I'll go ahead and do this review because I never took any pics of the race anyway, so it's not like I have to wait to upload those. I took pics, just none that had anything to do with the race. 1. it was just me, by myself. My husband doesn't do distance running and my other peeps didn't end up coming, so it was my first half marathon that I've run by myself. 2. I didn't bring my phone because I DESPISE carrying things. I don't like to carry water or anything. Hence, no pictures. I'll just use the internet :)
The Expo
The expo location was pretty good. It was easy to get to, easy to find, and big enough to house all of the people. I didn't spend much time at the expo because I just went to one in Savannah and really, they don't differ much from each RnR race. The one gripe I have, I like to get a t shirt when I go to the race but the last 2 races, they have not had anything but smalls and extra smalls.
1. Brooks t shirts tend to run small anyway
2. I would say that at least 60% of the runners there do not wear a small or an extra small
3. To assume that the people there are only smalls or extra smalls kind of pisses me off.
Dear Brooks,
Not every runner is emaciated. Maybe you should reconsider they size of t shirt you sell at the races.
Thanks,
A runner who is mad that you only have smalls at a damn race
The Race Course
It was AWESOME. Basically, it was just up one side of the strip, circle around downtown, and back down the other side. There were lots of distractions which I liked and the Bellagio had this light/fire show going on as I was passing it coming back to the finish line. It was flat and had I trained at all, could've been fast. I ran in between mile markers and enjoyed the scenery.
My only complaints -
1. There were just so many people that even though I was running slow as molasses, I still was held back a lot because of people in front of me. I tried to pass, but it was almost impossible
2. Water stations - they hadn't run out of water by the time I was running through places, but they were getting low. They had a lot of water, so it's not like they just put one table out, but I guess the underestimated how many people were going to need it, I don't know. There was hardly any Cytomax which I thought was weird. Normally, that stuff is everywhere. I actually don't drink it because I despise it, but this was the first one I've done where it wasn't everywhere.
3. The whole marathon/half marathon situation. I guess they had it where the fast marathoners and the slow half marathoners were running together and the slow half people were getting in the way so the fast marathoners were mad. I have a couple of thoughts on that and they're probably unpopular but I'll discuss that later. I don't understand why they had us split up like that because in Savannah, they had all of the pace people together, no matter their distance. I don't know.
The Finish Line
It was crowded and bottle-necked so it got a little hairy at the end. A couple of thoughts -
1. It's like that in every single RnR race I've ever done, so why is everyone so upset about this one
2. There were options to get out through the sides if you didn't want your picture taken.
3. If people would've just kept moving instead of stopping right in the middle of the lane where people were trying to get out, then it wouldn't have been crowded.
When I crossed the finish line, I didn't have that many issues so I'm assuming the major ones came a little later in the evening? I don't know. Evidently, people were trampled? Do I think that's RnR's fault, or people's fault? It's probably a combination of both. When you run in a huge race like this, you have to keep moving until you get to a free space. I repeat, you CANNOT stop and talk to your friends/family, etc. People are sick, tired, cranky, hungry, and they're trying to get to an open space. You are clogging it up and people freak out in crowds.
Mandalay Bay
This was my biggest issue. Casinos are known for being confusing and difficult to get out of. When I entered Mandalay Bay, there were thousands of people walking around in there and it was hard to see, hard to get out. I got lost and almost started crying because I just wanted to get back to my room. Had I known it was going to be like that, I probably would've just walked on the street to get back but I was cold and it was raining so I wanted to try to take the warmest route back. Mandalay Bay is a BIG casino and I was frustrated trying to get through there.
I guess this wasn't as much a review on the race as it was a review of other' reviews of the race. On RnR's facebook page and in lots of reviews, people were just dogging out the race so I just kind of wanted to respond. Other than overcrowding, I had no issues with the race. It was crowded just like it was in Nashville, New Orleans, and Savannah. It's a big race. If you don't want to do a big race, there are tons of other races to do that are way smaller. Oh by the way, you're not going to have the crowd support and it's still probably going to be annoying because there won't be as much support personnel out there. I think they ran out of race t-shirts and medals. That's the only thing where I'm like, why did that happen? It didn't happen to me. But I guess it did happen. Maybe they ran out of smalls, haha.
I would say my BIGGEST irritation was lack of race etiquette. Because of this, I will dedicate an entire post on race etiquette and what to do in a big race.
