With the completion of the Red Rock Half Marathon this weekend, that makes 10 long distance races under my belt. While compared to others this number may not be earth shattering, but if you would have asked me or others that knew me and my eating habits before running, I would consider this quite an accomplishment!!!

Most know my story but when I started running in 2006, I weighed 270 pounds and decided to make a life change. Now in my fifth year of hitting the pavement, I thought I’d look back and reflect on where I’ve been:

2006
Las Vegas Marathon – 5:01:24
My first marathon. With the support of my entire family cheering me on and cramps in every muscle I finish with cheers and hugs. Discouraged with the course, I vow not to run the marathon again until they change the route.

2007
Disneyland Half Marathon – 2:29:02
The first trip to the Magic Kingdom has me hooked. Running thru Disneyland, California Adventure and Anaheim Stadium will become a yearly trip for the entire family. To date, the hottest race I’ve run in. Race was nearly black flagged before the start.

Las Vegas Half Marathon – 2:00:46
Course didn’t change and I was starting to like this half marathon thing. After being discouraged by my previous half, I set my current PR that still stands (but hopefully not for long).

2008
Disneyland Half Marathon - 2:10:53
Back again for my second running. Since the Angels were in town, we didn’t get to run thru Anaheim Stadium but the weather was much more suited to running. Now used to running longer distances more often, I quickly shower and then off to the parks with the family.

Las Vegas Half Marathon – 2:18:09
I was really hoping to go under 2 hours but a severely sprained ankle 3 weeks before the race changes my plans drastically. I end up limping to the finish but “finish” is the key word in this sentence. There’s always next year…or is it?

2009
Red Rock Half Marathon – 2:18:00
Wanted to expand my race frequency, I opt for a race right out my back door. While I know the hills will be a challenge, the scenery more than makes up for the burning thighs and breakneck downhills. Will end up being a staple on my race schedule.

Disneyland Half Marathon - 2:02:13
Missing out out a Ragnar Relay team, we’re back to the family’s favorite race. From their perspective, it’s wake up, eat, wait for dad and then go see Mickey. Tried to go under 2 hours again but ran out of gas after trying to make up for lost time with heavy traffic at the start. Will settle for a course PR.

Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas Marathon – 4:40:28
Finally!!! Devine Sports out…Competitor Racing in. This move was highly anticipated and didn’t let anybody down. A new course with nearly half of the marathon run on the strip. Cold weather, extreme hunger, cramps and bonking prevented a better time but a 20 minute PR shouldn’t be looked down upon. I considered this race as a tune up for what was to come.

2010
Walt Disney World Marathon – 4:55:18
My most memorable race to date. After encouraging my sister to start running, we met in chilly Florida to run her first marathon. While I was hoping to “help” her finish strong, I was the one who had to battle bursitis while she was the strong one. Still a great running experience and can’t wait to run with her again.

Red Rock Half Marathon – 2:09:36
Another great race. Running in the opposite direction of the previous year, I overcame a lack of training due to injuries to PR the course by over 8 minutes. If you haven’t run this race, I highly recommend it.

RMFR

Of the 27,100 registered runners for the full and half marathon, interesting facts:

• The breakdown is 7,700 marathon, 19,400 half
• 35% of the participants are running their first full or half marathon
• 59% percent of the registered runners are women
• Entrants from all 50 states and 39 countries
• 85% of the runners are traveling to Vegas from outside Clark County
• Almost 25% of the runners are from California
• 2,000 runners are traveling from Canada

People

• 27,100 Entrants
• 902 Charity Runners
• $3.5 Million raised for Crohn’s & Colitis
• 35,000 Spectators
• 1,000 Volunteers
• 200 Race Officials
• 200 Uniformed Police
• 63 Elite Athletes
• 45,000 Expo Attendees

Entertainment

• 250 High School Cheerleaders
• 500 Pom Poms
• 35 Bands
• 175 Musicians
• 200 Speakers
• 50 Generators
• 24 Stages
• 100 Microphones
• 325 Guitar Picks

