August Race #1- ET Full Moon Midnight Half Marathon

August 17th/18th, 2013- ET Full Moon Midnight Half Marathon

**Cue the X-Files theme song**

Picture this- a 10K, half marathon, full marathon, and 51K that take place on the Extraterrestrial Highway in Rachel, NV (about 2.5 hours from Las Vegas).  There are no lights...except for those coming from UFO sightings.  The race starts at midnight.  Watch out for aliens!

I heard about this race last year and I seriously considered running it, but I wanted my first half marathon to be at Disneyland so I didn't sign up.  However, I promised myself that I would run it in 2013.  The whole premise of this race really piqued my interest!  I am a night shift nurse so I was super excited to actually run a race during my "normal" waking hours.  I ran another Calico Racing event earlier this year and they put on a great race!  Everything is well organized and the finish line parties are fantastic.  Plus, who doesn't love a little sci-fi every once in a while?

Since Rachel, NV is so far away from Las Vegas, Calico Racing chartered buses to and from the race for $30.  Well worth it in my opinion!  Most people were able to sleep during the long commutes.  I took a short nap on the way to Rachel after I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Packet pickup and the bus stop were at the Hard Rock Hotel.  I got a few weird looks because I wore my costume, but hey, it's Vegas and people should be used to seeing weird things!

Which brings me to my costume.  There was a costume contest (some people had amazing costumes!) and I had a million ideas of what I could dress up as, but I ended up going as a "Man (woman?) in Black"!  I wore my black Sparkle Athletic skirt, black Pro Compression socks, a white tank top, white Sparkle Athletic running sleeves, and a black tie.  I also wore a headlamp because we were required to have some sort of light source throughout the entire race (people carried flashlights, wore glowsticks, etc.).  All runners received a glow bracelet at the beginning of the race too.  There are no lights along the highway and it was pitch black out there.  In my opinion, it was gorgeous!  The stars were shining so brightly and I even got to see a shooting star!

Men in Black

 The buses stopped about 26 miles outside of Rachel at the famous black mailbox where many people come and gather to look for UFOs.  This was the starting line for the 51K and full marathon runners.  Most people got off the bus here to use the port-o-potties and look around.  There isn't really anything to see though.  The half marathoners and 10K runners had to get back on the bus to be shuttled to the other start lines.  The buses dropped us half marathoners off 13.1 miles away from Rachel.  I LOVE point to point races!  There was no "official" start line.  We all kind of gathered and then the race director said "go" and we were off at 12:30am!

The first six miles were tough.  There was a slight incline and then a bigger incline around miles 5/6.  Since it was so dark out, I really wasn't able to look ahead so the hills took me by surprise.  Also, it was warmer than I thought it was going to be and I ended up having to take off my sleeves.  My hydration belt, tie, and headlamp made me sweat more than usual because they were rubbing me the entire race!  Next time, I will plan that a little better. 

There was quite a lot of wildlife on the course.  At one point I heard a bunch of cows mooing and I was saw a couple of jackrabbits.  There was even a dead rattle snake on the highway!  Unfortunately, I didn't see any aliens though.  The moon and stars were the only lights out there and it was very peaceful.  I didn't hear of any alien abductions that night :)

After mile six, the course flattened out and I was able to run a lot faster.  At this time, I was in the middle of the pack.  The faster runners were so far ahead of me that I couldn't really see anyone in front of me and when I turned around to look behind me all I could see were people's glow bracelets.  This is normal for me though- I spend the majority of races by myself in the middle of the pack.  I made a killer playlist for just that reason...

Alien bling

Here's a little sampling of my playlist that night:
"E.T" by Katy Perry & Kanye West
"Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
"Space Cowboy" by *NSYNC
"Men in Black" by Will Smith
"Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys
"Space Jam" by Quad City DJ's
"X-Files" theme song

It was quite fitting that I finished the race listening to the "X-Files" theme song.  Although I didn't get a PR, I was still happy with my time.  The finish line was at the Little A'Le'Inn, a motel/bar/restaurant in Rachel.  They had a great buffet for the runners which was included in the race fee.  They served bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes, cookies, muffins, fruit, veggies, coffee, BEER!, lemonade, water, Gatorade, tea, etc.  I loaded up my plate and ate my face off.  I had a "runger" like no other!  The buses back to Las Vegas were leaving every half an hour and luckily I finished eating right as one was loading up so I was able to catch a ride back without having to wait a long time.  We got back to Las Vegas right as the sun was coming up.  I was a little stiff from having to sit for 2.5 hours, but other than that I had a fantastic time and the alien head medal is adorable!  Thank you to all the volunteers and thank you to the town of Rachel!

Overall verdict:  This was a GREAT race and I look forward to running it again!!

Another "great" finish line pic...with my eyes closed