First Week in Bangkok

I left the last post off going to bed after a dizzying 30+ hours of traveling; however, I work up around 7:30am.  I was pretty awake but I could probably have gone back to sleep, I just didn't want to.  Tricia and I chatted on the computer while I finished packing.

The plan for the day was to start out exploring and then meet up with some more Thai associates to show us how to use the transit system, a place for shopping, and food. Peter and I agreed to check in with each other around 10am. Around 10:30am, we set out for our first trek outside.

I took a video of my hotel room, if you'd like to see it:

Lumphini Park
I really wanted to check this park out and it was close to our hotel.  I knew it was south of our hotel, my hope was that I knew which direction was south!  We took off on foot down the street towards the park but we hit a dead end.  There was a small ally way that we took.  It looked like a back alleyway between houses but there were also little shops and street venders mixed in.  It was really neat seeing everything mashed together like that.

If you follow the blue line I've drawn in, you'll see our course.  The first turn west is where the alley is.  Don't be confused by the map.  It's very small and maybe a car could go down it.... maybe.

We found walked around Lumphini park for about an hour.  It was hot and humid!  The heat is similar to KC in the summer but we just aren't used to it.

Lumphini Park is a very beautiful park with its trees, bushes, flowers, sculptures, etc.  It was donated to the public in 1920s by King Rama VI.  The outer road/trail is roughly 2.4 kilometers (~1.6 miles).  You'll find all sorts of activity at the park.  We saw people practicing Tai Chi, xylophones, drum lines, cyclist, runners, and so on.

Peter and I took a different route back to our hotel, just to add to our exploration.  Apparently on our block there is a lot of embassies as well.  The Netherlands and United States embassies were the prominent ones, which is comforting if we need it!  I doubt we will, of course.

My "home".  If you count 6 floors down from the top, I'm right in the middle.

Peter and I returned to the hotel to freshen up a bit before meeting more Thai associates to show us around.  Benny, Jingjo, and Toom were our hosts for the afternoon.  They took us to a 5 story shopping center, Central Chidlom, that has a food court on the top floor which has many options, such as Thai, Japanese, Greek, and Italian.  At this food court you receive a plastic card at first.  At each food area you hand them your card and wait for your food to be prepared.  Then over to the drink counter and then dessert!  After eating, you pay as you exit.  I decided to go with Pad Thai with Shrimp and the Thai associates order some dessert.  Very very good.

We then took the SkyTrain (BTS) to the stop that Peter and I will became very familiar with, the Phrom Phrong station where we will get off for work.  It happen to start raining on us so they weren't able to take us to the building. Attatched to this station is another huge shopping center with another food court.   Apparently many associates eat there for lunch. At this point the Thai associates left us to fend for ourselves.  Could we make it back to the hotel?  Hopefully we remembered our stop by the hotel!

By this time the rain had stopped and so Peter and I walked to the building to check it out.

Found it!

At this point we went back to the BTS took the SkyTrain to our stop (Chit Lom).  We did some grocery shopping and I bought some Coke (need some caffeine to stay awake) and stuff for breakfast and a couple meals.  I wasn't too adventurous.  It's just like shopping at a brand new grocery store, except you can't read any of the labels!

OK, that's  not entirely true.  Most everything has english, if it isn't the same product we are used to buying anyway.  I picked up some apples at one point and as I walked away one of the store employees took them from me.  Apparently you must take them to a specific counter to have them weighed and tagged instead of doing it at the checkout.  That does seem a lot more efficient!

At that point we returned to the hotel.  I can't remember what time it was but I forced myself to stay up until 10pm.  It was really difficult.  I talked to Tricia on FaceTime for a while to try to stay awake but eventually gave up.  10pm and lights out.

Sunday Peter and I were back on our own.  I woke up around 5am and just couldn't get back to sleep.  I laid in bed until 7am when I called Tricia again.  I had decided at that point to go for a run in Lumphini but Peter asked me to do the brunch buffet at the hotel.  We were given 10 passes to the buffet.  It was mostly a typical buffet but with Thai lunch options.  The sausage was chicken sausage and the little pancakes had a coconut flavor to them.  Peter and I both picked up yogurt.  One thing we have quickly learned here is that corn is treated similar to fruit.  There was corn in his yogurt and I've seen it as toppings for ice cream!

After brunch I got my first workout in and ran 3 laps at Lumphini Park.  With the humidity and heat, I walked about half of the last lap. I'm hopping to get there before or right at sunrise in the future to beat the heat.

After the workout and NECESSARY shower (thank goodness no one else was in the elevator with me), Peter and I set out for our next adventure:  JJ Weekend Market.

This is basically a huge flea market where you can buy pretty much everything (and shipping services to send everything home to KC).  There is art, clothing, electronics, food, toys, and whatever you could imagine... assuming you could find it.  This place is absolutely monstrous and Peter and I probably only hit 10% of the place in the 90 minutes we were there.

It's simply amazing how much stuff they had there!  After talking about it with co-workers they were surprised we went on our own... and made it out.  Yeah... we did get lost, actually... but only briefly.

Dinner was back at the Central Chidlom Food Court.  I really ventured our for dinner and had Italian... not quite Cafe Trio's MacDaddy :).

Monday
First day at work!  We immediately met a lot of people.  I'm horrible with names so it's been interesting.  I stopped by to say Hi to my project team and then another Expat showed us around the office building.  One of the teams took us to lunch to one of the local restaurant (Sabaijai?) and ate a ton of food.  I think 10 plates of food passed around us.  I've tried to do my best and eat whatever is placed in front of me, and so the fried baby crabs went down the hatch!

After work, Peter and I had some drinks at the hotel bar again.  Can't exactly remember dinner, I may have gone back to my room and went to sleep.  I could only manage to stay up until 9pm.

Tuesday
I managed to hit the gym for the first time.  If I hadn't remembered that I was out of the US, I got another shock when I turned on the treadmill... it was in kilometers!  So I relied on my 5k = 3.1 mile translation to figure out the speed but wasn't completely successful.  I just ran by heart rate.

This time lunch was at the hotel across the street with a handful of Thai associates.  It was a buffet with various Thai dishes.  I'm quickly learning to enjoy Thai cuisine.  Peter and I went back to the hotel room and I fixed a halfway successful risotto (I need some chicken broth).  I had to stay up passed 9pm because of a conference call with work in KC.

Wednesday
I made it to the gym again this morning, but just stuck to the stationary bike.  I think the bike was in mph because I'm hoping I wasn't riding at 6 mph speed but at least a 10mph speed!

