Las Vegas Marathon Countdown

Just one more week until the Las Vegas Marathon on December 4. Personally, I'm doing just the half. There were some posts here and there of others doing it. If there is enough interest in a mini-meet, I'd be happy to make it. Perhaps Friday night at the Venetian, where we have to go anyway to pick up our bib numbers.

Otherwise, feel free to just chime in here if you're doing the half or the full marathon and any goals you've set for yourself. My goal is to break 2:00, preferably by a comfortable margin. Last year my time was 2:06, but I'm in better shape this time.

Good luck Wiz !

I did Boston in my youth a long long time ago.

Yeah,good luck. This explains your scarcity on here lately-you're out training. What is your training schedule from right now until race day? If you have me blocked then you didn't get or have to read this.

I'll be getting into town on Saturday evening, going straight to race check-in, then checking in at my room.

I'll also be doing the half, and also aiming to break 2 hours. My last half marathon was 2:14, but I'm in better shape now and this course will be much flatter than the Pittsburgh race.

Dan Y.

Quote: dm

Yeah,good luck. This explains your scarcity on here lately-you're out training. What is your training schedule from right now until race day? If you have me blocked then you didn't get or have to read this.

Actually, I was in Argentina and Uruguay Nov 12-25. I should post an article on the Buenos Aires part soon, with more to follow. You can hear bits and pieces of my trip in the Spanish Word of the day Thread.

About the race, before it starts I'll plan to hang out by the corner of the Strip and Russell Road, should anybody want to say "hello."

Quote: Wizard

Actually, I was in Argentina and Uruguay Nov 12-25. I should post an article on the Buenos Aires part soon, with more to follow. You can hear bits and pieces of my trip in the Spanish Word of the day Thread.

About the race, before it starts I'll plan to hang out by the corner of the Strip and Russell Road, should anybody want to say "hello."

I want to be there but I can't-I'm coming home Fri. Must be nice to take ALL those trips and write them off for business-I'm jealous!
I was curious as to your training schedule-maybe there is none. If so, don't have a heart attack. Remember you're not a kid anymore.

Due to real life and other things getting in the way I won't be making the trip as originally planned. Have fun!

I'll write up a long version in a blog post once the results are in, but here is a quick summary.

According to signage this set a new record for number of runners in a night race. I think were were about 45,000. It was a well organized and fun event overall. Depending on your point of view, the mass number people can be good or bad. There is certainly more of a fun factor with a big turnout. However, if you're competitive about time, I think you would find it frustrating navigating the crowd, especially from the start at the Mandalay Bay up to about the Stratosphere.

This year the marathon people started about 90 earlier and did a meandering course through residential areas first, before joining the half marathon people on the Strip for the second half. There was supposed to be a dedicated lane for marathon people, but the other lanes were so congested that the half marathon runners, including me, had to use it as a passing lane from time to time. Others, I think ignored the signs and cones and ran in the marathon lane consistently. As I was running I was joined by some very fast marathon runners, who probably would have finished with times from 3:15 to 3:30. They were clearly very annoyed with the lazy half marathoners getting in their way, constantly yelling "Half marathon, stay to the right!" While I'm sure they were griping afterward, I think about 80% of the participants did the half marathon, and it likely wouldn't be economically viable without them.

You're probably not wondering about my time, but I'll tell you anyway. Just going by my watch, it should be around 1:55. Since I was shooting for 2:00, I'm happy. I feel I still had enough energy to do another five miles, but I still can run only so fast. Again, I'll give more details later.

Marathoms are a mystery to me. My daughter and son in law
go all over the country to run in them. They have one next
month is AZ. I don't see the point. You know you can't possibly
win, if you've trained well you know you'll finish. They always
complain about the crowds. So don't go, run alone at home.

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE!!!!

I would suppose it's like any other activity - people like it.

I abhor running and only do it because it's a part of football, but I can see the draw to it. It's a physical competion, one against others and most importantly, ones self. It's setting goals and knocking them down. It's a mean ass "runners high" thats better than pharmeceuticals. It ain't my bag, but run on if it pleases you.

Grats on the time Wiz. You not only met your goal, but -5min seems to me a big deal. I could probably only do that time on skates, and would still need to be pulled by a car for some distance.

Some people simply enjoy it.

I know a guy who owns a DJ Entertainment business, with about 35 people working for him. His goal is to run marathons in all 50 states, with the 50th state being Hawaii, and running that last state just a couple weeks after his 50th birthday.

The last time I talked to him about it, about a year ago, he said he was well on his way to completing his goal.

Congratulations to you Mike. Your time was very impressive, but I'll let you announce it!

I feel somewhat inspired. How does the forum feel about some kind of Wizard of Vegas fitness challenge?

Quote: boymimbo

Congratulations to you Mike. Your time was very impressive, but I'll let you announce it!

Thanks. Just wrote up the long version in a blog post. As you can see, my time was better than I thought: 1:49:37. I must have made a math error in my dazed and tired state.

Quote: boymimbo

I feel somewhat inspired. How does the forum feel about some kind of Wizard of Vegas fitness challenge?

I'm all for that! So far I've motivated two members up Red Cap (aragov and DorthyGale). I wish there were some kind of military-style obstacle course we could do. Anybody know of anything?

Do you have anything like this in LV?

http://www.wildplay.com/parks/victoria

Not quite military style (you can't easily race it), but a bunch of fun.

Quote: thecesspit

Do you have anything like this in LV?

http://www.wildplay.com/parks/victoria

Not quite military style (you can't easily race it), but a bunch of fun.

I should have done that when I was in Victoria in July. There is actually something like that, but much less fancy, at Bruce Trent park, near my house. I think you have to be 9 years old to do it. My son turns 9 in February, so I'm eager to take him there once he does.