Equipment

• 28,000 Runners T-shirts
• 15,000 Finisher’s Medals
• 100 Sponsor banners along the course
• 4,000 Feet of Rope
• 8,000 Feet of Fencing
• 800,000 Paper Cups
• 500 Portable Restrooms
• 778 Tables
• 1,500 Feet of Barricades
• 4 Fork Lifts
• 15 Delivery Trucks
• 80,000 Safety pins
• 350 Pens and Pencils
• 230 Pairs of Work Gloves
• 35 Tents
• 5,000 Cones
• 200 Delineators
• 2 Tons of Ice
• 155 Cots
• 6,000 Garbage Bags

Beverages

• 78,576 Bottles of water
• 5,000 Gallons of Cytomax Sports Beverage

Race Course

• 29 Course Clocks
• 38 Mile and Kilometer Markers
• 21 Refreshment Stations
• 400 Water Station Volunteers

Medical

• 4,352 Bags of Ice
• 2,500 Band-Aids
• 1,675 Boxes of Gauze
• 75 1 lb Jars of Vaseline
• 12,540 Tablets of Pain Reliever
• 1,785 Tongue Depressors
• 4,758 Latex Gloves
• 323 Ace Bandages
• 2,104 Towels
• 154 Thermometers

Prize Money

• $107,500 prize purse
• $15,000 Men’s and women’s champions
• $10,000 gender challenge prize bonus
• $1,000 first marathon runner from NV

I finished adding our recent race swag to our “Running Wall” in my home office. Now that I’ve completed 7 distance races (1 marathon and 6 – 1/2 marathons) and the various races my wife and kids have run, the wall is starting to fill up very quickly!!! With 2 more races in the next 4 months, I need to find some more room.

Everybody likes to commemorate the race accomplishments in different ways and this just happens to be ours. The framed piece in the middle celebrates my first marathon (and first race) – the 2006 Las Vegas Marathon.

What do you do with your race swag?

What’s Quan?
Don’t know. I’ve spent the last 30 minutes looking and all I’ve found are a reference to a rare Chinese family name and at the end of several Tai Chi and Kung Fu definitions. With no clear english definition, it means it’s open to interpretation. According to Rod Tidwell (a.k.a. Cuba Gooding Jr.), it means “love, respect, community and the dollars too.” To me, it means something totally different.

Quan is what we as runner’s do naturally – as natural as breeding offspring and reproducing for the survival of our species. The definition of “Quan” is spreading our love for running – inspiring others to share in our need to pound the pavement and paths. If we don’t, our species will die (I doubt it but I’m on a soapbox). Part of being a runner is to be an Ambassador of Quan. Getting an ex-jock back in the game or inspiring a couch potato to jog around the block, that’s our calling…that’s our “Quan”.

So Who’re It’s Ambassadors?
A one-legged brother? Roy Firestone? A militant TP? Troy Aikman or Tom Cruise? Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. “Quan” has no barriers, no rules of possession or discrimination. It’s there for every runner/jogger/walker to spread like the wind to the masses. All you have to do is share a story, drag somebody out the door or ask somebody to join you.

Who’s Your Ambassador(s)?
As much as I’d love to say it was my dad, I truthfully cannot. He’s been a great inspiration for me since I started running but he wasn’t my “Ambassador”. In fact, I don’t even know my “Ambassador’s” name!!! All I remember is an image from a early December morning television broadcast of the Las Vegas Marathon in 2005. As I lay in my warm cozy bed next to my sleeping wife, I saw him. Not an image of grace and beauty or speed and athleticism. No, the man I saw trod across my television screen could have been my twin. A tall, overweight guy running the marathon. Although I will never know his name, he forever will be my Ambassador of Quan. At that moment, I told myself if that guy can do, then so can I.

Who were/are your Ambassadors of Quan?