Lunch again was at a Thai restaurant (Chapter 31) but this time it was with 3 Expats.  It appeared to be at a little more upscale Thai restaurant.  I had some kind of beef esan dish.  It was yummy.

After work, Peter, Esteb, and I decided it was time for a happy hour:

Yeah, I really branched out tonight.  Margaritas and enchiladas.  Yummy!  Happy hour was definitely on and here it is buy one drink get one free.  This confused us when Peter ordered a beer and the waitress just brought two bottles.  Very very nice!

Thursday
Back at the gym in the morning to work off those two margaritas and enchiladas.  I managed to get to the gym 15 minutes before it opened so I could get 45 minutes on the treadmill in.  So far I've been able to keep up with the training!

Lunch was with the another group of Thai associates but there was a change up in the menu.  We visited a Japanese restaurant.  Take your shoes off and sit on the floor.  I may be a runner/traithlete, but I'm not that limber to sit cross-legged for an hour+!  I knew dinner that night was going to be fairly big, so I decided to stick to tempura vegetables and shrimp.

This quickly turned into a meal like Monday when the associates just kept ordering food.  Another "exotic-for-me" dish landed in front of me:

A whole fried fish.  I must say that it was pretty good.  I just have to get over the mental image of what I'm eating though!


Thursday evening there was a BBQ buffet for two of the Expats who were moving back to Kansas City.  The BBQ was pretty good, but it's the first time I've seen rice at a BBQ!  We took a taxi from work to get to the restaurant but it was only a few blocks away from our hotel, so we walked back.  It was interesting seeing the city at night like that.  From the street vendors to the "city workers" who were fixing the sidewalks to whatever!As soon as we got back to our hotel room, it started raining.  Just in time!

Friday
After four beers Thursday night, I decided I wouldn't hit the gym.  I figured I'd get a long run in Saturday morning, so the rest will do me well.

Lunch this time was at another Thai restaurant... and another meal of food just coming and going, up and down the table.  I don't remember anything extremely odd for lunch.  Everything was delicious.

It was a good ending to the work week.  On the way back to the hotel, Peter and I stopped at the park next to the office to walk around.  They were doing "Sister Cities of Bangkok", which appeared to be some kind of festival like a "Taste of the World".

Peter and I took off for the hotel and changed.  Nothing major planned for the evening, so we went to Siam and walked around a couple malls.  No shopping intentions but just to see the spectacle.  You don't see a lot of shopping malls with Lotus and Lamborghini dealerships.

I took the photo below at one of the large intersections on the way to the malls.  This is to give all the KC folks an idea of what it's like here.  At stop lights all the motorcycle taxis (and any other motorcycles) will drive through all the stopped/waiting cars up to the front of the line.  Watching them take off is like a motorcycle race!

Well, I think this is good for now.  This weekend we went to see the Grand Palace and some of the temples.  Here is a taste:

A Triathlon of Traveling!

It's hard to believe that I am in Thailand.  Since rumblings of this trip started, the last six months have flown by.  While it has been exciting to finally be here, it was definitely hard to say goodbye to all my friends and family back in Kansas City, especially Tricia.  Even though I had worked hard to provide multiple means for us to stay in touch, either by FaceTime, Skype, VOIP calls, emails, IM, etc, it didn't make saying goodbye any easier.

The day started as any other day, 5:30 alarm.  I'm pretty sure I had my usual banana & bagel with peanut butter for breakfast.  Instead of getting work clothes on, it was loading up the car with nearly 120 pounds of clothes, shoes, keepsakes, and gadgetry!  

Poor Brodie.  Apparently he's been pretty mopey around the house while I've been gone these first few days.

Tricia and I hung out at the airport for as long as we could.  I decided that as soon my plane had arrived and was unloaded, that would be my cue to go through security and say goodbye.  A hug and kiss and we were on our separate ways.  Mine, however, wasn't a 15 minute drive home but a blurry 28 hours of travel.

Kansas City to Minneapolis

A very short 1.5 hour flight with a 2.5 hour layover.  Nutrition (this is a triathlete's blog, right?) was Bloody Mary mix with a cookie.  My co-work and tavelmate, Peter, settled in at the gate.  Peter went off to find lunch while I was trying to take in the 24 hours.  You can train for a half-ironman but how do you train for something exactly the opposite, sitting in a seat for that long?!  When Peter got back he mentioned there is a currency exchange so I hoped up and purchased $250 worth of Thai Baht, which is about 6,700 Baht.  The exchange rate around 30 to 1, although the currency exchange place took some fees out of that rate.

Minneapolis to Narita, Japan

Our chariot for the second leg.  It was foggy in Minneapolis and delayed our departure in KC by 20 minutes.

The long haul!  Just like a triathlon, the second/bike leg is always the longest.  Peter and I got settled in our seats and I was almost lucky enough to have the seat next to me wide open; however, this was a full flight and it was quickly taken up.  We flew a Boeing 777 and the first wide-body plane that I have flown in since going to Hawaii when I was teenager.  I sat right behind the Business Elite folks with the lay-flat seats.  I am considering paying for an upgrade to those seats for my trip home on this leg.

We had three meals while on this flight. 

I didn't take advantage of this one...

Dinner

I went with the beef.

Mid-Flight Meal (Lunch): turkey sandwich -- no photo here.  Just use your imagination.

Breakfast (which was really served around 4pm Japan time)

Great fruit selection.  The eggs, sausage, potatoes were OK but my tummy was starting to question me.

I had some website projects to work on so I pretty much kept myself in my computer for about 10 hours of the flight.  

Since we left Minneapolis around 1pm and arrived in Narita at 5pm, we were in the sunlight the entire time.  I closed my windows after dinner and the cabin lights were turned off not too long after that.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep on this flight, I have never been able to sleep on a plane so I just plugged away at the computer.  

I will say that I would highly recommend anyone flying long distance to purchase noise canceling headphones.  I think that saved me from going crazy and, as Peter pointed out, is more comfortable than earbuds.  It doesn't block out the sound completely but it works very well.

Sporting the noise canceling headphones.  Thank you Bose (and Donna from work who recommended these)!

While I messed around on the computer, I put on a few movies via the TV screen located in the seat-back of the chair in front of me:

Hall Pass

Easy A

Adjustment Bureau

The Social Network

I chose a window seat because, well, I wanted to be by the window.  It did have the added benefit that I could put my leg between the seat and wall in front of me to stretch out this 6 foot, 4 inch frame.  The problem is I feel extremely guilty waking up my seat row companions to go to the bathroom but I managed OK.  

