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Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon - RunMarathon


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Las Vegas, Nevada
United States
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Overcast
Total Time = 5h 08m 55s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Run
  • 5h 08m 55s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 11m 47s  min/mile
Comments:

Viva Vegas!

Background:
2010 was supposed to be the year I became an Ironman. My IM race was scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend in Cozumel. However, a barrage of injuries and set-backs had me wondering if this was supposed to happen. I kept pushing through everything life handed me (half ironman on broken ribs? Check!) until on October 6th I was delivered the final blow - a broken foot. Blunt trauma, clear break. No swimming, biking or running for at least 4 weeks. I was to spend these weeks in a boot. As this was to be the peak of my training, IM Coz was no longer even a remote possibility. I bargained with my doctor to allow me to aqua jog, but there was no substitute for biking or swimming. When I found out I was devastated. On the phone with Andy that night, I did my whole "thinking out loud" thing I am often guilty of. While rambling, I came out with "well I did want to run Vegas but couldn't because of Cozumel...hey, can you get a weekend off in December to go to Vegas with me?". He said yes and this whole consolidation trip was born.

The next day when I saw him I asked if he was serious about going to Vegas. He said yes and I said "then I am running as Elvis". Again, thinking out loud. I have no idea why I decided at that moment to run dressed as Elvis, but I knew it must be done. I mentioned via email to Jerry the next day that I was going to run in Vegas and he said "you have to run as Elvis!". See, I’m not alone! I spent a lunch-hour googling Elvis running costumes, thinking for sure I would have to make one (which would be amusing in and of itself as I can't even sew a button onto a pair of pants) when I came across www.elvisrun.com. I was soon in touch with Misty about my measurements and a custom-made Elvis outfit. If this woman has a business revolving around Elvis running outfits, I can't possibly be the only person out there striving to run as Elvis, right? I continue to google when I come across a website advertising to join them in breaking the world record for the greatest number of Elvi running a single race (did you know the plural of Elvis is Elvi? Now you do!). I click on it and guess what race it is? That's right, my marathon. Most people would have seen the ad on the marathon site and decided to run as Elvis. Me? I decided to run as Elvis then found out it is a thing at my race. I always go the round-about way but I get there eventually!


While I'm not training and working on my Elvis costume, my foot is healing slowly. I did of course sneak in the bike leg of 2 tris during this time, but for the most part behaved and wore my boot.

Several weeks extra pass before I can successfully run again. November 16 I had my first successful run, 6 miles. Every muscle in my body hurt afterwards. That weekend I ran a half marathon. Great idea Elvis! That race warranted a separate race report so I won't reiterate it here. Suffice it to say I have no idea how I'm going to finish Vegas in just 2 weeks if a half hurt so much. I didn't run again until the Turkey trot Thanksgiving morning. 5 miles just should not hurt so much! The next night I thought I would run long but my body had other ideas. How in the heck am I going to run 26.2 miles in just over a week? Viva Vegas baby, I'm counting on the power of The King to get me through this!

However, once again my body had other ideas. Sunday night my throat lit on fire. I don't get sick. I haven't been sick in several years. What is this icky-ness? This burning? This soreness? The doctor doesn't know, the strep test came back negative but if I got worse I should take some antibiotics. Worse it got. By Wednesday I was suffering from a high fever, chills and massive swelling of my tonsils. It's only getting worse and Vegas is only getting closer. Viva Vegas...I succumbed to the lure of the antibiotics and yet another doctor's visit.

Pre-Race, Friday:
We arrived in Vegas early Friday morning. I was sick as a dog and we were both tired from traveling so we slept a good part of the afternoon away. We woke up and I put on my Elvis costume. This is the beginning of a long weekend in costume. Now, as a grown adult, here I am on a random Friday night walking a city street in costume and heading where? Oh that's right, to the theater! My mother must be proud! Andy has his "I'm with Elvis" shirt on and who do we see but mini-Elvis on the strip??? Of course we stopped for pictures.





Then we got to the theatre and there I found my other Elvi friends. Immediate hugs as I meet Misty, the creator of my costume and Christi, who has organized all of this nonsense. We pose in front of the sign (what else would we see but the new Cirque du Soleil show "VIVA ELVIS"??) then go in for an evening of fantastic entertainment. Wow that show was incredible! I did have to laugh out loud as I saw others dressed to the 9s, including a red sequined gown and here we all were in running Elvis costumes.



