Friday, at the expo, Ella, who used to run with our group 3 years ago,came up to me at the Big Sur booth, as I was trying to decide if I should sign up and get 20 dollars off the entry fee. I could not remember Ella's name until she wrote down her email address; I forgot her sister Theresa's name too! Ella moved back home to Kentucky and then moved out to Las Vegas. What are the odds of meeting?
On Saturday I ran the Great Santa Run 5k. It was a fundraiser for kids. Santa outfits were included with the registration fee. A Guinness record was attempted for the largest Santa gathering (4,600).The Santa suit was available in only one size, XXL, so I had to holdup my Santa pants to get some stride length to kick at the finish. It was pretty warm in the Santa suit. There was no water on the course and the 5k leaders ran into the one mile walkers who were still staged at the finish area. The announcements were unclear so some of the one milers started with the5k runners. Robin Leach made an appearance and Roy Horn who got bit by his tiger 3 years ago -- did the one mile walk.
Sun - "New" Vegas Marathon: temps 51 to 55, cloudy. Winds 19 mph gust to28mph.I'm not sure if race organizers should be touting the "new" word as in this case, it meant inexperienced. There were no directions in the race packet. The Blue Man group kicked off the start -- there were no large video screens -- so you could not see much. The view of the fireworks were obscured.
At mile 3, I lost 10 dollars in the dollar slots. My right knee still not recovered from bouncing off the rocks in the 50 miler and my calfs were tight.At mile 6, I played the other 16 dollars (a dollar per mile) and left the casino with 23 dollars. The machines simulated the sound of coins dropping into a bucket but all I got was a bar coded receipt. (I had a net loss of 3 dollars from the race). It took some time to find the dollar slots, make the spins, find a machine to exchange the receipt for cash and get a couple of pictures taken.
It was nice to run back into the race with a handful of cash.Things were looking up; the 10 minute casino walk break helped loosen up my calfs. But by this time I was running behind the 4:30 pace group.Just before the 1/2 I spotted Jeri who's goal was to break 4:30. The mile markers were anywhere between 1/2 a mile and 1.5 miles apart; it was hard to tell what the split times were. The mile markers happened to be wherever the volunteers decided to set up a water stop. I think I was halfway at 2:09.
I decided to run Jeri in, as this is my "fun run" before Jax next weekend. I would stick with her no matter how many times she told me to leave her alone and go on ahead. I told her I would push her after mile 20. I ran slightly behind her till mile 20and was almost always ahead of her after 20 mile, trying to pull her along. Her facial expressions increasingly of fatigue; she was just trying to get to the next mile. She was not a happy camper.
Jeri started taking unscheduled walk breaks after mile 23. I gave her encouraging words -- you're doing great but it's going to suck for the next 3 miles; it won't get better by walking; you may as well get to the finish sooner than later. No walk breaks over 30 seconds! As long as she had no cramps (and signs of heat stress), I kept pushing. She did not have her chrono running (I think by choice). She didn't ask and I didn't tell her -- her run portions were at a 9 minute pace. She was on pace for a 4:15, I did not want her to settle for a 4:30.Even with the 3 bathroom breaks and leisurely water stops, she was running most miles in the 9:30-9:40 pace.
She came in at 4:16, a 16 minute PR! I am proud of her for pushing pass her fatigue. She did all the hard work but I felt like one of Lance Armstrong's pacers who took some credit for bring him under 3hours in New York.
It was the first time I finished a marathon with someone instead of kicking it in. (except for the Dean Karnazes races). Since running for time wasn't a goal, I enjoyed the race despite disorganization and headwinds.At the finish, there was no food; the half marathoners have consumed it all. It was a nice long run (4:19 with 2 casino breaks - I didn't spot the beer stop). I jogged back to the hotel to check out before noon. I was fine the next day and am ready to run another one.
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