Finding Neverland - Rock n Roll Brooklyn Half Marathon 2015

Week 3 of Rock n Roll Marathon Series fall season took us to Brooklyn for the Inaugural Half Marathon. Competitor Group actually had a Rock n Roll event in the city in 2013, but offered only a 10K, not a half. Brooklyn checks off a milestone for both of us, being the 25th different state for half marathons.  Yes, if you're wondering, there IS a club for Half Marathons in half the states.

The Saturday race on the east coast meant an early Thursday flight. Other than Ron taking a suitcase to the head on the second leg from Dallas to LaGuardia, traveling into Brooklyn was smooth. A rush hour Uber ride later and we were at the Aloft checking out the rooftop view and grabbing a quick bite at Forno Rosso. 

Not a bad view from the rooftop bar at the Aloft. The rain came the next night.

Pizza. And dessert pizza.

After a couple of weeks rest, I wanted to see if I could take another crack at a PR so we turned in early. Friday morning, we were able to navigate the subway system to get to the Brooklyn Expo Center. If you're a visitor, I highly recommend the MTA app for your smart phone!

The expo was tiny, but somehow we spent over 3 hours there as we met friends coming in waves. Mindy was conscripted into working merch even though she was planning on running the next day. We picked up a few of the Brooks branded gear items. No luggage tags. Boo.

We met the new president of the 100 Half Marathons Club, local Jenipher. Andrea is still with the club in a support role. They've got a long list of discounts and a membership fee that just keeps the website up. The new shirt design was really eye-catching, but Jenipher is already looking to upgrade. 

We knew Kamika, Kevin and Joe were heading in so we waited around, chatting with Amy, Ryan and trying to figure out who's going to be where in October as RNR has two-race weekends each of the next three weeks.  October could mean another 30 people could hit the 15 race mark and earn the Hall of Fame medal for the year. We left our mark on the banner for this, the inaugural event.

I had this weird feeling we were lingering a bit longer than usual until I realized Joe was stalling us. He was waiting for Erin Zeman to come in from the city. In 2013, Erin's husband, Jake, died shortly after crossing the finish line at Rock n Roll Savannah. In 2014, we were part of the first wave of runners to run wear bibs for Team Trust, a foundation for Erin's son, Jack. Since then, Erin had asked several people if they would wear Jake's Savannah bib in his memory.  Erin told me she'd looked up Jake's name recently and found our blog and asked if I'd be willing to be the next to wear the bib. I was nearly moved to tears as I accepted.

After the expo we took a quick ferry ride to Manhattan, grabbed lunch with Kevin and headed back to the hotel. The rain started so we stayed close for dinner. The 7 AM gun time, subway ride and with extra security planned at the start put us at a 4 AM wake up call.  Sorry guys, it's the way we trained. Maybe next time, we'll stay up late to enjoy the city!

Race Day, Saturday October 10th. 

Forecasted temps in the mid to high 50's from 7 AM to 11. Pretty much perfect race conditions.

We were able to see most of our friends in the starting corral. It still amazes me that we can do that in a crowd of 17,000. Maybe we've known each other so long, we know each other's habits even without a set plan for a meeting spot or time. It's a great way to start off the race regardless.

We even saw Megan from Maryland. We didn't know she was racing until reading Facebook feeds the night before.

Susan and I let the first 10 corrals go by, waiting for the 2:15 pacer. The plan for the first 5K  was to stay between him and the 2:20 pacer for the first half since it was a decent net downhill. The out-and-back from the start to mile 3 gave us a chance to cheer for the runners ahead of us and for Susan to take some pictures. 

I think this might be what Coach Becky would call showing 'flashes of legal form.'

Things went well and I hit the 10K mark at 1:06:22. The turn at miles 8 started a 3.5 mile gradual uphill followed by the biggest hill on the course at 11.5 to 12.1. From what I heard, that hill was a PR breaker for a lot of people. I stopped looking at my elapsed time at the top of the hill and did the best to spike the heart rate and finish strong, making a weak attempt to high five Ann before the finish line. While I did manage to walk sub 11 minute miles for all but the mile 12 hill, I missed my PR by 27 seconds. My Garmin distance was 13.15. I'm going to analyze this to death in the next few months, but given the course and the previous two race times in the last four weeks, I have to be happy with the result. The real bummer about pushing a race is that I don't take any time to say hi to Ann at the finish line. Good thing Susan had enough manners for both of us!

I hope you had time to find some pizza, Annie!

