This was the most unique run I've had yet. Packet pickup was crazy... we got there about 15 minutes before opening Friday, and we were like number 3,000 in line. But once the doors opened, the line zipped through. We hardly waited at all for our packets, and we quickly made our way to the expo where we all bought too much.

On race day for the 5k, we parked at Circus Circus and made our way over. The course was rough and I did see several people fall as the first 1.5 was too confined (one land of a road). However, for the marathon, we were staying at Harrah's and parking was plentiful. What's more, we got to start early, and we had the entire road to run on. It was very open and passed every major Vegas landmark on the strip. Even the time in downtown wasn't bad.

We did get to a residential neighborhood that was very dark, not that it was unsafe, just couldn't see terrain. There was a section as we headed to the tents that had many homeless men sleeping on the streets, probably around mile 12? I had a pocket full of Glukos gummy packs I picked up at mile 8, so I placed them by him thinking maybe this guy would want them. I'm not a gummy guy anyway.

The course was pretty fast and flat. I started to cramp at mile 17 because I had done too much Vegasing...oops. It was really bad. Like I kept walking to stop it from crippling me bad. Eventually, it calmed down around mile 19, and so I would run/walk depending on what it would let me do. By mile 20, favoring the leg was affecting the other leg, and so I said screw it, and ran. I had plenty of energy and the weather was perfect.

There was a lady that I decided to use as my pacer once I caught her, as she looked stronger than I felt (I was in tears at moments from the stabbing pain in my hammy... which means all my marathonfotos look amazing...). We made a right hand turn around mile 23, and I was a mess of emotions. It hurt so bad, but other than my injury I felt great. I was noticeably limping apparently, as I was asked many times if I was okay (ya have to love runners). We picked up as we looped around, and I saw the mile 25 sign. Sobbing like an idiot, we continued to run. I moved to the right because I knew I had no kick; I couldn't extend my leg. But, this gave me the chance to give all the high fives. I love giving high fines on the course, especially to the little ones.

We crossed the finish, and all I could do was tap her on the shoulder and thank her for pacing me. She had no idea she carried me through the finish, but she sure did. I then went to get my phone for picture of the finish and end my Strava app, but the dang thing had turned off (my music quit long ago). So I looked at the clock and I was just over 5 hours, which was a new record for me. Only later did I realize I started 15 min after the clock, so I had to verify on the site... 4:47, my first sub-5!

Finding Heavy Medals, finisher jacket, and all the for was easy. Getting out of the finisher zone wasn't. It was also hard to find family that wanted to find me, because they couldn't get it. But on a day that started with Snoop Dogg at the start line, and finished marathon 5 with a PR, I didn't have the energy to complain.