We took a northern route and flew through Canada and near Alaska.

The last two hours I didn't really do too much. I pulled out a book on Thailand and the Thai language and looked through it. I pulled up the shade on the window and watched as we flew into Japan.  It was hard to grasp the concept that we were actually flying over a completely new-to-me continent. 

On the tarmac at Narita.  Pretty.

The landing into Narita was very smooth. As soon as we got off the plane it was a quick jaunt over to the next gate to our connecting flight.  It takes much longer to load these nearly 300 passenger vehicles, so they start much earlier.  Since we had Premium Coach seats, we actually did get to use the priority lanes.

In other words, T2 was very quick and efficient.

Narita, Japan to Bangkok, Thaliand

My row only had two seats and I had the window seat.  There was a very nice Thai lady sitting next to me and she asked where I was from.  I immediately said Kansas City.... then Missouri.... then United States.  She spoke very good english and she said she lived in Detroit for the last 36 years.  So that makes sense.  But it just dawned on me that I can't assume anything now.  If I see someone that looks "American" they still likely aren't.

We probably sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes waiting to take off and I could tell I was starting to drift off to sleep.  I had been up for nearly 28 hours at that point.  The seats weren't as comfortable because I couldn't get my backpack under the seat in front of me very much.  The electronics for the in-seat TVs were there.  So I just pulled my backpack under my legs and stretched my feet there instead.  Pillow, blanket and then sleep.  I probably put in an hour and a half before they served dinner.  I had missed the first beverage cart, which was just fine.  I've been drinking water as much as possible and didn't want to drink caffeine.  They served Green Tea with dinner and was very good.  Not sure if this had caffeine in it though.  It didn't stand a chance if it did.   Off to sleep again!

Some beef, rice, and veggie meal.  

This time when I woke up there was a small card hanging from my food tray.  Thankfully Esteb (The third co-worker who was part of this assignment; however, he was flying in a day later) informed us that we would need to fill in immigration paperwork.  You hand this into the customs and it provides them with enough information to let you in without any need for discussion.  Very efficient.

I probably slept a total 3.5 hours on this leg.  When we were a couple hours out of Bangkok, my mind was racing again. This was really happening!  I put on the movie "30 Minutes or Less".  I left the computer in the bag for this leg.  I don't think I could get any quality work in if I had anyway.

I opened up the window shade to see the city as we flew over.  I'm use to lights everywhere when landing in a big city but there really wasn't as much as I expected.  Maybe the airport is far enough away or that's just how it is in non-energy abusing, U.S. cities.  

The landing was smooth again. Once Peter and I deplaned we took off for our luggage, which was behind customs/immigration.  A very long line considering it was after midnight at this point but we didn't have any issues.  Once we found the baggage claim, our luggage was thankfully already spinning around.  

We left the baggage claim area and started looking for a specific spot where our limo was waiting for us, as I was turning around I heard someone calling my name.  It was one of the Thai associates.  There were five of them total waiting for us.  It was so nice to have someone we "knew" there.  Mai, Weep, Ben, Net, and Tam presented us with some candy, work passes, BTS (Bangkok Transit System) passes, cell phones, and books about Thailand and Bangkok.  After some pictures (going to need to get those from Mai to see if I looked awake) and pleasantries, Peter and I went to the car with our luggage.

A 20 minute car ride to our hotel.  It was definitely odd driving/riding on the other side of the road.  Eventually we pulled up to our hotel and checked in.  Signed some paperwork and the bellhop helped us with our luggage.  I am on the 14th floor and Peter is directly above me on the 15th floor.  We both settled in and agreed to talk around 10am the next day.

I finally talked to Tricia over FaceTime, who was sitting in her office.  The video for FaceTime was pretty choppy (and has been since) so doesn't look like that's going to work so well.  I pretty much unpacked one of my bags and then finally hit the bed around 2:30am Saturday (or 1:30pm Friday in KC).

Well, that's pretty much all for now.  It's Sunday evening right now (I've been working on this post off and on since Saturday morning).  I'll start working on my post about our first weekend next!

Is This Carbon Fiber?

A video I posted on my Facebook wall last Wednesday which I found from someone on dailymile.  I am putting this up because I will be giving my website out to a bunch of people in preparation for my upcoming trip to Bangkok, Thailand!  I plan to update this site with photos and dialog of the trip.

I'm just assuming many people will think I'm "one of those guys" with an athlete blog, so hopefully it will give them a little kick out of a video making fun of "one of those guys".

Race Report: 2012 Groundhog Run 5k

The goal of this race was to do the 3.1 mile run in under 20 minutes.  This necessitated running that distance around a 6:26 minute per mile pace.  My PR for this race is 20:02, which I did back in August.  It sure seems like an attainable goal.

Unfortunately, I came nowhere close to meeting that goal.  I completed the race in 22:13.  I knew even a month ago that it was going to be extremely difficult. Back in August I was in the midst of half-ironman training.  I was completing weeks of 110+ miles running/biking/swimming.  This last month and a half I was doing 20 mile weeks solely on running.  I managed to keep my weight throughout the holidays but I am still 10 pounds heavier than back in August.  While these may seem like excuses... well, they are.  I didn't train properly to achieve the goal.  While I was doing intervals at pace I never attempted a sub-20 5k during any of my training runs.

To be honest with myself, running a sub-20 5k doesn't meet my goal for this year: qualifying for the Boston Marathon.  To qualify for Boston, I have to run a 3:10 marathon, which is a 7:14 pace.  When you take that into consideration, I easily met my secondary goal of a 7:10 pace for the race!  I would love to get that sub-20 performance but right now I'm readjusting my expectations for this year to continue increasing my distance at the 7:14 or below pace.  So no sub-40 10k, but instead a sub-45 minute 10k. (that doesn't mean I won't gun for a sub-40!)


Pre-Race

My running clothes mixed in with my packing clothes/supplies.

I love the Groundhog Run because the 5k starts at 9am and the 10k at 10am.  So no need to get up way early (or to bed way early!)  I can tell I didn't have my head/heart into this race because I almost left the house without my timing chip.  I did have everything set out the night before but that.  Breakfast was a bagel with PB and a banana.

We arrived a little after 8:00am.  This year the organizers had shuttles from Ameristar Casino.  I would recommend next year to take the spur through Randolph to avoid the traffic into the main casino entrance.  Well, that is if you don't have a VIP parking pass which parks you in front of the entrance to the cave.