Cell traffic was so bad I couldn't estimate how far back Susan was, so I stayed in the finisher area a little longer to recover. I was standing next to John Volpe when one of the staff said they really needed help at since they'd lost a few volunteers at one of the food tables. Having nothing better to do, I unloaded about 5 crates of bananas and chatted with McKenzie while breaking the bunches and handing them out. All in a days work, it seems.

Susan came in just under 3:10. Her plantar is getting work with physical therapy and a chiropractor now, so hopefully she can keep it under control until we can take a long break from racing to rest.

We met up with Erin to return Jake's bib. For the four people who have worn the bib, there seemed to be some kind of magic to it, like someone was watching over the race to help us dig deep when we needed an extra push. I hope she continues this tradition and lets someone else get touched by this race magic. 

Erin had previously asked Hailey (RNR Nashville), Joe (RNR Portland) and Kevin (RNR San Diego) to wear Jake's bib

We sat on the grass listening to Nate Ruess, the headliner band. It's something we rarely do because we're usually checking out of the hotel the day of the race. Instead of going home, we stayed over one more night to meet up with Susan's coworker Errol and see Finding Neverland. The race recap aside, I found a lot of lines in the play to hit home this weekend.

"Believe it and you can be it."

We met Amy and Ainsley after Rock n Roll DC. They said they saw the Hall of Fame Banner and wanted to be on it in 2015. Amy (left) earned her Hall of Fame medals for her 15th race this weekend.
Ainsley will get her 15th next week in Denver. 

"Second star to the right and straight on till morning."

A quick shout out for folks who finished the half in Brooklyn and hopped on a plane for a race the next day. Jessica (left) and Adrian (second from right) ran the Long Beach Marathon on 2.5 hours of sleep. Ainsley (second from left) and Hyalker (right) ran the Chicago Marathon. Special mention to Carl Marino who flew into Brooklyn early morning Saturday after filming an episode of Homocide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda in Nashville all day Friday.

"When your feet don't touch the earth, you can't feel the fates that hurt

And you're free, there's no need to come down. When your feet don't touch the ground."

Ilona finishes her 16th Rock n Roll of the year, the last 4 with her left foot in a boot. She was hoping ET would help her fly.

And finally, my favorite Neverland lyric of the weekend just fit with this lady.

Harriette Thompson at Rock n Roll San Diego 2015 (Photo from CGI)

At age 92, Harriette Thompson is the oldest woman ever to complete a full marathon. She started running in 1977 at the young age of 54. We had the honor to escort her back to her hotel. She didn't run Brooklyn, but was an enthusiastic cheerleader for Team in Training from the sidelines. It took a while to get the golf cart to a place where we could grab Uber.

Ms. Thao's Wild Ride

The lyric?

"Neverland is a place I created where people never grow old." 

This was our 109th race since we started. I was 38. Susan was 37. 

I feel like if we keep this going, we'll never grow old.

~//~

RNR had previously held events in Brooklyn in 2012 and 2013 with only a 10K distance which is sort of messing up our total RNR race count. Originally, we only counted half and full marathons and we don't count 5K and 10K races during remix weekends that started in 2014. We're not sure how to treat Brooklyn 2013's 10K where Susan ran but I didn't, putting her one up on me in the race count. Tracy Sundlun thinks we should count it so that should be good enough. We'll figure it out in a few years when it starts to matter in the milestones.

RNR Brooklyn drew 17,500 entrants, the max that CGI was allowed by the city. There were 13,315 finishers with a median time of 2:11:15, making this one of the faster RNR halfs overall. The course (Garmin Connect - RNR Brooklyn Half 2015) was basically two out-and-backs starting at the Arch at Grand Army Plaza, running along the north and west sides of Prospect Park to finish at the center of the Park. It was worth plotting the course on Garmin since the elevation maps were a bit off and knowing where the big hill started at mile 11.5 really helped. Temperatures were in the high 50's to start and stayed there until the sun broke through the clouds around 9 AM. You couldn't ask for better race weather.

Things were rocky early on. The digital event guide was a bit confusion when it directed people to the southern exit on Flatbush if they had a bag to check and the gear drop location wasn't marked on the maps. There was about a 30 minute delay for the start as the NYPD were confirming we had the roads clear which actually ended up helping out the thousands of runners still waiting to go through security. For future planning, this would be a REALLY good event to spring for the VIP package as there was a dedicated entrance near the starting line.

