Vegas Report - Post #1

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since we returned from Las Vegas.  It was an amazing experience!  I think I have finally recovered, LOL!

Over the next few posts, I'll review each days activities and post a few pics. 

Today, I'll just briefly mention the hotel we stayed at, Vdara.  It was beautiful.  I posted a review on Trip Advisor Here

It seems like a very high percentage of the people visiting Vegas are smokers. Or maybe smokers tend to gather there because it's one of the only places that still allow smoking in public places?  The casino hotels still allow smoking, which keeps smokers in the casinos (which is kind of the point I guess) but I couldn't stand staying in them for any more than about 30 minutes. And of course all of the hotels are designed to make you walk through the large, smoke-filled casino in order to get anywhere, like the hotel lobby or hhe theatre entrances.  At any rate I was so glad that we stayed in a non smoking hotel. It was a welcome relief at the end of the day.  It smelled wonderful.

 Taken by DW while stopped at a red light. Heading somewhere. Outlet malls perhaps...

Kitchenette

Dining area

 Bathroom

 Sitting area. the blinds were remote controlled. Awesome!

AKA the comfiest bed ever. And huge! Hardly saw DW all week ;)

Next report: The FOOD!

Brrr River 5K Race Report

Well, it turned out to be a beautiful morning for a run.  There was very little wind and the sun was shining.  Not sure what the temperature was but it was around zero, give or take a few degrees.

Sign up was from 8-9am and the race was at 10am.  There was a bit of confusion about the start time. I guess it was advertised in the local paper to start at 9am.  Anyway, we all decided to meet halfway and we started at 9:30am. There weren't a whole lot of participants, maybe 10 runners and 10 walkers.

Right at the beginning of the race there was a fair size hill.  The roads were mostly snow covered still so I was slipping and sliding for a bit going up the hill. Other than that the snow didn't give me too much trouble.  Once at the top of that first hill it was pretty much downhill for the next km or so.  Just before the 1K mark, I took a wrong turn at a fork in the road.  Luckily I wasn't wearing any headphones so I could hear the gal behind me yelling "WRONG WAY!!"  In my defense, I was just following the kid in front of me...

From about 1.5K to 3K was pretty much uphill.  Ever been to Bear River? AKA The SWITZERLAND of Nova Scotia!!!  At one point I considered walking but that kid in front of me was in striking distance, so I kept at it.

Luckily, from 3K onward, it was downhill.  Gave as much as I could given the slippery conditions.

I didn't catch the kid in front of me :(

Ended up finishing 4th. How very Canadian of me! Official time was 27:10 which is a ways off from my PB but given the road conditions, hills and the fact that I've taken pretty much the entire winter off from running, I'm pleased with the result. I won a thermal cap!

This is the first Brrr River 5K run.  Overall, I think that the gal who organized it did a pretty good job.  I guess my only real complaint would be the inadequate route markers.  She used strips of fabric which weren't very effective.  It was probably OK for locals who knew the names o the roads we ran on.  She mentioned that she was organizing a 10K race to take place during the Cherry Carnival in July.  That should be challenging.

PEI Marathon Race Report

Well, the marathon is over.  I did it!!  despite the crappy weather, I was able to get my sub 4-hour time. My chip time was 3:58:51. 

The beginning of the race was actually kind of laughable.  It was raining and blowing about 50km/hr.  I really had no expectations. I had done everything I could, but I can't control the weather, so I just decided that whatever happens, happens.


Mile 1 -  9:13
Mile 2 -  9:07
Mile 3 - 8:54
Mile 4 - 9:22
Mile 5 - 9:34
Mile 6 - 9:20

The first 6 miles of the race was along the north shore of PEI in The National Park.  Luckily, the wind was at my back so I didn't have to fight the wind that much.  I ran with the 4:00 pace bunny for the first three miles or so, buy then decided to slow down a bit and take it easy in the early stages of the race.  He was never more than about 0.1 mile ahead of me though. I was a bit panicked that the pace bunny was slowly but surely getting further away, but I kept telling myself that it was still early, that it was OK, and that there was still a lot of race left to run.


