Friday, November 9, 2012

Post Vegas Vacation and A Running Weekend

Sorry I haven't been blogging.  I haven't been in the mood.  And then vacation came.

I went to Vegas last weekend (basically from Halloween through Sunday night) so I was there for almost 5 full days.  It was fun.  You know, it was Vegas!  Actually I did some different things this time than the last time I was there in 2001 so that was fun.

We stayed in a hotel a few miles south of the strip.  It was a time share of someone's uncle and so I basically paid nothing for the hotel ($25 total).  Of course this arrangement meant that I had to share a bed with with someone but that was no big deal to me.  There were 4 of us that went down on Wednesday morning (Halloween) and 1 friend was coming in on Thursday.  We also met 2 of their friends down there who currently live in Arizona.  So basically there were 7 of us at times...but really just the 5 of us.

L-R: Madaya, Keith, Tim, Becky, Me, Doug
 Madaya and Tim are the ones from Arizona.  Becky, Doug, Keith and I are the ones that came out on Wednesday.  Missing this day was Joe who came out on Thursday. 
We didn't eat here but this is a photo of the whole group (Kind of L-R: Joe, Madaya, Doug, Tim, Becky, Me, Keith)
It was 80 degrees for a high mostly every day...and I tried to take advantage of being outside as much as possible.  Some of my group stayed in the casino next to our hotel or at the hotel...whereas I would go to the casino...then go to the pool (HELLO!!), then go to the hotel.  If I wanted to call my parents, I went outside and sat at the pool instead of inside the hotel.  I mean, it was like 40 degrees back in Chicago!  I was kind of amazed that my friends didn't want to be outside as much as I did.  And in good form, Becky and I even went for a 4 mile run around the hotel on Thurs or Friday (I can't remember, lol).
One of the pools at the hotel.  There were several.
We also went to Hoover Dam which I didn't go to last time I was out there.  I was super excited to do this!  Then we proceeded to tell "Dam" jokes for the next two hours...

At Hoover Dam...(apparently someone said my shorts are too short.  I don't care. I hate long shorts)

Also at Hoover Dam.  I really like this photo.
On Friday, the men were at some car convention and the women went to shop and walk on the strip.  It was nice to get away from the guys for a good portion of the day and have some girl time.

One thing I got crap for...I think it was the day we went to Hoover Dam (I know believe this was Thursday, lol).  Becky and I ran 4 miles in the morning, walked around Hoover Dam which included lots of stairs, then walked around the strip all night.  On the way back to the car that day, I mentioned..."Man, my feet hurt!"  Now, I was NOT complaining.  I simply made a statement.  To which 2-3 of the guys jumped at me... "What!?!?  You run marathons and you are complaining about your feet?"  And on and on they went!  I was just like "Shut up!"  lol.  It was a little frustrating.  Yes, I run marathons...but I'm not on my feet ALL DAY!  And I complain that my feet/legs/shoulders/neck, (insert body part) hurts while I'm running marathons too!  lol.

We did lots of stuff, saw lots of things.  I did actually drink much until the last night there, when we went to a few clubs and I was like, "Well, last night in Vegas!"  Plus my roommate kept buying me drinks all night long!  Every time I turned around, he was handing me another.  And since I was like "Well, I don't care about anything!"...that night, well, you know the rest.  Luckily Joe was our DD because he wasn't drinking that weekend.  He was having some stomach issues and wasn't going to drink.  But apparently we were wildly entertaining for him that night!

I'm also waiting for all my friends to upload their photos!  I couldn't take good photos on vacation to save my life!  So I just stop taking them and told my friends I'm stealing some of theirs.  I was also waiting to see if they took any embarrassing photos of me that last night...but I happily think they did not!  (There were some from the first club before the major drinking started, but they didn't upload those either).  I'm actually not much of a drinker....but...anyway.

This weekend, I have 2 races.  I never put 2 races in one weekend.  I had signed up for the Navy Pier Perfect 10 run a million months ago.  It was really cheap (on a good deal) back then and was the only race I had signed up for before my marathon for after the marathon.  This run is on Saturday.

On Sunday, I decided to sign up for the Tinley Park Turkey Trot 5k.  I was debating what to do with this one.  I've done this race since moving to Tinley Park (so I've done it twice) and really want to keep doing it.  It's cheap and super close.  Actually, I can walk to the start line from home and the course runs right past my house.  After vacation ended, I decided to just go ahead and sign up for it.

My plans are this:  I'm going to "race" the 10 mile Navy Pier run.  On Sunday, I'll see how I feel for the 5k and if I'm sore or tired, I'll just run the 5k easy.  This is the second 10 mile run I ever done.  The first was the Soldier Field one in May of this year.  This was right after I found out my iron levels were horribly low.  I could only run between 0.5-1 miles usually at a time (except in the beginning, I ran 2.5 miles straight).  Iron affects the oxygen to your lungs and I could barely run (since I could barely breathe).  My time for that run was just under 1:45 (1:44+) and about a 10:29 pace.  My goal for this 10 mile one is easy...to PR, which should be no problem!  But alternately, I should be able to run a sub 10 minute average pace.  I just put in a 9:45 average pace and it comes up with 1:37+ so I think that will be my goal for the 10 mile run.

Have a great weekend everyone!

5 comments:

  1. I'm planning to run the same pace at the 10 miler too! good luck.

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  2. Nice pictures from your Vegas trip. I've never run 2 races in a weekend. Good luck!

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  3. I loveeeeee vegas. I am jealous of your 80 degrees - i should really plan a warm vacation. Good luck at both races this weekend!

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  4. Glad you are alive and well! I always worry when people don't post for a while.

    I've never been to Vegas - waa!! Someday - I would have spent all my time outside too!

    Hope your races went well this weekend, you couldn't have asked for better weather!

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  5. I think your shorts are just fine. You look great. thanks for sharing these pictures and keep up the good work.

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