You can always find classes in your area - check Cisco's website. You can generally even take one class out of the CCSP track from somewhere. I do a decent amount of work with PIX and ASA boxes at work (we're phasing out the PIXes though, only a few left). They're pretty different from the routing & switching IOS but there are similarities.
I wouldn't let the R&S part keep you away from a CCNA if that's what you want. I bought the CCNA bookshelf from Cisco Press (about 100$ total) and it came with decent simulators. That combined with just playing around with really old stuff you can find on EBay for under 50$ was enough to get me to pass the class with flying colors. If you want it, go for it.