At the last race of 2014 (Rock n Roll San Antonio), we heard the numbers of each Heavy Medal level. At the time, the 8 and 9-race medals weren't established and the 15 race Hall of Fame level was brand new and without a medal awarded (but a nice set of RNR swag!). We don't know the counts below 10 races, but according to RNR loyalist John Pannell here's the unofficial tally of people with a shot at Hall of Fame this year with 6 more races left. Philadelphia/Merida has been deemed logistically impossible, but I won't write it off yet. People do crazy things.

Races 2015 2014

7 ? 458

9         22

10 19  300

11 25

12 19

13 7

14 4

15 4 27      Amy and Fred hit 15 in Brooklyn!

16 4

17 1

19*  4

*European races were not counted toward Heavy Medals in 2014. 19 was the highest total for that year.

Turn it up to 11 - Rock n Roll San Jose 5K and Half Marathon 2015

Rock n Roll San Jose weekend is a destination for top runners. Between the 5K and half marathon, over 100 elite athletes were going after world, masters or event qualifying times. According to Race Director Tracy Sundlun, more than 40 half marathoners were in the 65 - 75 minute range (when you don't even talk about HOURS in your finish time, you know it's serious). Add to that the likes of first year Master's division record holders Meb and Deena Kastor and the weekend was shaping up to be epic. And all of this was happening in our backyard!

We know two people on this banner and one who was SUPPOSED to be on the banner. 10 years running!

I was on a personal mission to improve on my time at Rock n Roll San Diego earlier in 2015. I walked a sub 2:30 half for the first time in San Jose in 2012 and recorded two sub 2:25 races the two years since. I thought my 2:22:28 PR was within reach after a good two months of speed work.

We hit the expo Friday afternoon with our dogs Sprint and Dash. The fur-kids weren't allowed in the expo, but we waited outside greeting visitors and seeing our friends in person for the first time. A few of the CGI staff took breaks to say hi in between their expo duties. Ann has been on the road for a better part of three weeks and appreciated the fuzz therapy. Jim, Beth and Joe also met the dogs before Susan had to rush home to beat traffic. Tracy went so far as to suggest we change their names to "Rock" and "Roll". Perhaps with a sponsorship incentive, we could be convinced?

Susan catches up with Ann Wessling who had spent the last three weeks on the road and was badly in need of puppy therapy. Not shown was an assortment of Salted Caramel snacks, milk bones for Thor and sunscreen - the Annie care package.

A VIP welcome for Joe Harris. Thank you so much for the Amazon gift card! The puppies are going shopping!

The 10-Year Anniversary Half Medal

Walking around the area the night before the 5K, we saw San Pedro Square decked out in RNR swag.

The plan for the Saturday 5K was the standard shake out. This time for me, walk just around a 12 minute mile. The Gypsies seemed to have a range of aches and pains this time of year and between backs, necks, feet, bronchitis and allergies, we all fell into a good relaxed pace. Susan and I hung out with Beth and Al jogged up front with Jim. 

New fish-eye lens attachment for the iPhone. I didn't have a cleaning cloth so it's a bit blurry.

An IN Focus RNR Gypsy starting line pic at the 5K.

We had a good 36 minutes to catch up on what had happened since RNR Chicago. I walked a full out sprint at an 8:30 pace for the last 200 meters and felt great. We got a quick recap of the 5K from race organizer Colleen (her first event as lead!). Deena Kastor tied the masters record that morning!

Post race breakfast at Hobee's was a rare treat since we don't often come to the peninsula. In retrospect, laying off the apple walnut coffee cake would have been a good idea.

Sunday September 27th. Half Marathon day. Starting temperature 64 degrees.

Usually we park at the SAP Center (home of the San Jose Sharks), but this year the Prime Minister of India was in town, so participants had to work with other reserved parking arranged by CGI. We got a really good spot at the Adobe building, just a few blocks from the finish and start lines. We swung by the VIP suite and enjoyed one of the huge privileges of the sport - sharing space with the elites, Meb and Deena. I didn't take any pictures just out of respect, but I find it humbling that racing gives us the opportunities to cross paths with people of their stature. It's something you won't find in many other sports.

RNR had a group picture for the Legacy runners at 7:30. Al and I made it with a few seconds to spare. Esmail from Punta Arenas/White Continent and his wife Parisa were also on the list of legacies, but didn't make the group picture.

