2008 Las Vegas Marathon

8. Las Vegas Marathon – Las Vegas, Nev. – Dec. 7, 2008

The race started with

fireworks and Robin Leach

I didn’t know it at the time, but this race was doomed beginning the Tuesday before. That was the day I ate lunch that was prepared by someone with E. coli. The symptoms didn’t show up until Thursday, when I was in Missoula, Mont., with the DU basketball team. But when the symptoms presented themselves, they did so with a vengeance. I couldn’t keep any food in my body for the next three days, which obviously are the most important days for food and hydration leading into a marathon. I ate about five bites of lasagna during a carboload with friends the night before the race. Nothing else.

This was the year before this race became part of the Rock-n-Roll series, and everything about the race seemed like it was phoned in. The shirts were cheap cotton with all the tailoring you might expect from a blemished bin, without so much as the date or year printed on them. The one thing that was extremely well planned out, however, was the most important details for me on that particular day. There were port-a-potties lined up every quarter mile or so. And I believe I may have visited every one of them.

Adrian Pasdar beat me

There were some highlights for this race. It started at MGM Grand before sunrise, complete with fireworks and Robin Leach serving as emcee. We also spotted a few celebrities, including the guy that played Nathan on the television show “Heroes,” who was running the race. The first 6-7 miles went straight down the Strip, which is a unique way to see it. It’s Vegas, so none of us were surprised to see more drunk people lining the course, trying to figure out what was going on as they stumbled back to their hotels, than fans. There was a “run-through” wedding chapel, and a few couples were lined up waiting to get hitched mid-race. After running between the older hotels on Fremont Street, the course took a turn for the worse.

Unknowingly, I ran near Mike Myers most

of the race, but he beat me, too.

The highlight during the final 16 miles was passing a homeless shelter, where many of them lined the course and cheered for us. That was pretty much the extent of the fans. Most people think of Vegas as only the Strip. There’s more to it, and based on what I saw during this race, it’s mostly ugly. The streets we ran were all lined with cinderblock style walls. The best part of the course was what we couldn’t see. Since Vegas is in the desert, we were concerned that we would be able to see the finish line from just about every part of the course, but we really couldn’t most of the time. That’s a good thing because seeing the end and still knowing you have a long way to run can be especially disheartening.

As expected, I was pretty well spent from the start of the race. Without proper nutrition leading into the race, I fought through an utter lack of energy throughout. I probably should have bagged it, but I have a difficult time quitting. Despite all of the pit stops that never allowed me to get a rhythm, I ran a 4:15. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more like I could overcome anything than I did on that day. It was a constant battle, but I just kept pushing to the end. It was an awful race in a lot of ways, but I remain happy I did it.