Joe VI and I met at the entrance and we then walked over to the port-a-johns.  We finally took care of business there about 8:45, in which we jogged over to the start.  We wanted to start in the first 5 feet of the participants to make it easier for our goal by not having to weave through slower participants.  We got a warm-up run in to get the heart beating.  (NOTE: Next year, do the warm-up jog before hitting the port-a-johns.  There was one at the first aid station that would have saved some time).

Race
It was a little weird starting so close but fun.  Once the race started, we took off.  I was working with my footpod for pace, but I knew wasn't properly calibrated but mostly accurate.  I hit around a 6:30 pace but soon I heard Joe say "run your pace", which I took as he was following my pace.  I later found out he was telling me I was going out too fast.  After about 1/2 of a mile, I could tell I was slowing down and couldn't do anything about it.

About this time I was having a problem with an extremely dry mouth.  I needed water but only to try to resolve that.  I hit the first mile marker and hit my lap button: 6:24.  Wow!  Right on target!  Granted, the first half of that mile was around 6:00 minute pace with the second half near 7:00 minute pace.

Mile 2 was a bit of a blur but the one thing I remember was Joe passing me.  I did grab a cup of water but only to get some water in the mouth, not for hydration reasonings.  I clicked off mile 2 at 7:35 pace.  Yeah, I was definitely going to fail at my sub-20.

Reality settled in and I just tried to do what I could.  I was breathing hard and my throat and lungs began to hurt and my stomach was beginning to give me the evil eye.  I was also getting that metallic/bloody taste in the back of my throat. At about the 18 minute mark I had a girl start chatting with me.  I can't exactly remember what she said.  Maybe she was asking for the time or maybe commenting on almost being done.  I just mumbled something about I've missed my goal and let's just get it over.  Mile 3 hit at 7:31.  I was speeding up!

I hit the boosters and started passing people again.  It felt good to get things moving faster.  I finished the last .1 miles in 43 seconds (or a pace of 7:10).

Finish 22:13
115th overall
11th in Age Group

Post-Race
I was somewhat disappointed with myself but I had been preparing myself for the reality during the previous week.  This has really been the first time I've setup a goal with racing events and failed.  I'm definitely learning from it. I knew my training wasn't good enough but I also need to make sure my short-term goals meeting my long-term goals.

After talking with co-workers who also participated this year, they had similar problems with dry mouth.  The caves are naturally warm (around mid-60s); however, they really is no ventilation system so the air is dry and stale.  This makes it difficult to breath in some moist air.  I don't remember having this issue last year but I wasn't running at the same level.

Joe VI, TKB, Lauren, Joe VII and I went to First Watch for breakfast and then we went home for a nap....  a nap that lasted 4 hours.  I couldn't believe it.  I was still having a hard time with my throat/lungs with some nasty coughing but managed to get some rest in.  A day later everything is back to normal but the whole event took a big toll on me.

Lessons Learned

• Warm-up run before the race and use the port-a-john at the first aid station.
• Calibrate the Footpod or use other means for pacing.  Joe listened to music that had an appropriate beats per minute.
• Hydration is again key.  I'm not sure if having downed 2 gallons of water the few days before would have helped with the stale air, but maybe it would have done something.

Proof

Joe VI... aka  "The grey blur" crossing the finish line.

Joe VI getting some ITB treatment.

Maybe we should have taken this on the route instead of running.

WHOA JOE!

2012 Race Schedule & The Missing ScottyTris

Well, it's been about 3 weeks since my last blog post.  I never thought I'd go that long.  I have definitely not given up on this thing.  I've just been distracted by my upcoming trip to Bangkok and a large project at home that's been taking my time away from this, Twitter, Facebook, and any other distraction.  I think my Google Reader got up to 1,000+ articles before I finally got to it.  The fortunate thing is I'm still posting to Twitter and Facebook.... my Dailymile workouts!  So I'm still getting the training in but it's been mostly focused on running.

Tricia took me to a CrossFit class her trainer put on for YMCA members last Saturday.  It was definitely a challenge and I recognize the fact that I have neglected my strength training.  Since I've been focusing on running, I do have more days off and should take advantage of strength training opportunities.  Lately my workouts have been long runs (8 - 10 miles), intervals, or threshold runs (running at an elevated heart rate, near or over the anaerobic level).  I have been riding my bike and did get a swim in last week.  So I'm not completely neglecting the "Tris" portion of the site.

So here it is, my 2012 Race Schedule.  Joe and I started this back in October and this is the current state.

January 29 - Groundhog Run 5K
I return to the Hunt Midwest Subtropolis for a second year, but this time I'm running the 5k and I'm gunning for a sub-20 performance.  Why not?  No matter the temperature outside, the caves are in the 60° range and FLAT.  My 5K PR is 20:02 so I want to beat it.  The problem is I got that after 2 months of half-ironman training.  This time I'll be about 6 mostly-solid weeks of training in but without the additional cross-training.  Should be interesting.  The holidays didn't do me well either.  I'm about 7 pounds heavier than that race.

April 1 - Brew-to-Brew
The annual 44 mile relay race between Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, MO to Free State Brewery in Lawrence, KS.  No time goals just planning to have a good time with friends and family since I will have just returned from Bangkok.

April 7 - Race for Mercy 10k
The goal for this race is to go sub-40 minutes.  I'm hoping to continue speed work while I'm in Bangkok, but to add distance.  This will require the same 6:25 pace performance as Groundhog Run... but twice the distance.  To be honest, I was hoping to do the Rock The Parkway 10k but they didn't plan one this year. Oh well, this race is for a good cause!

June 2 - Hospital Hill Half-Marathon
The goal for this race is to PR at 1:35.  I would put down 1:30 but I'm adding 5 minutes for hills. We'll just see what happens, won't we?  Looking forward to getting the second of three puzzle pieces that is the finishers medal.

Starting the sixth month of the year and I am still just scheduled for road races.  When I put it in that perspective, I may put KC Tri in May.  As you can tell I'm working on getting my pace down while adding distance throughout the year.  I really want to focus on running this year to BQ but I really do enjoy triathlons.

June 16 - Grandma's Marathon (Pending)
Within the last couple weeks, Joe VI and I have been discussing this race.  I know I won't be ready to BQ a marathon but it might be a good idea for Joe to get a marathon under his belt before trying to BQ.  I think the mental game of 26.2 miles is as much a challenge as the physical. We'll see if it sticks.

