As my faithful followers know Mike bought me a present at the beginning of the year to be an all year gift. He sent Gina and I to Vegas to run the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Vegas. We left on Friday and made our way to Vegas. We were set up in the swanky Mandalay Bay which has to be the nicest hotel I have stayed at yet to date. I have a bad habit of trying to stay in cheap hotels as I hate to spend money on a hotel room so this was a real treat for me. After a long line to check in we finally were able to drop off our stuff and make our way to the Expo which was clear on the other side of the strip. We took the monorail over to save money and it was quite the venture. We got lost with a group of other people and it took us forever to find our way to the Expo. So much for not walking much. The Expo was great. It has to be the nicest Expo I have been too.
We walked around a little after getting our packets and did some shopping at Cesar's. My legs were shot by the time we made it back to our hotel. I tried to stay off of them but it is hard because not only are you walking but you are standing everywhere. There was so many people you stood in line to get something or go anywhere. I stood in line for an hour to get coffee! Saturday we tried to do a whole lot of nothing but still there was walking and more standing in line. We did go and see the Titanic exhibit in the Luxor and that was really neat. They give you a boarding pass and my lady owned a Macy's and traveled first class- how perfect! My lady perished when the ship went down. Gina was a third class passenger who was one of the survivors.
Sunday was race day and we could see them setting up for the race out our window on Saturday so you knew it was going to be a big production. We made our way to corral 13 to guess what stand in more lines! After about an hour of standing around they were finally able to get going. Cher sang the national anthem, Robin Leach did the opening speech. It was awesome to see some real celebrities other than the Elvi, Tina Turner, Jack Sparrow, Mad Hatter, and Michael Jackson's that were walking around all weekend. There was a total of 30,000 runners which is the population of Kearney! There was 14 couples that got married and 13,000 spectators. It was crazy. The race was almost entirely on Las Vegas Boulevard so we ran past all the major hotels, someone handing out free booze and hot dogs. It was differently a different kind of race.
I had a goal of running my race under 2 hours but from the start I was anxious and uneasy. My legs felt like bricks the ENTIRE race. I could not get my mind to settle down. I lost Gina at mile 7 so I ran the last part by myself. I could never catch that runner high or settle into my pace. I just did not have the race I wanted to but that is how it goes some days. Some days just are not your days. I did PR with a 2:03:59 and I should be happy with it but I just felt I could do better.
I loved our trip to Vegas but I don't think I will travel that far again to run. I need to rest more to keep my legs fresh. I love to go to races. I love to meet people and hear their racing stories. We meet a guy from Canada that said they close races up there because of bears on the trail or the twins from Boston that ran 9 marathons this year and only do it on coffee, they have qualified for Boston for the last 15 years and their dad is sponsored by Mizuno. I love meeting those people, I love being surrounded by other runners.
The post race concert was Bret Michaels. He was AMAZING!! He played all of his oldie but goodies. Gina and I had a great spot to watch the show- right next to the beer garden. The smell of 30,000 runners standing that close together that have not showered is not the funniest but Bret was so good.
Sunday I took Gina to all the major attractions, we saw the fountains at the Bellagio and their displays their lobby is always breathtaking.
Gina had never gambled so I had to teach her how to play the nickel slots. I could not believe she had never gambled before! She won $1.50 so she cashed out her winnings. I lost $2.00 and decided I had enough with the gambling. Gina and I had a great time and I am so glad to had the chance to get away and show Vegas to my sister and run an amazing race.
No comments:
Post a Comment