For those of you who don't know, I have been "training" for a half marathon since shortly after Shawna died. She was a runner, and the image of her running room sweatshirt hanging in the funeral home next to her ashes stuck in my head for quite some time. Long distance running was ALWAYS something i was terrible at. What better way to look life/death in the face and say "I'm not afraid of you" than picking something you despite, and learning to love it in the name of a lost friend? When I ran, every time that I thought I could go no further, push myself no harder, I thought of her.
It just so happened to be that the Las Vegas Rock and Run was approximately 1 year from her funeral. So I ran it.
And what a run it was! I must first admit that I haven't trained that well lately. Laziness has gotten the best of me (and it doesn't help that it is cold in Edmonton, and the sun won't shine outside of office hours until next March). Excuses, excuses, I was full of them. I came to Las Vegas scared shitless that I wouldn't finish, let her down and look like a fool.
Then I saw the advertisement for Garth Brooks in the airport.
Now... for those of you who don't know me, I am easily distracted. And I am one with impulse purchases. Now picture me, in the airport, making a mad dash for change so I can use the public phone to call and get tickets to my childhood idol. I mean, c'mon, the guy was on my bucket list! After determining the tickets would cost me a fortune, but that there was a seat available at the 10:30 show (the night before the 6:45 am race...) I bit the bullet and bought a ticket - I mean, I'd make it back to the Luxor from the Wynn at 1 am at the latest, giving me lots of time to sleep...
It was worth every penny. He can sing... and sing... and play one mean guitar. The theatre only sat 1400, and, with it being the national finals rodeo here this weekend, half the audience wore stetsons, and the other half had simply left theirs in their hotel room. It was second only to Elton John. It was nothing but Garth, his guitar and some lighting effects. Oh yeah, and his wife Trisha Yearwood! I mean, holy crap! He went through his life and what music inspired him (starting in the 60s). Tell you the truth, he didn't even play that many of his own songs, probably 10 max - the rest were Merle Haggart, Elton John, America, Randy Travis, the Beatles, and countless others (approximately 75-100 in total, though he didn't play the whole song, just the best parts!)
I laughed, I cried, I stood up to give a thundering applause more than once. He even put up the house lights and did a question and answer at the end (and even took requests!)
Then I took the train back to the Luxor at 2 AM.
For those of you who know a little about Las Vegas, you know its late when your on the Monorail all by yourself.
But again, the three hours of sleep that I got the night before the half marathon was worth every penny!
So, Sunday morning, up at 5:30 AM (see, in Vegas, it takes 20 minutes to walk to the next hotel, and with 30,000 people walking the same direction, it takes 45 minutes, so we had to be up really early, even though the race didn't start until 6:45). I was in corral 27, my bib number was 27384. My D-chip was tied to my laces (to track my time), and I was ready to run... or walk, in a mass of people through Luxor to the Mandalay Bay parking lot. I have never seen that many people.
Now, I had been warned that it could take as long as 45 minutes for my corral to actually start the race. It took us 41 minutes. The gun would go off for each group, and each corral would move up closer to the start line. I was in 27 of 32, so you can imagine how long I had to wait. It was interesting to see what people were wearing - there were many Canucks, you could tell by the light clothing they were wearing. Those from the southern USA were wearing mittens - that made me laugh. Part of the race process was that they would donate any clothing you threw on the street to charity, so many a hoodie was discarded along Las Vegas Boulevard.
For 41 minutes I watched runners pass by - so many Elvis', the occasional Marilyn Monroe, and even Big Bird, and Elmo. There was even a spongebob Elvis. Talk about crazy - here I was, not even sure if I would finish, and people are dressed up in uncomfortable costumes? This oughtta be good. Anyway, i had 41 minutes to contemplate my life, as corral after corral of much faster runners bolted past the start line, onto the Las Vegas strip.
My main thought at this point? Dear God, please don't accept my resignation in the next 13.1 miles (20.9 Kilometres).
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