Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Viva Las…Race Week!
It’s been busy since my last post! My wonderful wife and I made a jaunt down to Las Vegas for some unwinding and some hot sunshine. I’ve also gotten down to the last few days before the Columbia Gorge Marathon but before I talk about that or my training let’s talk about Vegas!
We love going to Las Vegas! It’s our time to be Steven & Karen and not Dad & Mom or employees or anything else we want to get a break from. This time we stayed at Treasure Island or The TI as it is referred to there. It’s not the Bellagio, but it was nice and the room was clean and we had an awesome view of the strip! We did not purchase any show tickets this time because we did not want to have to be at any certain place at any certain time. We just wanted to let the day take us where it will and just go with the flow. And it was great. We did meet up with a coworker of my wife’s and his wife for drinks the first night and then we hit the strip after the sun had gone down and the lights had come on. We took the ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris and we took in the fountain show at the Bellagio and then we just wandered, and drank, and people watched.
The next day before going out to lie by the pool I met up with a long-time Blogger/e-mail/Facebook friend, John Vigil, whom I had never met in person. We met at Starbucks and before I knew it more than an hour had gone by we were just chatting up a storm. Very nice guy and it was great to finally meet him! Later that day my wife and I headed out again and took in a few of the shops Caesar’s Palace. That resort is phenomenal. I’d love to stay there the next time we go. Later that night we ended up at Gilley’s in The TI for some saloon fun and drinks. Although the mechanical bull was in action I didn’t drink enough to give it a try!
On the third day we again started with some pool
lounging time before heading out again. This time we made the trek to the Stratosphere and the ride 112 stories straight up to enjoy the views from the observation decks. It was amazing! While we were up there we watched the rides in action but there was no way on God’s green earth either of us were going to give any of those a try. They are unbelievable. We then made our way back down the strip and ended up wandering the shops of the Venetian. That place is fantastic and is yet another one I’d love to stay in some time! The whole canal, cityscape and painted clouds inside are spectacular. But, as the saying goes…all good things have to end and our trip to Vegas did, too. We made our way back to The TI, caught our shuttle to the airport where I upgrade our seats to First Class and brought another awesome trip to Vegas to a close. Until the next one anyway!
All that Vegas fun aside, I do have a marathon this coming weekend and I have been getting in the last few training runs to prep for it and here are those recaps…
Friday the 8th I had a day-off from work to go with my wife to her bikini competition I mentioned in my last post (which she ROCKED and looked stunning in!) so I got my long-run done that morning before we hit the road.
Stats for Friday’s run: 14.3-miles in 1:47:21 @ 7:30/m pace.
Monday the 11th I had an early morning run and for some reason the legs were a bit sluggish but they came around a bit towards the end of the run.
Stats for Monday’s run: 6.2-miles in 47:34 @ 7:40/m pace.
Tuesday I was out the door at 4:40AM again and it was COLD. I started with an easy mile then busted out five at Tempo Pace before ending with an easy one.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 7-miles in 51:25 @ 7:21/m pace.
Saturday the 16th was my first run post-Vegas and I felt a bit sluggish. The combo of three days off from running, all the food/drink in Vegas and hitting the last week of taper conspired against me to make this run feel harder than it should have.
Stats for Saturday’s run: 8.2-miles in 1:01:51 @ 7:33/m pace.
Sunday I got in one of the runs I missed while in Vegas. I kept it steady and even though it was faster than the previous day’s run it felt easier and I felt much better.
Stats for Sunday’s run: 6.11-miles in 44:52 @ 7:21/m pace.
Monday the 18th as also a make-up run so I kept it easy. It was 4:40AM again and it was freezing cold again. I wore the long pants, gloves and a beanie cap for the first time this year. Winter is coming.
Stats for Monday’s run: 6.13-miles in 47:14 @ 7:42/m pace.
And lastly, this morning I was again outside in the pre-dawn darkness and cold and this time it was for my last true work-out run. It was an easy mile to kick it off then four @ Tempo Pace then an easy mile to finish it up.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 6.15-miles @ 45:05 @ 7:20/m pace.
The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity with my wife’s competition in Southern Oregon, my marathon training and our trip to Las Vegas. But Sunday is marathon #18 for me and then I start TWO FULL WEEKS of downtime with zero physical activity. At least, that is my plan…we’ll see if I can last that long. I’ll post a race-report next week.
