St Pats 5km 2008

Alright folks, this was a good test for myself. I planned ahead and scheduled my massage 2 days before the event so I had a chance of being loose and relaxed. The lady that works me over has noticed I am getting less adhesion every time.

So I did my night shift watching the snow fall and getting worried with each and every flake that fell. It has been a while since I ran outside and this would be the coldest run in a while. So I hung around for an hour after my shift with the next crew talking about Vegas. I took a quick walk over to the race site to get the muscles warmed up a bit.

I lined up near the back of the pack with the idea that the slower runners would keep me from going out too fast. It was very cool to see the HAWK2 helicopter start the race with a countdown from their speaker and then their siren went off to get us going.

So my plan worked I didn't go off like a jackrabbit, I found a group running at my pace. The group turned out to be Kathy who was my Half Marathon Clinic Pacer so I knew she have a good pace to follow.

I felt good when I got to the bridge so I took my first walk break on the way back I paced with Candice a friend from Highschool that I saw at the start. I ended up taking the walk break with Kathy's crew and Candice got ahead of me. I watched her move from the back of her group to bridge up to the group ahead, it was fun to watch. I caught up to her just before the 4km marker and started to wind up my sprint but once again I ran out of gas in the middle of Princes Island park...

I started the wind up closer than the last race I did this experiment so next time I will do it 750m from the line. So she passed me as I took my third walk break trying to get my Heart to slow down from the 180 bpm it was going at. That last walk break cost me 13 places at the finish line and Candice got me by about 25 seconds.

Place Race# Name         City     Div/Tot  Sex/Tot  Div    Time      Pace 

84/164 5666 Randy MILLER Calgary AB 7/13 26/38 M3039 35:09.2 7:02

Vegas.COM attractions list

This is the list I was using of things to see on the strip I have put an x out front of the things I saw.

Shows:
Blue Man Group (A+ DRUMS!!!!!!!)
Zumanity (B+ wish I didn't go solo)
Phantom of the Opera (A+ the classic that will never disappoint)
Hover Dam Tour (B- was a bit disappointed)


Buffets:
Imperial Palace, breakfast, very self serve
Tropicana, lunch, limited selection
Harrah's, lunch, good selection nice atmosphere
Bellagio, supper, selection was out of this world if I could I would have gone every day!!!!

Bally's (many shops)

· Jubilee! All Access Backstage Walking Tour

Bellagio (amazing)

x· Fountains (A) watched 4 diff perfomances

x· Gallery of Fine Art (C-) not worth my money as I didn't enjoy the art

· Conservatory

x· The Art of Richard MacDonald Presented by Cirque du Soleil (B+)

· The Tuscany Kitchen

Caesars Palace (nice open casino and great atmosphere won $4 on slots)

· Exotic Cars

x· Fountain shows and aquarium (C was just a display in the mall)

Circus Circus (no go)

· Adventuredome

· World's Largest Permanent Circus

Excalibur (no go)

· Motion Rides

Flamingo (no go)

· Wildlife Habitat

Imperial Palace (I stayed here but didn't do much other than sleep here)

· The Auto Collections

Las Vegas Hilton (STAR TREK do I say more??)

x· BORG Invasion 4D (A+ way cool effects)

x· Klingon Encounter (A+ fell in love with the lady that transported us)

x· Star Trek: The Experience (A the display of artifacts is unlike anything I imagined)

x· Star Trek: The Experience -- Secrets Unveiled (A++ it was cool to see the rides and how they are operated)

x· Quarks Bar (A great names of foods!!!)

Luxor (high class, must be hard to sleep with all the rooms opening into the all night casino

· IMAX Theatre

· In Search of the Obelisk

x· King Tut's Tomb (B+ it was neat but I expected more)

Mandalay Bay (hard to get around)

x· Shark Reef (A- it was a great cool place to relax and enjoy watching the fish and peoples reactions )

MGM Grand ( very large!!!)

x· CBS Television City Research Center (B+ Watched a pilot show for some crappy coupons)

x· Lion Habitat (B got there as they first came out but man that crowd was huge)

Mirage (no go)

· Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat

· Volcano (under renovations)

New York - New York (top 3 for my entertainment)

· The Roller Coaster at New York-New York

Paris (absolutely beautiful)

x· Eiffel Tower (A the view was incredible)

