Half Marathon #30 - RnR Las Vegas (Run the Strip at Night)

Run the Strip at Night! Half marathon #30 for me!

I had never been to Vegas so to say I was excited for months about this race would be an understatement.  However, 2 weeks prior to the race we lost my stepson.  It has been devastating to our family.  It was totally unexpected.  A freak accident!  So the week before the race I told my husband I would not go with my girlfriends to Vegas and stay home.  He told me there was no reason for me to cancel.  I had the trip planned for months and there was nothing I could do at home.  So I decided to go on with my friends in hope that it would take my mind off the situation for maybe just the weekend.  My husband's dad had just passed 3 months prior and now my husband's son.  Seems we've done nothing but cry at our house for months.  I even tried to get Gary to go with me so maybe he would get his mind off things for just a bit, but he said there was nothing going to help him.  He's lost a big part of himself.  He says he'll never be the same.  And I feel that I'd feel the same way if it was one of my kids.  My heart is just so heavy for the whole Clayton family.  I didn't even pack until the day we left for the trip.  Once on the plane I was so afraid I had left something because my mind just wasn't on the race.  I discovered I did actually leave something! My GoPro!!  I had charged it all morning and had a brand new memory card it in ready to go.  I was so sad because I had heard how much entertainment would be on the strip as we ran.  

We arrived late Friday night in Las Vegas.  We were tired and ready for bed.  A couple months before the half they offered a remix challenge.  If you did the 5K on Saturday night and the half or full marathon Sunday night, you would get an extra medal.  Of course us girls signed up.  This pictures says it all:

We LOVE some medals. :>) Penny would be doing the full marathon and Jennifer and I were doing the half marathon and all 3 of us were doing the 5K... so we all did the Remix Challenge. 

Count down till race time.  Jennifer is like 11 years younger than me, but she still allows me to hang out with her. :>) We had a blast! She helped take my mind off being so sad. 

Jennifer had not been to Vegas since she was a child and since I had never been we ended up walking like 15 miles Saturday during the day touring the city and getting to the expo which took forever!  The expo was so crowded when we got there that you could barely move around.  

Our view from our room... notice the coaster!

Our hotel / Casino ... we were directly at the start line for the half & full marathon on Sunday night. 

Beautiful statues all around town! My post would be huge if I posted all 350 pictures I took. LOL

Then we did the 5K that night.  Boy I was exhausted!!! I had no idea how I was going to do the half the next night! But we all 3 did!

Our 5K start photo.

Jennifer and I had someone capture this at the elevator going back to our room after the race.  Our 5K medals.  The 5K was not on the strip.  To me it was boring.  There were like 2,700 people in the 5K so it was not your normal little 5K back home.  I only did it for the extra medal. ha

We decided after cleaning up to go down to Fremont street.  Penny had mentioned it and of course we wanted to try to see everything in our short weekend.  I suggested an Uber so we would not have to walk.  Fremont Street was way down the end of the strip which meant about a 5 mile hike there and a 5 mile hike back.  That wasn't happening after all the miles we had already done on our feet that day! 

Fremont Street to me is just a party area... or it appeared to be that way Saturday night!  We saw some things that I'd rather not even mention. LOL  One lady was dancing in the middle of the street with nothing but a pair of shorts on.  And let's just say that she needed something to hold her top half up! 

You can zip line down the street at Fremont.  The roof is pretty cool.  We didn't zip line.  We basically just walked through to see what was there. 

We took a taxi back to the Belliago to see the fountains and the cost was almost double the Uber cost and the fountains were like half way to our hotel! So go Uber if you can! 

Oh the Strip at night is beautiful 

Everything was so CLEAN!

The fountains were amazing! You must see them at night!

We walked back to our room trying to find a place to eat.  Everything was so crowded.  We needed up at Taps in the MGM.  The hamburger alone was $19.50!  I was starving so I gladly paid the $19.50.  I knew I needed to eat because it had been hours since we had eaten anything and we had a half marathon to run the next day! LOL  

Sunday when we got up we decided to use the monorail to save our legs.  We also didn't try to rush around to see so much.  We only had a few places that we didn't get to on Saturday so we took our time.  I have so many pictures I could post, but I'll spare you. :<>)

Inside the Bellagio... you must go see.. they change it out every season.. nothing but flowers!

Inside Caesars Palace... the statues are amazing. 

