When we got to the race site I heard someone say that there are over 29,000 participants in the race. I can't even fathom that many people in one place. I have never been in a race this big before. We were heading toward the bag-drop area to store our bags, but by the time we maneuvered around all the people, it was getting close to start time so Susan decided to leave her bag on the side of the road somewhere. I asked a lady if she would take my bag to the drop-off area. She said she would, but didn't want to take responsibility if she couldn't find it. I told her "it's either lose my bag by leaving it here, or lose it because you can't find the bag-drop area. I am willing to take the risk". She then told me that if she couldn't drop it off for me, she would take it to her hotel's registration desk and I could pick it up there. Deal! I am in corral 6 so my race starts a few minutes after the gun goes off at 6:15 because we start in waves. Fire works are all around to let us know that we are about to start and finally, my corral is moving toward the starting gantry. My belief system is shattered because I see hundreds of Santas over there. I thought there is only one Santa. That, my friends, is how I found out he isn't real. Besides, he's supposed to have a big belly and none of the Santas had big bellies. I also saw quite a few Elvises; in fact, more than the numbers of Santas. The last time I saw Elvis he was in Taree, NSW in Australia.
Isn't that the Statue of Liberty over there? I thought I was in Vegas. It's just the New York New York Hotel. Then the Mirage, then Caesar's Palace. Oh look, Cher - well, just a sign of her. This is where we are seeing her tonight, and I think I'm going to have to wear sensible shoes and change into my Cher shoes when I get to Caesar's Palace as my feet may be sore when I finish. It's going to be such a good show.
I'm now entering sin city - or at least that's what that casino and movie rental place over there is called. I thought that's what this entire city is known as - sin city! I definitely wouldn't want to live here. It's not friendly enough and people aren't willing to help anybody out.
We are now at the turn-around and the first order of business is to find a porta-pottie. There's one. It seems like I have been standing here for three or four minutes waiting. Hurry up in there, I have a race to run!
Some marker signs are in miles and some in km, and when I started running again, fortunately I saw a sign saying '15 km'. I'm glad because I really didn't want to put the effort into conversion. That's six more km to go. Hmmm... that's about 32 minutes. Hey, I think I may be able to finish this race in a better position that I thought I would. Suddenly my pace picked up.
I crossed the finish line in 2:10:05. That's respectable and I am very pleased with that time. Here's my drill-down results for the half marathon:
5,621st place out of 17,827 finishers
2,505th place out of 11,322 women
195th place out of 1,200 women in my age category
Minimum time was 1:01:40, average was 2:31:45 and maximum was 5:06:23. I was faster than the average... yippee.
It's better than I did in Australia and I didn't train as much so I have decided that training is over rated; well, at least for shorter races. There's no way I could get through my longer triathlons next summer without training. Oh, and my gear bag was at the bag-drop area. After maneuvering through all the athletes, kiosks and free food areas (mmm, food), we made it back to our hotel for a latte at the clean-air Starbucks, but we had to go through the smoke-filled casino to get there.
I think I need a shower now and a good stretch. I have to be in top form for Cher tonight.
The time has come. Time to go to the lobby to catch a cab to Caesar's Palace. We checked out the Cher store, and my new Cher outfit was big a hit to the ladies and men. A couple of women commented on my outfit and how nice my jacket was as well. They actually thought I was somebody big. I told them I am just a regular person, and they insisted I was a movie star and that I looked like Celine Dion. That is the nicest compliment I have ever received from anyone before.
We're now in the Colosseum waiting to see Cher and the music just started. Impressive so far. The music is excellent. She's making her entrance by coming down from the ceiling on a platform and singing. She's on stage now and starting the show off with a 10 minute monologue. She's actually pretty funny. I'd say she's larger than life, but she is more petit than I thought, but that could just be that she's 50 feet away. She is just like you see on TV, with all the wigs and head pieces. When she is busy doing a costume change - and she does plenty of them - her dancers are either performing a very lively act or she is showing footage from the Sonny and Cher Show. It was very classy of her to remember where she started out.
Time for "If I Could Turn Back Time" and the black outfit she is so famous for. She doesn't quite wear the same outfit she wears in the video, but it comes close. For a woman in her 60s, her plastic surgery has served her very well.
She put on an excellent show with continuous action. She is AWESOMe! Who would have thought that the lady I saw on TV 30 years ago would become so big and such a diva and I would get to see her in concert.
After the show, we went shopping at the Forum shops. We shopped at Jimmy Choo Shoes, Cartier, Diesel, David Yurman jewelry, Pandora. I also wanted some gelato, but it was $12 for a scoop. I'll pay for an over-priced dress or shoes, but not for something that's gone in a matter of 30 seconds. It's too bad that staff at Jimmy Choo Shoes didn't offer foot massages because I could have definitely used one, what with running a half marathon and then wearing my very high Cher Shoes. Not exactly practical, but they look great.
Time to go so we can hit the hay, but I didn't because I went out with Angela for awhile.
Tomorrow is our last day here and I've had enough of this town. I can't wait to get home so I can eat healthy. Oh, I forgot that I'm also looking forward to the cold; NOT! From what I hear, it is very cold in Edmonton woo hoo.
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