Rio (no go)

· Masquerade Village

Sahara (no go)

· Las Vegas Cyber Speedway

· Speed - The Ride

Showcase Mall (shops)

x· GameWorks

x· M&M's World

Silverton

· The Aquarium

Stratosphere

· Big Shot

· Insanity-The Ride

· Stratosphere Tower

· X Scream

Treasure Island

x· Sirens of TI (A watched it twice from different spots)

Tropicana (old but well kept up)

· Bodies...The Exhibition

x· Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit (A found a poster that blew my mind)

Venetian ( the most amazing hotel on the strip, learned Roulete here )

· Gondola (I didn't want to go by myself)

· Guggenheim Hermitage Museum

· Test America at the Venetian

x· Madame Tussauds Las Vegas (A+++ had a lot of fun posing with the stars)

x· Streetmosphere at the Grand Canal Shoppes (I wanna go to Italy now)

Wynn Las Vegas BIG MONEY!!!!

x· Penske Wynn Ferrari Maserati (A- I wish they would have let you take some photos of the cars)

Post Vegas, Panorama Skiing

Well I passed the line of potential probing from our friends in homeland security. I fell asleep on the plane before we reached cruising altitude. I tried taking some photos of the city lights but non really seam to have worked (sorry Dom) . At landing I couldn't remember what parking lot my car was in so I waited for the shuttle I thought I was in only to find out that the two buses earlier were the ones I needed.

I got myself home and chatted with Carey from upstairs planning to be ready for noon when Rob would show up and take me out to Panorama for the weekend. He showed up 2 hours early so I quickly unpacked from my desert attire to the skiing gear. There was to be about 12 of us going but everyone bailed out at the last moment... work got in the way. So Rob and I had some drinking to do to make up for the guys not joining us. I realized that I had not really slept since 7am Thursday so I did pretty good partying till 11 Friday. It was so cool meeting up with Laura and her guy in the pub we were at. I thought they weren't back till Sunday so it was an added bonus to the evening.

Saturday we skied the snow was very hard packed, I don't know when the last time they got snow but it was bare in spots already. We decided to stick to the first Chair because the snow was better than the top of the hill. Happy to say nobody crashed out of our party... there was one guy on the ground for 2 runs with ski patrol holding his neck very still. Pat my head because I did not want to repeat the feeling I had when Leah and I went. I want my brains to stay in my skull.

We had lunch with our I should say my (I am the single one) favorite waitress as she took good care of us which helped with the drinking pace the night before. Supper we were served by the lady with the "supervisor" tag on her shirt... Rob and I got our two round from the bar because she took too damned long and she got a 1.40 tip. stroll down to the general store for some offsales and back to the room. I was passing out but Rob was wired for sound so he went back to the pub, probably paid cash at the bar to avoid the bad service.

So this concludes my story of my travel on this trip... Now I have to go through 600 photos. I'll pick the better ones and upload to facebook.

DAM day

So I wondered around some more after the last post my DAM tour didn't start till 12:30 so I checked out more shops but didn't buy anything... I am getting worried about my Bank Statements. That's what I get for a last minute decision to go on a vacation. OH well.

I ened up at the Bellagio to see the Gallery of Fine Art. I have to say it was a bit disappointing there was 50 paintings and I only like 2. I guess the American Modern style isn't my thing. I got the name of artist if any of you know anything let me know what else of her style I might enjoy. Her name is Georgia O'Keeffe and the paintings were: Red Stump, and Deer Skull with Pedernal.

I was running out of room on my camera card so I had the business center burn the card on a CD. So as I waited I played $2 of quarter slots and I walked away with a voucher for $6!!! I made money!!!!

I had been up the real Eiffel Tower so of course I payed the $10 to go up the copy. Very glad the sky was clear because you could see quite a ways away. Didn't spend too much time up there because I had to get back to my hotel to catch the bus to Hoover Dam. I was on a shuttle that took me back to the hotel next to where I had just been... I was a bit annoyed because it took about an hour to get the bus full from all the stops at the hotels. But we finally got out of town and our guide started his stories.

