Mission Accomplished

I made it to the sign! I've been to Las Vegas seven times, but this is the first time I've ever actually gotten to the sign. Ironically, I was here 3 different times this trip, but that's cause we drove out the first night and then we ran past it during the race as well. 

After months of training, Melinda and I (with Dan and Sean in tow), were ready for the big half. We had some great fun staying with the Croft relatives for some generous hospitality. We hit the expo first where we wandered through miles of swag and the latest gadgets as far as the eye could see. Never being ones to turn down a photo op, we gave Sean the primo armpit placement.

Next, carbo loading and some tourist time.

Then before we knew it, race day was upon us! Looking good Team Triple Bunnies!

Here's the before of the entire motley crew.

Gosh, no, we aren't Nike sponsored athletes, but thanks for asking.

The race itself was much more challenging than I had anticipated. Running in a sea of 25,000 people requires one to pay more attention to their feet, road conditions and close proximity runners, and less attention to the strip at night than I had hoped. The constant wind of 25 mph followed by gusts of at least 30-40mph was less than ideal, as was the cramping in my foot I had the pleasure of battling from mile 8 on. However, the atmosphere more than made up for it. The energy of the bystanders, runners, bands and the event itself more than carried me through. Plus, let's give props where they truly belong. Melinda is the real reason I made it through. That girl can push, drag and insult me through anything. I love ya with all my heart and I'm ready to do this thing again my friend! Thanks, as always, for you!

Our secret strategy of the night was counting Elvis road kills. Every time we passed an Elvis, we'd high-five and get a little bit of his Elvis soul to carry us through the crazy, windy night. They seemed to travel in pairs and we ended up with a cool dozen Elvis' to put some marshmallow fluff in our step. We finished, not quite meeting our goal time but pretty darn pleased with how we did given the conditions!

We rounded the night off with some well earned SWAG and some pretty cool hardware was sported by all.  It was tough and so were we. Vegas baby! There is nothing else quite like it.