Thanks for stopping by…
We love going to Las Vegas! It’s our time to be Steven & Karen and not Dad & Mom or employees or anything else we want to get a break from. This time we stayed at Treasure Island or The TI as it is referred to there. It’s not the Bellagio, but it was nice and the room was clean and we had an awesome view of the strip! We did not purchase any show tickets this time because we did not want to have to be at any certain place at any certain time. We just wanted to let the day take us where it will and just go with the flow. And it was great. We did meet up with a coworker of my wife’s and his wife for drinks the first night and then we hit the strip after the sun had gone down and the lights had come on. We took the ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris and we took in the fountain show at the Bellagio and then we just wandered, and drank, and people watched.The next day before going out to lie by the pool I met up with a long-time Blogger/e-mail/Facebook friend, John Vigil, whom I had never met in person. We met at Starbucks and before I knew it more than an hour had gone by we were just chatting up a storm. Very nice guy and it was great to finally meet him! Later that day my wife and I headed out again and took in a few of the shops Caesar’s Palace. That resort is phenomenal. I’d love to stay there the next time we go. Later that night we ended up at Gilley’s in The TI for some saloon fun and drinks. Although the mechanical bull was in action I didn’t drink enough to give it a try!
On the third day we again started with some pool
lounging time before heading out again. This time we made the trek to the Stratosphere and the ride 112 stories straight up to enjoy the views from the observation decks. It was amazing! While we were up there we watched the rides in action but there was no way on God’s green earth either of us were going to give any of those a try. They are unbelievable. We then made our way back down the strip and ended up wandering the shops of the Venetian. That place is fantastic and is yet another one I’d love to stay in some time! The whole canal, cityscape and painted clouds inside are spectacular. But, as the saying goes…all good things have to end and our trip to Vegas did, too. We made our way back to The TI, caught our shuttle to the airport where I upgrade our seats to First Class and brought another awesome trip to Vegas to a close. Until the next one anyway!All that Vegas fun aside, I do have a marathon this coming weekend and I have been getting in the last few training runs to prep for it and here are those recaps…
Friday the 8th I had a day-off from work to go with my wife to her bikini competition I mentioned in my last post (which she ROCKED and looked stunning in!) so I got my long-run done that morning before we hit the road.
Stats for Friday’s run: 14.3-miles in 1:47:21 @ 7:30/m pace.
Monday the 11th I had an early morning run and for some reason the legs were a bit sluggish but they came around a bit towards the end of the run.
Stats for Monday’s run: 6.2-miles in 47:34 @ 7:40/m pace.
Tuesday I was out the door at 4:40AM again and it was COLD. I started with an easy mile then busted out five at Tempo Pace before ending with an easy one.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 7-miles in 51:25 @ 7:21/m pace.
Saturday the 16th was my first run post-Vegas and I felt a bit sluggish. The combo of three days off from running, all the food/drink in Vegas and hitting the last week of taper conspired against me to make this run feel harder than it should have.
Stats for Saturday’s run: 8.2-miles in 1:01:51 @ 7:33/m pace.
Sunday I got in one of the runs I missed while in Vegas. I kept it steady and even though it was faster than the previous day’s run it felt easier and I felt much better.
Stats for Sunday’s run: 6.11-miles in 44:52 @ 7:21/m pace.
Monday the 18th as also a make-up run so I kept it easy. It was 4:40AM again and it was freezing cold again. I wore the long pants, gloves and a beanie cap for the first time this year. Winter is coming.
Stats for Monday’s run: 6.13-miles in 47:14 @ 7:42/m pace.
And lastly, this morning I was again outside in the pre-dawn darkness and cold and this time it was for my last true work-out run. It was an easy mile to kick it off then four @ Tempo Pace then an easy mile to finish it up.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 6.15-miles @ 45:05 @ 7:20/m pace.
The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity with my wife’s competition in Southern Oregon, my marathon training and our trip to Las Vegas. But Sunday is marathon #18 for me and then I start TWO FULL WEEKS of downtime with zero physical activity. At least, that is my plan…we’ll see if I can last that long. I’ll post a race-report next week.
Thanks for stopping by…