Annie was looking decidedly much more chipper on day 2. We also found out that Dash seems to have completely healed from his recent knee surgery and was no longer hopping on his injured leg. It seems dog people and people dogs are good for each other.

Joe Harris is one of the kindest, most generous person I've ever met. He continues to honor Jake Zeman, a runner who passed away at Rock n Roll Savannah in 2013, by wearing a bib from Team Trust. Joe is also raising money for the American Association for Cancer Research to honor his brother who died of throat cancer in 2009. 

Once again, our little group seems to find each other without a lot of planning. We were supposed to head over to corral 10 but met up on the way. This group represents over 100 Rock n Roll half and full marathons in 2015. We see each other more often than our own families. Chalk it up to the law of attraction - crazy attracts crazy!

Left to right(ish): Ron, Caryn, Sherry, Don, Michelle, Al, Beth, Ted, Susan, Jim. Ready to Rock again!

Walking a 2:20 half marathon puts the mile pace at 10:38/mile since I was planning on 13.2 miles for the San Jose course based on the previous 4 years. Lining up in corral 11 and remembering to stay behind the 2:15 pacer was supposed to keep me from going out too fast. This is the last picture I took until the finish. Usually in San Jose, I kiss Susan good luck and we see each other 2 1/2 hours later.

The course loops back after the first 4 miles so we did get the thrill of seeing the leaders making the turn from San Pedro Square. Not a bad way to get your heart racing before you even cross the starting line!

The first 5K went fast, a bit TOO fast. I walked past the 5K in 33:02, 12 seconds off my 5K PR. I crossed the 10K mark in 1:07:07 (previous 10K PR of 1:10:43) and I was feeling pretty good. Of course, that's right when the wheels fell off. A few underpass inclines, what other people said was a quick spike in temperature after 9 AM and late fueling put my next 10K just over 1:10. I finished less than a minute off my course PR at 2:24:54, but had absolutely nothing left in the tank. My fingers were going slightly numb and I had to sit near the med tent for a few minutes to keep my head from spinning. I waited long enough for Al and Susan to finish and started the mental checklist for next race.

I had a couple highlights in the finishers area. I reconnected with my next door neighbor from 40 years ago. Raul is back for his first race since being diagnosed with cancer. His Facebook community page I Run To Eat posts some great tips on clean eating, running and inspiration. 

Carl and Ilona Marino earned their Hall of Fame Heavy Medal (15 races for the year). In addition to making time to travel the country to race, Carl plays the young Joe Kenda on Investigation Discovery Channel's Homicide Hunter. Ilona has made a few appearances on the show as a sketch artist and coroner. 

What I found especially endearing about the Marino's is that Ilona has been racing the last few half marathons with a broken foot, in a boot and riding a scooter (below). Half way through RNR San Jose, Carl was seen on the side of the road doing repairs on the wheels. THAT is love!

Finally, yet another shout out to our friend Kamika who flew in from Wisconsin Saturday night after finishing the Brewer's race to check off his 46th state with a half marathon. He's already a 50 state full marathon and a 7 Continents marathon finisher. I wonder what's next on his list?

Looking back, I have nothing to complain about walking a sub 2:25, but I'm always willing to learn and improve. San Jose was my second highest Age Graded finish for the half marathon at 62.2%, so there's something to be said about still being able to push myself. With a two-week break before Rock n Roll Brooklyn, I may still have a shot at a PR. 

Time to turn it up to 11!

~//~

This was the 10th year for Rock n Roll San Jose. We've raced here 6 times, 3 of them resulted in Ron's fastest race of the year. The course hasn't changed in a while. It's flat other than a few underpasses with long stretches of straight road, ideal for a PR race. The addition of the 10K race staring at the same time as the half created a little congestion in the first few miles, but didn't seem to affect the race as a whole. Temperatures for RNR San Jose have ranged from the low to high 60s at race start and finish in the mid to high 70's.

In 2015, Rock n Roll San Jose had 1,993 finishers in the 5K (median finish time 35:40), 3,180 in the 10K (median 1:16:07), and 8,276 in the half marathon (median 2:19:53). Deena Kastor tied the women's US and World masters record at the 5K on Saturday in a time of 15:48, meaning she now owns or shares every masters record from the 5K through the marathon distances. Meb missed winning the half marathon by 2 seconds finishing in 63:02, but shattered the masters half marathon record by over 20 seconds.

