A Visiting Runner's Perspective at Lake Las Vegas

Editor's note: Elite runner Brandon Mader entered the XTERRA Lake Las Vegas Trail Run for the first time in his running career on April 15. Despite running with a stress fracture in his tibia, Mader placed second overall in the 21-kilometer long course. He resides in Huntsville, Alabama, and made the trip to Las Vegas for the event. He agreed to share some of his thoughts with the XTERRA Trail Mix:

I loved the course because of how open the trails were. What I normally run on is dense, rocky single-track. Being able to just focus on running instead of dodging trees was a welcome change. The footing was loose and rocky in many places but again, I am accustomed to that so it was an advantage. The weather was beautiful with medium temperatures and bright sunshine - very pleasant.

The leg held up much better than I thought it would, with only shooting pain on the steep downhills. The rest of the course I was free to go hard. I was very limited, however, by not running the 10 days leading up to the race and being on the bike so much. The third-place finisher (Fernando Ramirez) took the race out in 5:36 for the first mile - completely opposite of what I was hoping for.

The injury occurred because of overtraining; I was in a heavy buildup for a marathon next month and just developed a fracture in the tibia. I dealt with it using a compression splint I sewed together the week before the race, then took care on the downhill sections of the course. And much ice during the post-race festivities.

Noteworthy, we had a great battle at the front between the top three runners, and looking across the dunes at the field it looked like a very competitive race all around. I was still within 10 seconds of the leader (Justin Thomas) at the top of the climb around 10.5 miles into the race before we started descending and he left me to hobble. I think being able to see all of your competition gave this race a different feel than most trail runs. It was a welcomed edge.

I was determined to do this race because I consider it one of the four marquee XTERRA Trail Run Series races: the ones paired with the triathlon regional championships. Also, I was very much looking forward to the trip and in hindsight I couldn't be happier with the weekend. Absolutely worth it.

The resorts around the lake were fantastic. There was a relaxed European feel to the venue, which was an added bonus to the race. However, I chose to stay on the strip.

One of my friends came with me and we stayed after the race to soak up the wonders of Vegas. I think out-of-town runners should consider doing the same. You get to run a great race, then go immediately into vacation mode. It's a rare combination to have a trail race followed by world-class entertainment.

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