Other June Races:
Corporate Challenge Tri - If I get asked, I will do it this year.  It's likely the same weekend as Ironman KS again, so I'll have a chance to do well again this year!
Topeka Tinman - Maybe if Grandma's doesn't happen, I'll do Topeka.  I really did enjoy this race last year.

July - Shawnee Mission Triathlon Long Course
I really enjoyed this race last year and, frankly, I love the t-shirt.  So hoping they give out a similar designed and sized one.  I know it's dumb, but it's true.  It says 'TRIATHLETE' in big letters on the back and is long enough to cover my lanky torso.  It maybe my first time to compete against some of my twitter Tri peeps again.

August - Jackson County Tri
I know I ripped on this race last year but I'm hoping for another triathlon to keep the cross training up.

HOA Marathon - Sept 3rd
BQ Attempt #1.  This would be to BQ for 2013 Boston.  I was looking for a marathon near the beginning of September to make the cut-off and this one was close enough it didn't require a lot of travel (Columbia, MO).  I'm not sure if it will stay on the list but it's a good placeholder.  Just want something before the 20th of September (or so).

Chicago Marathon - October 7th
My "A" Race.  "A" also stands for Anniversary as it will be TKB and my 11 year anniversary!!  This is my target BQ race, unfortunately it's after the 2013 Boston cut-off so it will have to be for 2014.  I'm fine with that because pre-planning for 2013 season involves an ultra-marathon a few weeks before the 2013 Boston Marathon.

California International Marathon - December 2nd
Backup BQ race.  It's downhill, what more is there to say? We haven't really discussed this race much but it's near Joe VI's hometown, so seems to make sense.

Overview
As you can see, it's geared to getting fast in the first half of the year.  And then spending the following 3 - 4 months building distance upon that speed.  I have no clue if it will work.  I did zero research on whether that's a good plan.  My hope is to have 26.2 miles under my legs by mid-year and just practice running at pace for the entire distance.

I will likely be adding more races as I go but I will seriously consider its impact to my training for Chicago.  I took Ironman 70.3 Kansas off the list for that very reason.

Bangkok, Thailand
As I've mentioned before, my day job is sending me to Bangkok, Thailand for February and March.  This will present some challenges to my training.  Fortunately, the hotel will have a fitness center and there is a park with a 1.5 mile loop a few blocks away (maybe it's 1.5 kilometers).  I elected not to bring my bike because it will probably take two months to comfortable enough to take it out on the roads. The jammers and goggles will be packed for maybe some early morning swims in the hotel pool, we'll see.

I'm excited about this opportunity to see a new country and learn the culture but there is just the same amount of apprehension as TKB and I are not world travelers.  Going to Las Vegas last month was quite an experience in itself!

With the trip, I plan to use this blog as a way to keep everyone up on my travels.  I hope to take great pictures to post as well.  I hope you enjoy it!

New Member of the Family
And by that I mean my geek family.  I'm full on Apple now as I purchased an iPhone 4S to replace my HTC Evo.  I'm finally fully emerged in the Apple ecosystem. It's about time.  I'm just hoping Siri is a good travel guide and interpreter (without needing a cellular data plan)!

2011 Recap: From Doughnut Holes to Stripper Poles

2011 Bling

OK, in theory my race season started underground at The Groundhog Run 10k but I also didn't see any stripper poles while I was in Vegas either.  It has a nice rhyme to it though, right?

I'm going to do my best to NOT write another novel but to bullet point this year and some goals for new year.

Highlights

• Did my first triathlon!  That was the whole goal of this thing, right?  I followed that up with 5 more swim/bike/run events.
• Met a TON of cool people whether that be online through Twitter and Dailymile but many of them in real life: Drew, Bryan, Kyle, Travis, Mark, Ryan, Mark, Lori, Becca, Jeff, and probably a bunch of others I can't remember right now (I'm trying to keep this short, remember!!)
• Found the competitive bug.  By August I was really trying to compete.
• Experienced my first race/training related injury.  Required a lot of mental adjustments.
• Completed my first half-ironman within my main time goal, under 6 hours!
• Completed my second full marathon under the glitz of Las Vegas.  Missed my PR by 61 seconds.  Pretty good considered I had 3.5 weeks of training + all the other fun that came with it.
• Commuting to/from work!  Even one time by foot!

Reflections

• Nutrition is important.  I focused on race day nutrition this year, especially for my endurance events.  Working on this during training was extremely important because I often did fairly long workouts before I left for work.  Proper nutrition kept me from passing out at work.
• Time in the Swim/Saddle/Street.  Training for the half-ironman was crazy.  Even though I got injured and readjusted my training, I still got my largest volume weeks in.  It was the speed work weeks that got cut short.  I found out I am capable of getting up at 3:30am to get a bike ride in or 4:00am for a run so I can get to the gym for a swim at 5:30am.
• Competitive Nature.  As mentioned above, I like the competitive nature of triathlons.  It's one thing to run a 5k but to see how you compare to other participates from an individual sport (even transitions!) to the entire event is quite driving.
• Training partners kick ass.  I did a few training runs in the 2010 with family and friends but 90% of my miles were alone.  I really enjoyed training with friends and family in 2011, especially Joe VI.  Even though he may not realize it, but he kept me going back in September and October when I really wanted to just sit at home and "nurse" my broken rib.  Pretty much all my training during that time was with Joe.  I'm looking forward to training with Joe in 2012.... even if two months of that will be remotely (see below).

Speaking of 2012

• BQ.  If you haven't caught on what BQ by now means... well, 2012 is my year to Boston Qualify.  That's the goal.  My entire year will be dedicated to running 26.2 at a 7 mile pace.  Note: I completed the Las Vegas Marathon with an average 8:53 pace.  I have A LOT of work to do.  My "A" race will be the Chicago Marathon on October 7th but I may target a marathon in early September if I feel like I'm ready.
• Strength Training.  I skipped all planned strength training in 2011.  I may seek a trainer at the gym to help me with this but we'll see.  I'm still not going to be able to show you how to get to the muscle beach, but I want a nice strong core to keep me running upright.
• Triathlons will be used for cross training.  I do enjoy them but I'm going to swim and bike as cross training.
• Nutrition.  I'm going to STOP the mentality of "I race so I can eat".  I need to be smarter about my daily intake of foods.  Granted, I'm still eating a Z-Man post-race.  Can't break tradition.
• Training abroad.  I will be traveling to Bangkok, Thailand for work during February and March. I'm hoping to take advantage of the warmer temperatures during that time to get some good speed and distance runs in.... that is while I'm not working or sightseeing.
• I've got some big Big BIG plans for 2012 that will come to light soon enough. 
• All of this will require plenty of balance and planning in my life.  A happy wife is a happy life!  

