I flew out of Ontario airport on Southwest Airlines. I was able to use my frequent flyer points for a free round trip ticket. It was a very short flight into Las Vegas. These days, I'd rather fly than to make that drive up the 15 freeway. After landing, I made my way over to the bus stop. I bought a RTC bus pass on my phone for $5. The pass was good for 24 hrs. There was a ticket kiosk at that bus stop if you don't have their app installed on your phone. I waited for and took the 108 bus over to Swenson at Flamingo and then the 202 to the end of the line at Grand Canyon at Rochelle. From there it was a short walk over to the Hampton Inn. The hotel was situated right next to the Las Vegas Athletic Club and since it was January, there were a ton of cars coming and going to this gym. Anyhow I had to be careful not to be run over by one of those cars as I walked through the huge parking lot. I checked in and dropped off my bags before going back out to eat lunch with my friend.
We ate at a Mexican restaurant called, Frank & Fina's Cocina. It was just across the street from the hotel. I don't usually eat at Mexican restaurants, but it had great reviews on Yelp, so I thought I'd give it a try. The waiter brought us some chips and salsa as we looked through the menu. I decided on their shrimp tacos. They were pretty decent sized tacos and they were generous with the shrimp. It came with a couple slices of lime, refried beans, and rice.
Chips and salsa
Shrimp tacos
I had originally planned to take the bus over to the Red Rock Running Company to pick up my race packet. My friend offered to drive me over there as he needed to pick up his race packet as well. This would be my first time running a "recycled" race, so it was kind of weird getting a shirt and bib from a race that had already taken place.
Race shirt and bib
My friend was going to drop me off at my hotel. However we both wanted to buy stuff at the Target near my hotel, so instead we went there. After I bought my usual Powerade, a bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies, and Jack Link's jalapeño beef jerky, I walked back across the street to my hotel.
Snacks
Back at my room, I unpacked my bag and laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's marathon to make sure that I had brought everything that I needed for the race. During those two tasks, I went through the bag of cookies. :)
Flat runner
After resting for a while in the room, I walked back out to the nearby McDonald's to pick up my usual dinner before running a marathon. Yes, I have to have my McNuggets! With my McDonald's app installed on my phone, I was able to also order the Grand Mac and get the french fries and drink for free. I took the food back to my room to enjoy.
I watched some TV while eating my food. I flipped through the channels and came across one of my favorites, The Wedding Singer. I caught the last part of the movie. Grow Old with You was and still is one of my favorite songs from that movie! "Even let you hold the remote control!" :) Then later that evening, another one of my favorite movies was on, The Big Lebowski. I called it a night and went to sleep soon after that movie was over.
McNuggets and Grand Mac combo
Billy Idol!
The Dude and his white Russian
Don't f*ck with the Jesus!
That's like your opinion, man!
Sunday 1/29
I totally overestimated the amount of time that it would take for me to walk to the starting area. I got there at about 7 am and the race wasn't scheduled to start until 8 am. They were still setting up. I guess I could've waited inside the PKWY Tavern as there was a chill in the morning air. However only my hands were cold, so I was glad that I wore gloves. Eventually the other runners including my friends started showing up.
Behind the PKWY Tavern
Race day pick-up
My friend that was running her 133rd marathon in a 365 day span brought Bundt cakes for her friends that came out to support her. I didn't eat mine until the next day for breakfast and it was delicious! We took about a million pre-race photos before lining up next to the tent at the start line. It was pretty cool that for a small race, they still took the time to have someone sing the national anthem.
Bundt cake!
Marathon Maniacs at the start
Fellow Marathon Maniac that I met in Honolulu
Start/finish tent
The out and back course was a total of 10k. It would be a gradual uphill to the 5k turnaround point. We would run that course 4 times plus a final small out and back to make up the remainder of the marathon distance. I started off with a conservative effort and I felt a total lack of strength in my legs. With that I quickly threw all specific time goals out the window and ran by perceived effort. My single goal was to finish in under 5 hrs. My legs would start feeling quite heavy as I was finishing my 2nd out and back.
Start of the race
Still pretty fresh during loop 2
I was having gut issues during my 3rd out and back. I'm going to blame this one on the new Powerade flavor, twisted blackberry. It was a blackberry cherry combination. I've never had it before. To make things worse, the cap on my handheld bottle wasn't a very tight seal, so it looked like I had spilled wine all over my singlet! Thankfully the gut discomfort eventually went away. One thing I really like about out and back courses is the ability to see all of the runners ahead of you as well as those behind you.
Gio training for the Bataan Memorial Death March!
Since I was doing a lot of walking during the 4th out and back, I pulled out my phone and took some pictures of the course. I swear that 5k turnaround point was moved farther out each time! The one big spiraling overpass was pretty fun to run up and over the first couple of times. However it was such a grind during the 3rd and 4th time! That final turnaround for the small out and back was such a sight for sore eyes and legs! :)
View out on the course
Turnaround for each out and back
Spiraling overpass
Local artwork
Turnaround for last mini out and back
Crossing the finish line
Finish: 4:47:59
Click here for my Garmin data.
My legs were definitely the worse for wear. I was cramping up and could barely stand, so I got a bottle of Gatorade and found a seat to sit down. After taking a few photos and regaining most of my leg functions, I excused myself from my friends and walked slowly back to my hotel room to finish recovering. Some marathons I feel great afterwards. Then there are times like today where I felt completely trashed.
Recycled finisher medal and ribbon
Martha crossing the finish line
Marathon Maniacs at the finish line
I was feeling pretty incapacitated when I got back to my room. I plopped down in a chair and watched TV. I ended up watching Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice for the first time. I've heard horrible things about the movie and I'm not a fan of Ben Affleck, so I wasn't expecting much. I couldn't fathom what could be worse than him being Batman, but it was worse seeing Jesse Eisenberg playing the role of Lex Luther. He was more suited for maybe a Joker. My favorite actor to have played Lex was Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville. Now for the female characters, I had a problem with Amy Adams being Lois Lane since the Man of Steel movie. She's a great actress but not for the role of Lois. However I did like watching Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman! :) Overall the story was weak and poorly written, but there were some good superhero fight scenes near the end with Doomsday.
Wonder Woman!
After I finally took a shower, I made my way back to the PKWY Tavern to join my friends for dinner and some post race celebration. I started with an Arnold Palmer and ordered their Hero Burger with tater tots. I love tater tots. If they're on the menu, I'm ordering them! The only thing that made the burger a "hero" burger was that it was served on a toasted hoagie roll instead of the traditional burger buns. Otherwise it was pretty much your standard burger.
Arnold Palmer
Hero burger
Celebrating at the PKWY Tavern
Monday 1/30
Since I had an early morning flight. I woke up early, ate the Bundt cake for breakfast, got ready, checked-out of my room, and walked over to the bus stop. Along the way, I bought for $3 a RTC bus pass good for 2 hrs. I took the 202 to Flamingo at Paradise, then crossed the street to catch the 108 just in front of PF Chang's. It was perfect timing as the bus showed up just seconds after I got there. One thing that stood out as I boarded the bus was that there were two security guys on the bus. I took that bus to the airport. I finished off my water before going through TSA security screening. Apparently their rules had changed. They pulled my backpack to exam the contents as I was informed that iPads now needed to be removed from carry-ons and placed in the bin.
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