Las Vegas Luck Needed

Luck was definitely needed (and in short supply) when we ran the Las Vegas Marathon last Sunday! Months ago, my sisters and I decided to run our first (and only) full marathon! I trained and trained for a good couple of months and then after officially paying the $100 fee, life got the best of all 3 of us and our training was somehow "misplaced."


Excuses, excuses . . . there are always excuses . . . Living in Indiana, Molly didnt love running in the cold, Shawna came up with a bum knee, and I got caught up in the kids sports and found myself running 60 mins, just 3x per week and eliminated the long Saturday runs from my life! All 3 of us arrived in Vegas knowing we were basically "screwed" and kind of avoided even talking about the event and the fact that we werent completely ready until the night before :)

The month prior to the event the Cayden, Aubrey, and Aub's friend Jamie trained and ran 25.2 miles. We tracked their progress and mileage on a chart, and early Saturday (in the absolute freezing cold), they competed in the kid's marathon race and finished their last mile. They did a great job and all 3 kiddos ran their complete mile without stopping. I have always said I am going to turn my kids into runners, and I think I am finally succeeding :)


We spent the rest of Saturday in Vegas being (cold) tourists! Cayden is infatuated with the Eiffel Tower and was stoked to march up to it. We also had yummy treats at the all famous Serendipity, played in the NYNY arcade (awesome games let me tell you) and made a trip to kid heaven, M&M world and the Coke Factory! It was a great day and we were definitely tired when we got back to Shawna's house.





There was an abnormal cold spell in Las Vegas and the night before the race long sleeve shirts, hats, mittens, and knee high socks were added to original short and tank top outfits!


4:30 Sunday morning we woke up, got dressed, and headed to the starting line! We ended up stuck in traffic and watched from the freeway the fireworks officially start the race. 20 minutes later, we bid farewell to mom and hopped out of the car and ran up the freeway off ramp to the starting line. As you can imagine, it takes a long time to get 20,000+ people across the starting line and we snuck in probably in the middle of the pack. The race started well - we "cruised" up the strip with no goal time and expectations other than finishing. We were pretty worried about Shawna - but at the 10 mile split (where the smart 1/2 marathon runners head back and the full marathon runners head off to the middle of nowhere) Shawna said she was fine to finish . . . I think that's where we went wrong :) We made it to mile 13 in a decent time (and if finishing - probably would have meet the under 2 hour goal)! At that time Shawn's knee was in pain and we stopped for a few mins (with mom and the kiddos) to apply some "magic knee strips" (but apparently not so "magic" if applied during the race and pain)! The last 6 miles were pretty much awful . . . nothing like walkiing 6 miles with a 3 year old (sorry Shawn) She most definitely hurt and we felt horrible for her. I at one point offered to carry her but thinking back I am pretty sure I would have collapsed if she would have taken me up on the offer. We ended up crossing the finish line and I am happy to have it checked off my bucket list! AND I swore I would never do it again . . . but only a week later I am already thinking about the rematch! Running is such a horrible game :)