The Dam is huge is all I have to say. But they are building a new bridge over the canyon and my attention was drawn towards that a bit more often judging by some of the photos I took. We saw a video on the history of the Dam and how it was built. Then we all went down the elevators to the generators. They had one of the Rotors out for the first time in 25 years. The people working there had glasses and shirts like my Dad does when he goes to work... Is that the uniform for Engineers of a certain age group???

I got back to Vegas in time to collect my tickets and get to the restaurant I had a discount voucher for. It took me some time to find the place but when I got there I realized that it was the restaurant of the big Italian guy from Iron Chief. I had Lamb and three kinds of cheese that I had never heard of. I have the menu in my pile of papers so I will let you all know later.

Then Phantom of the Opera. I was given a very nice seat... I have noticed that being a solo ticket I haven't had a bad seat at any of the shows. Lets just say 15 years ago when I saw this play in Edmonton it was my first operatic experience. I remember identifying with the Phantom Character and this day I did as well. But I have learned a few things about myself so that I won't fall into the trap that I did 15 years ago when I felt I would never find my Christine (the female lead character)

The set for the play was incredible the chandelier made many ladies scream when it came down. the costumes were vivid and changes were done very fluidly. I was most impressed with the scene changes that took you from looking at their performance to the action behind the stage. One change put everything that was on the left on the right including the actors and they performed as if the curtain had just closed. It blew my mind

I wondered the shops and took some photos of the shop windows mostly of the ladies clothing because I started to see styles that the ladies in my life might wear. I ended the night waiting for my shuttle to arrive. As I did I realized a very hot nightclub was in my hotel. INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL ladies were walking into the club and I mentally hit myself for not going to a club this week. But my ride to the airport arrived and this adventure was at a close.

star trek day

ok i know I geeked out on this one. i spent the day at the hilton Star Trek Experience. i wondered around the strip in the morning. and went to the wax museum. that was a hoot!! I got somevery nice photos.... hoped on the monorail to get to the Hilton. I met a Laura standing in line and at the end of the day we realized we were the only nerds that did all the events.... old people get tired.... and yes to answer all your questions, married. rats she was nice and pretty. BUT I passed Oneils test so way more than 5 min :)

I rode the Borg 4D ride first and the effects in 3D were incredible!!!!

Next was the klingon attack, I fell in love with the actoress that transported us. sigh!!!!

Then it was behind the scenes tour.. i have been sworn to secrecy so na na na boo boo!!!!

They have all these artifacts from the series and models of the ships and all kinds of things to look at.

next was supper at Quarks. good time!!

then i took a cab down to freemount street just in time for the lights to come on. The first show was childish with planes and things flying around you. BUT the next show had Techno beats and phycadelic shapes on it. I saw a few ladies groving and moving to the beats. Ella you would have enjoyed it. Too bad they didn't have an all night rave under that canopy.

I hoped on the Duce, a bus back to the strip and saw the Sierns of TI one more time, a bit better spot to watch the ladies, photos didn't turn out so well. Got a Mararita and enjoyed the show.

I got back to my room and put on this icy hot patch on my back. to day feels much better.

I got some discount tickets for tonight phantom of the opera. and I am going on my tour of the hover dam later this afternoon, they opened up the gates and are flooding the down stream to rebuild sand dunes or something. they are making a big deal about it on the news.

well I am off,

Day 2 Lost wages

Well now what a day.. I have walked and walked till my back is sore.

I hoped on the monorail to the end of the line and watched a TV Piolet show at the Testing Center, the copons they gave you were kinda lame but it killed time untill the Lions came out... I start my day way too early I find :) Or not staying up late enough LOL!!!

Orsten I found the Sharks at Mandalay... tough to find but I found a few signs to start (south end of the propery) The Luxor was amazing but so far the best hotel in my mind is still the Venetian. I have almost all the things on my too do list checked off and some extras. I didn't get the Tat at this one place because they lady was just plain rude when i asked a general question, How was I suppost to know what the average price of a tatoo is???

The Titanic experiance was amazing I bought a poster of it in drydock that will remind me of how small we all are. I had my first drink at Paris I got one of the glass baloon drinks... oh crap I was buzzed off it and had to dump the last little bit as I watched the Fountain show at Bellagio.

Somebody at work tell Becky.... "the buffet" was amazing!!!!! I got to try all the fish that I have heard of but never had the opertunity to do so. I don't remember what I had but I loved it. Wanda tell Dad he was right, King crab much better than that lobsterfest that we all went to.

