This past Sunday, December 2nd marked the 3rd annual Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon and, for someone who has never been to Las Vegas before, it was an amazing experience and a unique way to see the city since the portion of Las Vegas Blvd, more commonly known as "The Strip" was closed to traffic allowing us to run the entire strip (about 6 miles).

The race started at the south end of the strip in bone chilling 41 degree weather in front of Mandalay Bay a little after 6 AM. The bitter cold was quickly, albeit temporarily, forgotten when the starting gun went off to Elvis' "Viva Las Vegas" and a 20 minute fireworks display.

This was the first time I ever brought my camera along for a run but, I'm glad I did! A little after the two mile mark I came upon the Blue Man Group who were performing especially for the runners. Around 5.5 miles there was a special "run through" wedding chapel set up and 50 running couples either got married or renewed their wedding vows during that portion of the race.
One of the water stops featured show girls and, at the end, the cast from Spamalot handed out the medals.

I guess that will close my year out with 7 half marathons.
I've already got Phoenix booked for January, will most likely do the Indy 500 half in May and was already contacted by the 180 Energy Team asking if I'd be doing the Pikes Peak run again in August. I'm not entirely sure why but, I said yes.