The week before San Jose, Leah Reid became the first to hit the 15 race mark to earn the Hall of Fame Heavy Medal at Rock n Roll Montreal. Home town runners Carl and Ilona Marino claimed their Hall of Fame Heavy Medal in San Jose to become the first repeat Hall of Famers. At last check, about 70 people have earned at least the 10-race Gold Record Heavy Medal with four more ready to earn the Hall of Fame 15 at their next race. RNR San Jose was our 11th race this year and with Brooklyn, St. Louis/Denver, Los Angeles/Vancouver and Philadelphia/Merida all in the month of October, I expect to see a lot gold microphones on my friends Facebook walls. 

We're looking forward to joining them for a big reunion of all the Hall of Famers at the final race in San Antonio.

There is no Finish Line - The Biggest Loser RunWalk Half Marathon Las Vegas 2015

When signing up for a half marathon, there are all kinds of motivations. There are the intrinsic ones (the joy of the activity itself, the sense of accomplishment) or the extrinsic ones (the medal, getting kudos from friends or family). It turns out the people who race for the intrinsic reasons are the ones that are more likely to go the distance.

Take weight loss as a motivation. You may train for a marathon because running and walking is a great way to burn calories and lose weight. But if the end goal is the race or to get to a certain number on the scale, then the moment you cross the finish line or hit that number, the journey is over. You have to find another reason to sustain the lifestyle. On the other hand, if the reason you train is to increase your overall health or to meet amazing people, there's a lot more motivation to keep going, maybe even enter another race... or two... or a hundred and seven.

The Biggest Loser RunWalk held its inaugural event in Las Vegas on September 20, 2015. The event served as a reunion of sorts, bringing over a dozen of the show's past contestants, most from Season 16 "Glory Days". Season 16 seemed to have a lot more impact on us because every single contestant knew that they used to be so much better than they were when the show started. What would you give for the chance to be back at the peak shape of your life?

We got to the Circus Circus hotel about 11 AM Saturday the 19th. Temperatures were already in the high 80's and race day temps weren't getting any cooler. With another seven races in the next few months, the heat and the altitude, we meant take this one easy and enjoy it. The expo was a decent size for the 1500 or so participants, enough to get any essential accessories, a bondiband, TBL race clothes by Green Layer (including some new colors!) and even pick up TBL nutritionist Dr. Cheryl Forberg's books. 

With Season 16 contestants Sonya and Woody

Our wonderful friend and super TBL staff Christina. Thanks for hooking us up with VIP this weekend!

Most of the star power was at the stage where the entire afternoon line up was the former contestants telling their stories. With the short stay and us needing to get checked into the hotel, I was only able to catch two talks at the end.

Toma Dobrosalvjevic of Season 16 talked about how we felt out of his league on the show. He was surround by former NFL stars, Olympic gold medalists and here he was, just trying to keep up. Later he found out Scott Mitchell, former Detroit Lions quarterback, was using Toma as his standard. "Everything you do, I have to do an then some, because what you're doing is working!".  Toma ended up winning that season, losing over 171 pounds (over 52% of his body weight).

Dan Evans closed the speaker series and no matter how many races I've attended, he always seems to come up with something I hadn't heard. He and Jackie were expecting to go home the first week... and the second...maybe even the third. But they lost the most weight for each of the first three weeks. It took them a while to believe, but once they did, their outlook on the show, and life changed.

I did take some time between the expo and the VIP dinner to hit the black jack table and walk through the Midway. I hadn't been there in over 20 years since my parents brought us for vacations. Susan relaxed under the free circus acts. The first half of my bank roll lasted me barely long enough to meet Susan at Vince Neil's Tatuado for the VIP dinner. 

Those of you who've been to TBL races know the VIP package is an excellent addition to your weekend! We did our best to chat with all the former contestants and get autographs on our bibs. As usual, we had some healthy options for dinner (though we noticed most of us passed on the dessert). 

Season 16 contestants Gina, Jackie and Lori

Season 16's Blake

Dinner was followed by karaoke. Woody Carter had some amazing renditions of "If I Could Just Hold You Again" and "With You I'm Born Again", followed by his family (three generations of great singers!). Dan Evans and Jackie Pierson also took the stage but I couldn't remember what songs they sang since I was recovering from a dehydrated version of "Piano Man".  I can now cross off "perform on stage in Vegas" from my bucket list (and thankfully, I didn't see anyone taking video). I left for a 10:15 PM bedtime for the 5:45 AM wake up call.

