Las Vegas Marathon

I made it! I finished my first marathon! Not that I had any real doubts about it, but hey, although I am not entirely happy with the outcome it was not a walk in the park. But let's start at the beginning:
Due to the early start I had set my alarm for 4:30AM, but was wide awake at 4:10. After getting ready, a breakfast of some pita bread with PB and honey, a coffee and some streching Lesley, who had decided to run the 1/2 marathon despite her injury, and I walked over to the starting line close to the Mandalay Bay. The temps were pretty good. Probably somewhere in the high 40's to low 50's. What I don't like about big races is that slow people are in spots where they should not be:
If you intend to walk - Don't be in the 1st 100 rows of starters! After weaving my way through the maze of slower runners and walkers I found a pretty good rythm, going at approximately an 8:15 pace. This was very comfortable for the first half... I hit the 13.1 mile marker at 1:52, and was quite pleased. My goal of finishing with a sub four hour time seemed very achievable... Until mile 18. Here I started having cramps, so that I had to walk for stretches... I don't really understand why I came down with cramps, since I had hydrated plenty, I had used GU gels and CLIF shot bloks... I was not excessively sweating... Well, of course it is a correlation, that the cramps started at mile 18, and my longest trainings run incidentally was 17 miles. Hm. What was disturbing was the fact that when I was able to start running again, and I was plodding along at a 9:30 pace, and thought: "OK, all I have to do is keep doing what I am doing now for the next hour and I will finish sub 4!" At exactly that point the next cramp would hit. Frustrating... What didn't help either was that I became increasingly hungry. The event webpage had announced an aid station with PowerGels and one with snacks from Emerald... Both stations were not available. A very poor effort on behalf of the organizers! Well, with a combination of walking, running and streching I made it to the finish line in 4:19,29. Here the disappointment with the organization continued... No space blankets for the finishers despite rather chilly temperatures. but what was worse: No food at this point either! I have no idea what I paid $95 for! This was definitely my last event with devine.
Despite all the negative things, overall it was a good experience and I am sure I will run another marathon and I will do it much faster!