 Our plan was to go back to our room around lunch time and maybe take a quick nap before we had to go to the start line for the half marathon.  They required everyone be at the start gates no later than 4:10pm for the 4:30pm start.  We go there around 3:30pm and it as so crowded and so much security due to the recent shooting in Vegas.  Took us forever to get inside our corral and then we were so tight in the corrals you could not bend/stretch or anything.  You just had room to stand.  My knees were killing me standing for like 35 minutes straight before starting.  Here is a video of the start:

Vegas Start Line

As you can see we were in there like sardines at the start line! 

 Penny was in corral 5.  She was doing the full and wanted to stay in that corral so she could make her 5 hour time limit.  Jennifer moved into corral 11 with me.  I told her she did not need to stay with me.  I planned to do my jog/walk program.  She said she wanted to practice that program in case she decided to use it for her first full next year, so she ended up staying with me the whole time.  It was nice to have someone to talk to especially around mile 10 when I was getting tired.  It was strange how I was able to run after all we had done sightseeing.  It was mainly just the bottom of my feet that were just plan sore.  Like they were bruised.  LOL  

The first 4 miles were quiet.  No bands, no entertainment, just quiet..... because we ran directly by the place where the shoot happen a few weeks ago (Mandalay Bay).  At the expo they had this huge banner made that people could sign and they placed in on the side of the street where we ran.  It was so cool.  I prayed for the victims families as we past this part.  What is the world coming to with all these shootings?  It's got to be close to time for Jesus to come back!

After the 4 quiet miles we were on the strip with all kinds of entertainment and people were lined down the streets cheering for us.  It was AMAZING.  Probably the most fun besides the NY marathon that I've ran.  So much crowd support.  It made it easy to run. I so wish I had my GoPro!  I could have made so many cute videos of the strip!  Oh well.. maybe next time. :>)

We finished in 2:36 (I believe... I forgot to stop my watch when we crossed).  The time surprised me with my jog/walk program.  

 Jennifer and I after the race.  Penny was still running... doing her 26.2 miles!  She did finish in her time limit!  I'm so proud of her! I don't think I could have ran 26.2 miles even if I had been in better  shape after all the sightseeing we did. 

 Our half and remix medal. 

We had booked a show close by our hotel.  I had thought we would have plenty of time after the half to get back to our hotel for a nice shower.  That didn't happen!  It took forever to get out of the race exit and back to our hotel.  We had like 45 minutes which included 15 minutes we needed to get back over to the MGM.  You couldn't just walk across the street! You had to take these fancy stairs/escalators and walk ways over the road so it was like a maze getting every where.  We had not eaten any supper either!  We took a quick spit bath.  We just barely made it to the show on time.  It was Fabulous! 

I highly recommend seeing a show if you go to Vegas.  I would have loved to see Celine...but we just didn't have time!

It was midnight by the time we got back to our room.  We didn't even eat supper.  We had popcorn at the show. LOL  Our tour bus for the Hoover Dam, Route 66 and Grand Canyon was picking us up at 6am on Monday so we needed to get in the bed. 

All I can say about our tour is ..... IT WAS AMAZING!!! I was in awe the whole time!  First the Hoover Dam!  Amazing ... man made!  Then Route 66 that use to be the main highway from Illinois to California! And then on to the Grand Canyon where we got to hike for 2 hours.  One of the 7 natural wonders of the world!  It was breathtaking!  I could not believe that I had never been there before!  Several times Drew's (my stepson) smile flashed in my mind and I fought back tears.  He loved planning trips with his girls.  I know he was smiling down at me being in such awe of everything. 

If God can create something this beautiful, I know that one day all our broken hearts will be healed.  We've just got to find the faith to stay strong in God's word.  

I had a fabulous time in Vegas with my friends.  But I was also ready go get home and check on my husband.  The grief of losing a child is just wrong.  It should not happen.  I pray for strength for Drew's wife, his 3 girls, his mom & dad, his brother, his grandmothers and everyone else that LOVED him.  He was a rare gem! I will forever miss him!

This is one of my favorites of them on one of their trips. 

They had just had their Christmas photos made before his accident.  Drew... I've told your dad he must continue to tell your girls stories about you so that they will always have a strong memory of their wonder dad!  Drew always had a smile on his face and was so kind and humble to every person he meet.  So many are mourning him.  I'm not sure my husband will ever get over this loss.

I want to say thanks to so many friends that I know are praying for the Clayton family! MUAH

Love,
D

P.S. The St. Jude Memphis race weekend is just 15 days away.  This year I'll be doing the half.  Due to all that's been going on in my life recently, there had not been enough time for me to train for a full.  I will however run strong for those precious kids of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital!  As of today, Team Run4TheKids has raised slightly over $26,000!  That makes around $130,000 over the 4 years that I've had this team.  Thank you God! We owe it all to you for allowing us to run and raise money for these kids.