The 110% Worth It Half-Marathon

How I Decided on the Run

I don't know where I first saw the Hoover Dam half marathon, but I immediately wanted to do it. Then a work obligation got scheduled, and I thought it was off the table. When the work function got rescheduled and I once again had the weekend free, I wanted to go—bad. The problem was that the race was the week after Thanksgiving, which seemed a little risky given that we planned to travel over Thanksgiving.

When we got back from Thanksgiving and I wasn't sick, I decided I would register if my husband approved. I did that Tuesday night and started carb loading. Friday, I threw everything in a suitcase, and as soon as my husband got finished with his work meetings, we headed for Nevada. It was only a 4.5 hour drive, and with the time change, only 3.5 hours. We rolled into Hoover Dam Lodge Hotel about 7 pm, unpacked, and I was in bed by 9:30 pm.



Okay, okay. I carb loaded like a boss before I went to sleep: overnight oats, banana, two bagels, a pop tart, and fruit leather. Overall, I have carb loaded far above the minimums for my past few races, and it seems to be paying off. I have heard that the body learns to better metabolize and store glucose the more a person runs (American Diabetes Association, n.d.). I have been running a lot, so there's that.

The Morning of the Race

I did not sleep great, but I also did not sleep poorly the night before the race. I kept dreaming I checked the time and it was almost time to get up, but then I would actually check my watch, and it would not be time to get up. I ended up getting out of bed a little after 5 am, 6 am Arizona time, which would be sleeping in for me. I did my PT, doo-daddled around with DuoLingo, word games, etc. After my husband got up a little after 6 am, I realized that I really needed to read my Bible and get dressed so that we could leave by 6:45 AM as planned.

We headed downstairs and redeemed our free coffees. The small size was 16 ounces, which is more than I usually drink, but I poured my RNWY in anyway and started sipping. The drive to Lake Mead Recreational Area was less than 10 minutes, but I ate my chocolate sourdough discard bagel during that time, while also sipping on the coffee. The views driving down to the lake were gorgeous. Even before I started running, I thought, “This was 110% worth it.” That sentiment continued throughout the day.

I hopped out of the car and picked up my bib—easy-peasy. The race shirt was pretty cool, but cotton, and I did not want to wear cotton to run. I went round and round about what to wear, as I had been very cold at the Iowa race, and a little cold while running in Utah. Some people recommended a tank top and shorts for racing in the predicted 40-50 degree temperatures (Mahoney, 2025). Others recommended long sleeves and running tights (Lea Genders, 2018). I am cold natured, so went with the latter.

Pinning my bib on was an exercise in frustration. Bib Boards are great for not ruining my shirts, and really pretty easy to use when putting them on at home. Putting them on a shirt in the car, not so easy. After one re-do, I got the bib on good enough and hopped out for pictures in front of the beautiful lake. Seriously, it was gorgeous! I felt 110% happy about the race, and it had not even started!

I went to the bathroom three times before this race: at 7:30, 7:40, and 8 am. At 8 am, after the marathoners left, I did a mile warmup. I sipped a little bit of water and then started the race at 8:30 am.

Goals:

The goal for this race was to run it as my 16 mile workout. That meant 3 miles easy, 3 x 3 miles at marathon pace, with a 1 mile easy pace in between. With this, I decided not to gel before the race, but before each harder interval. That meant I took my first gel at 2.5 miles, my second at 6, and my third at 10. I had several more, but felt good, so left it at that. I did not seem to be sweating much, so I ditched the idea of salt tabs, despite the fact that they were rattling in their bottle in my pocket the whole way. I did take a cup of water from every aid station, which were about every two miles. A little cramping afterward made me wonder if I got enough salt, though (Eicher, 2007). It is hard to know.

Course:

Miles 1-3 The course started with a little uphill, but honestly it wasn't bad. I ran easy, about 9:07/mile. The paved path took us back up towards our hotel, but with beautiful views of the lake. The path changed to packed dirt here, which was pretty easy to run on, but having read about the dirt path and need for sturdy road shoes, I had chosen my Brooks Ghost 16 over my Asics Magic Speed, and I was glad for them here. More on that later.

Miles 3-6 I hit my first marathon pace interval here, and honestly, I was a little afraid it would feel super hard. Somehow, it didn't. I was so grateful! I started hitting the railroad tunnels, and was in and out of those for the duration. While it was hard to see in the tunnels with my sunglasses, I enjoyed their reprieves of coolness, and it was kind of fun hearing the footsteps of other runners echoing inside them. I think that the tunnels messed up the Runkeeper tracking, so it's hard to know what my pace really was. Runkeeper said 7:00/mile, but I do not think that is quite right.

