Sunday, December 5, 2010

Running as a Tourist

As the great Ferris Bueller once said: "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it." 

One of my very few flaws is that I sometimes take myself too seriously. This is particularly true when it comes to my health.  My reasoning is that the risks of overdoing it outweighs the risks of underdoing it.  I "underdid" it in the health and fitness department for years, and it got me to nearly 300 pounds.  But when I changed my life, I changed a lot.  And every once in a while, when I'm passing up Friday happy hour to go for an a.m. run, or eschewing pizza for a salad, I have to stop and think to myself, "Where did Fun Gabby go?"

Today, my Vegas half-marathon wasn't my best half-marathon time. When it comes to having a good run, you could have a good day or bad day on any given day, but you can do certain things to maximize your chances of having a good run. I usually stay steadfast to this rule and stay in the night before a race or long training run to get plenty of sleep and eat a healthy high-carb dinner. However, last night, instead of worrying about rest and proper eating, I went to see a Cirque show at 9:30 last night and scarfed down a huge plate of fettuccine alfredo (Yeah, the carbs are good, but cream sauces upset my stomach during runs - I knew this, but did it anyway.).  Eh, blame it on the jet lag.

At about a mile in this morning, I decided I wasn't going to have a good run.  Part of it was physical - not enough rest meant my sore legs just weren't going to push themselves hard today.  But a lot of it was mental, and for once, I just let go.  I was actually going to run this thing with my chief goal being to have FUN.  And who couldn't have fun surrounded by a bunch of people dressed in Elvis costumes? 

So, I made it across the finish line in 2:38, and this is taking into account several stops to take pictures. It certainly wasn't a PR, but it was a welcome change to be running as a tourist instead of as an athlete for once. 

'Fun Gabby' is pictured below:
Before the race at Aria.  Look at how hard it's raining and I'm not even getting wet.  Amazing!


 
Cruising at mile two.  Yeah, that's a guy riding a bike behind me.  (He's cheating.)
At the turnaround point at Fremont Street.  I asked a bum to take this picture.  He looked friendly.


Finished!  Now it's time to really enjoy Vegas!

2 comments:

E. Jane said...

We were just in Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and the weather was beautiful. We came home to cold and snow, so I enjoyed your photos of what appeared to be nice weather. I'm glad that you had fun with your run. You look great! Now enjoy Vegas!

Anonymous said...

It's the thought that counts, not the time. I played 18 holes of golf this afternoon in 1 hour and 45 minutes. It took Tiger Woods 5 hours but he won a million dollars. Have a good time and enjoy the town that has no memories of what people do there. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Maybe those extra calories will do the same. Love from you old demented Dad.