Mile 7 - 8:55
Mile 8 - 9:11
Mile 9 - 9:19
Mile 10 - 8:56
Mile 11 - 9:15
Mile 12 - 9:05
Mile 13 - 9:02


The next 6.5mi were inland and it seemed to stop raining a bit.  I was still feeling very good at this point and was averaging around 9:12-9:13/mi.  Still blowing quite a bit and sometimes was coming at me from the side.  Got to the halfway mark in 2:00.



Mile 14 - 9:04
Mile 15 - 9:30
Mile 16 - 9:08
Mile 17 - 9:04
Mile 18 - 9:26
Mile 19 - 9:04
Mile 20 - 9:11
Mile 21 - 9:14

The next 7.5 miles were along a rails-to-trail and was quite boring.  The rain picked up at this point as well. At about the 15 mile mark I started to fail just a bit.  I was starting to feel the cold and my pace dropped a bit. At this point of the race, the course changed direction slightly and the wind was now coming at me from the right.  For a short period of time I was running headlong into the wind.    I ate my Cliff Bar and made sure I got water and Gatorade at all the remaining stops.  I also started to walk through the aid stations.  This seemed to help.  The trail itself was really muddy. I'd say that miles 16-19 were the toughest for me today.  My time was 3:03-ish at the 20 mile mark.  I made a mental note that I had 57 minutes to run 10K.  I can do that...

Mile 22 - 9:16
Mile 23 - 8:55
Mile 24 - 8:58
Mile 25 - 8:33
Mile 26 - 8:17
Mile 26.2 - 1:51

The last 5 miles were back out on the roads. There were also 3 hills (the ONLY hills in the course!!) to deal with.  The last 5K went quite well and the wind was at my back again.  I had looked at my Garmin and saw that I had 29 minutes to run 5K.   At this point, I still wasn't sure I was going to go sub-4,  waiting for the BONK,  but I still had the pace bunny in my sights. I picked up the pace but never really believed I was going to meet my goal until I reached the 40K marker.  I had a little moment ( a tear or two).

When I got to  25.5 miles, I finally caught the pace bunny.  I told him I had been chasing him for 21 miles.  At that point he indicated that he was about 20 seconds ahead of 4 hr pace, and that's when I put the pedal down.

Finish time was 3:58:51, a negative split, and I beat my last marathon time by 20:30.

The course was really flat, except for the few hills at the end.  I'm sore, but not THAT sore. I can still navigate stairs!  I didn't even get chafed up that much, just from the waistband of my shorts.  In the end, I don't think the wind and rain affected me that much, but it would be interesting to see what time I could have obtained in ideal conditions

So, that's about it.  I think I ran a very smart race. I didn't start out too fast at the beginning, kept fairly even split times and had enough left in the tank to finish the last 3 miles faster than the first three miles. I must say that I was a little worried that my training plan hadn't prepared me properly to run a sub-4 race as my longest training run at marathon pace was 8 miles. During training I  kept reminding myself to "trust the process".  The process paid off!

Not sure what the future holds for me.  I do see another marathon in my future, with the ultimate goal being qualifying for Boston.  That will have to wait a few more years. The current qualification time for men 40-44 is 3:20.  My current time would only qualify me for Boston if I was 60-64...  I think I have a faster marathon time in me.  I don't feel like I  left everything out on the course.  I should feel spent, unable to move,  but I feel like I could run another marathon today (granted, at a much slower pace...)

 Me, smelling like a cross between a hockey bag and a wet dog...

No more races this year, well Maybe a 5K turkey trot on December 26th.  Next year I'd like to concentrate on improving my times in the shorter distances. I really would like to get that sub 1:45 half marathon time....