• +347 Cardio Minutes

The ol' first marathon at night in the middle of Las Vegas. You know, the usual...

Arrived on Friday afternoon and just chillaxed. James and I were staying at the MGM Grand. Walked on over to The Venetian, not realizing it was 2 miles (despite the expo info clearly stating it was only 0.5 miles away). That means a total of at least 4 miles each day we were there, since we made two trips to the race expo (which, by the way, was a blast and had tons of free stuff).

I got sick Saturday night through Sunday morning from a very fatty (and unfortunately very expensive) dinner. Oops. Luckily, I got better by Sunday afternoon. Big day!! Started lining up at the corrals a bit early. It was CROWDED.

The first 13.1 miles was painful (my knees and hip started bugging out around mile 6), but I made it through in 2:22:35 (the slowest I've ever done for a half, but I wasn't rushing). James was there and gave me a kiss at miles 7 and 13. :) At that point, he decided to sneak into the race lane with me with the intention of running a few blocks with me for motivation, but because of barricades, by the time there was an opening, it was too late. He stuck it out for the entire second half with me. In his new pair of loafers. That's love.

I had to slow down after the first half, and took quite a few walking breaks. By mile 20 I was just walking, and having a mental breakdown and sobbing left and right about how much it hurt. But James was there to help calm me down and motivate me. Then it started raining. It was COLD. Around mile 23/24 we played the game of "let's pass that person! and now that person! and that one!" and powerwalked our way through. At mile 25, we were both in pain, but I told him I wanted to try to run the last mile, which I did, and it was the longest freaking mile ever to the finish line.

I finished at 5:47:08, which isn't totally amazing, and nowhere near my goal, but I'm just glad I finished, considering I didn't properly train, had injuries, and woke up sick.

Because I finished so late in the game, I wasn't exposed to the chaos that most runners are writing about. Apparently it was hell, what with 44,000 marathoners + half marathoners running about the strip with no clearly designated lanes, water running out, super green bananas, etc. I'm kind of glad I was slow and didn't have to go through all that.

All in all, I had fun. A year and a half ago, my knees were so bad I couldn't walk down a staircase without clinging on to the railing for dear life. Today, I'm a marathoner. :)