Race morning, Sunday, September 20th:

The 7 AM start time saw high 60's temps with a light, dry wind. It actually felt a little chilly to start which was perfect for us. I caught up with Zimri, a young man who I met at the black jack table the night before who was running the half. He was actually working to qualify for worlds in the half IronMan distance for the Paralympics.

The runners went off in waves at 7 and the walkers started at 7:15. Lori and Gina were doing the half with us. As always, Dan sent us off with the national anthem. We started under the lights of the Circus Circus entrance.

As the walkers started, I recognized Larry from Florida. He took 2nd overall in TBL Panama City Beach, one place ahead of me and beating me by a healthy margin. "Taking it easy" sort of went out the window at that point and I wanted to see how well I could keep up. We paced each other in the mid to low 11 minute/mile pace all the way to the halfway point. 

The one-lane course on the frontage road was wide enough for most of the race, even with the double turnarounds.

Once we picked up the wristbands behind the Mandalay Bay, I decided to take advantage of the net downhill on the back half. Two or three speed bursts later and I opened up a good lead. I didn't see Larry for the rest of the race. I finished in what would be my third best half marathon time ever, just under 2:25, and first in the walk division. The official timer actually moved me to the run division because he didn't believe I'd actually walked the whole way (fortunately, Christina knew our speeds from previous races). Larry came in just over 2:31. Considering he had a race the weekend before and was flying back across the country for another race the next weekend, it was a great effort. Competition like that is hard to come by. I hope to see him again.

Susan turned in her best time since early this year. She's been working hard at strength and stretching to overcome plantar fasciitis and I think she's turned the corner just in time for our heavy fall race season. She won her age group and came out of the day feeling strong and ready for more.

We went back to the hotel room, showered and checked out before heading back to the finish line. We cheered in the half marathoners until the last one came in at just under the 5 hour cut off. Probably the coolest thing about the weekend was seeing the former contestants form up around the last finisher and running in with her. We've seen back of the pack folks feel frustrated and discouraged, but in a race like this, that kind of group gesture goes a long way in keeping your spirits up. Finishing last still means you've finished. And knowing that people waited for you and cheered for you, regardless of your time, might even give you the motivation to come back for another race. This is the spirit of The Biggest Loser RunWalk.

I heard a lot of people saying how much fun they had over the weekend, many of them being first time 5K or half marathoners. Quite a few of them were planning their next race. They've discovered what we found out years ago. 

There is no finish line. The finish of the first race is just a start of the rest of your life.

How's THAT for motivation?

~//~

The inaugural The Biggest Loser RunWalk Las Vegas weekend drew over 1000 finishers, making it the second biggest TBL event we've attended. 391 finished the half marathon (335 in the run division, 56 in the walk division), 649 in the 5K (411 run and 238 walk). There was also a 1 mile fun run for the kids (not timed). The half course was changed several times in the last week as the city and various property requirements changed. We started under the glitzy entrance to the casino, wound our way west on Circus Circus Drive to South Industrial and turned south, continuing on Frank Sinatra Drive. Just past the 5 mile mark, the course doubled back to the Mandalay Bay arch where participants were given a yellow wristband to signify that they'd made the first loop. We turned back south, then north through the check point back to Circus Circus drive. We wound through the RV parking lot and around East Sahara and South Las Vegas to complete the loop course. With an elevation gain/loss of less than 140 feet, this course was about as flat as you can get.

There were some hiccups on the course for the lead pack as the lead cyclist missed a turn and created a longer course for a few dozen runners. After that confusion was cleared up and the rest of the participants found the right route, it looked like the course was a bit short. Comparing our Garmin route to the course map, it looks like the turn at mile 5 and the loops in the RV park may have been placed just a few dozen meters off, resulting in a 12.7 - 12.8 mile course. Given the mid to high 80's temps, perhaps it was not a bad thing to get done a little bit early.

Support with aid stations was excellent as always for TBL races. RWB also had a Gu and Red Vine station about mile 8. With the frontage road on the west side of the strip next to the highway, there was even a good amount of shade. Jackie herself was in a car sweeping the later parts of the half marathon giving out ice and orange slices. Even with the heat, there were no medical transports. I heard of only one half marathoner who had to hop into the sag wagon due to a blister.

With only 3 Premier Destination races left on the calendar for 2015, we were wondering if there would be more going on next year. Director Jackie Evans is still working out the details, but may need to pare back their busy schedule. With close to 30 events this year, I can't blame her.  But with TBL hitting quite a few states we have not visited for half marathons, we hope to see them back on our schedule in 2016.