Recap of the Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon

The Route. Click here to see it in more detail.

Oh, what a night!

What a fun and unique adventure!

Jason and I had a GREAT time walking the Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon. It was a fantastic way to see the strip in a way that you wouldn't otherwise have a chance to.

Seeing as this was my first marathon of any kind, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew it would be very different from my experiences with the SGK 3Day 60 mile walks.

I brought my trusty water backpack with me to make sure that I'd stay hydrated. I figured there would be water along the route (and there was) but I preferred having my pack with me to insure proper hydration, as well as to carry important supplies like snacks (good thing I did!), blister/medical supplies (which I'm happy that I didn't need) and for general storage. So glad I brought it.

The route was fantastic. We started at one end of the Strip on Las Vegas Blvd at the Mandalay Bay, walked down the "New Strip" (which ends around the Encore"), past the "Old Strip" (Circus Circus, Hilton, Stratosphere, and the newly closed Sahara) all the way down to "Old Vegas" on Fremont Street.

The weather was chilly (low 40s, I think) but for the most part, it was perfectly comfortable for me and my regular layers of gear that I wore. It only got really chilly once, when it started to sprinkle/light rain around mile 10 or so. Luckily, the rain didn't last long, which was lucky, because it really made everything much more cold.

The marathon is actually called "Zappo's Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll Marathon". To go along with the theme, every 3 miles or so we would pass by stages with live bands performing. That was a great way to get a little pep in your step when needed.

So, in truth, I haven't done any serious training since the SF 3Day back in September. I've kept up with my routine walks around my neighborhood, and working out on my elliptical machine at home, but it's not the same at all. I was a little nervous going in, but ended up doing just fine. One thing that I realized before this marathon was that the whole route would be flat - which is SO different than what I'm accustomed to. This may seem like a good thing to most people, but honestly, I missed having hills or stairs to climb to mix it up. My muscles aren't accustomed to walking on a flat surface for that long of a distance.

As we were walking, I also realized that this is certainly the longest mileage I've ever done without short breaks or a food stop. (When I train with the Hotties, we are all about food!) The only "breaks" we had during the marathon (of course, since most people are running, and it is a race after all!) were to use the Porta Potties - which I did several times. (Hotties would be proud to know that I stayed well-hydrated!) We usually had to stand in line for 5-10 minutes for each potty break, which was a nice little rest for our feet.

Another difference in participating in a marathon is the street closure! Imagine - not having to stop at every block for signals, stop signs, bicyclists, etc.,! Such a new concept for me. So, this also meant a faster, non-stop pace, which was quite different.

Because of all of these factors, I did manage the quickest MPH speed for any long-distance walk that I've done at around 4 MPH. I think the average when training with my team is more like 3 MPH, or 3.5 if we're with a smaller group.

We completed the 13.1 miles of the 1/2 marathon in 3 hours, 41 minutes. Not bad! We were in the very last group of runners/walkers and left the starting line at 6:10 (the first group of the 1/2 marathon started at 5:30) and crossed the finish line at 9:48. I wasn't expecting to be done before 10:00, so that was great!

What a fun experience it was to walk the 1/2 marathon in Las Vegas with my wonderful friend, Jason.

Many thanks to Jason (who is a runner) for offering to walk with me the whole time, when he certainly could have taken off at any time to finish earlier! What a guy! :)


Trina & Jason huddled in Corral #40 before the race


The Starting Line


(Almost) the finish line (how confusing!)


The actual finish line! Yay!!


Our stats for the 1/2 marathon

Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon!!

We're here, we're chilly, and we're ready!

Jason and I are ready for the Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon!! We'll be power walking alongside all the runners. ;)

It's chilly, maybe mid-40s, but I know we'll warm up quickly once we get going.

BTW, I'm a bad Hottie. I forgot my deeleeboppers. Bad Hottie representation. :(

Looking forward to the route - 13.1 miles down the Las Vegas Strip - starting from the Mandalay Bay, all the way to Fremont street, and back!

The first corral starts at 5:30, but I'm not sure how much later we'll be starting in the pack.

I'm guessing this will take around 4 hours or so. (again, walking, not running!)

See you on the other side! :)

13 years of friendship

I'm in Vegas (again!) this weekend, this time with my dear friend, Jason.

