2009 Las Vegas Marathon

What:  My 3rd marathon in 7 weeks. Yeah, not the smartest thing to do.

Where:  Rock n Roll Las Vegas. Almost 28000 runners total for both the half and full.

When:  December 6th at 615 am.

Why:  Ran this as my final event of the year, mainly to qualify for Marathon Maniac Status.

How:  The race start was cold with a wind chill in the upper 20s.  But, the fireworks display was awesome, and helped pass the 25 minutes it took to cross the start line. Actually, the end of this race is something I'd like to forget. Was on expected pace up until mile 18. The run was going great and I was having an awesome run.  Then I believe I strained my right ITB, which sent shooting sharp pains into my right knee. I've been here before with my left knee earlier this year, so knew exactly what it was. I had to slow down and do a walk shuffle for the last 8 miles. Since the wind chill was still in the lower 30s, I got chilled to the bone very fast, and then got very nauseous. That was my wall.  Physically, I was also just worn out.  I hobbled to the finish line the last 5 miles, doing more walking than running, with a finish of 4:48:12. I'm OK with that, since I just ran a 4:25 PR marathon 2 weeks ago in Overland Park.  Was depressing seeing all those folk that I had worked hard to pass now passing me.  Sigh.  But, with an injury, I didn't want to push it and make my recovery longer than it needs to be.  Took about 1 1/2 hours to get back to my motel, thinking I would throw up the whole way. Took a 2 hour nap, and then felt much better.

Summary:  Mission accomplished, 3 marathons run and done, within 7 weeks, which qualifies me for Marathon Maniacs.  This was by far the most difficult of the 3. Now that I've qualified for MM, do I really want, or even deserve it?  Time will tell, but I'm already thinking about the next marathon scheduled for next May, so however gruesome those last 5 miles were today, that pain is quickly becoming a distant memory.

Next few weeks:  First item on the agenda is to recover from the abuse I've put my body through in the last 7 weeks, and find out just how bad my ITBS is in my right leg.   Kind of strange, I've logged 1300 miles this year with not 1 hint of trouble with my right ITB. Until now.  But, I'm still a runner, and I've definitely got more races to do. Just keep moving forward!