Vegas. I’m not sure you will find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy outside of Tatooine.
On the plus side, no one accosted me about my attire; in fact a cop directing traffic asked me if I was going to set any records today. I told him only if the internet crashed and wiped out all data on prior records… and everyone else got disqualified at the race. But in the end, the whole experience felt like a general dismissiveness of me… is it better to be ignored than to be lectured? What is a “happier” alternative?
The pre-race concert headliner was Snoop Dogg. As recreational marijuana was recently approved in a number of states, he was on a high. Amidst the thumping bass and swirling Mary Jane clouds, I wondered how the run might go… but given that several runners around me were clutching half drunk margaritas by the yard, I’m not sure anyone cared.
Marathoners had to leave the concert early to get into our starting corrals. The Vegas strip is shut down twice a year — once for New Year’s Eve and once for this race. The RnR team has a hard street closure permit from the city so all races must be completed in 5 hours or less. That’s a tight target for some runners… especially if one has been hydrating by knocking back alcoholic beverages all weekend.
I went out too fast for sure as I paid the price in the back half of the race. But the opening half marathon I was putting up some good pace numbers. I even snagged a few photos of me at iconic Vegas sights and I think captured a bit of the neon jungle.
That included a brief stop at Slots-A-Fun. When I was a younger man, some friends of mine out in LA went on a road trip to Vegas to celebrate my birthday. One of the spots we had to visit, partly due to the name, was this place. It was, as advertised, Slots-A-Fun. So to my adopted LA family of Jen, Meg, Aimee, Adam, and my actual brother Steve – this shot’s for you! Thanks for the memories…
As much as I was inclined to dread the out and back pretzel twists and turns of the revised course, I found it much more pleasant than last year’s highway hypnosis tracks. It helped that there was significantly less wind this year as well.
Spectator support was sparse for the full marathon but they did what they could with swirling laser lights and gels, some bands along the way, and a crackerjack team of volunteers handing out water and Gatorade.
In the end, despite ever slowing miles and far too many walking breaks, I ran down the strip to the finish in a 3:38-ish time.
From the finish it was a crush of humanity to the exit. The race announcers said family members looking to meet their runners were blocking traffic but it just felt like chaos. I’m quite claustrophobic, especially in seething crowds of smelly people… oh, wait. I’M that smell. Sorry folks. Still I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Oh, and I understand the irony of a guy who can stand in a corral waiting for the START of the race who has a problem with standing in a mass of people at the FINISH. But to be honest, I can feel the claustrophobia at the start too. I’m not good in groups. Or with people in general. It’s one of my many shortcomings.
I wandered back to the Paris parking lot to my rental car. Some of the strip road closures will already opening up… but not where I needed to go. I did my best to get out of the city proper and find something to eat for a late dinner. I needed to replenish a few calories before Day 1 of the Southwest Series, a race that was scheduled to start in approximately nine hours.
After a quick bite, one I was hesitant on if only because part of this crazed event week is to hopefully slim down a little, I drove the two hours to Hurricane, UT. I was hoping for a rest stop along the way to pull over and grab a nap but I only saw “Truck Parking” exits and wasn’t sure if as a tiny Prius C rental car I could avail myself of that. I eventually did pass a truck parking area with a few cars so I probably would’ve been ok… but by then I was almost to Hurricane and there weren’t any more stops.
Ultimately I found a large shoulder for a lookout point about a mile from the Sand Hollow Park where the race was to be held y then it was almost 1:30 (as Utah was in Mountain time and I lost an hour). I reclined my seat and grabbed a few hours of fitful, uncomfortable rest before heading into the Sand Hollow Day Use park and the gearing up for the first of Mainly Marathon runs.