Jason and I met 13 years ago, during the first week of December, 1998. I met Jason just days after first meeting Dick, so it's an easy anniversary to remember. ;)

Jason and I have been trying to plan a vacation for a couple of years, and here we are! The main reason why we chose this weekend is because tomorrow evening is the Las Vegas half marathon, in which the city closes the length of strip for the marathon.

Now, I don't run, so Jason offered to power walk the route with me. :)

13 miles back and forth on the Vegas Strip - wish me luck!! :)

Tonight's Dinner

Dick and I are both taking the week off. Dick really enjoys cooking, and doesn't often have the time to try new recipes.

Tonight, we pulled out the Zuni Cafe Cookbook, and tried not one, but TWO new recipes. :)

We started with a delish lentil soup, followed by baked artichokes with onion and olives. (which yes, did call for the fresh lemon in my previous post.) :)

Caught in the Act

I caught Noe sneaking a drink from my glass of water. Bad kitty! I admit, it amused me a bit - enough to take a photo and post a blog about it. ;)

Lemon #2 and Lemon #3

Dick and I have had our lemon tree for about 10 years now.

Unfortunately for the lemon tree, I didn't take such great care of it for the first several years, yet it managed to survive.

When we completed the big backyard project in the condos 3 years ago, the lemon tree was repotted and severely pruned. I also learned how to feed and care for it properly. It grew well after that, but never produced any fruit. We were afraid that all of the trauma may have left it barren.

Things picked up for the lemon tree when we moved to our new home last year. It has a great, sunny spot on the deck and my parents set it up with a drip irrigation system. it flowered happily, and has been growing fruit buds for several months.

Today, I picked Lemon #2 and Lemon #3 from our happy little lemon tree. Lemon #1 was actually picked (and used) a couple of months ago, but I neglected my duties of documenting the historic event.

Now to be sure that we actually eat/use the lemons! ;)
We're planning our dinner menu around them right now. :)

Las Vegas Invitational

Dick and I are in Las Vegas for a few days. We met Martin and Celeste here earlier in the week and celebrated Thanksgiving together. There's been a lot of Poker, Pai Gow, Craps, Blackjack, and some really great meals.

Another reason why Dick and I came out was to watch the Las Vegas Invitational, in which Dick's beloved Tar Heels came out from North Carolina to play.

There will be four games in total, in which the Tar Heels will play in two. The first of those two games were tonight, with the second being tomorrow.

We had a great time watching them play in the Orleans Arena. It's been several years since I've been to a game, and I've leaned a lot about the game, the team, and the players since then. Looking forward to another fun game tomorrow.

Many thanks to Uncle Christopher for staying at our house and taking care of Noe while we're away. :)

Goodbye, Yahoo!!

Just heard that the Yahoo billboard on 80 before the Bay Bridge is coming down soon. This sign has been up for probably nearly the entire time I've lived in SF. It's become a bit of a fixture here. I think I'll miss it when it is gone.

Stuck Truck

In my 16+ years of living in San Francisco, I've only witnessed this happening twice: a (very large) moving truck getting stuck on a (very steep) San Francisco Hill.

The first time I saw this was at the intersection of Union and Leavenworth. A very steep hill.

Today, we saw this on Diamond and 21st Street in Noe Valley. Poor guy. I think it had just happened. The driver was still in the cab, trying to move forwards, but his wheels were slightly lifted from street level, and just kept spinning in place.

I always feel bad for movers in large moving trucks - I can't imagine driving those things in San Francisco. Plus, you gotta figure that some of these trucks are coming from other parts of the country where they can't imagine how steep our hills are.

Visiting Grandpa

Tomorrow will be the 2nd anniversary of my Grandpa Chow's passing.

Today, I accompanied my Grandma, my parents and one of my Uncles to the Cemetery where Grandpa is interred. We brought fresh flowers to add to the ones that were already there. We noticed that someone (presumably who works at the cemetery) placed an American Flag amongst his flowers. We assume that they did this for all the veterans on Veterans day last week. That was a nice touch.

Fantasmic

We returned to the Disney Hollywood Studios park this evening to watch the 7:30 production of "Fantasmic". I've seen it at Disneyland several times, and it was interesting to compare the two productions.