The Beach2Battleship Pint was custom made.  One of my favorite Christmas presents from TKB!

Race Report: Rock'n'Roll Las Vegas Marathon

I'll just say upfront here that there were many well-documented issues with this race.  From my post, Twitter, and Rock'n'Roll's own Facebook page.  Since I've given my thoughts already, I'll focus on my race and only bring up the issues when necessary to further the story.

Rock'n'Roll Las Vegas Marathon

The Rock'n'Roll Las Vegas Marathon (RnRLV) appeared on my schedule back in June when my sister-in-law, Rebecca (TKB's brother's wife), told us that if she was to ever do a half marathon, this was the race.  It was VERY enticing.  Running the Las Vegas Strip at night?  How could anyone miss that opportunity!  It was truly the first of its kind in terms of size and glamour.  We had never been to Las Vegas in our adult form.  It was the perfect scenario!  Race?  Check.  Vacation?  Check.  Spending time with family? Check.  Well, as it turned out it was more of a perfect storm.

Trip

We arrived Thursday evening around 7pm local time (9pm KC time).  We went directly to the Luxor to checkin.  After dropping luggage off on our 5th floor room, we had dinner at one of the restaurants at the Luxor.  This started the constant inflow of water.  Travel always dehydrates me and I knew there would be lots of walking coming up, need to make sure the wheels are well greased.

I didn't have a lot of trouble sleeping, but I woke up at 5am local time (7am KC time) and just messed around on the computer chatting with other RnRLV twitter peeps until TKB woke up.  She started coming down with a cold earlier that week so she slept in a bit. We decided to try to make it up to the Expo and meet some of the folks on twitter but it takes so long to get anywhere in Vegas, we turned at around the Paris hotel and went back to the Luxor when Jake and Rebecca arrived.

But later that day...

we then walked back up to the Venetian with Jake and Rebecca for the Expo and Packet Pickup.  This was around 5pm on Friday and it really wasn't that bad.  I know there have been complaints about the Expo but we may have missed most of the rush since it was dinner time.  I bought some merch and ANOTHER pair of running shoes (I think I still have a post I need to publish on that... guess I need to add onto it).

Bibbity bibbity bop!  Yes, I'm kinda tall.  Yes, Rebecca is kinda short.

By Saturday my sleep schedule was pretty much normal.  After walking 6 - 7 miles on Friday, it was easy to get a full nights sleep.  We took it easy on Saturday and went through the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor and saw Cirque du Soleil: Ka at MGM Grand. Very cool show.  I wish we had time to see more of the Cirque performances while there. After Cirque we went up to the Paris hotel via taxi and found some food to eat.

Overall Nutrition

I tried to have a bottle of water in my hand the entire time and avoid alcohol and sodie pop.  I did have a couple beers at dinner Friday night but that was it until after the race. I tried to consume at least one carb loaded meal each day starting on Tuesday early in the week.

Pre-Race

With the gun time at 4:00pm Sunday night, pre-race required some thought.  First was trying to be kind to the legs for the days leading up to the race.  Las Vegas requires a lot of walking to go anywhere and as Jake mentioned, it's the land of misdirection.  It's easy to get lost and have to retrace your steps in the casinos.  We took escalators and people movers whenever possible.

Well, not all the escalators were working.

I woke up around 8 o'clock and started to get ready for the day.  TKB's cold was really starting to hate on her so I went down and bought some water, Pumpkin Spice Latte (me), hot chocolate (TKB), and some lemon and pumpkin loafs at one of the THREE Starbucks in the Luxor (Yes, you can see one of the Starbucks from the line of the other).  She really rallied on Sunday to keep that cold at bay. She was quite a trooper!

While I missed the Tweetups, I did get in touch with @TriBeccaTO who I have been following since I started @ScottyTris.  So it was really cool to meet her for the first time, as well as @reflectiverunr, aka Jeff, (who I had to admit I wasn't following... until a few minutes later).  Becca and Jeff both have blogs too.  They were both in town to be spectators for the event, so cool!  We met up for lunch, which was simply a food court in the Fashion Show Mall.  What to eat was a hard decision!  Generally, four hours before a race I'm sleeping so I wasn't sure what to do, so I stuck with the familiar and had Subway.  We had some fun conversations and people watching while at the food court, it helped to ease the nerves!

Me, Becca, and Jeff! Fashion Show Place Mall.  Where twitter-ers unite!

We went back to the Luxor around 1pm where Jake and Rebecca were looking for lunch.  I decided to get ready and then went over to meet them so Rebecca and I could commiserate with our nerves.  

So much easier than triathlons!

While we were at their restaurant between the Luxor and Mandalay Bay I ate a banana and half of a bagel around 2:00pm.  This is roughly the same time I would eat those before a race anyway.  We went back to our rooms for a few minutes where I finished my race prep and then made the trek over to the starting line around 3:10pm.

Captain Orange!

The temperature was around 50 degrees but I wasn't cold.  We hit the first line of port-a-porties (stopped) and then walked over through to the family meeting areas and then anther line of port-a-poties (stopped again).  I said my goodbyes around 3:45pm and headed off to the corrals.  They did have small bottles of water available so I downed one with my 4 blueberry chomps.

Start

Being tall does have its privileges.

I had no clue what to expect.  I've never been in a race with this many marathoners (6,000), let alone the entire race participant pool of 44,000.  Corrals were new to me.  I was in corral 6 but I simply targeted the 4:00 pace group (which was in corral 6).  That's 4 hour paced group, not 4 minute mile pace group.  Just for clarification.  Shortly after 4pm we were off!  I finally crossed the start at 4:09 as they staggered the corrals.  After a short distance we turned left to head off to the dessert!  Well, west Las Vegas.

Miles 1 - 6

Pretty easy moving.  There were a lot of people but plenty of room to run and maneuver.  There were a lot of turns during the first six miles.  I mean A LOT. 18 turns.  I did the best as possible to stay to the inside of the turn to keep from adding extra miles.  A couple times I misjudged and swung out left in preparation for a left turn but then realized it was a right turn.  A lot of this course was sort of a loop.  Some sections you ran back on and others you went around the block to back track.  It was cool seeing the elites running by as they returned on the road.

