CIM - Las Vegas Double Report - Part II: What Happens in Vegas, ends up on Facebook...

When we left off of part I, I had just crushed CIM and I was on top of the world, just like these two:

Tens of thousands of people on a sinking ship.  Didn't we learn our lesson?

Nothing could go wrong in the Vegas race, could it?  Wait, who said I was running Vegas?

The Plan

The plan was...to not be an idiot and run this ridiculous money grab bullshit race.  But I still felt pretty good after CIM.  And I was sore but not gorilla-crippingly sore.  My travelling companions were all getting geared up for the second part of the double.  And I felt left out.  I started thinking maybe I could do it.  

My new friend Holly (Spinderellah from the Boston forum on Runner's World) sat next to me on the plane and I bounced the idea of running the half.  She told me "yes, absolutely you should."  I waffled a bit.  After all, I didn't have a bib.  Not sure I was comfortable with that.  I wondered also if my wife would be upset, because I told her I'd be at Mandalay, getting everything ready for the after party.  By the time the flight to Vegas had ended I was about 95% sure I was running.  I just had to OK it with the Mrs.

My wife Catherine picked us up from the airport and I asked her if she minded if I ran with her and her friends.  Like a champ, she got excited and told me she'd love to have me run with them.  So there you have it.

After a bit of a snafu with Mandalay, we finally get into the suite we arranged for the group, and it was everything we had hoped it would be.  My amazing wife had already gone to the store and had everything ready to go.  Now I guess all there was to do was try to run this thing.

Prepping the goods for after the race

Training and Race Goals

To train for this race after CIM, I walked around the hotel a bit and tried to stay loose.  And then I ate a bacon cheeseburger at a bar.  Seriously I couldn't have given two shits about this race.  I just wanted to get through the thing in one piece, have fun running with Catherine and have a story to tell.  

Race Day

The coolest thing I did was...I wore the CIM race shirt and the hat I got from a CIM sponsor.  I felt totally and completely badass wearing the gear I got from the race I did THAT MORNING.  Here is my favorite photo of me in the corral, primed and ready for an 11 minute per mile shuffle down the strip:

Damn right that's the 2011 CIM shirt.  Oh, see those black Adidas gloves?  They're my favorite.  More on that later.

Walking to the corral was a headache, bumping into everyone and their mother, but that was nothing compared to what would come later.  We squeezed into corral #12, and I had no clue what corral the girls were supposed to be in or what the hell was going on, there were just so damn many people that I was happy just to be standing there with people I knew.  

Catherine and I at the start.  Pigtails are sexy.

Actually, this was probably the best part about the race - the start.  There were laser lights and live music, it was a huge party.  We were standing on the southern edge of the Las Vegas Strip on Las Vegas Blvd., and the strip looked amazing.  Meanwhile, I am getting cold and tight standing in that corral.  These first couple of miles were going to SUCK with all of these people, not to mention the fact that my legs were dead from the hard effort earlier.

Love this photo because of the lights, but this looks more like a rock concert than a race start...

They start the race and we slowly shuffle forward until our corral finally gets to start...maybe 10 minutes later.  We cross the start and already it's a clusterfuck of epic proportions.  There are walkers already blocking people and the goddamn race just started.  Corral enforcement was nonexistent, that much was abundantly clear.  We are shuffling along and the excruciatingly slow pace is making my legs very unhappy.  Not even a mile in I am complaining to my wife, immediately regretting my decision.  I tell her I left my wallet and phone in the suite and there was no turning back.  One way or another I'm getting through this thing.

This was the start of our "race". 

We get to the first aid station and it's already a mess.  I skip it because I am worried about getting bowled over in my weakened state.  Shortly after that we realize that there's actually a lane for the marathoners who had merged onto the strip.  Wow, how about making an announcement of some sort about that?  That's a pretty important detail for 44,000 runners to know about.  The cone they used to mark the lane looked like the tiny shitty orange cones I used to set up for coaching soccer.  The 15 kids I had on the team couldn't stay inside of the area I would mark out using these cones, what the hell makes them think they're going to keep 44,000 runners inside of them.  Truly mind boggling stupidity.  

We're a good three or so miles in and it's just body-to-body, like some shitty outdoor nightclub.  Legs are just trashed and I'm not real sure about my balance.  I almost get knocked over by a runner trying to weave in traffic.  Tough to enjoy the scenery when you're just concerned about not running into anyone or getting run into.

