Friday, February 4, 2000

Flew to Las Vegas with Tom and Jeff.  Jeff had a different connection from Chicago, but got there within 5 minutes of us.  Drove to the hotel and checked in.  We ate lunch at Harley Davidson Café and then walked to the MGM Grand where we had booth duty at the exposition from 5-6.  Then we ran into Tom’s friend Cheryl and her friend Cathy and they took us to a very good Mexican restaurant called Tejas Z.  We had a very good meal and two margaritas.  They took us back to the hotel and I was in bed by 11:00, but due to being very tired, and it being noisy, I was very restless all night and didn’t sleep well. 

Saturday, February 5, 2000

Trying to stay off my feet as much as possible, I ate breakfast on snacks from the airplane and balance bars and coffee from Starbucks.  Tom and I went back to the Mexican café from the night before for a tostado lunch and some gumbo.  I figured to eat light at night so this was my bigger meal.  Then we went to the exposition, as Tom had a captain’s meeting, and I cruised the expo.  We had dinner with the team of linguine with seafood, some bread, and Tiramisu for dessert.  Then we went back to the hotel.  Tried to stay off my feet as much as possible.  Slept a little from 11 to 3.  Didn’t sleep well again due to noise and anxiety.

 Sunday, February 6, 2000

Tom called at 4:15, I was finished with a pot of coffee and my stretching routine.  Met the team in lobby at 4:45, walked to MGM and stood on line to board buses by 5:00.  Bus trip to Jean, Nevada uneventful but those school bus seats sure are small.  Very cold there in the dark, probably 30s.  Sun was up by the starting time, and I got in the crowd at the line and stopped shivering.  Off with the gun and the first half-mile was marked.  Looked like 8:40 pace.  Here are the splits.

I tried drinking water and XLR8 at the first two stations (aid stations were even miles until 18, then every mile).  Because it was still cool and I wasn’t thirsty, I felt the XLR8 was making my stomach upset.  By 8 miles I was looking for a place to stop, but there were no trees or bushes, just desert.  It was sunny the entire, straight way, and the course was just like the elevation profile said, up about 150 feet in the first 7 miles, then down 800 feet evenly over the next 10 miles, then flat to the finish.

I concentrated, as I had in Houston, on running 5 blocks of 5 miles each.  I just tried to run steady and not harder than I thought I could run to 25 miles.  I planned to run the last 1.2 as hard as possible.  I thought if I maintained the ~8:30 pace I would have enough left to sprint in.

At the half marathon start there were a lot of portacans and a guy ran out of one just as I approached, so I took advantage of the opportunity. That stop cost me about 100 seconds in the 13^th miles, which is reflected in the graph. After this, I started drinking the XLR8 again when I could get it.  I tried to get some more Vaseline at the next few stations, but they didn’t have any.  I noted 1:52 on passing the halfway mark, so I ran 1:53:30 for the second half.  The last 1.2 miles was a crawl – by that point I was getting pretty worn out and losing it mentally – I was probably hypoglycemic and dehydrated. 

At the finish area I put the space blanket from the finish chute over my head to protect against sunburn.  It was very hot there with no shade at all.  I wandered through the finish lines and collected all my food items.  Then I tried unsuccessfully to find Tom out at the street.  On the way I found Darryl and Jim, who were heading for the busses.  Walking back into the park, I found Roy Hill, who I did not recognize, even though I’d met him the day before and sat with him at dinner the night before.  I saw his LM singlet and introduced myself.  He said “Greg, it’s Roy Hill.”  When he said his name I remembered him.  He and I went to the busses together, and Ron Manion had some kind words on the way.  I lay down on the seat in the bus, feeling pretty lousy.  The bus left us of at the MGM, about a mile from the Holiday Inn.  I thought I could not walk that far in the sun.  I started eating a bagel, and by the time I stumbled to the strip I was feeling better.

I called Cathy and Dad before going up to the room.  Tom came by and we agreed to drive over to the USCAA awards dinner at about 2.  So I soaked and showered, and tried to nap.  Every time I started to drift off, a foot or calf would cramp, ending that and got no sleep.  I was hungry at the awards dinner and ate well.  We took 4^th, beating GE by the tiebreaker.

We went back to the hotel to nap, but nothing doing.  The local news had no coverage of the marathon.  We went over to Club 54 at the MGM to join the party, and had to pay $12 to get in.  We had a couple beers, watched some dancing, and went over to New York New York.  Then walked to Monte Carlo and took the tram to Bellagio.  There we got a lakeside table, had a margarita and watched a cycle of the water/music/light show.  Then we walked back to the hotel.

I couldn’t sleep – a third night in a row – and was up at 4:30.  Didn’t sleep well – muscles twitching and cramping and hurting a little.

Monday, February 7, 2000

Up early and a four-hour wait for the flight out of Las Vegas. Got a couple of coffees when Starbucks opened up.  Ate an orange and some oatmeal for breakfast.  Sat on a cramped, full plane to Chicago and got no sleep.  After an hour wait in Chicago I boarded another cramped flight to Syracuse.  I slept from 10 that night until 6 the next morning without getting up or waking once, which never happens, and felt better.  Finally a night of sleep.