Pre-Race, Saturday:

Well well well, Vegas is a big city, these casinos are HUGE and the monorail not so straightforward. I missed the parade of Elvi! What a disappointment! However, I couldn't be too sad as on the monorail I met "Endorphin Dude". A member of the marathon-maniacs whose energy levels put mine to shame (no, really! It turns out that is possible!). We chatted wildly the whole ride and 30 minute walk to the expo. Turns out we're going to Phoenix and New Orleans together! How fun! And he runs in a cape too! Andy tells me "wow, you really have met your people". I have, I have finally met my people :)

We get to the expo and can't find the Elvi. How hard can it be to find hundreds of runners dressed up like Elvis? The expo was insane, so crowded you could barely walk. We ran around asking people if they had seen a group of Elvi on parade and no one had seen them. Only in Vegas can you ask this question and not get strange looks.

Finally I went ahead and admitted I must have missed the parade, so I went to check in and pick up my packet. I stood in line behind a guy with the coolest sideburns...it couldn't be...could it? He turns around and gives me a big smile and goes "Elvis!" and I returned the greeting. Then 2 more Elvi appeared behind me. All of us had missed the parade, but had somehow gathered in line.

Andy and I then ran around taking a few pictures before finding the main group of Elvi who were getting ready to head to the next gathering at Mandalay bay for our real photo shoot.





At this point my mom would not be happy to know that I jumped in a taxi cab with a bunch of random Elvi and a few cameramen. Viva Vegas baby! We got to the Mandalay and about 10 of us Elvi were hanging out. Then slowly the group was growing and gathering attention. Here I have to say, I would absolutely love to be randomly walking along innocently and happen upon a large group of Elvi, I think it would completely make my year.

Most people just ignored us, a few stopped for photo shoots (including a bride and groom with a huge drink) and we entertained ourselves and each other by taking pictures of ourselves and of each other. Turns out that people who dress like Elvis love to get their picture taken. Who knew? My people. Andy's shirt was a huge hit, I have no idea how many strangers have pictures of the 2 of us now.



Then it was time for us to head to the welcome to Las Vegas sign. I loved seeing the large group of Elvi walking the streets and watching peoples faces. One runner fell into a fit of laughter and had to stop running and hang onto a sign post when he saw us.



At the sign, strangers were lined up to pose with us. One poor bride was not happy we popped in on her photo shoot. Another couple thought it was the best part of their wedding. Then it was sadly time to part ways with the Elvi until the next morning. Race day.










Sunday, pre-race:

Wow 4:00 comes early. And finds me completely bloated and hungry from last nights not-so-yummy dinner. After a full week of liquid diet, I'm hungry for real food and last night's disgusting soup is not sitting well with me. My tummy is completely bloated and gurgly and not happy to start the day. It needs food, but I'm not sure what it will be able to handle in its present state. So, I take half my Odwalla Protein Smoothie and half the Strawberry and Banana one I bought and slowly sip on them as we walk to meet my fate at the start line.

My oh my there are a lot of Elvi here! We all met at the Mandalay Bay lobby so we could proceed to the start line together. Many photo shoots happened and then all of the wedding couples took turns getting their pictures with the Elvi. Finally it was time to make our way to the start line. At the start, we ran into Spongebob Elvis - he has worn this 22 pound costume for the full in LA and is "only" running the half today. I must say wearing a costume like this is true dedication to the cause!



I realize I need to take some Advil before the race begins. Hey Andy, is there any water in that bag you're carrying? He points out I packed said bag with everything I thought I might need. I can't remember what I packed. Hey, I did pack water! Go me! It's like a magic bag, it carries everything I ask for that morning. Many more pictures, singing to Elvis songs and then it happened, a run-by from Endorphin Man! Wooooo!!!! Lots of yelling and cheering between the 2 of us, a quick photo shoot and he was gone.



I was then standing in the corral when the guy behind me (one of the only not in costume or not dressed for his wedding) thanked me for making the race so fun. He said he was standing in the corral with just a few other runners when suddenly Elvi started pouring in. Then he was surrounded by Elvi and a few brides and grooms. He said the energy in the air was amazing and that his wife would never believe him that he was surrounded by "a thousand Elvis'". I had to laugh, he had no idea he was randomly placed in the Elvis corral. I totally want that to happen to me one day!


Sunday - The Race:

The race started and we were walking slowly and chatting wildly. The woman next to me asked if I had a father. I told her yes, then she asked if he was here and if he was married. No and Yes. Bummer she said, she really wanted to find a husband by the run-thru wedding chapel. I told her and her friend that my mom forbade me to get married while in Vegas. I asked her "what if I find a cute Elvis at mile 3 and we want to get married at mile 8?" My own mother yelled "you are NOT to marry some poor FOOL who happens to have the MISFORTUNE of running next to you at that race!". We were cracking up saying that warning would only be given before a trip to Vegas. Then it was time, time to run! I wonder if she ever found a husband?

