Running on the Las Vegas Strip
Posted: January 11, 2012 Filed under: City Running | Tags: city, danger, las vegas, smoking 16 Comments »
Non-runners, especially those who don’t live in Colorado, often tell me how dangerous it is for me to run in the mountains. Mountain lions, snakes, bad weather, getting lost in the woods, falling down a ravine – stuff like that often comes up. But running in the mountains is no where as dangerous as running in the city – especially on something like the Las Vegas Strip.
I felt crummy all day – anti-social, introverted, a little sick, and cranky. I’ve only left my room twice – first to get a cup of coffee and a banana for breakfast and most recently to crank out a run. I’m staying at the Venetian so I went out the front door, turned right, and ran hard for about 25 minutes. It was amazingly easier to run at 2000 feet in the desert than it is at 9000 feet in Keystone. My 11 – 12 minute pace because a 9 minute pace and I just cruised.
Except for when I had to stop at intersections. I tried to dance across them even against the red lights, but that was tricky. Even when the white walk signal man was up, all the crazy people making right turns without looking honked and tried to run me over. Then there were the left turn people running the red light. Or maybe just the people who weren’t looking. My favorite was the rolling stop out of a shopping center parking lot that pushed me into oncoming traffic to avoid having to crawl over the car.
I made a game of it. As I got away from the strip (past the Encore) things got sketchy fast and my new found speed kept me a step ahead of the bail bonds cars and adult whatever things going on. Eventually I got to “downtown” which was quiet and empty, at which point I turned around. Back at the Encore, the throngs of people smoking cigarettes appeared and I had to dodge them also. At some point I stepped in a pothole funny as I tried to avoid a person typing on their iPhone and twisted my right ankle a little. I’m hyper sensitive to it since it was sore last week so I’ll watch it, but I don’t think it was goofy enough to be an issue.
As I walked through the casino looking for a post run apple – which I eventually found and paid $2.87 for – I couldn’t help but feel sick from the smoke. It’s like 100% of the smokers in America came to Las Vegas and lit up at the same time. Yuck.
Cars. People. Potholes. Smoke. Who said running in the mountains in Colorado was dangerous?
Brad, nice piece, the way you come full circle, mentioning and summarizing dangers at end of your piece. Off with the heads of smokers if they can’t keep away from those of us who want to breathe. I saw at two marathons the same smoker light up before the race–unbelievable, sad, and inconsiderate.
The smoking thing is so totally bizarre to me. But hey, humans are bizarre.
Sounds running in LVS more challenging. Vivid experience.
I second that – the strip sucks to run, and I don’t know the area well enough to find a better place. Last time I was there, I seem to remember there was a fairly large street parallel to the main drag that was at least a little better. Need some advice from the locals (or past experts).
Sorry you had kind of a shitty day. Hope tomorrow is better.
I keep being told about a great trail run “10 minutes away by car.” I can’t ever remember the name of it and I never have a car, so the strip it is.
I feel much better than I did this morning. We had a party tonight for three hours with a bunch of friends and entrepreneurs we work with – that was fun.
Mt. Charleston is about 30-45 minutes away. There are real trails there. Also if you head into the suburbs, NW to Summerlin (or south to Henderson, which I know less well) there are nice quiet neighborhoods sometimes with short paved trails. Easy to run in the road too, if your knees can handle it.
I never seem to have a car when I’m in Las Vegas so the idea of going 30 minutes away from the strip seems like a lot of effort.
I had a fresh air issue today myself.
More seriously, shoveled twice to get a little CV exercise in; at 21f it felt pretty good.
Brrrr. Heading to Boston tomorrow – leaving “warm” and going to “cold.”
[...] Vegas. I had a total meltdown Wednesday morning and ended up spending the day in my room. I had a death defying run on the Las Vegas strip. And I’m just came back through a smoke filled casino from a breakfast with some of the [...]
I love running on the strip! The key is that you have to be out and done before 8am. I know, I know, some people are just going to bed then. But a 6am run with the sun rising up and the eerie quietness of Vegas is a blast.
That’s definitely the secret. I’ve done that before and enjoyed it. 4pm – not so good.
Great post! You bring your journey to life quite effectively, my friend.
I have to agree with you. I ran the Las Vegas half marathon this past December and it was a nightmare. Reading your blog was enjoyable. And on the smoking part – the only casino I found that you could not smell the smoke in is at Aria – they have an amazing air filtration system. I even tested it by walking past smokers and with in seconds couldn’t smell a thing!
Keep up the posts, great to ready your experiences!
you blog is great! I have run many half marathons throughout the southeast! My favorite is the Palm Beach, Rock n Roll VA beach, and Country music in Nashville, TN
Vegas is not good for running!