Friday, February 12, 2016

2016 Las Vegas Big Game 10K Recap

The 2016 Las Vegas Big Game 10K in downtown area near the Fremont Street Experience.

I ran this event last year because it was a local race, inexpensive, and it gave me something to do during the morning of the Big Game.  This year I ran it again because it's a pretty fast course (I set my 10k PR on it at the 2015 race), it's local, and still inexpensive.  I asked my sister Charlene to participate this year too since it was so fast for me and because I had fun last year.  I knew I could not surpass (or even duplicate) last year's results but I believed we'd be able to enjoy ourselves and really test our speed.

I decided to skip the Expo this year: Based on my experience from last year it wouldn't be worth the time and effort to get downtown for an expo that was frankly uninspiring.  Charlene was scheduled be working there as an ambassador for the coming Hot Chocolate 15k Race so I asked her to pick up my race stuff, if she couldn't then I'd have to use the other option of race day pick up.  She agreed to get my bib and swag bag while she was there.  I was pretty confused when she asked me if I wanted a black event shirt or a white one, neither one was a team color and though white often represents the home team black rarely represents home or away.  Both teams have white somewhere in their uniform but it doesn't represent either of them.  Carolina does have black in their normal color scheme but blue is their signature color (they even have a special shade of blue).  Since neither made sense I just told her to get whatever because I didn't care.  I felt bad for Charlene by the end of the night; the winds were up and down the whole time (up near 10 mph during the early hours of the expo) and the temps were in the 50s and dropping into the 40s by the end of the expo.  Poor sis was pretty cold and unhappy by the time she went home.

On Sunday, when we arrived at the starting area, the big stage was already hopping with activity; some of the KVVU Fox 5 TV personalities were polling the handful of runners present as to which team they were rooting for (it was very one sided), the Warriors Cheerleading Squad from Western High School was in front getting everyone revved up, and I think we caught the tail end of a costume contest.  I really appreciate these homey touches at local races.

One of the things that I really liked about the course design was the placement of the start line; it was set well within the course and gave us several blocks of traffic free streets to warm up and stretch. While Charlene and I warmed up the morning show crew from radio station 97.1 took over the MC job on stage and kept the growing crowd of runners engaged.  We were also introduced to Martha Watson, a Gold (and Silver) Medalist at the '75 PanAm games and 4 time Olympic qualifier.  She's still very active and is heavily involved in senior activities around Las Vegas.  At the award ceremony later in the morning she invited me to participate in a senior racing event in the near future (still unsure if I should feel insulted or not since I'm not old enough to be a senior yet - heh, I'm not).

The first race to be "kicked off" that morning was the Kids Dash; it was a treat to see them running and listening to most of the adult racers cheering them on (and to turn around when a pair of preteen siblings accidentally went past the u-turn marker).  I liked having them race before we did, I rarely get the chance to watch the kids races at other events because I'm typically recovering from my run.

The next race to be started was the 5k, the one my sister ran in.  It was started in style with a live singing of the National Anthem and our flags presented by the UNLV ROTC Color Guard.  I could have joined my sister for the 5k (as part of the Big Game Combo Challenge) but I didn't want to exceed my recovery and I like Charlene to be able to have her own race without little brother always tagging along.  I spent the time between our races to get in some "Strides" and other warm up runs.  I also used that time to "pre-fuel" with a Glukos Energy Tablet, I knew I'd need the electrolytes very quickly once the race started.

We prefaced my race with the Bengal Marching Band from Bonanza High School playing the National Anthem and the Color Guard presenting our flags.  I didn't feel nervous at the start line at all, I had a pacing plan in my head.  Honestly, one of the best things about training is that you learn your present capabilities:  I knew very well that I could run a 10k at a 7 minute pace (a medium-high effort level) so that was my plan.  This year I had no hope of matching or surpassing my results of 2015 but I knew it would be a good course on which to test my current capabilities and still be competitive.


The 5k and 10k courses didn't share much of the same route but we did share many of the same roads.  The courses ran us mostly through an older residential area (along with homes that were turned into lawyer's offices) which is part of the original Downtown Las Vegas.  The streets are very flat and in great shape (two big reasons the run is so fast).  I haven't run the 5k race for this event so I can't really say how the necessary turns effected speed but for the 10k it's one of the fastest I've had the opportunity to run on; it could only be faster if there weren't so many switchbacks (4 U-turns to be exact).  That is the price you have to pay to hold a race in that part of Las Vegas, there just aren't a lot of options.

I started with, and stayed up near, the front of the pack the entire race and ended up finishing 17th out of 224 with an average pace of 6:50 minutes per mile (pretty darn close to my estimated pace).  I pushed myself hard enough to need a gel at mile 4 but I'd included that in my plans and had a Glukos Energy Gel on my belt; in fact it was my hydration and electrolyte boost as well as muscle fuel.  I'm really trying to nail down my marathon fueling plan before I head out for 26.2.

