The actual half marathon Vegas race recap..a “sort of” recap

 

This artistic pose was meant to capture the irony in that I was dressed in clothes to go running, complete with a race bib at 5am while others stumbled around drunk or hung over trying to figure out if they should throw up or keep drinking.  I think I nailed it, don’t you?

The directions to the start of the Really Big Free Marathon were not posted very well.  We did have a scenic warm-up walk to the start though.

This artistic pose was meant to capture the irony, just kidding….S and J are being awesome goofballs.  These girls are adorable and I hope they know that we are besties from here on out.  Bestie S and Bestie J.  It’s official!

S, J, and the hunchback of Lake Mead

I need to stop hunching over.  I must thing that the person taking the picture will chop my head off?  I do it all the time.  The guy over my shoulder is tired.  The lady with the visor is staring at the hill we are going to climb right after crossing the start line, and the lady in the blue hat is happy her pony tail isn’t too tight.  Or something like that.

 

Pretend you don’t see the vehicle in the picture.  And then pretend you’ve seen the movie “The Hills have Eyes.”  Then pretend you know what scenes went through my head a couple of times during this run.  I guess there were coyotes out earlier that some runners were able to capture and keep as pets on film.

 

Despite the hilly course, I had an absolute blast.  It was so much fun running with friends (knowing they were on the course and seeing them at turnarounds…we all had different paces). I was also really please with myself as I had ran the Portland Marathon on October 7th and a week and a half later, I succumbed to the flu.  Between getting sick and then the half marathon, I had run a total of 11 miles.  Eight of those were done right before I got sick.  So I was off  over 2 weeks from running and still made out with a decent time even including the hills.  Makes me excited for what I can do when I’m properly trained!

My goals for this race were:

A. Finish it

B. Come in close to 2:30 hours (finished in 2:46…not bad for having not trained on hills.)

C. Have fun (which I DID!)

I might have spent the rest of the day coughing up a lung or two but hey, I was in Vegas and who cares!

I think this is the next to last blog about my Vegas trip.  You are very welcome. Exciting Stuff to come!