I am pretty thirsty by the next aid station and I grab both Cytomax and water, which in hindsight I feel a little bad about as I heard they actually ran out.  Then I realize I have to pee.  The next couple of miles, finding a place to pee becomes my focus.  We pass a group of maybe 6 porta potties and there are about 10 people in line for each one.  So that's pretty much a fail, looks like I'm heading for a bush somewhere, but this is the Las Vegas Strip in the middle of the desert and bushes are at a premium.  We head toward the Stratosphere on the north end of the strip and there is an incredibly shitty Slayer-wannabe band playing.  Cool if you're into Slayer, I happen to not be.  And even those into Slayer had to have been scratching their heads at the "talent" level of these guys.  At least I am taking my mind off of how sore I am, and I'm actually starting to feel better.

Finally at around mile 6 or so, I have to go.  My God this race is going by so slow.  I find a bush, but it provides no privacy whatsoever and who knows how many people saw the goods.  The good news is that the faster running I had to do to get to that spot woke my legs up a bit and I felt better.  I had to rush to catch up with the girls as well which also made me feel better.  But once I settled back in I started feeling crappy again.  This is pretty much how it went.  Bad spell, good spell.  The lows were pretty low..the highs...were just less low.

We get to the turnaround and I'm feeling pretty certain at this point I'm going to get it done, and I am itching to just run on ahead and finish it quickly, but I stick with the plan and stay with the girls.  Heading back to the strip and looking at the group behind us, I observe that it's every bit as crowded behind us as it is where we are at.  Ugh, what a mess.

I am really thirsty by this point, so at the aid stations I am drinking lots of fluids.  Not feeling particularly tired, just sore as all hell and really thirsty.  Pass the same shitty Slayer tribute band which I guess is good, because now I know we're maybe 4-5 miles out, but bad because they didn't get any music lessons in the meantime and they're still shitty.  By the time we got to mile 10, I just wanted this mess to be over.  I should mention that this whole time we are passing walkers, still.  How close to the start line did these people line up?  

Finally, we get near Mandalay, and it's almost over.  We get within sight of the finish and there's just a huge logjam of runners.  I think we actually got stuck behind them before we could even cross the finish, so I'm actually wondering if lost 2-3 minutes waiting for the crowd to move.  I find out later that people were stuck for up to an hour in this mess in some cases.  I also notice they made almost no efforts to enlarge the finish area at Mandalay from last year.  I remember last year being pretty crowded at the end...this year the field doubled.  What did they expect was going to happen?

The finish.  Look how far back that crowd extends...it's mashed up right next to the finish line.  Awful.  And they have the audacity to actually try and sell these photos.

Suddenly I am shaking from the cold and I start feeling very weak, like I might pass out.  It hits me I just finished 39+ miles for the day and my nutrition has been less than stellar, so I ask Catherine if she has anything to eat.  She gives me some GU blocks, and I suck down a gel and that does the trick.  I also grab a couple of bananas from the table.  I try to peel it, and I can't because it is GREEN and not ripe whatsoever. I finally manage to get the skin off and I bite into it and it's NASTY.  Jesus, did they fuck everything up in this race?  Aside from the pre-race theatrics this has been biggest fail of a race I've ever seen in my life.  My goodness.  Oh, not only that, but I look down and realize I'm missing a glove...I must have dropped it in my intense struggle to peel the banana.  Shit.

And that was that.  The double had ended.  I have to admit...moving forward I learned a lot from this experience (well aside from another reminder why I don't do RnR races anymore).  As far as CIM goes, I feel really good about how my year ended and I am looking forward to making a run at sub-3 sometime next year.  I also learned that I am at my best when I can start slow and slowly work my way up to race pace, and then save something for the last 10k so I can hammer the finish.  This is just how I like to race and I can find another gear that I'm not sure I had when I do this.  I also learned that I am ready for the challenge of ultras, and that I am going to have to be smart about nutrition when I start logging the longer training runs.  That was a little creepy what happened at the end of Vegas.

Post Race

After the race everyone who was in town from the Runners World forums met up at our suite at Mandalay, and it was a blast hearing all of the funny stories and meeting some new friends.  We had a hell of a time finding some food after though, as it seems not only was Competitor not prepared for the crowds, but the shops and restaurants at Mandalay weren't either.  We didn't get to have a meal until 2:30am, but once we did, that food tasted heavenly.

We met up for lunch the next day and then sadly, everyone went their separate ways.  What an amazing experience though.

