SeniorRunner: December 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Running In The Rain

The Las Vegas Rock "n" Roll marathon was supposed to be my last 2010 race but my wife urged me to run this local event for the free christmas tree, It's been raining since thursday and I didn't decide to run till 6:00 am today (Sunday). I am glad that I ran for it's fun running in the rain. It's wet, cold, windy and some portion of the route was flooded but its fun. I also had the opportunity to meet some of the local elite runners in my age group(65-69). Oh boy ..... these guys got some wheels. I look like a newbie/old man compared to these guys(they are 2 years younger).

The race was held at the big & beautiful regional park in Long Beach located along the San Gabriel River. This is my favorite training venue. The event is called Winter Solstice Christmas Tree 5 Miles Run.

5K run/walk Happy Campers

With stronger knees, I now shuffle with a little bounce.
Distance - 5 Miles
Finish Time - 42:19
Pace - 8: 27

Wet but happy with my little Christmas Tree

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon Recap

Dec 3. Leave Long Beach, CA for Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll event. Friday's traffic was still light on I-15 and it's a good drive to Las Vegas, Nevada.

View from a Mandalay Hotel room. Finish / Start line is a block away from
Mandalay. From this room, I can see Las Vegas Blvd which is the main route of the event.

Dec 4. Pick up my bib & swag bag at the Sand Expo. Lots of vendors and freebies. Before the Expo, I did a 2 miles easy run along the strip to remind body & mind that old Arthur is ready to rock.

Dec 4. Dined with the Kings at the Pasta Party. About 2000 people attended the Pasta Party. Highlight of the entertainment was the performance of 6 to 12 years old Fil Am hip hop dancers.

Dec 5 The Big Day. I was assigned at Coral #23 (expected finish time - 2:30). The finish time I put on the registration was 2:10 but because of the big number of participants (about 30,000), I was bumped to this coral. I snuck though in Coral # 21.

And the race was on!!! It took 30 minutes from the Gun Time before my Coral was released. I ran as fast as I could to put distance from the rest of the herds. For the next 6 miles have to run around slower runners. As, I was losing some valuable seconds and determine to set a new PR, started cutting in front of other runners. I stopped running around to find space, I just ran straight thru openings. THIS WAS STUPID MOVED, IT'S UNSAFE AND I AM NOT PROUD OF IT. I was also cut by faster runners and was not happy about it. I will not do it again. At my age, safety and fun should come first ..... but it sure feel good to kick some young arses. Next time, I will just pad my expected finish time. Overtook the 2:15 pacer and a Group of Elvis belting rock n roll songs at the old strip (Fremont district). At mile 10 and with the Mandalay tower in sight, I checked my Garmin and knew that I was on target for a new PR ..... but the sub 2 hrs will remain just a dream. Crossed the Finnish line at 2:02:15

Post Celebration. In my 3 years of running, the Las Vegas event was the most gratifying ", not because of the PR, but because of what I felt after the race.
Felt good that, I hung around for hours to watch Bret Michael concert.
Felt good that, I watched The Lion King without dozing off.
Felt good that, I played Black Jack till 2:00am.
Felt good that, I did a 2 miles recovery run along the strip before driving back home.

I believe that the training and my first marathon last October made all these possible.