Great news for you Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon runners…we have a new route!!! When Competitor Group, Inc. bought the Las Vegas Marathon last year, I had a feeling good things were going to happen to the December 6th event. It was released this week that a new, more friendly route will be used for this years race.

In year’s past, the marathon course ran the first 6 miles down the strip and then set off into Never Never Land. Runner’s were sent out north into the “desert” out to Carey Avenue and Smoke Ranch Road before trekking across Torrey Pines and eventually back down Twain until you came back to civilization. The half marathon wasn’t too bad unless you call passing several strip joints and “not so nice” neighborhoods on Industrial Road until reveling in the awe of the back of the strip casinos.

This year, they are shutting down both the north and south bound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard (aka “The Strip”). The half marathon will be run entirely on The Strip. How cool is that. The walkways over the street are great for friends and family to witness the mass of humanity – not once but twice. The marathon will also spend more time amidst the “Towering Money Makers”. After 10 1/2 miles, we’ll head west up Twain to Rainbow. Here’s where it gets interesting…for me anyway. I work near here and have run these streets during many a lunch hour. It will be a welcome site come miles 17-23 near Spanish Trail Country Club. I know these streets like the back of my hand. It’s back down Hacienda to the finish after a little loop that I’m not quite sure about.

Overall, I couldn’t be happier. The old route is why I only ran the marathon once. I couldn’t stand the marathon course. Having a little foresight, I signed up early and now I’m being rewarded for my leap of faith. See you all in December!!!

Well OK, not K-Mart but I’ve got another lead for you…Ross. Sorry midwesterners they are suspiciously absent from your part of the country (I’m assuming there is another competitor that I have no clue about). Anyway, Ross sells clothes that don’t sell in the big chain stores and they sell them at significantly reduces prices. The only running gear that I don’t buy from Ross are my shoes. Everything else is “Ross bought”.

For example,
5 pairs of 2(x)ist socks for $10 – normal price $37.50
Nike Dri-FIT Tempo Men’s Running Shorts for $9.99 – normal price $27.99

In fact, I still have the long sleeve shirt I bought there from my first Las Vegas Marathon almost 4 years ago. Don’t trade quality to buy something else cheap…just go find quality gear cheap!!!

When I first started running it was all about my health and doing something I’d never think I could or would – running a marathon. That was 2006. I lost over 60 pounds and completed the Las Vegas Marathon with little scaring. After that it was all about competing. I needed a race on the calendar to keep me motivated thru the 110 degree summers of Las Vegas. Recently I’ve come to another crossroads. I haven’t felt that same fire in my gut that threw me out door day after day. I was feeling empty and needing more. That has recently changed and I think has changed my life permanently – for the better.

I’ve been thinking for some time that there was something else I could do with running. We’re out there on the roads and trails for hours on end. If you’re like me, thousands of thoughts enter my head on every subject from every angle. You’d think collectively we could have solved the worlds problems by now!!! Most of it is nonsense and I’ve always thought I could use this time for something useful and now I have. I’m using running as time to mediate, clear my head and make up for some lost time with God.

Now, I’m not a fanatic by any means but hear me out. How many times have you thought to yourself that you “don’t have the time pray.” There’s always family, work, television or some other distraction filling our lives 24 hours a day. Running is my solitude, running is my escape but I am alone no longer.

What do you say? How do you say it? There’s no formula, no rules, no ridicule or praise. There’s now a feeling of grace, comfort, belonging and a sense of purpose. Just clear your mind, open your heart and talk. It’s your time.

I’m not a pastor or priest but a runner who’s found the prayerful dimension of running. If you’d like to learn more and be inspired to take a leap of faith, check out the book “Running the Spiritual Path” by Roger D. Joslin. I’m only 4o some pages into the book and I’m hooked. I am not alone – in running or in life.

“Imagine that you are running toward God and know that far in the distance God is running toward you” – Roger D. Joslin