I felt great, the energy in the crowd, the stroller blasting Elvis music, Elvi everywhere I looked! I was running and nothing hurt although I was only about .2 miles in. I was worried about losing the Elvi. How does it work anyway, are you all supposed to stay together? We were supposed to stop at mile 2.5 to witness the wedding. Then I see Andy on the sidelines. I yell his name but can't make it over and he doesn't see me. Oh well, I will see him up north. He planned to catch the monorail once I got running, then he could see me twice up north, jump on the monorail again and see me back down south.

Suddenly there are very few Elvi. Did I get dropped? How did I lose track of 200 Elvi? Even I can't get that distracted, can I? I am following a group of 3 of them and we hit the wedding chapel. About 5 Elvi are waiting for us, apparently I didn't get dropped, I dropped the Elvi.

A woman is there with Paparazzi written across her shirt and her buddy has a sign that says "the flasher". They are grabbing cameras (I didn't have mine :() and snapping shots of us Elvi. A huge crowd of Elvi, growing ever larger and posing for more and more pictures. As I said, us Elvi do like getting our photos taken. 3 of us are discussing how we should do this every 2 miles. I suggest water and a toilet (I've now had to pee since before the race began) at these stops. Another Elvis suggests "water or tequila, whichever". We then decide we would happily pay a few dollars each stop for tequila and photo shoots every 2 miles. We then discussed how funny the end would be with a bunch of drunk Elvi trying to stagger their way to the finish line. Then we realized we'd been taking photos and talking about tequila and we may or may not have missed the ceremony. We do know we are cold and have been there a while so we get running again.

I continue running north but I'm now pretty cold so I put my gloves back on. I'm randomly leap frogging the 3 Elvi I was with earlier, but no other seem to be in site. The course is super crowded by now and I'm at the mercy of the group, there is no running your own pace for these 3 miles. Every port-o-can we pass has at least 15 people in line. I'll freeze if I wait. Then I have my master plan. I'll run into a casino, use the toilet and play a slot, just so I can say I gambled during a race. Viva Vegas baby! Then I remember I only have a $20 on me AND I have no directional sense. Every casino I've stepped foot into has left me lost and wandering aimlessly for a good hour. Hmmm, maybe this idea will have to wait for next year when I'm running with others who have a good directional sense.

I run by the Elvis wedding chapel and am disappointed Elvis is not out there cheering us on. I am laughing at the 2 random guys with a boom-box (yes, a boom-box) playing the Hanukkah song over and over and over. Then I find amusement at the crowd of homeless guys cheering on the race. They are having a blast, getting drunk and cheering on the runners. They are also offering to share their half-drank beers with us and are upset no one is partaking. I then run by a guy in a cape that says "Drunk Runner" and he has a bag of beer on his back, one in his hand and is drinking away. I wonder if he ever finished. Oh hey, look, we're turning!



I'm at the turn-around and I'm feverish. My face is on fire. And I'm at the 1/4 way mark? Oh well, I'm half way done with the first part, I'll take happiness in that. Wait, I didn't see Andy. I must have missed him. I take out my phone and text him to tell him where I am. I have never texted while running before, this is a handy little trick! Turns out he's back by the Sahara. Someone, I will not name names but I'll give you a hint - she was dressed as Elvis and running the marathon - outran the monorail. I'm running back towards the Sahara and finally cry mercy, I run into the IHOP and laugh at the astounded faces of all the patrons eating their high cal breakfasts and find a bathroom. Much better.

I get back on the course when suddenly, guess what happens??? I am Endorphin-duded!!! He jumped out of nowhere, crossed the median and grabbed me. High fives, screams and incessant loud woooooooooooooooo-ing on both of our parts until we're out of earshot from each other. Talk about an instant endorphin high, his name couldn't be more appropriate! Although, by the looks on their faces I'm not sure our running counterparts appreciated all the noise generated by just 2 people.

Then I run a little farther, still high on the chance meeting and run into Andy. Yay! He runs with me a bit and we chat, then he goes to catch the monorail to meet me back down south.



Wow, my fever is getting higher. My face is on fire, my body is cold. YUCK. And what is this odd sensation I am feeling? Is that? yes, I think it is...hunger. I have never, ever, ever been hungry during a run. I have to force myself food while running and often run on less then 100 calories / hour. How am I hungry? Oh yes, the liquid diet. So, now I'm running on zero nutrition for the week, a fever, a throat bug and no training. Oh, and I'm hungry! Go me! Only 18 miles to go...



