Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Vegas Results 2009

Vegas Races Results
1:56:10 Chip Time
8:49 mile pace
2605 out of 17827 1/2 marathon finishers (Top 15%)
828 out of 11322 female 1/2 marathon finishers (Top 7%)
130 out of 1663 in my divisions F40-44 (Top 8%)
There was no PR as I had set my goal to be several months ago. At that time, I wanted to pull of a 8:25/mile. My training slacked a bit after Market to Market with busy-ness. I hate to admit it, but it's true. I let myself slide a bit. YIKES! With all of us going in different directions each day about 30 miles apart, I spend a lot of time in my vehicle so I coordinated with my son's wrestling practice to run at the track while they were practicing. I also added a new venture to my life, EIRO, and through all the excitement of building my team, (which is going well by the way) I skipped a few runs. I don't skip runs. Only when I was sick did I skip a run and I don't get sick. So, needless to say, I have no excuses for slacking - I just did. :)
I still enjoyed the race, it was my first trip to Vegas, and I think I still did well otherwise. I'm not totally sure I liked Vegas, but it sounds like we'll be going back to run it again next year. WOOP! And again in March, my cousin is getting married out there. Now that will be a good time!
We stayed at the Flamingo (ahem, I say this lightly - I wouldn't recommend it). They told us we had a walk-in shower - sounded cool - it was a handicap bathroom. The hotel smelled like cheap cherry car air freshener covering up loads of smoke - just like the taxi's. :D This smell did not set well with me - I suffer from major motion sickness - flying out was a little rough on me - and the car ride to the hotel started off with, yes, cheap cherry car air freshener covering up loads of smoke. :D
I have never traveled this extensively and done a race before so I am going to rethink my lofty goals for 2010. We did a lot of walking around, which was not good for my legs prior to a race, but we did have a lot of fun. We did the casino thing, went to a great seafood buffet at the Rio with friends, which I recommend, did some sight-seeing and visited the premier outlet malls.
Here's a few pictures at the Flamingo hotel:


At the Vegas expo:

Before race: I look like a total dork! heehee

With my friend Ryan from Nebraska:

Getting ready to cross the finish line:

And I'm done!

I recommend Vegas - it was an experience! Hope you all have a great Wednesday. We are off of school - snow day - could be a day to stir up some trouble!