Viva Las Vegas indeed... We got to Vegas before noontime on Friday, checked into our room at the Paris, and proceeded down Las Vegas Boulevard to Mandalay Bay. It was one year ago at this same time that Steve ran his first marathon on this very street. I didn't start running until the following week, and here I was only a year later ready to do my first half marathon. What was I thinking???
The race starts at Mandalay Bay, and they were hosting the pre-race packet pick up and fitness expo. So after we picked up our bags, we browsed through the expo and bought a couple of t-shirts and some other LVM paraphernalia. One lady gave us a brochure with information on marathons around the country. We thanked her and she told us to have fun running on Sunday. But wait a minute, wasn't the race on Saturday? I said something about it to Steve, and he just said maybe she'd made a mistake. But something in the back of my mind said I didn't think she had.
All along, I had it in my mind that the race was on the 10th, but Steve kept saying it was on Saturday, so I figured I just had the date wrong. He'd checked on our flight Thursday night only to find they had no record of our airline reservations. He got it all straightened out, but it was a big, expensive hassle. Then when we checked into the Paris, those reservations were messed up, too! They had us booked for Saturday-Tuesday instead of Friday-Monday. Weird. But they found a room for us (thanks to our gaming status), changed the reservations, and all was well again.
Also, I remembered last year the expo had been over by race day, because I had thought it would give me something to do to wander through the exhibits while Steve ran and had been disappointed to discover it was over by then. And I know the race was on Sunday last year as well. It only makes sense, because they have to close the Strip for the marathon. That's why they start the race on Sunday at the ungodly hour of six a.m.
Well, the next time one of the vendors said, "Good luck on Sunday!", we were convinced we were a day off. Steve got his t-shirt out of his race packet, and sure enough, the date printed on it was 12/10/06. We were there a whole day early... that explained everything! We had a good laugh at ourselves over that one, and then decided it really was better that way anyhow. That would give us an extra day to enjoy Vegas and get relaxed before the race.
We spent the rest of Friday and all day Saturday taking in the sights, dining, gambling and shopping, and by late Saturday afternoon I already had a blister on one toe. Uh-oh... this was not good! We had tickets to see the Blue Collar comedian Ron White at Mandalay Bay that night, so we decided we'd get over there in time to go back to the expo before it closed. I was hoping I might find some Injinji toe socks like Steve wears to prevent my blister from getting any worse on race day, and also wanted to buy some Crocs, thinking they'd be easy on my feet. Zombie Runner didn't have any more Injinji socks in my size, but I did buy a pair of Crocs in the new Mary Jane style (or, as Steve says, "Betty Janes"), and they worked like magic on my sore, tired feet. I wore those things the entire duration of our stay, except during the race, and all the way home. I could be the new poster child for Crocs!
Ron White was hilarious, of course. And the show was rather eventful as well. We had seats in the next-to-the-last row, as they had been the only ones available for the early show. There was a group of people sitting down the row from us who talked out loud part of the time, making it hard to concentrate on the show. Then some extremely drunk chick a couple rows down from us decided to go to the bathroom and climbed over about twelve people to get out of her seat. She was cussing out loud and sloshing her beer all over the place, so it was a relief when she finally left.
Some heckler down in front was arguing with Ron White and actually got tossed from the show. He started fighting with the security guards, which was pretty funny, especially with the running commentary from White. But unbelievably, right after that happened, one of the ushers escorted the drunk chick back up to our section!?! What an idiot. He dumped her off and went back down the aisle, and she proceeded to stumble all over everyone, wandering around and yelling, "Hey, where's Ron White's brother? I'm looking for Ron White's brother... Hey, Ron White's brother!". Good Lord! Everyone was yelling at her to shut up, and we completely missed the end of the show. Um, eventful, like I said. I guess that's what happens when you get seats in the nosebleed section.
Race day dawned a chilly 41 degrees and windy. There was a thirty percent chance of rain, but thankfully that never materialized. We got to Mandalay Bay in plenty of time, sharing a cab with a couple of girls from Chicago. There were people dressed in all kinds of funny costumes~ show girls (one in a naked suit with a red sequin thong and a huge feather mask), brides and grooms (they actually get married at a chapel along the course), Thing One and Thing Two, an entire contingency of Elvis impersonators (or "Elvi"), and Steve in his overalls with "Okie" written down both arms in black magic marker... That's my baby!
We made our way down to the starting line to stand in the freezing wind with the other 16,000 runners, waiting for the starting gun to fire. There were fireworks, singing, and the Blue Man Group doing their show. Finally we started moving forward. It seemed to take ten minutes just to get to the start! Steve and I ran down the Strip together for about four miles, and then he ducked into a casino to use the bathroom, saying he'd catch up with me. I just kept running, even though I needed to go, too. As it turned out, I should have gone with him. I didn't see him again until he got close to the finish line.
I felt great. Steve had taped my toes for me, and they weren't bothering me at all. I kept up a steady pace, running further than I ever have before. I continued to run for about seven solid miles, and then it became imperitive to find a bathroom. I'd passed several port-a-potties along the way because the lines were too long, but after we split from the full marathoners, I found one with a relatively short line. I waited for what seemed like a long time, and the same person was in there the whole time. I finally decided I had to go on. I found another one a short distance up the road, and it had a fairly short line, too, so I made myself at home in line once again. I think all in all it added fifteen minutes to my time. Of course, not much further down the course there were portajohns with only one or two people in line, so I wish I had waited. But you never know.
After that, I started running again. It was really enjoyable running with so many people on the course. There was never a time that there weren't plenty of other runners all around me, and I had several interesting conversations running along with other half-marathoners. Also, there were plenty of sights along the course to keep my mind occupied. Crowds lined the Strip, cheering us on and making us feel like celebrities (they loved Steve's overalls). It was fun to run through the old downtown area, since I'd never been down there before... especially Fremont Street. And there were bands playing at various intervals all along the course.
But even with the festive mood and all the activity, things started getting a little tough along about mile nine or so. I tried walking for a bit, but that just seemed to make it worse. So I sucked it up, took ibuprofen and ate sport beans. By the time Mandalay Bay came into view, I was moving pretty slow... even slower than usual! But it was a sight for sore eyes. When I rounded the curve coming down to the finish line, all the people cheering for us really perked me up. The time on the clock said 2:58:34, and my chip time was 2:46:53, so that's how much time it took to cross the start line after the gun was fired.
I got my finisher's medal, had my picture taken with a show girl, and got something to eat. After a brief rest and a cup of coffee, I decided to go out to the finish area and watch for Steve to come in. He had thought he would finish in about 4:45, so I went down there about 4:20 into the race time. I stood with everyone close to the finish line for a while, cheering and clapping for all the runners coming in. Then I moved a little further up the course and cheered for everyone coming in, telling them it was just a little further, they were looking good, doing great, etc.
It seemed like I had been there for a long time, and after a while I started to worry that I might have missed Steve. Could he have come in under 4:20? I was afraid if I took the time to check the boards for his name I might miss his finish. So I moved closer to the finish again, and mentioned to a lady standing there that I was afraid I'd missed my husband. She asked me what he was wearing, and when I said "overalls", she said, "Oh, Okie... we love him!" Wow, I didn't know he was such a celebrity! Steve already had fans! She told me she and her husband had been out on the course following their son, and had seen Steve several times. Her son wasn't in yet, so she knew Steve wasn't either.
Okay, so I went back down the course. When I saw Steve, he was pretty beat. Running in the cold wind in your overalls all day will really take it out of a guy. I ran in with him, afraid to lose sight of him again, and took a picture of him receiving his finisher's medal.
Afterwards, we went into the hotel. Some members of Steve's LVM 21 club were meeting at the Island Bar, so we wanted to get down there and see them. The people in this club are a surprisingly tight-knit group, considering most of them have never met face to face. They all ran the marathon last year, and keep up with each other via message boards. They don't even know each other by their real names, only their screen names! The goal of the members is to run 21 consecutive New Las Vegas marathons, and they're all very supportive of each other. It was pretty interesting meeting everyone and watching them meet each other for the first time. I took plenty of pictures, and then it was time to say goodbye and get back to our hotel.
We cleaned up and then went down the street to the Aladdin, where there's a shopping mall with several restaurants. I had seen a Commander's Palace there earlier, and wanted to try it out for dinner. As it turned out, it was a sister restaurant to the original in New Orleans. My old boss, Dr. DeVaughn's brother Stephen used to be a special agent in charge with the treasury dept. in New Orleans, and he always said Commander's Palace was his favorite restaurant. I can see why. The service was excellent, and every single thing we ordered was absolutely superb. One of the best meals I've ever had anywhere. What a great way to finish the day!
We still had a little time the next morning before we had to catch our flight home, so we ate breakfast at our hotel and went over to Caesar's Palace again. We gambled a while and did some more shopping. The Forum Shops at Caesar's are some of our favorite places to shop.
We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, breezed through check-in and security and had an uneventful flight home. Of course, we were so stiff and sore we could barely move (like Steve said, going down stairs was really more of a controlled fall), but what a time we had in Las Vegas! And now I have a half marathon under my belt~ Woo hoo!