Gallivanting Runner: Not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to run a single marathon in 2012. I was planning on running two different ultras that year, but due to life circumstances neither of those two races were do-able for me. I did run 3 different races though; in February I ran my first 15k with a dear friend/co-worker, later that month I ran an awesomely muddy and grueling trail half marathon, and a 10k in July with my cousin up in Michigan. But since my blog is meant for my marathon/ultra travels, I didn’t visit my page last year and completely forgot to post my last 2011 marathon and 6^th state report, Hoover Dam Marathon. Because I no longer have the computer my report was originally written on, I had to go back in my memory (which isn't so hot) to re-write it. Thanks to Facebook, I at least have the pictures from my trip!

(October 28, 2011 - November 6, 2011)

Since my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew live in Las Vegas I had been really looking forward to this race/trip. I hadn’t met my precious little nephew yet nor seen my brother and seester since they got married a few years back and I’d never been to Vegas…this was going to be a great vacation! I planned to fly-in the day prior to the race and then stay the following week. Upon arriving at the airport, it was interesting to see slot machines all throughout the airport; BJ, my brother, told me slot machines aren’t just everywhere in the airport…they’re literally EVERYWHERE in Vegas. Megan, my seester, had made a wonderful pre-race meal and soon after dinner I called it a night.

Hoover Dam Marathon was the weekend of Halloween and since BJ and Megan were throwing a Halloween party later that night I decided to wear my costume for the race too. Megan had a great idea for their party; we would all be TV commercial characters with me going as Flo (the Progressive lady). This was the first and probably only time I will ever wear makeup during a race and in order to still be able to run, I tweaked my costume a little.

Side note: Megan had the best costume; she was the Old Spice guy…I wish I had a picture because she was awesome!

The sunrise over Lake Mead was absolutely beautiful!

We started the race down by the lake, made our way out to the mountains on a paved trail that turned into a dirt trail that ran us through a few old train tunnels. We followed that out and back twice.

Heading out toward the mountains

View from up in the mountains, far left down by the lake is the start/finish line

In one of the train tunnels

As with most marathons, you usually see numerous Marathon Maniacs (you can usually identify them by their shirts). I happened to run with one of them early in the race and as we chatted she told me about the most notorious maniac of all, Larry Macon. Did I know he was a Guinness World Record holder? Indeed I did not! *I suggest Googling him, he's quite inspiring!* She said he was running this race, so we caught up with him and she introduced us. We ran together for several miles and all along the way numerous runners greeted Larry by name. Some said hi in passing while others joined us for a few steps to find out what races he’d recently completed and what ones were next on his race schedule. Everyone seemed to know this man! I really enjoyed running and chatting with him, I even had the privilege of getting a picture with Larry at the new bridge.

Along with seeing Marathon Maniacs there are usually a few firemen or military men/women running in uniform in memory or honor of someone or an organization. When you see one of these men or women running, I recommend not just thanking them for their service and everything they do, but take a little bit of time and run alongside them and ask them why their running or who they’re running for. I ran with Giovanni for a few miles and chatted with him about Wounded Warrior Project and some of his friends who are in WWP’s various programs.

You can hardly see him, but running into the train tunnel (right side of the tunnel) is Giovanni carrying the American flag

I hadn’t trained as well as I should have for this race and ended up walking with the occasional bit of running for a good majority of the second half. I learned to never underestimate the power of the marathon, it is always important to train properly for your distance no matter how many times you've run the distance in the past! Megan, BJ, and Jameson were at the finish to cheer me on!

I don’t recall how everything went down for the rest of my trip but I had a blast. First time trip to Vegas isn't complete without seeing The Strip, so the day after the race we spent the day wandering.

Unfortunately Meg had to work the following day so BJ, Jameson, and I went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay,

visited the Luxor and the Venetian. One evening, we joined Megan for a Halloween work function.

The cutest little lion

The rest of the week I had the privilege of playing Auntie babysitter for Jameson. One of those days, Jameson and I took a trip out to Red Rock Canyon, what a gorgeous place!

I would love to take another trip out there and go camping.

Even though my brother and seester had to work most of the days I was in town we still had a blast! We met up for lunches, had great home cooked dinners and spent evenings hanging out, Megan and I even squeezed in a girls night, and one of the last nights there the 3 of us went out for a night on The Strip! They treated me to a wonderful birthday dinner at Mon Ami Gabi which we followed with drinks at The Cosmopolitan’s Chandelier Bar, and for my first time gambling we spent the rest of the night on Fremont Street.