I ran the REVEL Mt. Charleston Marathon on April 6, 2024. This was my 29th full marathon, in my 16th U.S. State. My official finish time was 3:44:34, an 8:34 pace. It was extremely painful. Also, this was my first real altitude run (7633 ft. elevation at the start) and the altitude made some things very difficult. I really didn’t expect it to be as difficult as it was, for either my muscles or for my lungs. It was a struggle to get enough oxygen. There were lots of complications when I tried to do anything. Shredding layers of clothing, for example, put me over the edge every time because of the additional effort that took.
The muscular pain began at mile 7. It really intensified around mile 10, by mile 16 I felt like I was dying because my legs hurt so bad. A runner encouraged me at that point, and it truly did help my mental state so much, although the pain never went away. In the second half of the marathon, after the pain had me reeling, everything was bothering me. There was this one person who was doing intervals and kept passing me and then I would pass her. Normally it would have been great, but she had a very loud foot strike, and it was just getting on my nerves. As this went on over and over again, and I was in the pain bubble, it was very difficult not to associate her with the pain. I know better, but it was overload for me.
I got some GoPro footage of the race, although less than I would’ve liked because it was all so much to deal with. In the beginning my dexterity was really bad, between being very cold and having on so many layers of clothes. Later I was just in too much pain and was more concerned with managing that than doing much else.
When I tried to turn on my Shokz OpenRun (bone conduction headphones), which I had never run with before (rule #1, nothing new on race day, was broken here), I couldn’t figure out how to get the power on and had a mild panic attack. I had waited until the last minute to power them on. Thankfully, I found someone to help me.
The start of the race was icy and there was snow everywhere. I was very worried about my footing initially. The first couple miles were particularly icy. I never felt a slip beneath me though, not even a little. They were cautioning us to be careful, so I was. Mile 1 was slower than it would’ve been because I didn’t want to fall. It was in the low 20s and windy. I bought a big wool overcoat at Goodwill, something nobody would ever run in, and ditched it at the start. I also bought a fluffy jacket to wear underneath that, which I ended up ditching around mile 3. I had planned to wear it to mile 5, but I didn’t need it. My heart rate was really high from the elevation, and that warmed me. The sun also came up and that made me more warm. Later I removed the second pair of gloves (those were throwaway gloves), then the ear warmer headband, then the buffs (I wore 2), my hat, my arm warmers, and finally my primary pair of gloves, all at various stages during the race. I ended up losing one of my buffs somewhere. Thankfully that was the only accidental loss. Removing clothing was difficult while going fast, but I hate being cold, so I wore a lot of stuff. I also had hand warmers in my bra and in my gloves, which I ditched (always at an aid station, where there were trash cans.) I checked a pair of underwear, pants, a long sleeve shirt, and a mylar blanket in my gear check bag for the finish. I’m glad I did that. Once the race was over, I got cold very quickly. During the race it was full sun, which was helpful at the start, but I didn’t love it towards the end. I prefer overcast. It still wasn’t overwhelmingly hot, but the Sun was bothersome, and just a bit too warm; it would have been better without it.
I felt my muscles threatening to cramp several times during the race, and I was really not able to bother with getting my BASE Electrolyte Salt out of my handheld. I had forgotten to bring the sublingual Hylands for before the race. I felt like I had too much going on with the pain, the GoPro, and the shedding of clothing. I just breathed through the cramps and thankfully, that worked to keep them at bay.
After the race I met up with my friend Jacque, from the Atlanta Track Club. She completely crushed her goals and is truly an inspiration. It was nice to have someone to hang out with afterwards. I met a couple of her friends and we stayed and talked for a while before getting on the bus to head back to the strip.
I set an “official time” personal record by 2:21, and I now have a 10:26 buffer on my Boston Marathon qualifying time for 2025! Apparently, my marathon distance time was still better at Marine Corps in 2017 (thanks, Strava, for pointing that out, so now I still have to beat that) but my official time wasn’t as good as MCM because of the amount by which I exceeded true marathon distance at that race (26.6), whereas this one I got closer to accuracy with 26.32. Every little bit matters.
I achieved my goal, which was sub 3:45. I abandoned my stretch goal when I felt like I was dying from the pain during mile 16; I renegotiated with myself to do whatever I could to at least hit my primary goal. It was questionable, because I was in a lot of pain for a very long time. I’m so thankful I was able to make it happen.
I’m calling it a win. But not enough of a win that I don’t think I can beat it sometime. 
Sorry that I didn’t get to this sooner. I have now pre-dated the post to reflect the accurate timeline. I published it normally, when I first wrote it (much after the fact), but fixed the date to fit the timeline later.
Here is the race video I made to put on my Facebook profile and on my YouTube Channel. Go ahead and follow my FB and please Like, Subscribe, and Comment on my YouTube. Iād love to hear from you!!!
After getting cleaned up, I spent an hour in the sauna at my hotel, The Westin Las Vegas Hotel and Spa. The heat, and the stretching I did in there, felt amazing. I’m sure it helped a lot with my recovery.
The next day started with a free yoga class. That was painful and difficult, but very helpful. Then I walked around the Las Vegas Strip and then had a really nice dinner with the 5 team members from my company who were in Vegas for LeadsCon. The food at Bavette’s Steakhouse and Bar was delicious and the atmosphere was wonderful. It was great to see everyone. I didn’t get any photos, unfortunately, except for this one before I headed out. Wearing heels the day after a downhill marathon may have been a bit masochistic, but it was a nice restaurant and I wanted to look good!
I enjoyed my time in Vegas. Although this race was really painful, I am so glad I did it. I will do another REVEL race sometime, I’m sure. Now I know what to expect, somewhat. I will do more leg days at the gym next time beforehand!
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