Say Goodbye to the Creakies

I'm back from Las Vegas, and I have to say that running in Vegas was not a huge success. Traveling from East to West for a weekend is always rough with the time change -- especially going to a late-night town like Vegas. But for running's sake, I thought I would take advantage of waking up early on Friday morning and get my 15 miler in right off the bat. Besides, I wasn't going to let pass the opportunity to run in shorts and a t-shirt! Months ago, I loaded my 15 mile course, courtesy of Matt W., into my Garmin. I didn't count on heavy cloud cover, however, and it took ages to locate satellites. Twice I went through the "are you inside?" "have you travelled hundreds of miles since your last run?" routine. Finally I decided to just hit the "start" button and pick up the course wherever I was. It took about a mile, but I finally got a satellite and loaded the course. Unfortunately, since I was already a mile down Las Vegas Blvd, I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to turn. I thought I knew, but I was a 1/2 mile off, turning onto Spring Moutain Rd. instead of Twain. I was about to run right onto a highway on-ramp so I knew that was wrong! I just couldn't get back on course. Oh, well. I decided to continue on down the strip to Saraha. Then I was just making it up as I went along. Between doing my own thing, running up and down all the steps (including 3x both ways trying to get the Spring Mountain thing right (I tried both sides of the street)) and all the other stairs, I ran about 7 1/2 miles total. And when I say "total" I mean TOTAL.

That night we saw the 10 PM showing of "Love" and there was no way I was getting up early to do any more running. Nor was I inclined to pay $20 for the privelege of running on a Bellagio treadmill. So, I didn't do any more running in Vegas. I did get plenty of exercise in the shopping department, and I think I even PR'd at DKNY.

The first couple of days, I experienced my usual running associated aches and pains. Right ankle, left big toe, right hip, burning sensation in the right knee... and I took Advil 'round the clock. But today, after having not run since Friday, I'm happy to report no pain. No creakiness. I guess you could say my body is feeling 45 and not 60! I hate to admit it, but I do pay for the benefits of running with an awful lot of aches and pains.

Tomorrow, I'll go back on the schedule, but happily it's a recovery week. You know what that means... 44 miles instead of 45. Since I've yet to hit the weekly max, it's all relative anyway.
Oh, about those Vegas shows that set us back close to a thousand bucks -- definitely worth it! "Love" is teriffic! The score is original Beatles and the acrobatics and costuming are maybe more gritty than the other Cirque's. There are FIVE different Cirque du Soleil shows in Vegas now! Scott and I are Beatles fans and I've been wanting to see this show for a year. I kept thinking how much my kids would have enjoyed it too as I've been training their musical ear and proclivities since their infancy.

Bette Midler is a force of nature, as she proves right from the start when her show opens with a tornado blowing down the Strip. Her sense of humor is deliciously off-color and she definitely knows what Vegas is all about. As she says, "Las Vegas is the city that knows even more about cheese than Kraft." And so go the rest of her jokes. Showgirls? Of course there are showgirls. This is Vegas, baby!