About mile 1 in people (ok, men) started peeling off the course to dump some extra payload.  I couldn't believe it.  For the full participants there were no lines at the port-a-poties.  I didn't count but there were probably 100 holes.

Physically I was doing awesome.  No knee issue and only slight discomfort on the bottom of my feet.  Cardio-wise my heart rate was in the 150s.  It was in the upper zone of my training range, which is just fine.  That's actually low for my racing zone.  I was keeping it there on purpose in case my legs decided to fall apart.  Around mile 2 I had already left the 4 hour pace group.

Around mile 4 I heard someone say "Olathe" during a conversation and I turned my head to find someone wearing a KC Marathon finishers shirt!  He was chatting with a female runner from KC. This wasn't really surprising as there were a good chunk of runners on our plane flights to and from KC.  We all chatted for a bit and then I broke off.  I'm pretty sure he was hitting on her during the race.  As much as I would have loved to hear that outcome, I was looking for the Strip to entertain me.  Off I went!

One Gu packet down at mile 5.  It tasted so good! 

Miles 6 - 13.1

12 more turns.  At this point I was taking water at each aid station and then realized something.  While I haven't trained with Cytomax I need to start taking it in.  There was no Gatorade or Powerade on this course and I was going to need those electrolytes.  

Mile 8 brought on the first of two aid stations with Gu. Now, this is when I start to get stupid.  I reached out for a Gu packet.  The guy had some trouble handing one to me and I ended up with two.  I had planned to consume 5 Gu packets during the race (one every five miles, even 25 to help aid recovery); therefore, I put 5 Gu packets on my race belt.  The stupid part is I didn't need to take a Gu packet at the aid station and I ended up with two.  So I then had to put them somewhere.  Putting Gu packets on race belts are not easy, especially on the run.  Yes, I could have dumped them on the ground but my triathlete blood wouldn't let me (no littering in triathlons).

While at mile 8 I decided see how I was doing in terms of catching up to the 3:55 pace group.  My body was still feeling great and I was willing to boost the speed.  Around mile 9.3 there is a turn around and I figured out I was a couple hundred yards away!  Sweet!  Thoughts of a PR started to enter my mind.  Granted, I sadly couldn't remember what my PR was.  Doh!

Somewhere about this time I started to think about Rebecca and that she was about to start her very first half marathon!!!

Photo of Rebecca... About to ROCK!

I had another Kansas City runner sighting as I come up to a runner wearing a KCMO Police shirt.  I would have said hello (and thanks) but he was jamming out to his tunes.  

I finally caught up to the 3:55 group.  I don't remember when I did, but I was definitely with them at mile 13.  

Miles 13.1 - 19

I hit the wall.  Yes, I know I said I was feeling great physically by taking in Gu/liquids as planned.  My heart rate was actually in the 140s (although I think I had some problems with the heart rate monitor reading low).  That wall?  It was a wall of 38,000 half participants being released for their race.  

Wow, oh wow.  We were informed via e-mail that there would be a full and half lane.  I had no clue where that was until I saw a cyclist yelling that full on the left and half on the right.  No chance.  There were just too many people to control.  I ended up bumping into someone walking the race and loosened my bandaid on my second to last toe on my left foot (I started having blister problems on that toe so I taped it) making me concerned about starting the blister again.  Just so you know, I did apologize as I went past. I was trying to be as polite as possible.  

The next 6 miles was simply bouncing around trying to find an opening.  As I mentioned in my previous post, even if all these people were in the correct corral, they were still moving 2 minutes per mile slower than my pace.  It was worse than when you start a crowded race and zig-zag around people to find an opening in the first half mile... but for 13.1 miles.  I was running on the sidewalk on the outside of the course cones, behind aid stations, around police cars, sprinting through openings.  It was nuts.  

The second half to the course isn't quite an out and back, there are a few more turns.  Because full participants were to stay on the sidewalk side of the street they couldn't take the tangents necessary; however, I said screw that.  I took the corners as I normally did but I returned to my lane as soon as possible.

Gu at mile 15 down without a problem.  The aid stations were a mess here.  They couldn't keep up.  Word is the water was from fire hydrants too.  I took Cytomax when I could find it... but it was hard to tell.  A few of the aid stations had ice in the cups.  Really?  Ice?  I'd rather have warm water than iced water.

As for my pace?  I lost the 3:55 group initially but caught back up with them and eventually broke off.  I had hoped that I was way ahead of them so I could possibly meet up with the 3:50 pace group but before I knew it, they were passing me.  It was just too hard to get that consistent open lane.

Miles 19 - 26

This is the section of a marathon where things typically start to fall apart.  Bolts start flying off the machine, shoes strip apart like they are in a wind tunnel, limbs are found on the curb.  Ok, not really but it can be bad.  Your mind plays games and you have to negotiate with it to see the next mile marker or light post.  In an odd switch-a-roo, having people to dodge like crazy helped me win this mental battle.

After mile 20 I decided to stop and stretch.  I took my 4th Gu and took off again. I didn't wait too long because I didn't want to lose my lead on the 3:55 group.  Everything was feeling pretty good.  My feet was having pains but I could tell it wasn't a blister or cuts.  It was simply in pain for taking the pounding.

I came up on the mile 22 aid station, the second station with Gu.  Because I was still dodging people and staying mostly on the sidewalks I was behind the aid station and reached for a Gu packet.  Remember, I was being dumb.  I only needed one more Gu packet and I was already + 2 packets from the first aid station.  I saw blueberry and then vanilla.  I then realized I had two handfuls of Gu packet (maybe 5).  WHAT WAS I DOING!  I didn't need these and I was being greedy.  Considering the vast amount of gels on these tables, I doubt I was causing a problem with these aid stations running out but I still feel bad.  So I ran with them in my hands for a while thinking I would drop them off at the next aid station.  

I ended up consuming one of them and putting the rest of them on my race belt.  (I think my guilt set in today as I ordered two full boxes of Gu packets.)  Eating that extra Gu packet was a bad idea as it did bug my stomach for a couple miles.  I guess it was redemption from the aid station fairy.

Before too long I looked up and saw the Mandalay Bay hotel.  The end was near!  I knew I still had a couple miles to go but the end was end sight!  At this point I changed my watch to show total race time and it was going to be close for me to PR.  I tried to finally take in the views of the strip too.  That was not possible for the trip north.