The biggest (and best) difference is that it is shown in a huge amphlitheater here in FL, whereas the one at Disneyland is within the park from Tom Sawyer's Island. That's all good, but it was sure nice watching it (and waiting beforehand) from a stadium setting instead of from a sidewalk curb crammed with strollers. The amphitheater was huge, and accommodated so many people. Plus, on certain evenings (including tonight) they did a show at 7:30, and another at 9:00.

The show here was slightly different. Most notably, they had an entire Pocahontas section, which I actually thought was pretty weak. They also did not have a Ursula float, or a Little Mermaid section.

But the viewing experience was so much better, and there were fireworks at the end!!

It was a very nice way to end our Disney portion if our trip. Tomorrow we will go to Universal Studios to see the Wizarding World if Harry Potter! :)

Disney World, Day 3: Animal Kingdom

We spent the day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was the first time for all of us, and we all enjoyed it.

We were in the park from around 9:30-4:30, and managed to see all of the major attractions. We decided against the water ride, but did everything else.

The African Safari and the walking trails were all really nice, and were lovely and LARGE habitats for the animals. The Expedition Everest roller coaster was especially great. My Dad and I rode it twice in a row, as the wait in line was fewer than 15 minutes.

It was another great day with beautiful weather and short lines. Next, we're heading back to Disney Hollywood Studios to watch "Fantasmic". :)

Disney, Day 2, Part 2: Magic Kingdom

We took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom in the afternoon. Although this park seemed more crowded, and certainly had mire little kids, we still got through all of the major attractions quickly, without much waiting in line.

By 7:30, we had seen everything here that we wanted, and made the decision to leave just before the night parade, and the evening fireworks show. By this point, we had reached crowd overload, and the crowds were just getting larger and larger as we made our way out.

Instead, we left the property and had a late dinner in a quiet restaurant in town. ;)

Disney, Day 2: Epcot Center

We spent the morning through mid-afternoon at the Future World portion of Epcot Center.

Again, the weather was beautiful, and lines were short. :)

We had a nice lunch at the restaurant in The Sea pavilion, which had a lovely view of a large aquarium.

Epcot Center World Showcase

We spent the Mid-afternoon through the evening at the World Showcase at Epcot Center.

Unlike the Hollywood Studios park, I don't that there was anything here that was added or changed dramatically since I was last here in 1995.

We enjoyed walking around through all of the different countries. One really nice thing is that they're having a wine and food festival going on right now where you could sample small plates of food from about a dozen different countries, paired with regional wine or drinks. That made for a really nice dinner. :)

The park closed at 9:00, which is also when the fireworks show started. It lasted about 15 minutes or so, and was quite good. We made our way to the shuttle which brought us back to our condo. Very convenient!

Tomorrow us another day! Getting up bright and early for a day at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center. :)

Walt Disney World Day 1, Part 1

We started off our day at the Disney Hollywood Studios. Very fun. I hadn't been in 15 years, and there were some nice additions that have been added since then.

Turns out that early November is a GREAT time to come to the parks in Orlando. I don't think we ever waited in lines for more than 20 minutes, and that only happened once or twice. Most lines were around 5 minutes or less. Fantastic!

We started off at the new Star Tours. It was great fun. I liked the changes. :)

The highlight of my day was definitely the Rick n Roll roller coaster. Super awesome!!

The new Toy Story ride was really fun, too, and different from the one at Disneyland. The line for that ride was never less than 40 minutes, but luckily, that was the one ride we got a Fast Pass for the day.

We had lunch at the Sci-Fi Drive In Theater. Super fun! For those who have not been, you are seated in a car, in a room that looks like a drive-in movie. There's a big movie screen playing old cartoons and horror clips from the 50s.

We left the Hollywood Studios around 3:00, and made our way to the Epcot Center World Showcase....

Halloween Travel

Greetings from Orlando, FL!!

I am here with my parents for the week. It's been over 15 years since we've been here together. We'll be going to the parks at Disney World for 3 days, then checking out the Harry Potter World at Universal Studios on Friday.

I flew in last night, and met my parents, who came in on Saturday.
Dick isn't into the Disney thing, so he stayed home with Noe. I left Wooden Trina on his bedside table to keep him company during the week. :)

I've never flown on Halloween before, which turned out to be kind of fun. The flight attendants on my United flight were all dressed as witches. :)