I can't say I love Las Vegas. But I'm here. And I will say it's nice to be outside in a t-shirt after weeks of snow and ice in Toronto. I'm here for a work retreat, but I also came a day early to participate in the Las Vegas half marathon/10k. I'll probably be doing the 10k today, even though I signed up for the half. I just didn't get the training I needed, and I also hurt my back last week. Doing a half marathon isn't maybe the smartest idea, especially before a work retreat.

I got on a plane last night around 7 o'clock, got in around 12. I took a taxi to my hotel. There's lots to look at - lots of bright lights, lots of big structures. I was particularly struck by The Sphere. It's a giant dome that can have video played on the outside, and people go see concerts and art experiences on the inside, apparently. It's quite the spectacle, especially when they overlay the outer video to be a giant eyeball that's looking around. Like the whole thing is an eyeball. It's pretty trippy. Once you start getting pretty close, the whole structure is very blurry because of the size of the pixels. More than anything it's an eyesore, no pun intended. In its difference and contrast to everything else around, it feels like you're dipping your toe into some kind of cyberpunk future. But nothing else has caught up to it yet. I took a look at the Sphere's Instagram page. Some of the stuff played on the inside and outside seems genuinely cool and funny, but when you see a massive ad for Lululemon, it feels pretty gross.

I got to Treasure Island hotel and had a fiasco of a time getting set up here. After checking in, I went up to my room. My keycard wouldn't buzz me in. I stood there, dead-eyed statue with a moving arm that I was, tapping my card on a dead card sensor. Down I went to let the concierge know. They sent me back up with two new cards and said security would come. Security did not come. Down I went again, 25 floors to the bottom. This time someone else helped me, and security was (repeatedly) sent my way. Back up I went.

At this point, I'm quite tired. It's 1:30 am my time. I'm lying on the floor, looking around the hallway thinking about how old this carpet and fixtures are, when two security guards finally walk up to me. They have neon overshirts and walkie-talkies. They're nice, and they quickly confirm my dead door battery and disappear to go get their tools. Now I'm just lying on the floor looking at the ceiling think about nothing more than closing my eyelids for a few minutes. They return with a cart and assemble a long, outstretched thick coat hanger-looking device, which they then pry up the door with a crowbar and shove under. Then I watch them try to hook the door handle for about 10 minutes. It's 2am. I have a half marathon to run tomorrow. Another guard shows up. He has a 6-inch beard, the same neon shirt, and some new tools. He pries the door open in 10 seconds.

I go into the room. It's been recently used, uncleaned, and I sit myself down on the chair while the two other security guards inspect the battery-situation of the door lock. I'm sitting in a chair that looks like it's from the '70s looking at two messy beds and some garbage on the floor. I'm wondering if I should just sleep here. Do I want to make a stink about this? Its 2am my time. I'm exhausted. On one hand, I know people who would just go to sleep in these beds. On the other hand, I know people who would in no way ever do that. And I am unsure which of those people I am, at 2AM, exhausted and craving sleep. I quietly pipe up: "Hey, is it alright if maybe I get a room that hasn't been slept in?" I didn't say it quite like that. It was a little bit more polite. They did a double take and then said, "Wait, you haven't been in this room yet?" And I said "no." And they said "Did you just check in?" And I said "yes." They looked a little embarrassed. Or maybe they thought it was funny. I don't know. I was too tired to care. Anyway, they rung up somebody to get me a new room.

Then I went to sleep and got 4 hours of sleep. Now I am here. I have just eaten a Krispy Kreme donut, half a container of fruit, half a drink of apple juice, and I think I need to go back to bed. The race is this afternoon.

Good night.

No dice, no sleep. I went down to the lobby and grabbed some Popeyes. I've never had it before, but I needed something in a pinch and I figured I should eat a few hours before the race. So I did that, came upstairs and then felt myself get drowsy. I think I knocked myself out for 45 minutes, maybe a bit less, because I woke up to my timer feeling rather groggy and dreading the idea of having to do anything.

But I dragged myself downstairs, met my colleagues, grabbed my race kit from one of them who kindly picked it up, and then got changed back in my room. Once I got outside, my spirit started to rise and I enjoyed the walk over with the group. It was good to get to know some work-people better. Eventually we all split off once we arrived at the race start. Hordes of people. Some 25,000. It was so crowded I didn't even bother to try to get into a corral. I just sat down where I could find a seat and waited about 30 minutes for the race to start. I wasn't feeling great. I was feeling a bit anxious. I was unsure if I would do the half marathon or not. I knew that it would be extremely hard and that I would be pushing myself if I did.

Eventually the race kicked off and we were marshalled forward. There were pyrotechnics. I could feel the heat of them despite them being elevated twenty feet above me. They race began and I started trotting. I was going very slow for my normal pace. I figured that if I was going do the half, I shouldn't get carried away. I haven't run anything more than about eight kilometers for two months. Anything beyond 12km would be quite hard. Around three or four kilometers in, I decided it wasn't a good idea to go for the half. I was a little disappointed, but I've reached this point in my life where putting that kind of pressure on myself is something I'm more aware of, and I can see when it's not necessary. What would I do it for? To say that I did it, and that's about it. To have another half-marathon in my race history. I mean, that's appealing, but putting myself through more suffering than I need to, especially with three days of work stuff ahead of me, was probably not a good idea.

The run itself was great. The roads are very smooth, and I appreciated the different environment. I wasn't super into the music that was being played, and it was so loud with several interspaced speakers that it was just sort of blasting through my music for about a kilometer or two. But after that, the second half of the 10K, I really started to enjoy myself. I sped up and just went for it. Sports tourism is growing on me. The last time I was in Vegas, in 2019, I went for a walk out to the Vegas sign and I remember it feeling like it took forever (and it was so hot). At least this way I got there in half the time and didn't really have to make my way through the crowds. Just ran right by it. That was enough for me.

The landscape of Vegas is really strange. The strip is dense and packed, full of lights and things to look at. But as I went towards the Las Vegas sign, it really thins out and you can start to see more of the desert. There's also this strange massive pinball emporium that I ran by, and a private airfield landing zone. I don't know what it is, but it's weird. Once you start getting away from the strip, you see a lot of billboards with attorneys promising you that you can get some money for whatever bad stuff happened to you. I think I can understand why that's more prominent here, but it's still weird.

The last two kilometers of the race were great. I sped up a ton. I managed to stick it out at about 4:40/km. I wrapped up, got some snacks, walked back to the hotel, cooled off, and called it a day.