Craig Grimes's Staging Area

This was the inaugural Las Vegas Marathon, but hopefully will just be the 1st of many more to come. Despite just a minor glitch here or there, this was a well run race with beautiful scenery to start up in Red Rocks. To start with the minor issues: I personally felt there could have more social media, more discussion, more responsiveness in the months leading up to the race. With it being the 1st, you really want to get the word out, and I thought that was lacking. The other thing took place at the expo. They needed more people to help give out the bobs. I had one woman who was trying to handle 4 or 5 lines all by herself. This understandably slowed things down. But, as mentioned, those were minor compared to the positives. The Expo was held at the World Market Center. Plenty big with a number of vendors. The Marathon-specific merchandise was great. They had 3 races: marathon, half marathon and 7.02 race (for the area code). Bussing was required at least for the marathon and Half (don’t recall about the 7.02). This was a massive production, and I thought it went pretty smoothly. We had to get to Red Rocks early—think 4-4:30am for a 6:00am start—but they had numerous busses ready to go. If you plan on running this race, please understand that it is noticeably colder up at Red Rock than down in the city. Also, it is always very windy in Vegas in November—and even more so at Red Rock. The wind was gusting and it was freezing. There were numerous people just wearing shorts and tank tops. Bring plenty of disposable winter clothes. You’ll need it while you wait. The race started at 6:0am and the sun was just rising then. Absolutely stunning scenery. You work you way down from there, and then cover a fair amount of the city. The aid stations start at 3 miles, and then are placed approximately every 2 miles. There was plenty of water (they had Gatorade, but I didn’t have that, so can’t comment). The people at the stations were great. At times they even offered to fill my water bottle for me. Gu was given out at 3 stations, and fruit at a couple more (at one, the guy was even cutting up the oranges into bite-sized pieces!) There weren’t a lot of people, but that never bothers me. They had a gold medal for the marathon; silver for the half; and bronze for the 7.02. The gold medal is gorgeous. Instantly one of my favorite medals. I’m not a fast runner, and there was plenty of food at the end. Your basics: banana, chocolate milk, other drinks, chips, protein bars. There was a free beer for those who wanted it. Bottom line is I really enjoyed this race, and I thought it was run very well-especially considering this was the 1st time.

This is a well-run race. It’s a small race as far as numbers go, but they do a good job with it. Plenty of porta potties at the beginning. plenty of water stations on the course. There weren’t a lot of spectators, but i’m never bothered by that. Much of the course is run on asphalt paths through the business park section. If you’re looking for a nice race right before Thanksgiving, this is a good one

I ran all 4 races-the Ultra-which consisted of a 15K and 5K on Saturday, and a 1/2 marathon and 8K on Sunday. The course is essentially the same for all 4 races. To start: communication was good leading up to the weekend. Plenty of emails and a live talk online. The expo was very smooth. Since I was running all 4 races, I got 4 shirts and a jacket. Those were all given out at the expo. The weekend was very hot and humid (maybe more so to me because I had come from an area that had been experiencing snow and negative windchills right before this weekend). All of the races were crowded at the start, but things spread out fairly quickly. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of crowd support throughout the race; but I’m happy running by myself so it didn’t bother me. There was no shade, but there were plenty of aid stations. And while there wasn’t a ton of crowd support, the volunteers at all of the aid stations were probably the most supportive and helpful I’ve ever come across. The 1/2 marathon started at 6am, and this was great because that gave us about 1 hour before sunrise.got to high-5 Meb both days on course, so that was kind of cool. After each race, you get your medal, but then you get a race specific towel that has been dunked in a garbage can of ice water! Very welcome—especially when you were turning around and running a 2nd race within a few minutes. For those running the Ultra, they had a medal “holding station” where you could drop off the medal you earned from the first race and pick it up after you finished the second race. That was a nice touch. I thought it was a very well run weekend of races. The 1/2 marathon medal and the additional medal you got for running all 4 races were nice. There were plenty of hotels within walking distance of the start and finishes. I definitely would consider doing this again.

This was the 1st live race in KC since Covid and the organizers did a nice job running the race. Packet pickup was outside and was as fast and as easy as any I have done anywhere else. I wish the race started earlier in the morning because June in KC is typically hot and humid-and this was no exception. The water/Gatorade stations were handled well. I thought they had 1 Gu station in past years; but there was nothing this year. They changed to course to eliminate the last nasty hill right before the finish, and I’m not sure if that improved the race. There was a very long uphill run for about 1 1/2 miles right near the end that was less than pleasant. Overall, they did a nice job and it’s a good half marathon if you’re looking for hills and heat.

1st time to run The Cowtown, and I can’t say enough about how well it was handled and the dedicated fans. I did the Cowtown Challenge, which is a race on Saturday and another race on Sunday (I did 5K and Marathon). This gets you a shirt and medal for the 5K, a shirt and great medal (a metal cowboy hat this year) for the marathon, and another shirt and medal for completing the challenge. Great swag. You get plenty of info leading up to the race either through emails or on their Facebook page. The expo was well run and you could get your bibs and shirts very quickly. As other have said in the past, the corrals are very big and you have room to stretch. This year, the temps for the marathon were over 70 degrees (and my results weren’t pretty-but that doesn’t take anything away from the great people involved in putting on this race ). They even had water bottles in the corrals. They had a lot of porta potties as well as you could still access the expo center to hang out/do what you needed to do inside before the race. The course has some hills (everyone talks about mile 9!), but it’s a reasonable course. There are definitely more fans for the 1st 10 miles while you’re running with the half marathoners; but I applaud the fans who were out there from mile 10 to the end. You could get (if you wanted) fireballs, tequila, beer, oh and water and Gatorade. There were kids offering orange slices; a woman willing to spray you with her hose; very enthusiastic people cheering on complete strangers like me. The food was nothing spectacular at the end; but it was run incredibly well. All the volunteers were incredibly nice, friendly and supportive. I would highly recommend this race to anyone.