Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon IS the Marathon of Las Vegas

♠ Posted by Paul Naylor at 11:19 PM

Just like the title says, this is 'the marathon' of Las Vegas. This city, as far as I have seen, does not have a stand alone marathon that takes place in downtown or on the strip. It does not have just 'The Las Vegas Marathon presented by MGM' or  'presented by Sands Casino' or 'presented by Red Rock Parks' or something similar. A race that is put on by the city itself, with a major sponsor from the city. In many other cites, they will host their own marathon, with having a part of the course [running] through part of downtown.

What it does have is the 'Rock N Roll Marathon Las Vegas' which is part of a series or races that is many major cities across North America. Now don't get me wrong, the Rock N Roll Marathon Series puts on a great show in every city they're in. And for those who may not be familiar with this series, there is a lot of music that is played along the course, usually every mile or so. And these are live bands, sometimes local, sometimes bigger showtime artist. 

Another unique feature [if we can call it that] for this race, is the race starts when its getting dark. So the majority of the race is during at night. And since the course run down the famous Las Vegas Strip, it makes an atmosphere that many other races cannot compete with. Many people enjoy the strip when they came to visit, but just think of running down the street with the lights, the sounds, the people, the famous fountains at Bellagio. The list goes on and on. This is a race that attracts runners by the tens of thousands, as close to 45,000 plus runners are expected to participate in this weekends event.

If any of you may been wondering if I'm running this weekend, I'm not. This race was never on the list to run this year due to other races I've ran in recent weeks. Even though with everything this race offers, makes it a incredible race, even just to be a part of of the atmosphere. I don't think many would be going for a PR this race, and if I were running, I would not think that I would either. This is a race to enjoy all the events the series has to offer. 

But because I'm not running, I still went out to enjoy the Health Expo held at the Las Vegas Convention Center close to downtown. They had many vendors, keynote speakers, thousands of participants. One of being Meb Keflezighi, the winner of this years Boston Marathon. He spoke about his childhood, Africa, and how his parents didn't want him to be a runner. I'm sure that they are not disappointed now! 

Overall, I think that this is a great series for Las Vegas, even though that the City of Las Vegas is not the one that is putting on the race officially, the Rock n Roll series will put on a great show, and the runners will enjoy and mark their calendars next year.

The only question remains, will I do this race next year.....perhaps.