The 3:20: Longer and Harder crew at First.  From L to R:  KPH, Flo, Matt, Paul, and Steve

Extra Stuff

I thought it might be fun to add a few more little anecdotes and memories from the weekend here though that I might have forgot about or didn't include from before for whatever reason...there's actually some good stuff in here, both running and otherwise, so....enjoy.  :)

- When I was still at Midway Airport getting ready to leave for Sacramento, I encountered the worst security line I have ever seen at Midway.  People were trying to smuggle cans of 7UP and hairspray onto the plane and that's what was holding it up.  

- At the CIM expo, Matt had to patiently wait for me as I was on the line with my wife (who was already in Vegas) trying to make bets on college football games.  All these runners are walking around the expo, all nervous about the race and I'm yapping on and on with my "bookie".  I played a 5-team teaser card for $20 and had every game right except for Virginia Tech, who I had -1 against Clemson.  VaTech got blown out, and for the second year in a row, it was close but no cigar on my teaser play.

- At the Spaghetti Factory in Sacramento we had the honor of having two elite female athletes have a pre-race dinner with us.  Both of them were from Romania.  One of them had become a U.S. citizen and had high hopes for not only winning CIM, but also representing the U.S. at the Olympics (which made me wonder why she was running a race so close to the trials).  The other was the 2006 winner at CIM.  At the end of the dinner, they asked if any of us were planning on running a 2:30 pace, and if so could they run with us.  The question was just so unbelievable that I had to have her repeat it to make sure I wasn't dreaming...were they really trying to recruit one of us as a pacer the night before?  Incredible.

- As I was trying to fall asleep in my room, my roommate, Steve, was snoring like hell.  I had a tough moral dilemma on my hands:  let him snore and allow him to rest up and recover from his 50-miler, or let him know he's snoring.  I chose the former, because 50 is a larger number than 26.  He also has much bigger muscles than I do.  I think I made the correct call.

- Before the CIM race, Matt and Ron did this little warm up on a side road about 15 minutes before the start.  I just sat there and scratched my balls.  They both beat me.  Maybe they know something I don't?

- Right before the half marathon mark I got into a little duel with a high school cross country runner doing the marathon relay.  He would pass me on the ups and I would pass him on the downs.  It was clear he was trying to pick me off, but was having trouble.  He did get the best of me, barely, before running into the relay chute.  I saw his hand off to his cross country teammate as I was running by and he almost fell after the hand off.  The teammate ran onto the course and I passed him easily and never saw him again.

- At around mile 14 or so of CIM I pass this little group of four dudes and one woman.  Without trying to be super creepy, I'll just say this:  the woman had the biggest breasts I have ever seen on a runner.  Certainly that explains the four dudes around her, but I wonder if she was a porn star or something?  

- I had horrific armpit chafing after CIM.  The body glide did not get the job done...or I was just lax in putting it on this one area.  Catherine found some Aquafor that really helped take the sting out, but I'm surprised it doesn't really show up in the CIM photos.

- The Sacramento airport was a funny scene.  We are sitting on the floor right near the gate scarfing on bagels and protein bars and whatever else we had available and people are looking at us like we just landed from Mars.  

- We were hoping to check into the suite right after the flight, and Mandalay took forever to clean it.  I was hanging out with James (Forno Bravo, one of my buddies from the 3:20 forum), and he wanted to get cleaned up and rest up for the second half of the double, as he was running the Vegas full after PRing at CIM by running 2:55.  We had to raid one of Catherine's friend's rooms at THEhotel to get James cleaned up.  After meeting up with Flo, Matt, Paul, Jay (Bird22), and Holly, Matt and his girlfriend are hungry and I hadn't really eaten anything of substance except a couple of bagels, so James and I go with him.  We end up at this Irish pub (called Rava I think?), and James has MAYBE 20 minutes until he has to start the race.  He is crazy with the bartender, impressing on her the importance of getting his food quickly, and orders plain pasta with butter and two hardboiled eggs (neither of which are on the menu).  He nervously counts down the minutes and miraculously, about 10 minutes later, his food arrives.  He eats it all in maybe a minute or two and RUNS out the door.  The woman who took his order (who just had this bewildered look on her face the whole time) yells out at him "HEY, YOU GONNA PAY FOR THAT?"  I tell her to calm down, that I would pay. The whole scene was just ridiculous, and was easily one of my favorite moments of the entire trip.