Miles 6-9 The trail started to go up and down a little bit here. The trail was also a little washed out in places, which made me glad for my sturdier shoes. I thought the trail was the switchbacks mentioned in the course description. No. Those were very tight, on a very narrow sidewalk down to the parking lot on top of the dam. While the views were cool, this was honestly an annoying part of the course. People pretty much had to run single file each way. It was steep. People should have yelled, “Corner” like in restaurants. Oh, and there were some visitors with a dog that ran in front of me and almost tripped me up. Yeah, not my favorite part.

It was a little bit of a climb back on the trail, but not too bad. Most of the climbing happened in the mile easy, which was a blessing. I hit the railroad tunnels again, which was probably my second favorite part. (My first favorite was the lake views.) My GPS seemed to be off, though, as I found it no longer matched the course mile markers (which were large and often, which I appreciated). I told myself I was not racing and didn't want to blow up, so I just did the best I could and went with it.

I lost my gloves somewhere in here. I had been taking them on and off, tucking them into the elastic strap of my running belt as I went. They must have fallen out when I did not notice. Oh well. It's only a few dollars loss (unlike the AirPods case I lost on the run earlier this year)

Miles 10-12 I started passing people as we started a slight descent. I was technically at my mile easy at 11 miles, but with it all downhill, I pretty much kept the prescribed marathon pace of 8:00/mile or under. I was not really sure where I would hit the turnaround, and with my GPS being off, I did not really know where to push myself, either. I figured that the last miles would all be in my marathon pace block, so I just kept after it.

Miles 12-13.1 Thankfully the course was well marked, and there were people in front of me. I got to the turnaround and I think I was about at 13 miles on my watch, but then I hit the 12 mile mark. It was a bit of a climb, but not terrible. I passed a few more people.

The last bit of the race was downhill. I passed one more lady and went through the finish. My watch said 13.84 miles, but the course was USATF certified, so I trusted it more than my watch. I had a time of 1:52:13, and chip time was 1:52:09, so pretty close!

After the race:

I got my medal, water, and Gatorade and went and had my husband take medal photos. I asked how to check time (since my phone had no data, and therefore no internet access), and was told to go over to a computer near the finish line. I was surprised to see a second place age group finish listed. I told my husband that would mean we needed to wait for the awards ceremony at 11 am. First, I had 1.9 more miles to knock out, though.

I jogged a 1.9 mile loop down towards the lake and back. It was lovely. I had thought the race was 110% worth it before I even started running, and now that the race was finished, I thought so even more. I stretched while waiting for the award ceremony to start, and chugged more water since I probably had not had enough.

The awards ceremony went fairly quickly. They called up the overall men's and women's winners, and then age group awards. I was a little scared when I was not called up second, as listed. I thought it might be a Foster 5K situation where I got knocked out of my place, but instead, I got first place! I was the only one present, though, which seemed weird. All podium finishers got cool coffee mugs, though, so I did not feel too terrible about having possibly got the wrong award.

We hoofed it back to the hotel so I could foam roll and shower. (The hotel was very kind and graciously allowed us a later checkout.) I had a few muscle cramps/spasms before the race, and once back, I still felt sore. That continued through lunch and the rest of the day. Maybe it was the downhill? Maybe it was the marathon pace intervals? I don't really know. I ran the whole race several minutes slower than I did in Utah, and that race also had hills, though not so long or gradual.

Final thoughts: While this was a turn and burn trip, it really was 110% worth it to me to go. Yes, it was inconvenient. Yes, the race registration cost about $110 dollars. No, I didn't PR, or even beat my last training run half-marathon. But the Hoover Dam half marathon was fun. It was beautiful. I got to do my long run in a new place. My husband and I got to go out of town together. This trip was good. This trip was worth it. I am so so thankful to God for this opportunity!

References:

American Diabetes Association. (n.d.). Blood glucose and exercise. https://diabetes.org/health-wellness/fitness/blood-glucose-and-exercise

Eichner E. R. (2007). The role of sodium in 'heat cramping'. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 37(4-5), 368–370. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200737040-00024

Genders, L. (2018, November 9). What to wear to the Dallas Marathon in any temperature. Lead Genders Fitness. https://www.leagendersfitness.com/news/what-to-wear-to-run-the-dallas-marathon-in-any-temperature?fbclid=IwAR3qC6E4O7yJRdmUCOiMjKOAB9daAytMUoeJW9IC__6etEymDtLaPEBQ3-4&amp%3Bformat=amp

Mahoney, M. (2025, November 25). Turkey trotters! Here’s a little guide for you- as always, know thyself and do what works for you! Good luck! [Photo]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DReqR-yke24/img_index=2&epik=dj0yJnU9b1NxbGxQWXMzWExtNUl5NTZ2ZjZHRHQ0ZGtBbFptbzUmcD0wJm49a1N2WEhEdVBzQ1Z5VWZFbE5ZWE1FQSZ0PUFBQUFBR2sxcDFV