Well, I did it. 3 months of half-assed training, my first half-marathon is finally over. I completed my first halfsy in 2 hours 20 minutes and 11 seconds. My original goal was to complete it without stopping or walking which was a lot easier than I thought. Then as training increased I set the goal of 2:30. I wasn’t playing to win the game like Herm Edwards but if I would have taken my training more seriously I definitely could have improved my time.
This was obviously my first so, I don’t know how many other marathons are but I would find it hard to believe that there are many that are more fun the Rock n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon. Plus, a lot of the fellow and veteran runners said Las Vegas has the best. There was over 32,000 people running in it, it had a Health and Fitness Expo, there must have been 10 bands along the route, and it was extremely well-organized considering the room for error.
Going into the halfsy, I wanted it to be the stepping stone to the LA Marathon in March. But after having completed the halfsy, I have no motivation to complete a full whatsoever. I don’t if it is because I feel like Forrest Gump as a child with braces on his legs right now but running a full marathon is off of my to-do-list for now. The actual training aspect of it is fun while you are running, but it just is annoying and gets boring when you just have to run for hours at a time. And training for the full would require running for about 5 hours if I do it correctly.
I am not completely ruling it out but it is no longer on the Current Assets side of my ledger. That being said I am not going to give up being active and eat Snickers all day as good as that sounds. For the remaining month of December I want to return to my roots of basketball. Nothing is better than playing on the hallowed ground in December and I would like to extend a formal invitation to all my ballers and shot-callers to join me.
I have devised a tentative schedule for the remainder of the month to meet all demographics of Las Vegas. Here are some of the dates: 12/8, 12/11, 12/13, 12/15 , 12/18, 12/21, 12/23, 12/28, 12/30. I’m down to play in the evenings or on the weekends. At UNLV or outside in Summerlin. At the Multi-Gen or at Sunset. These are tentative dates and if no one wants to play you can find me playing by myself without a ball like Shep from “Above the Rim.”
After the first of the year, I will return to my training for another half-marathon. I really enjoyed this last one and if anyone else would like to join me as I run across the Southwest (of Las Vegas) I’m down to get down. There is the Red Rock Canyon Halfsy on 3/5 and there is the Hoover Dam Halfsy on 3/12 March too. Both are cheap and I heard they’re fun because of the scenery even though they both are pretty hilly, I’m down for either.
http://www.halfmarathons.net/usa_half_marathons_nevada_red_rock_canyon_marathon.html
http://www.halfmarathons.net/usa_half_marathons_nevada_six_tunnels_half_marathon.html
Towards the end of the halfsy, I will begin to hear the faint sound of wedding bells in the distance, which could only mean one thing… P90x time! Starting in the middle of March will give me just enough time to look like Gerard Butler in “300” for the big day. Pete already bought it, so when I sadly move out after a glorious 5 years, I will be sneaking out his DVD and dumbells in the moving boxes as my parting gift. He won’t know because he doesn’t read this anyway.
God knows that I’ll definitely be putting on some wine weight after the wedding and honeymoon, which may be just the motivation I need to train for the full marathon. Maybe by then I’ll have some newfound motivation to continue on through Las Vegas Blvd for the full 26.2 miles, instead of stopping at Mandalay Bay. And if not whatever I’ll half-ass another half.
If anyone would like to embark on these sporting adventures with me I would be happy to have some teammates. Whether we are working on our pick-n-rolls, running while rapping, or doing the upper body part of P90X, it is always nice to have a buddy to keep you motivated with a good man-smack on the butt. “Is that something you might be interested in”? If so, shoot me a comment, email, Facebook message, text, telegram, homing pigeon, message in a bottle, smoke signal, or just yell from below my patio.
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