Oh the show of the night Zumandi.... if your a couple you need to go, solo not so great. Highly errodic. I had almost tried to chat witht this increadable red head that was clearly WAY out of my leauge, to see if I could hold a conversation for 5 min as per OW's rules for me. Glad I didn't becuse she was one of the dancers and she ended up pulling a guy up on stage for the finallie. It was a great show!

I have been spending money like crazy but it's vegas isn't it. Today off to Hilton for the Star Trek experience. Today it's shorts and sandles because my sneakers gave me a bit of a heat blister. Less walking, hopefully more sitting and drinking :)

Day 1 in vegas

Well, I didn't realize as I drove out to the airport that Park'n'Fly and Park'Jet are two different companies... took me a moment to figure out which my copon was good for. Step one done.

I got through the checked in and had to call DCOM just to tell someone I was past the potential probing of security... I don't know why but I can't relax till I pass that point. Thanks Cerina for putting up with my babble of the moment:) Off to Vancouver, got a window seat so I was taking photos like crazy. Domonika don't worry I'll show you lots of photos of planes etc :)

So we get to Vancouver and the connection is late, wise choice I made the people on the 7:00 plane were sitting there upset. Oh there were 5 of us connecting to vegas so west jet had a cart ready to wisk us off to the international gate. Mental note when the guy tells you that you need some blue form... ask where to get it. I got sent back to get that form... sent back again to fill in the form... hassaled by the homeland folks because I put vegas instead of Las Vegas and he couldn't read my handwriting. Sigh...

As we fly to vegas I noticed two planes pass by in my window, talk about airspace full!!! So as we come into land I finaly see the strip.... then I got excited!!!! WHen I fly there are two stages of excitement for me... past the probing and landing at the destination!!!!!

SO I think I checked into the hotel at 3:00 off I go walking... and shopping. I got pulled in by a BEUTIFAL lady for Isrial selling skin products... I got a photo with her because I ended up buying some stuff and have buyer's remores allready, but I will have better skin and least I got myself out of a timeshare opertunity all ready. Time is valuable and I learned from my sister. Wanda btw I think I got the stuff you requested I showed a lady at the shop your email and if it's not what you needed too bad you got what she found :)

I ended up walking from Imperial Pallace to the Win (to sit in a Ferrari with a phot... Bruce I saw the most amazing collection but no photos big dude watched me) and back. Then to Venetian for BLUE MAN!!!!! Chris your right they F***ing ROCK!!!! What an experience, I even got my photo taken with one but it's blurry (shit) I sat next to another Solo ticket holder. It was fun to share the moments with someone, before you all ask no she's married :(

SO after the show I walked all the way to New-York, had a few offers form working girls and a guy that said he could have a limo to the gentalmans club in moments.... what to do when your back is killing you.

I have realized that I did not eat as much as I should have today... this morning I went to Denny's before I realized my hotel has a breakfast buffet for about the same money.

I learned how to play the game with the #'s and the spinning wheel this morning, a dealer explaned the game to me so I played 2 hands. I won $7 on the first hand but then lost it all on the next hand. Crap that could have paid for my breakfast... oh well.

The mexicans are not very aggressive on the flyers and hands as you all have warned me about.

I have fallen in love with the Venetian it is so Italian it's amazing. Carolina you should do some searchs on the web about this place you'll love it.

Well Iam off to explore the southern part of the strip today. That's all for now

T-12 hours

Well I am packing all the things I took out of the pile yesterday. and pacing to and fro.
I have got the plan from Coach for my workouts that I am going to "attempt" to do while in Vegas.
Think I have all that I need... I feel like I went to France for a month with less. but it's all good.

now I have to get some sleep.... like that's going to happen, it hasn't really hit me yet but it will shortly that I am off to Sin city. It will hit me when I get on the plane to take off and then look out I will be excited. I always thought when I did a trip like this I would be sharing the experience with somebody, anybody. Oh well, this could be the trip that transforms the old Randy to what my coworkers have been calling me "Randizzal". All I know is the training in Tri and life I have been doing lately has built up alot of confidence in me and I might actually earn the nickname :)

next entry after I land... later all!