Las Vegas Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon

And there it is, the 2011 Endorphin suit, complete with the Marathon Ho utility belt! Not only is it fashionable, but it's functional too!

I came to Las Vegas with one goal in mind: PR. And by PR, I do not mean a personal record but a PARTY RUN! I got exactly that. This is the final Rock 'N' Roll event of the year and a bunch of Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics showed up ready to par-tay!

Being a Marathon Maniac and Half Fanatic is not cheap. I feel like my wallet has gained about 20 pounds because of excessive charges on my credit card! The problem is that my wallet lives in my right butt pocket, so it looks like I've added 20 pounds only to my right butt cheek! But alas, a Marathon Maniac and Half Fanatic has to do what he has to do to get those stars and to the next moon. In any case, because of the butt cheek weight gain, I chose to fly in on Saturday afternoon rather than Friday night so that I would not have to spend on an extra night for a hotel, not that Hooters is that expensive. Yes, I am staying at Hooters. Again.

I arrived in Sin City about 11:30am. I walked out of the airport to catch a shuttle, but the line was so long that I opted for the taxi. Big mistake. It cost me an arm, a leg, and a few internal organs to get to my hotel room! In the future, I will just suck it up and wait in line. The cab driver dropped me off and I proceeded to check in. Shortly after, my running partner and Vegas room mate, Dianasaur, arrived. It was great seeing Ms. Saur, and I'm glad she agreed to bunk with me this weekend. We quickly checked into our room and monorailed it over to the Expo to get our bibs.

Go figure, all this time Dianasaur has been hiding the fact that she is an elite runner! I had no clue she's been running with Kara Goucher, Dean Karanazes, Ryan Hall, and Meb! Too funny. Actually, what really happened is that there was a little snaffoo, and Dianasaur ended up with the full marathon corral one bib. I told Diana that she should just go up to the head of the pack, sprint her way out of the start line, and pretend that she injured herself at the mile 2 mark so that she can just run at her own pace the rest of the way. Everyone would think that she was hurt and that's why she didn't get her elite time in! I am such a genius.

Because we got to the expo late, most Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics had already picked up their bibs. I did get so see my good friends Stephanie Elfman Bradsher and Mohan Dutt. Mohan is now known as "Mattsaur," which is derivative of Dianasaur. Not surprisingly, the latter's maternal unit is appropriately named "Mamasaur." I have been given the task of coming up with a moniker for Ms. Bradsher, and if she's cool with joining the Dinosaur family, then I believe Stephasaurus Wrecks would work, as she is the running beast that wrecks up the competition on the course! But if this doesn't fly, then I'll have to come up with something else. The other Half Fanatic that I got see was Lou-E. Not sure what his moniker is just yet.




After the expo, Dianasaur, Mattsaur, and I headed to the food court for a quick snack and then went back to our hotel rooms to freshen up for the pre-race dinner at the Rio. Later on, the three of us took a cab to the Rio and what a thrill it was to see Maniacs and Half Fanatics everywhere! I got to meet so many whom I am Facebook friends with but have not met in person. I also met some new ones and reunited with others. Dinner at The Rio was one huge party. Even though the hotel could not accommodate us and we had to scatter all about, that did not stop us from having fun!


After dinner, Dianasaur, Mattsaur, and I went for a drink before turning in for the evening. I'm not sure why I ordered a Diet Coke, as my pre-race beverage of choice is the Chamomile tea. The combination of excitement and caffeine, unfortunately, kept me up the whole night. It was a good thing I had adrenaline and endorphins working in my favor at 5am on race day! My marathon twin Dave Mari made sure that all Maniacs and Half Fanatics met at 6:30am for the group photo in front of Mandalay, and sure enough, a whole lot of peeps came out for that photo shoot!


From the beginning, I proclaimed that this was going to be my party race, and indeed it was. I made plenty of stops to dance with the bands, take photos with cheerleaders, and at one point, I even jumped into the casinos for a quick round of slots! This half marathon is my 32nd overall 13.1 miler, and I wanted to have fun!






Now do you see what now what I mean by PR? What a fun weekend. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, here's about a million words about my 2010 Las Vegas Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon.