This just happened.
A 5K and a Half Marathon in two days.
The Las Vegas Rock n' Roll running weekend I so ambitiously signed up for months ago was finally here.
And I was so not ready for it.
When it comes to these sort of events. They always seem completely achivable months for the actual race.
I have been in Colorado for the past week for work so my flight wasn't too bad Saturday morning. I got into Vegas around 11 AM and had plenty of time to hit the expo hall, check into my hotel and relax before the night's 5K race. I never really run at night, so I had no idea how this race is going to go.
It ended up being really cool and a great way to kick off the weekend. Everything was lit up and lots of people were wearing neon colors or glow sticks or anything that glittered. I was staying at Circus Circus Hotel, and the 5K started right across the street. It was great. As I was running, I had to remind myself that I had a 13 mile race tomorrow, so I better take it easy. I really wanted to get up a PR, but didn't realized I should just be using this run as a warm-up for tomorrow.
I couldn't take it to slow, I had tickets to go see Cirque du Soleil that night. By the time I got back to my hotel, I had to quickly shower and make a mad dash for the theater.
I have never gotten to see a cirque show before, so I was pretty excited. It was definitely everything I thought it was going to be and at the same time, not at all how I imagined. I will say, those Acrobats and athletes are intense. Holy cow, I can't even imagine the work they put into train.
The Half marathon, like the 5K, didn't start until the evening. It was really cold all day long. So I went to a clothing store to see if I could get a bit of warmer clothing....apparently this was on everyone's to do list. There were a ton of runners stocking up on socks and gloves and hats.
One of the best aspects of a rock 'n roll race, is that they have a headlining band either before or after the race starts. Because the Vegas race starts so late, the Band performs before the race actually starts. It was originally supposed to be Snoop Dogg performing. But for some reason he canceled last minute. So it ended up being the awesome Seattle band Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. I was way more excited to see them that I was to see Snoop Dogg. I got to the venue right before they started playing, and got a really good spot in the crowd. It was really neat to see them live. There were also a ton of Seattle people in town too. A lot of them wearing their Seahawks gear.
After Macklemore played, it was time for the race to start. There were like 30,000 runners in town for the event, what took a while to get to the starting line. It actually took me almost an hour!
What's my bones started to defrost from the freezing cold weather, I got a good pace and had a really great time running through the streets of Vegas. The best part, of course, was running down the strip. It was so neat to be in the midst of all of the lights and the crowd was cheering entire time. I definitely didn't run my best time, but it was totally worth the experience.
State count, 18.
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