis is the third time running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon. This race was #2 of 3 in my Rock ‘n’ Roll Tourpass, #3 being the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas half coming up in a few weeks! I was initially planning to run the San Jose half to get the Cali Combo medal (run 3 of the 4 California races), but a friend wanted to run Vegas and who can say no to a trip there? As usual, I didn’t have any specific goals for this race, but I did run a 1:31 a few months ago in San Diego, so I was hoping to run no slower than 1:35 (my default goal time). The results were quite surprising: 1:31:17, 6:57 min/mile, age group: 20 out of 483, gender: 94 out of 3202 and overall: 103 out of 7821. The only time I broke 1:30 was in my second half marathon over 4 years ago and I haven’t really gotten close since then. I thought so at the time and I still do now, that race was just a series of events that worked out perfectly for me (just enough water/food before the race, not going out too fast at the beginning, not wasting time at the water station, cool temperatures, etc.) But I’m pretty sure if I dedicate real training for a race, I could beat that time! Read the rest of this entry »

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