Then at mile 10 my hip starts to hurt. I can't possibly take any more meds (Advil every 4 hours? Check! Tylenol every 4 - staggered to be 2 hours apart from the Advil? Check! Dayquil every 4 but not on an hour I'm taking the others? Check!) so what is there to do but to walk it out. I walk for a while and run for a while and it's loosening up for me. Not great, but not bad either. I'm nearing mile 12 and thinking that there is no shame in doing a half. However, after the year I've had I HAVE to do this full marathon, even if I need to walk it. It's been such a long and tremulous year, this means so much to me emotionally to finish, regardless of finishing time. Mile 12.5, time to make the final decision as the course is splitting. I move on ahead with the marathoners.



At that point I hear the Taiko Drums of the Japanese group. I stop to enjoy them for a bit, amazing! Then I proceed on my way. I turn west to the silence, the course is much emptier now. I can even hear my tummy growling.

At the 13.1 mark it all changed. Up until now I was right on pace with my half from a few weeks ago and feeling great (well, ok, minus the fever, hunger and hip issues). Muscularly I was fine. Running was feeling decent. But what I saw ahead was not pretty. 2 huge hills. I am way too undertrained and it is way too early to run up a hill.



New race strategy - walk the uphills. NO MATTER WHAT. I get to the 13 mile mark and shoot Andy a text so he knows where I am. Oops, someone again outran the monorail. I'm walking up hills, running down them, cheering at Elvi running the other way. Funny thing about Elvi, if you yell "go Elvis!" every last one of us will automatically circle our hips and hands and do the Elvis point in the direction of the noise. Every one except the Hawaiian Elvi, they shoot you a hang 10. We turn off of the main thoroughfare and onto some pretty boring backstreets. They are hilly so there is a lot of walking back here. I'm walking next to another Elvi and she cheers "Go Elvis!" to 2 Elvi going the other way. Then she tells me she thinks maybe she is being selfish, she is cheering for them more to cheer herself up then to cheer them up. I told her I get cheered up both ways so let's keep cheering. Then we look at each other, smile and as if on cue we both do the hips/hand point at each other and yell super loudly "GO ELVIS! WHOOOOOOOOO!" and start jumping around cheering for each other. We busted up laughing and then started running again once we caught our breath from the mayhem.

I'm now walking more and eating constantly. A gu every 1.5 miles??? I can normally not tolerate 2/hour. But I'm starving. And I'm lethargic. So lethargic and it's mile 16, I have TEN MORE MILES to go. I need some help, I need the power for The King (or tequila or whatever, I'll take it at this point!). I pull out my mp3 player and in the process hit my inhaler. Oh, lethargic...my signal just before an asthma attack. Use my inhaler, turn on some tunes and off I go. By mile 17 I'm flying high. Running strong and smiling and yelling away. I see 3 Elvi (not together) across the road, going the other way. One looks in pain so I yell "Go Elvis!!!!" 3 hips and hands in unison. I am cracking up and still running. Then there's the uphill. I must walk. But I feel awesome. NO! You have 9 miles to go, there is no running uphills! So, I walk it. Happily strolling away, and then I see Andy. Yay!


Note: I call this photo the defeated Elvi. I'm walking for a reason, but you wouldn't know it from the picture. The other 2 Elvi look cooked.

Andy, I'm starving! Do you have any food in that magic bag of yours? He asks "you mean the bag YOU packed? I dunno, did you pack any food?" And I tell him I don't know. We open the bag and find a banana! That bag really IS magical! It holds everything I need. I hungrily eat the banana, drink some water and I'm off again. I'm seriously feeling like a million dollars now. I can breath, I am fed. I am a happy little Elvis. I take off running down the hill and hollering at the crowds. High 5's, "Viva Elvis'" and I'm my old obnoxious little running self again.

At some point while I was high I saw this woman:


I have no idea why it hit me so hard, but I thought "I AM going to finish a marathon today. And, that really is awesome". I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in these races - our training plans, our time goals, etc that we forget just the sheer act of running a marathon is flat out awesome. Only 2% of the population will ever do one and it seriously is an incredible feat of human endurance. Earlier in the race I saw a shirt that said 13.1 miles - the triumph of will over reason. What does that make 26.2 miles? Awesome, that's what. Ok, back to my race report now.

This high lasts me until probably mile 22 or 23. Then my body realizes what I'm doing to it. I am paraphrasing a bit here, but if I remember correctly I think it said "HEY! WTF Woman??? Did you seriously just run 22 miles without thinking I would notice what you were doing??? You may have gotten by this long, but now I'm going to make you suffer lady!" And then it started to hurt.

