Vegas was....unlike any other Vegas trip I've ever taken. I think Vegas should be left for the partying and not the exercising (unless you count dancing the night away exercise. I do.) I'm a ball of pain...I pretty much fell apart at Mile 10. Oh well! I should have trained.Well, I guess now my name will come up in Google search results.
I finished in 3 hours and 35 minutes - basically I took the entire allotted time. If my knee had decided to cooperate, I actually probably would have done much better. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the start line - at a 6:15 start time, this was painful. It was very, very cold, but at least they shot off fireworks. I have never seen the Vegas sunrise sober. It was beautiful-ish.
Around Mile 4, we passed a group of 6 guys who had just stumbled out of the casinos, drinks in hand, looking quite disheveled. I wanted to be them.
I ran/walked the first 5 miles (a first for me) and actually felt great jogging (aka bounce walking...I wouldn't really consider it "running" necessarily.) The air was COLD (32 degrees!) and dry - great exercising conditions for me I guess!
By Mile 6, I resigned to a fast walk, and around Mile 6.5 I tried to run but Mr. Knee decided that wasn't going to happen.
By Mile 8, I could see the major casinos again which I thought would be a benefit but turned out to be a detriment.
By Mile 9, I got lonely and a tad bored.
By Mile 10, I was picking out inconspicuous places to throw up.
By Mile 11, I had teared up and seriously considered just going back to the room.
By Mile 11.1, I really needed a nap, some ice for my knee, a cocktail, and some blackjack.
By Mile 12, all of the finishers were walking the other way in their hot dog wrappers which really put a damper on my mood. I then wished for a Segway or a bicycle to pull me to the finish line.
By Mile 13, I just couldn't do it. My legs wouldn't work, my limbs and extremities were frozen, and my knee hurt so bad I thought I was going to die.
Finally, at Mile 13.1, I crossed the finish line, grabbed my medal, ate the most amazingly delicious mini bagel I have ever had in my life, ate a bag of pretzels, wrapped myself in my own hot dog wrapper, and headed over to station T to meet the girls. We then welcomed S to the finish line.
Sunday afternoon consisted of Jello shots, some craps, pizza, and hobbling around the casinos. At least we weren't the only ones! Sunday night's dinner at the new Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip was AWESOME and a much-needed distraction from the pain. Oh and the hamburgers were insanely good. I'm thinking we needed some protein!
All in all it was an experience, and I can say that I finished! Slow and steady doesn't really win the race, by the way.
2 comments:
sounds like a hell of an experience! the beauty of running is that it beats you down but you come back stronger.
p.s. great work finishing! you should be proud. not everyone makes it to the finish line of their first big race.
Post a Comment