#52 on the left side of center

Charlene was at the finish line as I rounded the final corner, that was a nice treat especially since I was feeling very winded at that point.  I'd put a lot of effort into the run which made me heart sing and my lungs wheeze.  heh  She even shot a short video of my finish for me, that was very cool.  My happy feeling went away in milliseconds though; as I turned my focus on the finish line I immediately saw a huge crowd of people filling the finish line, barely a single yard away from the finish arch.  That is such a huge pet-peeve of mine:  I greatly appreciate the race volunteers and my fellow runners but I really dislike them crowding the finish line, making me come to a screeching halt the second I clock in.  I need at least a body length to slow down, preferably 5 (30 feet), and catch my breath; the last thing I need is to get mugged and jostled about immediately after a hard run.  Topping it all off, as I looked at my Garmin to stop and save the run data, I saw that the recorded distance from start to finish was short of the required 6.2 miles that make up a 10k.  That is why my run data has a huge drop in pace at the end (feel free to check out my race data here - MapmyFitness Big Game10k for Kirk ), I had to walk around a few minutes to make up the missing distance.  As a racer, especially as a USATF member, an accurate course is very important to me.  The 2015 course was perfect; this year's being short was rather surprising.


While I walked around the finisher's area to cool down and catch my breath my good mood from the great run drifted away like smoke:  There was a table of what I believed to be cups of water a few yards beyond the finish line but there wasn't a scrap of food in sight.  I can't honestly remember if that was the same case at the 2015 race but it was sadly the case this year.  I'd just expended 800+ calories of effort to do that run and there wasn't any type of refueling for us when/where we needed it most.  Despite the fact that I'm rebuilding myself after a long downtime and hip surgery in August 2015 I'm in pretty decent shape, my body still handles physical exertion pretty efficiently.  That 10k race cost me 1/3 of my USDA daily recommended calories for both my age group and my activity level.  Think of what it costed a person heavier than I, not as active as I, someone who spent an hour and more on the course (95 finishers this year) working their bodies to their max to complete 6.2 miles.  I was famished as soon as my body realized it didn't need to race anymore, I could only imagine those further back would be nearly starving.
Thankfully my sister and I try to be at least minimally prepared for these instances and brought some fruit just in case, she grabbed it from the car earlier while I was still running. We met back up beyond the finish line, at a line of oddly empty tables and chairs, a few minutes after I'd crossed and ate the bananas she'd gotten from the car. 

We didn't stay around the finish line after meeting back up; neither of us were in the mood to hang around empty tables, I was very concerned about getting her to the 5k award ceremony near the scheduled start time, and I needed to find someplace to stretch before my muscles cramped up.  We stopped at the car real quick to get her over-clothes and our regular glasses and then made our way over to the Gold Spike, the advertised post-race gathering area and award ceremony stage.  When we walked in the door I was at first concerned that we'd completely missed the 5k ceremony because there were very few runners there but it hadn't even started yet (the awards weren't out and the finish results were not delivered yet), there would be a delay on giving out the awards.  Charlene gave me the classic "I told you so" look that sisters are so good at but I didn't want to risk her not getting an award if she'd earned it so I don't mind hustling over.  I decided to look around to find a place to stretch and to see if there was any fruit and water for us (the runners); they had the bar and cafe open but nothing set out for us to grab as part of the race support.  I didn't expect they would as they didn't offer it in 2015 but I looked around just in case the race owners decided to improve our race experience.  I did end up finding a live band playing in the big adult playground in the outdoor section behind the building which was pretty cool, I didn't even know they were there since the DJ inside completely drowned them out: I'd rather have had the live music piped in than have the DJ but that's a personal opinion.  The band had a pretty good sound but I moved on, continuing the search for a good stretch place.



The awards ceremony didn’t go any better this year than it did last year, surprisingly enough; the award medals were a huge snafu for both the 5k and 10k.  It was a bad enough mess that the “Special Guest” Martha had to sort out medals while trying to present them to the winners (with the official award photo being taken) as they were called forward.  It gives me a headache to think about.  Charlene stepped in to help Martha as soon as she saw what was happening, I stayed out of it for a few minutes (being left to guard our valuables) but had to lend a hand as well a few minutes later because the winners started stacking up behind them waiting for their awards (a few come back because they did not get the correct ones).  It took the 3 of us, rushing, at least 30 minutes to get the medals sorted and untangled; all the while the winners were announced and waiting around for us to give them what they’d earned.  The lack of prior preparation made the ceremony a chore rather than a celebration; at least in 2015 it was only slow and disorganized.    


It’s not really surprising that so few runners showed up for the ceremony; no doubt most left straight from the finish line to get something to eat, some probably didn’t want to walk the several blocks after the long run to wait around hungry just to find out they didn’t even place, or maybe some just weren’t interested in collecting an uninspiring, generic award medal with an event sticker on it (that may sound snobbish but creativity shows involvement and care where cheap and generic shows a lack of interest and emotional investment).  I went, and brought Charlene, because I wanted to know the results and if I and/or Charlene earned an award I wanted it/them: It's what is fair (if that makes any sense).
 I’d hoped that things would have improved over last year but almost every phase of the event took a step backwards in my opinion.  It’s depressing; Vegas needs a great local race experience, on a fast course, and this one could be just that but it just seems to move further and further away from it’s potential. 





Charlene asked me a very difficult question later that day:  Would I run the Big Game 10k again, after the overall experience had gotten worse in the second year?  Ordinarily it would be an easy and immediate answer of “No!” but I have to admit that the fast course is a big draw to me.  I could care less about the event and post-race mess at this point, unless the race owner decides to improve things for their customers, but the fast course gives me the opportunity to test myself in ways that no other race in Vegas has/does.  Time will tell but at this point I doubt I’ll allow myself to be taken advantage of again just for a chance to test my speed.

*Disclaimer:   The opinions expressed here are my own and not influenced by the organizers nor sponsors or any other company/individual affiliated with the event.