- After the race and after the party, we were all starving, and funny enough, we end up back at the Irish pub, because we can't find anywhere else that will serve us food and is close.  We get there and they say they can seat us, but can't promise that the kitchen will stay open.  We test our luck, and of course, we sit down and the waitress informs us the kitchen isn't taking any more orders.  Jay starts to get upset and gives the waitress an earful.  Things come to a head when Jay is served a beer in a plastic cup, college-keg-style.  At least while there I got an amazing picture of Catherine that I happened to be in:

Me and my beautiful wife.

 - We ended up at First Bar and Grill near the Venetian for lunch the next day after the race, which was actually our second choice - they wouldn't let Paul's kids into our first choice - Lagasse's Stadium, so many jokes were made about the fear they had about Paul's daughter running around and making wagers.  First was actually pretty awesome, really good comfort foods like tater tots, mac and cheese, and chicken and waffles, and it was all really good.  Great view of the strip as well. 

- After lunch on the Monday after the race, Catherine and I went to downtown Vegas and stayed at the Golden Nugget.  Very nice hotel, even though it was a little smoky in the casino.  I had amazing luck gambling there.  I maybe played slots for about an hour collectively there and playing 1 cent slots (but with 40 lines, so 40 cents a pull), I hit multiple times for between 10 and 20 bucks.  I'm cool with that.

- I played possibly the worst set of proposition bets in the history of Vegas on the Monday night game between the Chargers and Jaguars.  I had the Chargers (good), the under (NOT good), over 2 INTs for the game (nope), and over 3 FGs for the game (nope again).  By mid-second quarter it was 24-14 Chargers, and I knew I was done at that point.  Final - 38-14 San Diego.  Phil Rivers had ZERO interceptions.  

- Later, we ended up at Main Street Station, which I love for the really good (and cheap) buffet.  Once we got there though, we realized we really weren't that hungry so I sat down to play some blackjack while Catherine looked on.  I like low stakes...I can still get excited about winning a $5 hand as most others do about a $20 one, so I was all about it.  I got on a nice streak and pretty soon Catherine joined in.  By the time we got done, we had made about $75 bucks playing blackjack.

- Still later, we ended up at another of my favorite dives, the El Cortez.  You have to have some balls to wander off of Fremont to play there, as it is a total dump, but I'm a big fan due to the low limits on craps and blackjack and I was itching to play craps.  Hardly anyone playing and the dealers were kind enough to refresh my memory on the payouts on some of the bets which was nice.  First, my lucky streak continued and I did pretty well playing craps, and I could have easily kept playing if Catherine had not bugged me about being tired.  But aside from the gambling two funny things - first, this guy shows up and sees that I'm pretty hot rolling the dice and after I establish the point, he puts about $600+ in bets on the table, at least $100 each on numbers - 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10.  For those that don't know craps - if the point is established and you roll any of these numbers while you have a bet on there, you win depending on the number (places 6 and 8 pay 7:6, for instance).  It can be a good bet if the shooter is hot because you can really make a lot of money....as long as a 7 is not rolled.  I would have had to not roll 7 on 5 consecutive rolls for him to make that money back.  So, he makes his bet, and THE VERY NEXT ROLL I roll a 7 and crap out.  He's at the table approximately 30 seconds and is down 600 bucks.  He wanders off the table yelling at himself and we are just looking around and wondering if he's gonna whip out a machine gun...he was crazy.  He comes to the table a couple times more and is having a conversation with himself and at one point I hear him say "Just walk away, just walk away."  It was freaky and a little scary.  On one hand it's a great story, but on another, he clearly was an addict and that's kind of depressing to think about.

-  We leave the Cortez and on the way back to the Nugget we see this dude getting arrested.  Also, Fremont is DEAD at 2am, that was a little unsettling...

- The weekend is wrapped up by heading to the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino the next morning.  Cool place with a lot of history.  We went there because we heard Du-Par's restaurant and bakery had the best pancakes in the world, and they aren't lying.  They were massive, and they tasted amazing.  One of the best breakfasts I've ever had, period.  Also, very cool looking place, very much unchanged in the last 50 years I would say.

- Our luck continued on the ride home.  Somehow when we checked in at the gate we were given the extra leg room seats in the front of the plane right behind Sprit's 'big seats'.  Spirit loves to nickel and dime you, and so it was a really nice surprise when we not only were seated together, but in that spot, where we'd have plenty of room.  I actually slept a little bit on that flight, which was nice.

Well, that's about it I suppose.  I didn't quite share everything...that would be against the spirit of Vegas.  Amazing trip though.  It's going to be tough to top this one.  ;-)