I was fairly surprised that I was actually able to pick up the pace during the last 10k, I was still sub-9 minute miles.  In my long runs I was slowing down a minute per mile or more at this point.  I guess my taper was well timed.

Miles 26 - 26.2

They had mile makers for the entire race but I was just assuming they left this one on the truck.  It took FOREVER.  Yes, I had my Garmin on but I didn't want to look at it.  I was expecting to see the finish where we started but instead you turn up a small hill and finish in the parking lot.  That's where I found the 26 mile marker.  385 yards to go!!

I crossed the finish line in 3 hours, 54 minutes, 49 seconds.  Missing my PR by 61 seconds.

Overall: 972 out of 3766
Gender: 755 out of 2380
Age Group: 153 out of 435

The battle scars are mental.

Post-Race

Now think of your a typical race.  What's the first thing you expect to after receiving your medal?  Someone handing you water, yogurt, bagel?  How about thousands of people waiting to get through the FINISHERS PHOTO?  They forced you through about 10 lines of finish line photos.  Fortunately I was far enough to the edge I could sneak around them and finally find water and then a bottle of Cytomax.  Food?  Green bananas, marathon bars, GoGurt, bagel, and pretzels.  Luckily I heard someone say "do you want a yellow banana" as she was opening a new bag and I grabbed one of those.

I had planned to hang in the finishers area and soak it all in but I then realized there was nothing to soak in other than thousands of other participant's sweat.  So I texted Tricia and we met up at the "K" sign.  (The "K" in TKB).  After she and Jake found me we decided to move back to the finish line and watch for Rebecca.  She was closing in on the end.  While there was maybe 1 full participant crossing the finish line every few seconds, there was probably 10 - 15 half participants.  We almost missed Rebecca finish but she looked strong!

First Half Marathon in the books!

Rebecca and I decided to get our medals engraved.  This is something I've been contemplating to do with all my medals, so I was fine with it... even unloading the $20 to have someone spend 5 seconds doing it.  Since there was a little bit of a wait, Jake and Tricia sent us inside because the temperature was low 40s at this point.  We were both shaking and the mylar blankets were being whipped up pretty badly by the wind.   It actually started to sprinkle after we made it inside Mandalay Bay.

Leaving the race site was horrible.  It took us probably an hour to get through the Mandalay Bay hotel.  Many people were fainting or getting sick.  The Fire Marshall would have had a field day with this and the medics racing in to help someone probably weren't to thrilled with it either.  Fortunately we didn't have to take a taxi or shuttle to another hotel.  We just had to cross through MB to Luxor.  I feel bad for some of the people who took 3+ hours to get to their hotel.  That was probably longer than it took for them to race!

The mess.  If anyone calls that number, let me know! :)

Yeah, I can tell you what the Fragrance of Las Vegas is while in the mess.

Further into the Mandalay Bay, close to an hour later.

Once we got back to our hotel room TKB helped me do something that is a necessary evil.  Stop thinking about that, you perverts.  This:

First of two trips to the hotel ice machine.

Unfortunately, I was too long for the bathtub but all the hurty bits got a nice 15 minute soak.. or about four Mumford & Son's songs.

The Breakdown

• The Good
• Running at night.  It wasn't just the spectacle of the strip but the new challenge it presented compared to a typical morning race.  Plus, you don't go home and take a nap, you go to bed!
• Meeting a lot of neat people, from the plane flights to meeting people from Twitter.  I wish I could have attended some of the meet ups but it just didn't happen.  On the flight home I sat next to the third place 30 - 34 male age group athlete, who is from Kansas City, Dale Dexter.
• Glow in the dark medal.  This is fairly unique.  When I got home I hung it from my bedside lamp.  When I woke up with leg pain, it made me giggle to see it hanging there glowing.  
• Flat Course - If you can finish the first half in 1:30, then you can beat the half start and surely BQ (for men... and women, for that matter!)

• The Bad
• See my reflections
• There were bands on this course?  I'm not complaining about the bands there were on the course. It actually made me giggle that there was a "death metal" band on the course.  I was kind of expecting to have more bands playing consistently on the course.
• Dump the Cytomax and go with Gatorade/Powerade.  I probably should have stuck with my training regimen and brought my own drink or better planned for the Cytomax.
• Some people did not get t-shirts at the expo.  HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?
• They ran out of half medals.  Ok, this didn't impact me but it's inexcusable.  There were 33,000 finishers of the half with 38,000 registered.  
• Ice in the water/cytomax.  dumb.

• The Standard
• Packet Pickup:  Smooth.  Decent expo. I purchased some fresh-off-the-line Mizuno Wave Inspire 8 at a good discount.  
• Goodie Bag: T-Shirt, Gu Chomps (which I used pre-race), various flyers.  The best part being a running head lamp.  I could have used that four weeks prior.
• Communication: 4 - 5 e-mails leading up to the race.  Good web site with lots of information.  Facebook page.  Problem?  They need to emphasize the key elements of this race, such as the half versus marathon lanes
• Aid Stations: First 13.1 miles were OK but need better communication on where cytomax versus water was located.  Second 13.1 was simply a massive cluster.  It looked like a disaster area.  My advice?  Run behind the tables and pick up your drink.
• Post-Race: Poorly designed layout.  I'm ok with the food options, but they need to make sure they can handle the number of participants.  Assume people will take more than one.... well, no green bananas.  
• Port-a-Johns:  Sufficient but I wasn't there for the half start.  I know people were going into casinos when they couldn't wait any longer.  The port-a-potties on the full course we tucked away and hard to find but I managed to not need one the entire race.
• Parking:  Don't know since we stayed in a hotel.  What I do know is there was a mess leaving the host hotel.
• Volunteers: I'm always supportive of the volunteers and I think the volunteers were great here.  If there was an issue with a volunteer, it was because they weren't educated on how to handle scenarios.  
• Route:  Closed to traffic.  Now if they could do a better job with managing the flow of participants.  Lower numbers and better corral management will definitely help.

The Proof

Our home for the four days.

Serious Athletes

Yeah.  I'm just really tall.  This happens a lot.

TKB decided to go for a stroll along the strip but she didn't bring her running clothes.  Oops.

Ironically, Rebecca did too.  Fortunately she picked up clothes at the expo.  She has a similar body type too.  Weird.

WATCH OUT!  Naked runner coming through!!

Yeah, I know what you are thinking.

Stairs?  Why are you taking stairs with all the escalators.

Nice shoes.

Game face!

There's a dude in my beer.

The Mess

This was the start of the half.  A big ole' cluster.