March Race #3- Six Tunnels to Hoover Dam St. Patrick's Day Run

March 16th, 2013- Six Tunnels to Hoover Dam St. Patrick's Day Run

Ok so technically this wasn't ON St. Patrick's Day, but since it was the day before, I still wore green.  I signed up for this race last minute because I was still on a runner's high from the Red Rock half.  Literally I came home from the Red Rock race and signed up for this one while I still had my running shoes on.  My mom's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day so I wanted to run this one for her.  For some reason I thought this was a road race, but it turns out it was half road/half trail AND it was an out and back race times two.  I seriously dislike those kinds of races.  This is what I get for not doing research before registering.  This race started at the Hacienda Hotel and Casino near the Nevada/Arizona state line.  Actually, I missed the turn for the parking lot and ended up in Arizona.  Whoops.  Before the race, several emails had been sent out stating that we would not be allowed to park in the hotel parking lot and that we had to park in the dirt lot across the street.  Being the rule-follower that I am, I did as was told and parked across the highway in the dirt lot.  I think I was only 1 of 10 people who actually did that.  EVERYONE parked in the hotel parking lot.  They also failed to mention that there was no cross walk to get to the start line.  Meaning that I had to cross a 4 lane highway on my own.  Since I was wearing green, I felt like Frogger trying to dodge cars to get across the highway.  I was not impressed.  Next, it was a half mile hike through the desert to the start line.  The view of Lake Mead from the start line was pretty cool.

Lake Mead

Since I hadn't picked up my race packet I had to get there early.  I was afraid that I would have to hike a half mile back to my car to put my race bag there, but luckily there was an unofficial bag check.  Almost everyone there was wearing green and there was even a guy wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes!  Here's my outfit:

My Festive Costume

Pretty soon it was time to line up for the race.  The first part of the race was a road race.  We ran a little over 3 miles then turned around and ran back to the start line.  There were a few hills, but nothing like the Red Rock race.  I loved the views and the weather was pretty good.  Once we got back to the start line, we ran through it and the race became a trail race.  I should preface this by stating that I am NOT a trail runner.  I don't train on trails and I've never really run on trails.  I wasn't wearing the correct shoes and I was not prepared for this.  Almost immediately, I rolled my ankle.  Oh boy.  Unfortunately, the trail wasn't an even surface.  It was more like loose gravel than packed dirt which is why I kept slipping and couldn't run very fast.  This race was called Six Tunnels to the Hoover Dam because we actually did run through six tunnels.  It was so nice and cool in the tunnels that I didn't want to go back into the sun.  It was getting really hot out there and the sun was just beating down on me.  The views of the lake were cool, but I was too busy concentrating on not rolling my ankle again to really enjoy them.  I finally reached the end of the trail to turn around.  The last few miles were incredibly hilly.  I was tired and my ankle was hurting.  In order to see the view of the Hoover Dam there was a GIANT hill.  It was brutal.  I saw a lot of runners that didn't even go up the hill.  I was so mad.  No one was there to make sure that they ran the entire course.

The Dam View

After that, I just wanted to finish.  I was so tired and hot.  Then I rolled my ankle AGAIN!  It hurt so bad, but I really wanted to just be done so I pushed through the pain and kept running.  I couldn't wait to reach the finish line, but first I wanted water.  I was crushed to see that they had run out of water at the last water station.  Thankfully some UNLV ROTC volunteers were handing out water bottles towards the end.  I finally reached the finish line and got my medal.  It wasn't my fastest half ever, but it wasn't my slowest either.  I quickly high-tailed it to the nearest patch of shade and collapsed to the ground.  The heat was unbearable.  I was sad to see most of the snacks were already gone by the time I finished.  The half mile hike back to the car was awful.  I was hot, thirsty, and my ankle was throbbing.  Overall verdict: I probably wouldn't do this one again.  I'm not a trail runner so I wasn't prepared.  Those runners who are trail runners would probably enjoy this though!

So happy to be home!