Now, I cannot complain that after 4 training runs in 2 months that my body started to hurt at mile 22. That's not bad even when trained! but, hurt it did. My feet burned with every step. I think that might be the worst, at least you can walk to alleviate other pains but once your feet hurt, you're done. I debated crawling the last 3 miles but didn't think my knees could handle it. The closer I got, the longer the miles became. Although, it seems that the Elvis in the solid gold floor length cape and his buddy are getting closer every turn-around. Am I gaining on some Elvi? My feet hurt. Hey, I see shimmering gold up ahead. I can't be catching them, can I?

Mile 24. Another marathon maniac is running around, trying to cheer up the crowds. He tells the girls in front of me "come one, just 2 more miles and we're done with this race!" I yell "RACE??? I thought this was our cooldown loop!" He thinks about it and says "hey, you're right. Less then 2 miles left, that is our cool-down loop" I hear him running off telling everyone they're on their cooldown loop. I see Christie walking the other direction and cheer her on. She said she is facebooking on her phone to pass the time. She must be in pain! Then the same marathon maniac from just a few minutes earlier passed me. When did I get in front of him? I'm not sure but he said "ELVIS! I thought you were dead!". I said "not yet but this race is gonna kill me!". His response "that sucks! I'm honored I got to meet you before you went then" and he ran off, leaving me cracking up.

I can now see the mile 25 marker. I'll walk to there and run the rest. I'm doing so when I realize right after that is the climb onto the overpass. I better start running now so I can walk the last uphill. As I turn the corner, the 2 Elvi I've been eying are so close. So close I can catch them. But wait, there's an aid station with a band and cheerleaders and "whoooooo!" All the cheerleaders are high-5ing the Elvi, we're screaming for them and the band, the band is yelling "and here are the Elvi!" and it's chaos, pure and simple. Wonderful, fabulous, noisy chaos.

And just like that I'm high on endorphins again. I walk just the first part of the hill when PapaRoach (remember him from my Seabrook report???) comes on. I'm on fire now. I take off flying up the hill. I fly even faster down and pass the Elvi. I compliment them on the cape, do some fancy handwork and off I go. I'm good to go now. How anyone can have so much energy at mile 25 I have no idea, but I'm high off the endorphins now! And then, just after I passed the Elvi, it happened. I was Elvis-ed!

You may ask what it means to be Elvis-ed. In this case I was running along, smiling and dancing and flying all by myself when all of a sudden, out of nowhere a random Elvis jumped over the median and bear-hugged me. We screamed in unison, dancing around whooting and when she let me go that was it. I was yelling and hooting and hollering the whole way in. The crowd was going nuts. As soon as I'd inhale for a breath someone else would yell "go Elvis, WHOOOOOOOOO" and I'd join in on the whooos until I ran out of breath. The half mile went on forever but so did my yelling. I was laughing and having more fun then really anyone should possibly have at the end of marathon. I then saw him, a cameraman all to myself in the middle of the road. Of course I hammed it up, what else would I do. Unfortunately in the picture he caught me screaming and that look is just not so becoming I now realize :)

I'm so close now I can taste it. There's Andy, I yell something to him and unfortunately that's when he snapped the picture and it just looks like I'm in pain. Then I cross the finish line, full of excitement, pride and feeling like my old self again. I see the cameraman post-finish line and stop to pose. They actually caught this on my finishline video!!! He was cracking up, said that was great, he'd not had anyone do that before.





Final time 5:08. My slowest ever. Yet who cares??? I have plenty of excuses - undernourished, not trained, sick (dr called the next day, it is strep), what have you. But seriously, I ran a marathon in Vegas dressed as Elvis. What else could possibly matter? I'm back baby!
Post race



Last updated: 2010-10-29 12:00 AM
Running
05:08:55 | 26.2 miles | 11m 47s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance:
Course:
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

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2010-12-09 10:07 AM

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Expert
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The Woodlands, TX
Subject: Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon


2010-12-10 8:54 AM
in reply to: #3242727

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Elite
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san francisco
Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
Erin!  Love the report, love the pictures, love that you finished the race looking so good even with all that you had going on.  Here's to Vegas, to the Elvi, and here's to next year being a great year for you. 

(your report was so long, i couldn't get through it yesterday!)
2010-12-10 11:11 PM
in reply to: #3242727

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Elite
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Fishers, Indiana
Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
Hahaha, what a great adventure!! Kudos to having fun! NICE JOB!
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